Pristina, 24 November, 2022
The speech of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, at the reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Albania, in celebration of Flag Day:
The honorable ambassador of the Republic of Albania in the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Qemal Minxhozi,
Dear President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu,
The Honorable Head of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Glauk Konjufca,
Honorable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mrs. Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz,
Dear Ministers of the Government and Members of the Assembly,
Dear professor Rexhep Qosja,
The honorable chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Mr. Memli Krasniqi,
The honorable chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Mr. Ramush Haradinaj,
The honorable mayor of the Municipality of Pristina, Përparim Rama,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Ladies and gentleman,
Sisters and brothers,
On behalf of the Government and on my own behalf, I wish you the greatest day, the day of the independence of Albanians and the establishment of the Albanian state. 110 years ago, the signers of independence, the signers of the national state, arrived in Vlora, exactly on November 28, from almost all the lands populated by Albanians. We had declared the nation strongly and internationally in Prizren on June 10, 1878. We declared the state strongly and internationally in Vlora on November 28, 1912.
Today, this is the biggest date for Albanians as the date of the establishment of the nation state, therefore it serves us as a date of deep perception. We must see and hear the homeland of Ismail bey Vlora and Isa Boletini, as they saw and felt that day. They declared a state which a year later the great powers would tear apart under the pressure of the Russian empire and the small Balkan powers. The question is: how much did they manage to tear apart our national consciousness?
We are a historical people, but not a historical people of the conquering kind. Today we carry on the nation’s back the results of the era of conquests and territorial conferences. But our conscience was not suppressed even when the ideological camp involved us and tried to shrink our consciousness. Walls are raised by conquest and fear keeps them alive. It is certain that the walls of empires, the walls of ideologies, the walls of conquests fall when consciousness is kept alive.
We are not a historical people of the conquering type, but we are a historical people of the liberating type. What we lack is a world background of justice. We have to work specifically for this.
We are a people who admire and absorb the values of social and political development. Therefore, even today, I believe that even on your behalf, I am asking the question of every November 28:
Are Albanians the most represented in the state?
Are they more socially expressive?
Are they more culturally engaged?
Are they more dignified economically?
Do they have higher morals and consciousness?
Are they factored, as Arbën Xhaferi would ask?
With our interstate agreements we are implementing the principles of social and liberal democratic societies, those values that in the last half century built the West as a healthy basis for democracy. With our interstate agreements we are working for European integration. But global democratic justice, the sense of inclusive freedom, without its due effect on the entire globe, suffers from the same qualities of the atmosphere. Higher pressures sometimes bring thunderstorms. Therefore, even the big differences between state policies in social values and human rights cannot be tolerated. Politics cannot be surpassed by the economy, the universalization of values cannot be subjected to the globalization of the economy. Economics often equals regardless of human values and dignity. Without political vigilance, economy and finance are oblivion. And thus begins another era of conquests and walls.
We will give security and peace to the Balkans and Europe if we integrate according to the vision of Ismail Vlora and his co-signatories. If Kosovo reaches its goal of membership in NATO and the European Union, Albanians will be even more integrated in the values of Western democracy. Because we believe in these values, but for this reason we must be more vocal, more unanimous. Every November 28, we must measure together the quality and strength of this voice.
A century ago we were clear about what we needed. Today we are not only clear, but we also have the state strength to do everything to not tolerate the return of the practices of invasions and territorial claims. In a century of world justice, the historical nation should no longer be the one that conquers, but the state that actively protects human rights, political pluralism and equality between people.
Something else. Let’s not forget that history is written in the first person collective in the first person plural, but that it should be read in the first person individual, in the first person singular. As a historically just people, we have a maxim since the Renaissance of Sami Frashër: a state that does not respect its national size cannot ensure its social prosperity. This maxim must constantly be at the center of our Albanian integration and European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
Once again I wish you the greatest state day of the Nation.
Happy 28th of November!
Last modified: November 25, 2022