Podujevë, 19 September 2025
Honored family of the martyr Afrim Zhitia,
Honored mother Qamë, sister Sadete and brother Naim,
Honorable Mayor of Podujeva, Mr. Shpejtim Bulliqi,
Honorable Acting Minister at the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, Hysen Durmishi,
Honorable former Minister Liburn Aliu,
Honorable Chairman of AAK, Ramush Haradinaj,
Honorable Chairman of BDI, Ali Ahmeti,
Honorable Members of Parliament of the Republic, Avni Dehari, Saranda Bogujevci and Drita Pajaziti,
Honorable former Commander of the Llapi Operational Zone, General Rrustem Mustafa – Remi,
Honored family members of martyrs,
Honored invalids and veterans of the Kosovo Liberation Army,
Honored comrades and friends of the hero Afrim Zhitia, from all Albanian lands,
Honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, sisters and brothers,
The most progressive societies of the world and the most developed states of our continent have established various policies of remembrance for their events of historical significance and their most important national figures. One of the challenges of social traditions and state protocols for remembering the martyrs of freedom is finding the noblest and most effective institutional ways to preserve collective memory from one generation to the next, to foster gratitude, honor, and respect for all those who fell for freedom.
Thus, last year, on 2 November 2024, on the 35th anniversary of the fall of martyrs Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu, we gathered together at the commemorative academy organized on that occasion in Prishtina, the city where Afrim and Fahri resisted armed until death, in 1989. This year, as we approach the completion of the fourth decade since their heroic fall, we are gathered here in the village of Llugë, the birthplace of Afrim Zhitia, to inaugurate another form of remembrance of Afrim Zhitia and his deeds.
To the renewed obelisk here, today is added a sculpture as a monumental public work commemorating Afrim Zhitia, the son of this village of Llapi and the hero of Kosovo’s freedom. Born in the winter of 1965, Afrim Zhitia began his political journey when he was 16 years old, during the spring demonstrations of 1981. The four years he spent in prison, convicted for his political activity, added to Afrim’s life experience and theoretical readings, giving him the profile of a progressive Albanian political activist fully committed to the liberation of the homeland and to equality and justice. From prison to the struggle for freedom, to life and to the fight for freedom together with Fahri and other comrades who fell along the way, as well as those who lived to experience freedom alive among us today.
Some have preserved memories of Afrim, others have preserved Afrim’s letters and photographs; somewhere the stories of Afrim and Fahri’s resistance in Bregu i Diellit have been kept, and elsewhere their ideals and political inspirations have been written and learned. His name has become the name of a street and a school, while the deeds of Afrim and Fahri have been marked by following their traces.
The statue of Afrim Zhitia here in Llugë monumentalizes his historical figure in a public work of art. But in order to complete the entire cultural infrastructure of passing on the history of Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu from generation to generation, as well as the history of Bahri Fazliu, Agron Rrahmani, Zahir Pajaziti, Hakif Zejnullahu, and other martyrs and their fellow fighters, we also need more in-depth studies and more scholarly publications. Written works are what we need, because the written word is the nature of history, where they belong as subjects and personalities. Martyrs are evidence that the source of liberation and the decisive factor is the people themselves, from whom they come and to whom they must serve.
We must work, struggle, and serve. And the people, the state, and the citizens must benefit.
Glory to Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu, glory to all the fallen martyrs and heroes for the liberation of Kosovo and the freedom of our people!
