New York, 20 September 2026
Dear Ilir, Sumeja, and the entire Bytyqi family,
Honorable ministers, colleagues from the Government who have come from Prishtina, Hekuran Murati, Minister of Finance, and Lulëzon Jagxhiu, Minister of Digitalization and Public Administration,
Honorable Mayor of the Municipality of Presheva, Ardita Sinani,
Member of Parliament from Bujanoc, Shaip Kamberi,
Honorable Ambassadors Ilir Dugolli and Blerim Reka,
Honorable Mayor,
Distinguished guests,
Brothers and sisters,
For us, it is both an honor to be here with you and a source of sorrow, because the three Bytyqi brothers, Ylli, Agron and Mehmet, who would today be around 50 years old and were not even 25 at the end of the war, are still awaiting justice, while we know the truth.
Their graves fill us with a sense of responsibility not to stop, together with the United States, as the Republic of Kosovo, until those who ordered their killing and those who carried it out are behind bars and brought to justice for this heinous crime.
Ylli, Agron and Mehmet are three martyrs of the nation; they are three Albanians, three Americans, three freedom fighters who sacrificed everything for the freedom we enjoy and for the state we have.
Each generation has a duty to do everything it can and knows how to do to carry forward the world it inherited, the Kosovo it inherited, and the Albanian cause it inherited, so that the generations to come have both better conditions and greater opportunities for further progress.
Very little begins with us, and if something ends with us, it is for other generations to tell. What is expected of us is to be as strong a link as possible in the historical chain of the Albanian nation.
We have examples of sacrifice. Now, increasingly, we have state institutions through which to achieve our common goals: development and economic growth, social and cultural progress, and the protection and security that will safeguard our territory, sovereignty, as well as our population and the rights of our citizens.
Glory to Ylli, Agron, Mehmet and all the martyrs of the Albanian nation!