Prishtina, 1 July, 2026
Honorable Ms. Saranda Bogujevci, Minister of Culture and Tourism,
Honorable Mr. Andin Hoti, Minister of Labor, Family and Values of the Liberation War,
Honorable Mr. Atdhe Hetemi, Director of the Institute for War Crimes in Kosovo,
Honorable Professor, Arben Hajrullahu, Rector of the University of Prishtina,
Honorable representatives of institutions,
Honorable representatives of civil society,
Honorable attendees,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome all to our meeting today to discuss the necessity of documenting the crimes committed during the war in Kosovo and building a credible state record for its victims.
This duty of ours is related to memory, justice, the dignity of the victims and the way the Republic of Kosovo builds its relationship with the past and the future.
Our people have experienced war, expulsion, massacres, systematic violence, enforced disappearances and organized destruction. These are not distant memories or topics that can be closed with the passage of time. They are historical, political and human facts that have determined the lives of thousands of families and our state’s path to freedom.
Serbia’s crimes in Kosovo, the genocidal nature and scale of state violence and the attempt to undo the Albanian presence in our country, require serious, institutional and ongoing treatment. It is not enough for us to know what happened. We must document it, we must verify it, and we must preserve it. We must make it accessible for justice, but also for the generations that will come after us.
With this conviction, in November 2023, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo established the Institute for War Crimes in Kosovo.
For more than two decades, important work has been done by institutions, local and international organizations, researchers, activists, victims’ families, and people who have preserved testimonies, often under very difficult conditions. That work deserves recognition. The Institute was built on that foundation. Its task is to strengthen, systematize, and institutionalize this heritage. The Institute, in addition to being a state structure, also represents our collective conscience, turning pain into memory, memory into testimony, testimony as a condition for justice, and justice as the foundation of peace.
The state cannot rely solely on individual memories, no matter how numerous and good they may be. Memory is precious, but it must be protected by documents. Names, dates, places, testimonies, sources, archives and evidence must be linked in a reliable system. Only in this way can the truth become stable against denial, relativization and propaganda.
Our northern neighbor, a self-proclaimed enemy of the Republic and our people, continues not to face its genocidal past. For this reason, our work must be even more precise. The stronger the documentation, the weaker the lie becomes. The clearer the evidence, the more difficult it becomes to erase responsibility. The more serious our state, the stronger our truth becomes in the international arena.
Today’s meeting is of particular importance, because the preliminary list of victims of the war in Kosovo is being presented. This list is the result of a more than two-year process of collecting, comparing and verifying data. In this work, accuracy has a special weight. Each name on this list represents a life lost, a family affected and a part of our history. Therefore, each piece of data must be treated with care. Respect for the victims is not expressed only in words; it is also expressed in the seriousness with which the state documents the names, the circumstances and the truth about their fate.
Documentation is also important for justice. Crimes committed during the war cannot remain only in memory. They must be part of files, archives, investigations, justice processes and institutional work to fully clarify what happened. A state that seeks justice must build the factual basis for it. This basis is built with research, documentation and sustainable verification.
Kosovo is committed to peace, security and regional cooperation. However, sustainable peace and security for all require facing the truth. Denying crimes, relativizing responsibility and hiding data on forcibly disappeared persons do not serve peace, justice, security or the future of the region. Serbia must confront the crimes committed in Kosovo, open the archives and act in the spirit of repentance and cooperation, to which it is obligated by the Brussels Declaration of May 2, 2023. Concealing crimes through their classification for decades does not serve the normalization of relations, cooperation or peace in the region.
The Republic of Kosovo will continue to do its part seriously. It will document, research, verify and preserve the state memory based on facts. This is a long-term process, which requires stable institutions, cooperation between sectors and continuous commitment.
Our goal is clear: what our people have experienced must be preserved with dignity, documented accurately and serve for justice, become knowledge for future generations and our collective memory. The truth needs evidence, institutions and determination.
Thank you all for your presence, for the work you have done so far and for the contribution you will make to this process.