Acting President Haxhiu attended the official reception hosted by the President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, before the opening ceremony of the Mediterranean Games
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, attended today the official reception hosted by the President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, before the opening ceremony of the Mediterranean Games. “In the Aragonese Castle, in an atmosphere that brought together representatives of the Mediterranean countries, sport was once again a bridge of friendship, rapprochement and cooperation”, emphasized Acting President Haxhiu. At the end, Acting President Haxhiu thanked President Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for the warm hospitality.
Acting President Haxhiu in Taranto for the opening ceremony of the “Taranto 2026” Mediterranean Games
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, travelled to Italy today, where she will attend the opening ceremony of the “Taranto 2026” Mediterranean Games. Acting President Haxhiu will also attend a reception hosted by the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, for the heads of state and high-level representatives of the countries participating in the Games. At these Games, Kosovo is competing in 17 individual sports and four team sports, with a total of 163 athletes, the largest number with which Kosovo has been represented at the Mediterranean Games to date. The Taranto edition is of particular significance for Kosovo also for the fact that the next edition of the Mediterranean Games will be held in Prishtina in 2030.
Acting President Haxhiu received the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves
Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, received the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, with whom she discussed the latest political developments and the institutional situation in the country. The need for political dialogue and efforts to find a way out of the current institutional impasse, in order for institutions to be formed as soon as possible and for the country to move forward in accordance with the constitutional order, were discussed at the meeting. Acting President Haxhiu also praised the continued support of the United Kingdom for Kosovo and its role as an important partner of our country.
Acting President Haxhiu hosted today the participants of the 44th International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, hosted today the participants of the 44th International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture, among them researchers, representatives of Albanian historical communities and long-time collaborators of the Seminar from Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria, Austria and Syria. Acting President Haxhiu said that many of them have been coming to Prishtina for the Seminar for years and that, in places where they live and work, have shown their dedication to the Albanian language, literature and culture. “I particularly praised their work for the preservation and cultivation of the Albanian language and heritage, as well as their cooperation with Albanology centers and Albanian communities abroad. We talked about the preservation of the Arbëresh and Arbënesh dialects, the strengthening of Albanian studies in European universities, the digitalization of linguistic heritage and place the Albanian language in technology and artificial intelligence”, emphasized Acting President Haxhiu. At the end, Acting President Haxhiu thanked them for the many years of work they have done for the Albanian language and culture.
Acting President Haxhiu received the new Head of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Mr. Antero Lopes
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, received today the new Head of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Mr. Antero Lopes. “I praised the role of EULEX in supporting the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo in the field of the rule of law, monitoring the justice system, as well as engagement in issues of particular importance, such as the treatment of cases of violence against women and domestic violence”, emphasized Acting President Haxhiu. Acting President Haxhiu expressed her readiness to continue the cooperation. “I wished Mr. Lopes success in his new tenure, expressing the conviction that our cooperation will continue to contribute to strengthening the rule of law and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo”, said Acting President Haxhiu.
Acting President Haxhiu received the credentials of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Kosovo, Åsa Pehrson
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, in an official ceremony, received today the credentials of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to the Republic of Kosovo, Åsa Pehrson. “Highly praising the continuous support that Sweden has provided to Kosovo over the years, I reiterated the readiness of the Republic of Kosovo to further deepen the cooperation between our two countries, in areas of common interest,” said Acting President Haxhiu. Acting President Haxhiu wished Ambassador Pehrson success in her new diplomatic tenure, expressing her confidence that during her mandate she will contribute to the further strengthening of the excellent relations between Kosovo and Sweden. “I wish you a pleasant stay in the Republic of Kosovo,” stated Acting President Haxhiu.
Acting President Haxhiu: The history of Rrustë Kabashi is closely linked to Prizren
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, participated today at the Memorial Academy held for Rrustë Kabashi. In her address to the participants, Acting President Haxhiu said that the history of Rrustë Kabashi is closely linked to Prizren and to the time when Albanians, after the League of Prizren, continued to look for ways to organize and oppose Ottoman rule. Acting President Haxhiu further said that he dedicated more than thirty years of his life to the struggle for freedom, until on August 18, 1910, he was sentenced to hanging right here, in Prizren. “Rrustë Kabashi had politically matured during the time of the Albanian League of Prizren and belonged to the generation that, even after its suppression, did not give up organizing and opposing. As early as the beginning of 1880, he had commenced his patriotic activity. In Zojz, in 1882, he was among the organizers of the assembly where the Ottoman administration was openly opposed. Two years later, Rrustë Kabashi led the resistance in Podrimë and the surroundings of Prizren. When even persecution and imprisonment did not stop him, the Ottoman authorities extended the punishment to his family and property. The towers of the village leaders of Kabash were burned, their property was confiscated, while the family members were forcibly sent to Prizren, as a means of pressure to force the leaders to surrender”, said Acting President Haxhiu. Acting President Haxhiu further said that Rrustë Kabashi did not retreat; on the contrary, years of persecution and resistance strengthened his authority among the people of the province, to the point that the Ottoman government sometimes pursued him and sometimes was forced to negotiate with him. “He continued to participate in assemblies and be among the leaders who organized the opposition, maintaining for years the influence he had gained among his people. When the Young Turks came to power in 1908, hopes for change quickly faded. The policies of disarmament, persecution, and military interventions in Kosovo brought new clashes, and Rrustë Kabashi again ranked among those who opposed them. In the wave of repression that followed the 1910 uprising, he was brought before the military court in Prizren; he was sentenced to death,” said Acting President Haxhiu. According to Acting President Haxhiu, his death did not foreclose the memory of him, adding further that the name of Rrustë Kabashi remained in songs, in Prizren and in Kabash, and was passed down through generations as the name of a man who for most of his life did not retreat from opposition to Ottoman rule. “One hundred and sixteen years later, we remember Rrustë Kabashi in a free and independent Kosovo. He did not have the opportunity to live at a time when Albanians would decide for themselves about their country. Still, the effort to which he dedicated his life belongs to the same long history that, after many generations and many sacrifices, brought us to our state. Therefore, it is significant that today, precisely in Prizren, where he was convicted and hanged, Rrustë Kabashi is commemorated and honored by the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo and by its citizens”, said U.D. President Haxhiu. In the end, Acting President Haxhiu said that time has turned the place of his punishment into a place of his honor.
Acting President Haxhiu: responsibility for the solution is shared, hence responsibility, dialogue and an agreement that serves the common interest are needed
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, met today with the leaders of political entities that responded to her invitation for consultations. Acting President Haxhiu thanked them for their participation and their willingness to seek together a solution to the political situation. “Positions are known and political differences exist. But precisely when differences are great, dialogue becomes a necessity,” said Acting President Haxhiu. She further said that for the President, we need a broader agreement than what is required for the formation of other institutions. “We all know this and we have neither reason nor time to postpone until the last day what, in the end, we must sit down and agree upon. The fact that the country does not need new elections and that all parties have a responsibility to contribute to an agreement for a consensual President was reiterated at the meeting. This responsibility cannot be delegated or avoided,” said Acting President Haxhiu. According to her, refusing or boycotting meetings is not a path to agreement. “Disagreement is legitimate, but avoiding dialogue does not solve anything. If someone believes that there is another path, then they must clearly explain where that path leads and what solution it offers for the country,” said Acting President Haxhiu. She further added that we cannot expect to agree before sitting down to talk. If that were the case, according to her, dialogue would have no meaning. “The responsibility for the solution is shared, therefore we need accountability, dialogue and an agreement that serves the common interest,” said Acting President Haxhiu.
Acting President Haxhiu’s address at the opening ceremony of the 44th International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture
Honourable Seminar leaders, Honourable professors, scholars and Albanologists, Dear seminarians, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a special pleasure to be with you today at the opening of the 44th International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture. In periods when Albanians lacked their own institutions, Albanian language remained one of the main forms of our cultural and political continuity. The right to education, to knowledge, to expression and to participation in public life have also been linked to it. Therefore, the history of the Albanian language in Kosovo cannot be separated from the political history, which, in different periods, has also determined its place in public life. Many of us have lived through a time when Albanian language was excluded from schools and universities, from television and the press, and when its use in public life was limited by the government itself. Today, inequalities between languages no longer necessarily appear in this form. Languages that have large corpora, that have a long tradition of digitization and strong technological support enjoy a superiority that is not only related to the number of speakers, but also to the amount of material that exists in digital form. Therefore, even when languages are equal before the law, they are not necessarily equal in the spaces where knowledge is produced and circulated. Our experience makes us particularly sensitive to this. It would not be progress if the former linguistic hierarchies were to disappear from the law, only to return to technology. For more than fifty years, people who have worked for Albanian language in universities and Albanological centers at home and abroad have gathered around this Seminar. Here, students have been trained, stories and materials from the field have been collected, archives have been opened, studies have been written and works have been translated that have brought Albanian literature to other readers. Many of these works have required years and have continued far from the halls of the Seminar, in universities, institutes, libraries and archives. From them, Albanian has gained researchers, readers and an academic presence even outside the countries where it is spoken. With the displacement of an increasingly large part of knowledge into the digital environment, this work is also related to the presence that Albanian will have there. Our academic, Idriz Ajeti, also saw language as a connection that overcomes geographical divisions. “Regardless of our geographical spread, we will bring together across borders not only the idea, but above all the people who speak the same language”, he said. Professor Ajeti had in mind the political borders that had separated the speakers of the same language. Meanwhile, digital communication has made the relationship between language and space itself more complicated. The linguistic repertoire of the individual no longer necessarily coincides with the geography of the place where he lives. This relationship between language and space was well known to Robert Elsie, the Albanologist and translator, who linked his path to Albanology early on with this Seminar. He translated Albanian poets and prose writers, from ancient literature to contemporary authors, collected and recorded speeches in more than 150 locations, searched archives for forgotten texts and documents, and tracked down early photographs of Albanian regions. He made a large part of the material he collected accessible on the Internet, taking it out of the archive and putting it in the hands of researchers and readers wherever they were. Among the themes you have chosen this year, the one about the physical, metaphysical and surreal homeland seems particularly fitting to me, because it touches on the relationship between place and belonging. Homeland has a geography, but belonging does not end there. Territory remains one of the fundamental ways we understand homeland, but not the only way we experience it. Literature has proven this especially through the experience of exile, where the country left behind continues to live in memory and in language. Today, this separation can also occur without exile. Closer contact with other languages expands the conceptual fund of the Albanian language and creates new registers and forms of expression. But, in fields where knowledge, technology or cultural production are developed mainly in another language, the use of Albanian may begin to narrow. Albanian cannot remain a language of the past in a world that is building the future with algorithms. In these new spaces, Albanian literature also meets a different reader. The writer can no longer count on the reader sharing the same canon, the same cultural memory or the same horizon of references. Among you there are also seminarians who have learned Albanian as a second or third language and who approach Albanian literature from other literary traditions. You read the Albanian text with a different linguistic and cultural experience and, in many cases, you then take it to your universities, studies, translations and languages. This too changes the circle of readers of Albanian literature and the way it is read outside the language in which it was written. Honourable participants, We who make public decisions must also learn from your work. You, who study Albanian language, document it, enrich it through the creation of translations and follow its changes with the means of science, have the authority to show us where it is gaining ground, where it is losing functions and what must not be neglected. For our part, we will be available whenever this work requires institutional support, whether for research, digitization, publication, translation or for the development of new tools for the Albanian language. I wish you successful proceeds at the 44th International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture. Welcome to Prishtina! Thank you!
Acting President Haxhiu: Albanian cannot remain a language of the past in a world that is building the future with algorithms
The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, participated today in the opening ceremony of the 44th International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture. In her address to the participants, Acting President Haxhiu said that in periods when Albanians lacked their own institutions, Albanian language remained one of the main forms of our cultural and political continuity, adding that the right to education, knowledge, expression and participation in public life were also linked to it. Therefore, according to her, the history of Albanian language in Kosovo cannot be separated from political history, which, in different periods, has also determined its place in public life. “Many of us have lived through a time when Albanian language was excluded from schools and universities, from television and the press, and when its use in public life was limited by the government itself. Today, inequalities between languages no longer necessarily appear in this form. Languages that have large corpora, that have a long tradition of digitalization and strong technological support enjoy an advantage that is not only related to the number of speakers, but also to the amount of material that exists in digital form. Therefore, even when languages are equal before the law, they are not necessarily equal in the spaces where knowledge is produced and circulated”, said Acting President Haxhiu. Acting President Haxhiu further said that our experience makes us particularly sensitive to this, adding that it would not be progress if the former linguistic hierarchies were to disappear from the law, only to return to technology. “For more than fifty years, people who have worked for Albanian language in universities and Albanological centres at home and abroad have gathered around this Seminar. Students have been trained here, speeches and materials from the field have been collected, archives have been opened, studies have been written and works have been translated that have brought Albanian literature to other readers. Many of these works have required years and have continued far from the halls of the Seminar, in universities, institutes, libraries and archives. From them, Albanian language has gained researchers, readers and an academic presence even outside the countries where it is spoken. With the displacement of an increasingly large part of knowledge into the digital environment, this work is also related to the presence that Albanian language will have there. Our academic, Idriz Ajeti, also saw language as a connection that overcomes geographical divisions. “Regardless of our geographical spread, we will bring together across borders not only the idea, but above all the people who speak a language”, he said”, emphasized Acting President Haxhiu. She said that Professor Ajeti was considering the political boundaries that had separated speakers of the same language, while according to the Acting President, digital communication has made the very relationship between language and space more complicated. According to her, the linguistic repertoire of the individual no longer necessarily coincides with the geography of the place where he lives. “This relationship between language and space was well known to Robert Elsie, the Albanologist and translator, who linked his path to Albanology early on with this Seminar. He translated Albanian poets and prose writers, from ancient literature to contemporary authors, collected and recorded speeches in more than 150 locations, searched archives for forgotten texts and documents, and tracked down early photographs of Albanian regions. A large part of the material he collected was made accessible on the internet, taking it out of the archive and putting it in the hands of researchers and readers wherever they were”, stated Acting President Haxhiu. Acting President Haxhiu further added that among the topics you have chosen this year, the one about the physical, metaphysical, and surreal homeland seems particularly appropriate to me, because it touches on the relationship between place and belonging. “The homeland has a geography, but belonging does not end there. Territory remains one of the fundamental ways we understand the homeland, but not the only way we experience it. Literature has proven this especially through the experience of exile, where the country left behind continues to live in memory and language. Today, this separation can occur even without exile. Closer contact with other languages expands the conceptual fund of Albanian language and creates new registers and forms of expression. But, in fields where knowledge, technology or cultural production are developed mainly in another language, the use of Albanian may begin to narrow. Albanian cannot remain a language of the past in a world that is building the future with algorithms”, emphasized Acting President Haxhiu. In these new spaces, according to Acting President Haxhiu, Albanian literature also meets a different reader. “The writer can no longer count on the reader sharing the same canon, the same cultural memory or the same horizon of references. Among you there are also seminarians who have learned Albanian as a second or third language and who approach Albanian literature from other literary traditions. You read the Albanian text with a different linguistic and cultural experience and, in many cases, you then take it to your universities, studies, translations and languages. This also changes the circle of readers of Albanian literature and the way it is read outside the language in which it was written”, affirmed Acting President Haxhiu. In the end, Acting President Haxhiu said that we who make public decisions should also learn from your work. “You, who study Albanian language, document it, enrich it through creation and translation and follow its changes with the tools of science, have the authority to show us where it is gaining ground, where it is losing functions and what must not be neglected. For our part, we will be available whenever this work requires institutional support, whether for research, digitalization, publication, translation or for the development of new tools for Albanian”, said Acting President Haxhiu in her address.