Honourable Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Konjufca,
Honourable Prime Minister of the Republic, Mr. Kurti,
Honourable members of the government cabinet,
Honourable members of parliament,
Honourable Kodra family,
Honourable families of martyrs and of the fallen,
Honourable associations that emerged from the Kosovo Liberation Army war,
Honourable participants,
Today we have gathered to honor and remember the commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army for the Drenica operational area, the hero of Kosovo Ilaz Kodra, as well as the 315 martyrs and fallen who fell on April 30, 1999, in Drenica.
25 years ago, the villages of Vërboc, Shtuticë, Tërstenik, Dashec, Baks and Gllobar were subjected to the brutality of the genocidal regime of Serbia, in an offensive whose sole purpose was the extermination of Albanians and the ethnic cleansing of Albanians from Kosovo.
The inhabitants of these villages were defended by the Kosovo Liberation Army, led by the hero Ilaz Kodra and his comrades, who with bravery and courage resisted until sacrifice.
The comrade-in-arms of the legendary commander Adem Jashari, Ilaz Kodra, in this effort to protect the civilian population and to protect Kosovo from the genocidal regime of Milosheviq, fell heroically on the battlefield along with 42 fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The hero Ilaz Kodra followed the ideal of Commander Adem, considering freedom as a non-negotiable and sublime value of his people, and for that cause he was immortalized.
Ilaz Kodra had forged the dream of freedom early on, because since his youth he had been involved in patriotic activity for freedom and for the state.
As a devoted patriot, he became the right hand of Commander Adem Jashari, so together with him and many other comrades-in-arms not only founded the nuclei of the Kosovo Liberation Army, but also conducted military training in Albania to be ready to defend the homeland.
Ilaz Kodra just as he began his patriotic activity and ended it. By defending our dignity and national identity. His cause was freedom, so he fell for freedom and for the state.
It is said that a warrior does not return home, but is immortalized for freedom, and Ilaz did not return to his home, but a free and independent Kosovo was and remained his permanent home, the home for which he gave his life.
Heroes like Ilaz Kodra and all the KLA martyrs who fell in those days and throughout our entire liberation war, are more than just bronze statues through which we commemorate them. They are our eternal memory, they are the foundation on which our state was built, they are our pride and they are the inspiration and guide of our every action.
They remind us of the highest ideals of honour, duty and sacrifice, and therefore inspire us every day to move forward.
Their bravery, sacrifice and unwavering dedication to the cause of liberation are forever etched in our hearts and minds, and we will ensure that it remains so for the generations to come.
In the face of the criminal regime of Serbia, Ilaz Kodra and his comrades stood firm to fight for the ideals of freedom, justice and state dignity. They proved that even in the darkest times, light triumphs. They proved that against tyranny, courage and determination to defend the homeland and freedom always triumph.
They proved that the fight for freedom was our right, we defended the threshold of the house, we defended Kosovo, we defended the dignity of our people.
So today, thanks to Ilaz Kodra and over 3 thousand martyrs of the KLA, we are free, we are in our home, we are in our Republic, a sovereign and independent state.
They are proof of our just struggle and the reaffirmation of our truth, that in the 90s Kosovo was a victim of Serbian aggression, while Serbia was the aggressor.
We will always speak and defend this truth, and we will work hard to ensure that justice is done.
Hero Ilaz Kodra and other KLA martyrs will continue to be not only guides, but also inspirations on how the homeland should be loved and should be defended.
We will preserve their legacy with pride and determination, just like the freedom for which they fell.
Glory to all KLA martyrs!
May the memory of hero Ilaz Kodra be eternal, as well as all martyrs and those who fell for the freedom of Kosovo!
