The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, said that today, on the 27th anniversary of the Qyshk Massacre, we respectfully commemorate the martyrs of Qyshk, Zahaq and Pavlan, 82 Albanian civilians killed on May 14th 1999, by Serbian forces.
“That morning, Qyshk, Zahaq and Pavlan were hit as part of an organized operation by Serbian military, police and paramilitary forces. Women, children and the elderly were expelled from their homes, while the men were separated, robbed, locked in their homes and killed. Afterwards, the houses were burned to cover up the traces of the crime,” said the Acting President Haxhiu.
She further added that in these villages unarmed people were hit, residents and visitors who may have been caught there by the war.
“Lives were lost, entire families were affected, houses were burned and Albanian civilians were expelled from their lands.
Qyshk, Zahaq and Pavlan remain evidential proof of a planned cruelty, of a state apparatus that turned the killing of Albanians into a method of war and expulsion into a political goal”, stated Acting President Haxhiu.
According to her, justice for these massacres is an obligation towards the families, towards the survivors and towards our Republic.
“May the memory of the martyrs of Qyshk, Zahaq and Pavlan be eternal”, said Acting President Haxhiu.
