Prishtina, February 21, 2020 – The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, attended today the Memorial Academy for hero Shaban Polluzha, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of his fall.
President Thaçi said that today we commemorate and honor Shaban Polluzha and all his comrades with the highest authority and highest state responsibility.
“It is in the honor of the Albanian nation to line up in the anti-fascist camp during World War II. Aligning with democratic and civilized values. The lining up in the anti-fascist bloc was a hope that the Kosovo issue would be resolved, based on the political will of the people of Kosovo. This will was expressed at the Bujan Conference. But unfortunately the dream for liberation and unification with Albania was to be killed by the Yugoslav political and military leader. This hope was also killed by the Yugoslav people installed in Kosovo”, President Thaçi said.
The Head of State stressed that Kosovo and Drenica experienced the most horrific terror and crimes of the communist dictatorship in the winter of 1944-1945.
“The three-month period: December 1944, January and February 1945, was one of the most tragic but also the most heroic periods of the Albanian people in Kosovo. A man of Drenica, at the age of 74, had decided to share the fate and lead the defenseless people. With a deliberate and clear anti-Albanian strategy, the political and military leader of Yugoslavia, with all the state apparatus, commenced the liquidation of any patriot who opposed Yugoslavia. Thousands of houses were burned, thousands of unarmed civilians were killed and massacred. On February 8, 1945, the Yugoslav leader put Kosovo under military administration, declaring an extraordinary situation”, President Thaçi said.
He added that entire Kosovo became the object of this administration, with special focus on Hasan Prishtina’s and Azem and Shotë Galica’s Drenica.
“The target of the attack was the Drenica of Commander Shaban Polluzha and Mehmet Gradica. He, at the head of a large number of warriors, decided to share the same fate with the defenseless. The resistance was extinguished with blood. After the suppression of the uprising of Shaban Polluzha, Kosovo was violently annexed by Serbia in July 1945 at the Prizren Meeting. This crime would be kept silent for a long time”, he said.
President Thaçi added that the area where the biggest anti-communist uprising after World War II took place was discriminated for five decades.
“It was discriminated with underdevelopment, with isolation, with ignorance of all the powers that were installed at that time, the Yugoslav one and the one installed in Kosovo. The name of Commander Shaban Polluzha was officially banned, but never from the bright minds and pure homeland hearts in Kosovo. History changed course and from a forbidden figure, Shaban Polluzha today takes the right place in the modern history of Kosovo”, said President Thaçi, adding that he stood by the people in all periods of history.
“He protected the Bosnian population from the Chetnik attacks in Kolasin and Novi Pazar, and is still remembered as a hero in their minds. During the period of the Turkish rule, then of the Serbian, Bulgarian, Italian and German rules, Shaban Polluzha defended Kosovo’s national interests. Even though in unfavorable historical conditions, with his fight against the chauvinistic and denationalizing aspirations of the Yugoslav communism, Shaban Polluzha became an inspiration to entire generations who were committed to the freedom and independence of Kosovo”, said President Thaçi.
The Head of State stressed that without the war of Shaban Polluzha, Mehmet Gradica and all their comrades from Drenica and all Albanian areas in Kosovo and abroad, the subsequent resistance of the National Movement of Kosovo, such as the Movement for Freedom, Independence and Union of the symbol of resistance, Adem Demaçi, the demonstrations of 68 and 81 for Republic and Independence, nor the miners’ strikes would not have happened, nor would this progress of Kosovo nor the Kosovo Liberation Army would be born, nor would Kosovo's freedom and independence have happened.
“We will always humbly commemorate the life, deed and struggle of Commander Shaban Polluzha, Mehmet Gradica and all comrades who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of Kosovo”, President Thaçi concluded.
In the framework of his constitutional powers, the President of the Republic of Kosovo today issued the “Hero of Kosovo” order to Commander Shaban Polluzha.