Prishtina, April 19th 2019 – The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, received today the members of the “Atlantic” Battalion.
President Thaçi said that it is a particular pleasure as a fellow combatant, but as a president of the country as well as to have a very amicable and fraternal conversation with the members of the “Atlantic” Battalion, to reminiscence the memories of the past and to discuss and look towards the future.
“The fate of our country is directly linked to the exceptional and historic role and the contribution provided by the Albanian-American community in the United States of America as is generally linked to our diaspora as well. You were the core, I can freely say, of that organisation, of that massiveness, of enrolment in the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was the only way of achieving of freedom and independence and the only way to expel Serbia from Kosovo,” said President Thaçi.
Former “Atlantic” Battalion commander, Gani Shehu, stated that the journeying of the “Atlantic” was part of a decades long engagement of Albanian-American community in the United States of America.
“Direct engagement of the battalion in the war, in an organised manner carried out by the “Vendlindja Thërret” fund, and other activists of the national cause in the United States, gave it its echo, and the important support which it gave to our liberations war,” said Shehu.
The head of state told the “Atlantic” Battalion members that they have always invested in the unity and bringing together the citizens, irrespective of party or ideological affiliations, aiming the strengthening of the national movement and the war against Serbia, but also strengthening of the state of Kosovo, of the democracy, law and order and of the Euro-Atlantic perspective.
President Thaçi also pointed out that the arrival of the “Atlantic” battalion members on the 20th anniversary of the deployment in Kosovo, of the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Pashtrik and other heroic battles, is indeed a new energy for leaders of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo.