DR. VJOSA OSMANI SADRIU
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO
...

President Osmani’s address at the central event marking the 145th anniversary of the League of Prizren

Honourable President of Albania, Mr. Bajram Begaj, I thank you for joining us today on this great day of the Albanian Nation!

Honourable Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Konjufca!

Honourable Prime Minister Kurti,

Honourable Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo!

Representatives of the Municipality of Prizren!

Representatives of central and local institutions!

Media representatives!

Dear citizens of Prizren, the Republic of Kosovo, Albania and the Albanian lands!

 

I am honoured that today I can congratulate to everyone, to all the citizens of the Republic, and all Albanians wherever they are, the 145th anniversary of the League of Prizren, right from the place which in the memory of every Albanian symbolizes the place of the connection our permanent relationship with each other, the place of convergence and unification of Albanians towards a major goal: that of national liberation.

The League of Prizren united the Albanians of the then four Albanian vilayets and resoundingly articulated the political stance of the Albanian nation at a difficult moment in our history while the Albanian lands were in danger of being divided between Balkan neighbours, as a result of the decisions of the Treaties of St. Stephan and that of Berlin.

Precisely as an attempt to repel these goals, the Albanian patriots, who came from all over and gathered in Prizren, on June 10th 1878, demonstrated a high national awareness: they did not accept that the Albanian lands remain under occupation, but neither to fall prey to devouring neighbours. They sought to revive the state of the Albanians, as a fundamental instrument of national life. Thus, they were putting into practice the lessons left by many Albanians, De Rada first of all, for the renaissance of the nation and for their organization into an independent state unit.

The Albanian League of Prizren was also a call for reawakening and national unity at a time when the existence of this ancient nation was being threatened. It expressed clearly not only the determination of the Albanians for an independent state, as an important political instrument for the realization of their aspirations, but also their orientation towards the family and higher western civilizational values. The League, although it was called within the political framework predetermined by the Ottoman Empire, showed high political and state consciousness and turned into a powerful national platform. Thus, it laid the political platform for an independent state of the Albanians, called for a general uprising and motivated the birth of a movement which would complete the process of declaring Albania’s independence. The persistence of patriots like Abdyl Frashëri and Imer Prizreni, their clear vision for the future of the Albanian people and their determination to realize their ideas influenced the Albanians for a state and freedom.

Honourable Mr. President,

Honourable participants!

The League of Prizren, the anniversary of which we are celebrating today, has served as a permanent model by which the entire generations of intellectuals, scholars, writers and politicians have been inspired and by which other unifying projects, of the national- cultural type have originated, such as the one of the 90s for the freedom and independence of Kosovo, which marked the greatest modern project of the Albanians, the typecast of which can be found precisely in the works of our patriots, gathered in this country 145 years ago. The awareness created by the League of Prizren and the definition of western civilizational values have become permanent premises, to which we constantly return and which serve us as a source of inspiration.

Dear citizens!

In the spirit of the League of Prizren, in just two days we will mark another great achievement of the Albanian people, which is also the result of the spirit of the League of Prizren, of its consciousness, which was taken as a model and turned into a platform for political action: we will be marking the day of the liberation of Kosovo and the correction of a great injustice, which was done to the Albanians of Kosovo, by forcibly putting them under an artificial creation.

In the spirit of the League of Prizren, the scholars of that time, led by the founding father of the independent state of Kosovo Dr. Ibrahim Rugova clearly articulated the political vision for an independent state, led the Albanian people towards it, first liberating it internally and then, with the formation of the KLA and its determined struggle for liberation, as well as with the help of NATO and the allied countries, initially led and then empowered by the United States of America, we achieved the complete physical freedom of our country. So, the freedom of Kosovo came through the liberation war of the state of Kosovo, of the people of Kosovo, but also with the unconditional support of the allied countries which we still have by our side today and for which we will always be grateful. But also, as a result of extreme solidarity among the Albanians themselves, the model of which we have found precisely in the values we inherited from the League of Prizren. Similar to the time of the League, we stood in solidarity with each other and proved that freedom is unstoppable when it is the determination of the citizens of a country and when it is the determination of the will of a nation.

Congratulations on the anniversary of the League of Prizren!

May God bless the League of Prizren!

God bless our patriots!

This post is also available in: SQ SR

This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site.