Thank you very much!
Honorable President Begaj
Honorable Prime Minister Kurti,
Honorable President Sejdiu,
Honorable President of the Academy, Mr. Kraja
Honorable President of the Academy of Sciences of Albania, Mr. Gjinushi,
Esteemed academicians,
Representatives of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo as well as representatives from academies of countries in the region and all of Europe,
Honorable participants,
The Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts is the center where our political thought was shaped and the institution where the ideas that gave direction, meaning and foundation to our state were born.
For five decades, Kosovo academics have worked in extremely difficult circumstances from time to time, but the goal was to protect the language, protect the culture and above all to protect the national interest.
They have contributed to political, educational and cultural formation and have connected our country with world centers of knowledge, they have articulated ideas that have given meaning to our path to a society of values and a modern state integrated into Euro-Atlantic institutions.
At every stage of our history, the Academy has been one of the institutions that has not given up. Studies, archives, publications, literary and artistic creativity have also kept our dream of freedom and state alive.
Therefore, on this jubilee anniversary, we remember with gratitude all those who gave their toil and sweat, and many of them even their lives, so that we can move forward as a free state. We remember with gratitude the first president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Esad Mekuli, a personality who left an indelible mark.
With his creative vision and civic courage, Esad Mekuli established the Academy as an institution where free speech and thought became the foundation of our cultural identity.
In our national history, the word “academy” carries a special, but also ancient, weight.
This longstanding institution is a symbol of our centuries-old effort for knowledge and culture, to raise free thought and to preserve it in even the most difficult times.
In line with these efforts is the work of academician Gazmend Zajmi, who, beyond his commitment as president and vice president of the Academy, made an irreplaceable contribution to establishing the legal foundations of our state.
As the drafter of the Constitution of Kaçanik, but also of the Constitutional Declaration of July 2, 1990, academician Zajmi built the legal foundations of our state together with many, many other contributors. His figure is the direct link between academic thought and the project of the state of Kosovo.
With such profiles, our Academy served as the place where our future as a people was projected, strongly mobilized in the cause of rights, in the cause of dignity, in our fight for freedom, independence and statehood.
It is no coincidence that the historic President, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, elected a corresponding member in 1996, was also part of this Academy.
The work in this Academy constituted one of the strongest foundations of his political and national commitment as the Founding Father of our Republic.
President Rugova gave our politics the depth of cultivated thought as well as a clear vision. He turned intellectual thought into a democratic tool, a state-building and peace-building tool.
Therefore, names like these and many others prove that the Academy has always been the place where the intellectual elite has given meaning to our centuries-old aspirations for freedom and independence.
This rich heritage guides us even today, because our Academy integrates tradition into the global academic space.
Fifty years of the Academy’s existence are proof of the power of knowledge. Because when we talk about knowledge, we talk about the state. There can never be a strong state without strong science, just as there can be no modern society without academics who lead free, critical and far-sighted thought. The Academy is among the institutions that give the state its very substance.
On this anniversary, we honor each academic who has contributed to this institution. We thank entire generations who made the survival of knowledge possible in the most difficult conditions. We support those who today bear the burden of scientific and cultural development, orienting the country towards the highest academic standards.
Today, when our society moves at a fast pace and the challenges are increasingly complex, the role of the Academy of Sciences becomes even more vital. Academics are the critical conscience of our state, our most valuable advisors and guides of contemporary thought.
The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo and the Academy of Sciences of Albania are sisters in this common mission and for this reason cooperation should be intensified every day, strengthening the national and regional role of knowledge and science.
Both Academies have historically had a role that goes beyond institutional boundaries. They have been and remain bridges that connect our cultural, linguistic and scientific space, preservers of our national memory and bearers of our vision for the future.
In this mission, inter-academic cooperation is essential, when joint projects enrich both sides of the border and when our academies speak with a common voice about the challenges that our nation faces today. The impact of knowledge is indispensable for the orientation of our societies, so the intensification of cooperation between the Academy of Kosovo and that of Albania remains one of the most strategic investments that we can make as an Albanian nation.
Dear academicians,
The role of the Academy today has acquired an extraordinary complexity. Historians, linguists and researchers are guardians of accuracy in an era where information is endlessly distributed, but the truth often remains rare. Academics are the interpreters, but also the defenders of this truth. And, as defenders of a future in a time when technology moves faster than imagination, they bear the burden of responsibility to orient knowledge towards the values and ethics that make for a stable and free society.
In this context, the Academy has an irreplaceable mission in preserving collective memory and in protecting the historical truth about the crimes committed by the genocidal regime of Serbia in Kosovo. As an institution of knowledge and scientific authority, full of people who gave everything for the homeland, the Academy will produce verified studies, supported by evidence and sustainable methodologies, to further rigorously document the facts, dimensions and nature of the genocide committed in Kosovo by Serbia. In this way, the Academy prevents the distortion of history, protects the dignity of the victims and the just war of the Kosovo Liberation Army and, above all, provides the generations that will come after us with an unbreakable foundation of our historical truth. Our truth is known worldwide. In the 1990s, we fought for freedom, independence and statehood, while Serbia was the aggressor. We will defend this truth today and forever together with each of you.
Honorable academicians,
On behalf of the Republic of Kosovo, I thank you for half a century of your work, dedication and service. A special thanks goes to the women engaged in this Academy, for their work, for their tireless commitment and often for their extraordinary sacrifices in very difficult times. I thank those who founded this institution, those who led it with integrity and those who today lead it forward with vision.
Congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts!
Congratulations on half a century of knowledge, culture and your dedication to shaping our state and national identity!
Thank you!
