DioGuardi Urges Caution Over Kosovo’s Future

Former U.S. Congressman Joe DioGuardi and his wife, activist Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, have officially been granted citizenship of the Republic of Kosovo. At a special ceremony, the citizenship decrees were presented to them by Kosovo’s acting president, Albulena Haxhiu.

Speaking after the ceremony, Haxhiu said she considered it a particular honor to grant citizenship to two figures who, she said, had supported Kosovo’s cause for decades. She said that, in her capacity as acting president, she was pleased to grant them citizenship of the Republic of Kosovo and welcomed them to their second country, thanking them both.

In her address, Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi highlighted her and Joe DioGuardi’s many years of work for Kosovo, as well as the activities of the Albanian American Civic League.

She singled out Joe DioGuardi’s trip to Belgrade in 1989, when he denounced in the United States the oppression and repression endured by Kosovo Albanians under Slobodan Milosevic’s regime.

According to her, DioGuardi raised the alarm over the risks of the situation in Kosovo as early as 1989. U.S. congressional records also show that he was among the voices warning about Kosovo after Milosevic had curtailed its autonomy.

Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi said their commitment continued for many years, until Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008.

She also mentioned their work in The Hague, where they advocated in support of Kosovo Albanians who, after the war, had faced imprisonment and persecution.

She stressed that their joint presence at this moment served as an opportunity to look back at history and remember the efforts required to bring down Slobodan Milosevic. According to her, in 2026, decisions can now be made about how to move forward.

Cloyes DioGuardi described the ceremony as a continuation of work begun decades earlier, emphasizing that Kosovo and its Albanians had been at the center of their political and diplomatic engagement.

Meanwhile, Joe DioGuardi spoke about the long journey that led to the creation of the state of Kosovo, as well as the challenges the country faces today, in his view.

He said that Kosovo’s formation as a state had been an extremely complex process. DioGuardi said that after the new state called Kosovo had been created, the nation called Kosovo now needed to be built, because a state alone is not enough; a nation is also needed.

DioGuardi expressed concern over current political and institutional developments, saying Kosovo must exercise caution during this period.

He stated that this nation is under attack from the enemies of the Albanian people.

Referring to the situation created after the elections, DioGuardi said that institutional developments could open the way for legal arguments that call into question the functioning of the state of Kosovo. He added that, although he did not wish to put it in those terms, caution must be exercised.

In his speech, he also recalled his engagement in The Hague and efforts to secure the release of Kosovo Albanians who, he said, had been imprisoned because of their resistance to Milosevic’s regime.

He also mentioned a book published in 1992, during the period when he had left the U.S. Congress. According to DioGuardi, the publication documents his activities and was prepared on the basis of his archives.

Joe DioGuardi was a U.S. congressman from 1985 to 1989. He later became directly involved in lobbying for the Albanian cause, with a particular focus on Kosovo. U.S. congressional documents identify him as the founder and president of the Albanian American Civic League, and show that he had raised the Kosovo issue in Congress since the late 1980s.

Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi has also testified before the U.S. Congress on the Kosovo issue and has served as an adviser on Balkan affairs at the Albanian American Civic League. In her testimony before Congress, she has argued for years for Kosovo’s rights and status.