Lirjona Sylejmani: Justice for the freedom fighters, Kosovo is waiting for you

Lirjona Sylejmani, daughter of national martyr Bajram Sylejmani, said that the Kosovo Liberation Army does not represent a political slogan, but a solemn legacy left by those who fought for freedom.

During a speech at the March for Freedom, she said that she had grown up with her father’s teachings and legacy, as well as with the pride that her family is linked to two war heroes: her father, Bajram Sylejmani, and her uncle, Gursel Sylejmani.

“Today I stand before you as the daughter of a hero, an epithet I did not choose, but one that was given to me a day before I turned one. My family’s pride during the war for freedom was defined by two heroes, my father and my uncle Gursel. Although they were soldiers at different combat positions, they fell as martyrs only a few minutes apart,” Sylejmani said.

She said that they did not join the war out of a desire to fight, but because circumstances forced them to confront enslavement. “Dardania, the oldest land in the Balkans, could no longer endure enslavement. When Kosovo called them, they did not ask what they would gain, but only what they had to sacrifice. And they gave the most precious thing,” she declared.

According to Sylejmani, the KLA was the response of a people who had fought for freedom for centuries. She stressed that sacrifice came before the state, blood before the flag, and that before freedom stood the people who fought without knowing whether they would ever return.

The martyr’s daughter also spoke about the former KLA leaders being tried in The Hague: Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi.

“Today, so many years after the war and after all the sacrifices, some of the fighters of that time are in The Hague: Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi. They are facing a trial even though everything we did was to defend our homeland from aggression aimed at annihilating Albanians. Once again, the KLA’s just war is being attacked,” Sylejmani said.

She added that she believes in the sublimity of the freedom fighters, which she described as untouchable and as freedom’s very light. “I care deeply about the freedom fighters. Kosovo does not need more walls between us, but a bridge that will help us understand that the common interest must stand above every personal or party interest. Justice for the freedom fighters who are waiting in The Hague today. Kosovo is waiting for you,” she concluded.

The March for Freedom is taking place in Pristina, where thousands of citizens have gathered in support of the former KLA leaders.