‘Tirana cannot give you freedom, but it can honor you’ — Veliaj proposes from prison naming the four KLA leaders Honorary Citizens of Tirana

In a statement from detention, Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj says the Hague verdict against the four former KLA leaders has shaken him deeply, while stressing that the legal process must run its course.

According to Veliaj, honoring them by Tirana does not aim to replace justice with politics or to tell the court what to decide, but to express, as he puts it, gratitude for the historic contribution of the four former KLA leaders in Kosovo’s journey toward freedom and statehood.

Veliaj also calls on the mayors and municipal councils of other Albanian cities to take similar initiatives. In the statement, he also touches on his personal situation, saying that for 19 months he has been in isolation with no real possibility of exercising his mandate as Mayor of Tirana.

But, according to Veliaj, Kosovo’s cause and the memory of its war for freedom are greater than his personal drama. “Tirana unfortunately cannot give you freedom. But Tirana must honor you,” Veliaj says, closing the statement with the message that Thaçi, Veseli, Krasniqi and Selimi should, in his view, be the honor of the capital.

The full statement of Erion Veliaj:

“Honored citizens of the Republic of Albania, dear citizens of Tirana, dear Albanians wherever you are.

I have been in isolation for 19 months. Nineteen months without the real possibility of exercising the constitutional mandate that the citizens of Tirana entrusted to me with a historic record of votes.

Only a few days ago another judicial decision was taken that was an institutional blow to local democracy. Naturally, you might have expected me to speak to you about this today.

But there are moments in a person’s life when their personal drama becomes small before a national cause.

The decision given in The Hague against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi has shaken me deeply. Of course the legal process has its own course and justice must follow its procedures and standards to the end. But we Albanians also have the responsibility to remember.

To remember how Kosovo’s freedom came after decades of repression, pain and resistance, after families expelled from their homes, lost lives and extraordinary sacrifices, after the decision of a people to no longer accept that its fate be determined by others. In that history, the Kosovo Liberation Army has its glorious place, as do its soldiers Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.

They are four men whom history placed in one of Kosovo’s most difficult and most decisive chapters. I have lived and worked in Kosovo, I know Hashim closely…

Therefore today I want Tirana to speak. Tirana is not only the capital of the Republic of Albania, but the center of Albanianness. For this reason, in my capacity as Mayor of Tirana, I will propose to the Municipal Council that: Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi be declared Honorary Citizens of Tirana.

Certainly not to replace justice with politics. Not to tell a court what to decide. But to exercise our city’s right to express its gratitude and appreciation for their historic contribution in Kosovo’s journey toward freedom and statehood.

Tirana unfortunately cannot give you freedom. But Tirana must honor you.

And from Tirana I want to address the mayors and municipal councils of other Albanian cities, to honor like Tirana. Because these four men are not part of the history of just one city. They are not part of the history of Kosovo and, through it, of our Albanian history. Let us show their families that they are not alone. Let us show the Albanians of Kosovo that Albania does not forget Kosovo. Let us show the generations to come that a society can respect justice and, at the same time, preserve its historical memory.

Therefore today, from the place where I am, I want to say to Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi: Your legal process will continue. Justice will follow its course. But our memory will also follow its own. We will not forget the Kosovo of repression and expulsions. We will not forget those who lost their lives. We will not forget the families who sacrificed everything and we will not forget the contribution of those who took responsibility in war and later in building the state of Kosovo.

I may be today behind a closed door, but it is precisely here that I have understood even better something very simple: freedom is one of those words whose full weight you understand even more strongly when you lack it. Perhaps that is why today I feel Kosovo even closer. Because its history reminds us that freedom does not become eternal just because it was won once. It is preserved. It is defended. It is remembered. It is honored.

For those who did not live to see its day. For the families who paid its price. For all those who fought and worked for it. For Kosovo. For freedom. For our national memory. They should and will be the honor of our capital, Tirana.

Erion Veliaj

Mayor of Tirana“