Wherever I go, Albanians insist on treating me – Wesley Clark: “I feel part of the family; history begins with courage”

Former NATO general Wesley Clark spoke about his bond with Albanians, the courage of the resistance in Kosovo, and the experiences in Rwanda and Bosnia that shaped his determination never to allow such atrocities to be repeated, during a gala evening in the United States organized by the Albanian-American Relations Council.

Prime Minister Edi Rama also attended the event, where Clark was honored with an award.

In his speech, he said the recognition carried a meaning that went beyond the ceremony: the feeling of being part of the Albanian community.

“I just want to tell you how honored I am to receive this award, but it is more than that: it is being part of your community. Whenever I travel, wherever I go, there is always someone from Albania. I feel part of the family,” Clark said.

He recounted how Albanians greet him in restaurants and airports, in Europe and in the United States, reminding him of Kosovo and often insisting on treating him. On one occasion, he said, a man had greeted him with the call “UÇK” (KLA), while on another a waiter had brought him dessert with a greeting for Kosovo.

Clark also mentioned a dinner at Café Milano, where a person from Kosovo had approached him to meet him and had insisted he not pay.

“There was someone from Kosovo to greet us and to tell us: ‘No, no, you cannot pay for dinner. You cannot pay for dinner,'” he recalled, adding humorously that they had then left the waitress a good tip.

For Clark, these encounters are also testimony to the importance the events of 1999 continue to hold for Albanians.

“I know, because you have shown me, how much those events of 1999 would mean to you. They will mean a lot to me too,” he said.

Turning to NATO’s intervention, Clark recounted a conversation with an ambassador of Kosovo, whom he referred to by the name Flora, about organizing a commemorative dinner on March 24. He had asked her why the date of the start of the bombing had been chosen rather than that of its end in June.

“She said: ‘Because when I heard the sound of NATO planes, I knew we would be saved,'” Clark recalled.

The former general then placed at the center the courage and determination of the Albanians themselves. He mentioned Adem Jashari and the first people who fought against Serb domination in Kosovo, stressing that they paid a price for the freedom that many people in the West took for granted.

“History begins with courage. It begins with your courage and determination, with faith in your civilization, your language, your culture, your families,” he said.

Clark attributed the changes of that period to the dedication of the people who resisted, and urged those present to preserve the memory of the unity that made that change possible.

“It was your courage, your dedication that made all these events of 1999 happen. Not mine, yours,” he said.

Clark devoted part of his speech to the international climate after the end of the Cold War. He recalled the uncertainty his generation had grown up with, the fear of nuclear confrontation, and the sudden change brought by the fall of the Berlin Wall. According to him, the years that followed were accompanied in the West by the belief that democracy, human rights, and individual freedoms had triumphed.

It was precisely in that period, Clark said, that the courage of the people in the Balkans drove change and found international support. He recalled the engagement of peacekeepers in Croatia and Bosnia, as well as the diplomatic efforts of 1995, when he had been involved in negotiations together with Richard Holbrooke.

Clark said that during the talks they had also raised the issue of Kosovo with Slobodan Milošević, but he had refused to discuss it.

“We talked with Milošević about Kosovo. He said: ‘No, it is mine. I will not talk about this,'” he recounted.

In the closing part, Clark spoke about the impact the massacres in Rwanda and the testimonies of atrocities in Bosnia had had on him. He said that, while serving at the Pentagon, he had drafted a plan for intervention in Rwanda, but, according to him, the proposal had been stopped by his superior and had never reached President Bill Clinton.

“I lived with the guilt of this,” Clark said, linking that experience to the determination he later felt in the face of violence in the Balkans.

He also recalled the shock from testimonies about the torture of civilians in Bosnia, including children. Clark said these experiences had pushed him to make a personal pledge: to act whenever he had the chance to stop such atrocities.

“I told myself: Never, never, never will I allow something like this to happen, if I have a chance to stop it,” he said.