PRISTINA — Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has praised former German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping for his role during the Kosovo War, crediting him with helping bring international attention to Serbian crimes against Kosovo Albanians and supporting NATO intervention.
Following a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office, Kurti said Scharping’s efforts to expose the so-called “Horseshoe” plan, document crimes committed by Serbian forces against Albanians and argue for NATO intervention placed him, in Kurti’s words, “on the right side of history forever.”
Kurti thanked Scharping for his contribution to defending the people of Kosovo’s right to freedom and highlighted the former minister’s book, Wir dürfen nicht wegsehen: Der Kosovo-Krieg und Europa (We Must Not Look Away: The Kosovo War and Europe).
In the book, Scharping documented the suffering of Kosovo Albanians and the crimes committed under the regime of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, providing an account of the conflict from the perspective of a senior European policymaker involved at the time.
Kurti’s remarks come as Kosovo continues to emphasize the historical role of NATO and its allies in ending the violence of the 1998–99 war. NATO launched its 78-day air campaign against Milošević’s forces in March 1999, aimed at halting the humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo. KFOR subsequently entered Kosovo in June 1999.
For Kosovo, Scharping remains one of the European officials associated with the international response to the atrocities committed during the war—and with the political argument that inaction was no longer an option.
Kurti’s message was clear: those who spoke out when Kosovo was under attack will not be forgotten.
