Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lutfi Haziri, has republished a statement by Kosovo’s historic President Ibrahim Rugova in which he spoke about the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and how he described the organization during the war.
In the statement, Rugova said the KLA was an organization created by the people and patriots of Kosovo who took up the fight when the military offensive against Kosovo began.
“It was an organization created by the people, by patriots, when the military attack on Kosovo began, and they fought for the freedom of Kosovo,” Rugova said.
Haziri’s decision to republish the statement comes ahead of Saturday’s “March for Freedom” in Prishtina, organized in support of former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, who are currently facing proceedings before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.
The march has been organized by the platform “Freedom Has a Name” and is expected to bring together supporters of the former KLA leadership.
Meanwhile, the LDK has not responded to a request from the “Freedom Has a Name” platform to participate in Saturday’s march.
Haziri’s publication of Rugova’s wartime statement comes at a politically significant moment, placing the words of Kosovo’s first president regarding the KLA back at the center of public discussion ahead of the demonstration.
