The statue of national hero Afrim Zhitia was inaugurated on Friday in the village of Llugë, Podujeva, alongside an obelisk dedicated to his memory.
Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, in a Facebook post, said that the statue of Afrim Zhitia in Llugë “monumentalizes his historical figure in a public work of art.”
“But in order to complete the cultural infrastructure of passing on the history of Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu, as well as the history of Bahri Fazliu, Agron Rrahmani, Zahir Pajaziti, Hakif Zejnullahu, and other martyrs and their fellow fighters, we need deeper studies and more scholarly publications,” Kurti added.
He emphasized that martyrs are living proof that the source of liberation and the decisive factor is the people themselves, from whom they come and to whom they must serve. Kurti also recalled the upcoming academy that will be held on November 2, 2024, in Prishtina, on the 35th anniversary of the heroic fall of Afrim Zhitia and Fahri Fazliu.
“This year, as we approach the completion of four decades since their heroic fall, we have gathered here in the village of Llugë, Afrim Zhitia’s birthplace, to inaugurate another form of commemoration of his figure and his deeds,” Kurti wrote further.
“The renewed obelisk here today is now joined by a monumental sculpture as a public work commemorating Afrim Zhitia, son of this Llapi village and hero of Kosovo’s freedom. Born in the winter of 1965, Afrim Zhitia began his political journey at age 16, during the spring demonstrations of 1981. The four years he spent in prison for his political activism gave him life experience and theoretical readings, shaping him into an Albanian political and progressive activist fully committed to the liberation of his homeland and the pursuit of equality and justice. From prison to the struggle for freedom, alongside Fahri and other comrades who fell along the way or those who lived to witness freedom among us,” the post reads.
