President Vjosa Osmani expressed heartfelt gratitude for receiving the M100 Media Award in Potsdam, Germany.
She began her speech by noting that the current generation of children in Kosovo is the first to have grown up without experiencing war and its impacts.
Osmani also highlighted the pain of the Ukrainian people as they endure the war initiated by Russia.
“Last night, I read a line from a book given to me as a gift in Warsaw. It said: ‘Each generation of children… offers humanity the chance to rebuild its shattered world.’ It reminded me that the current generation of children in Kosovo, our children, is the first in our nation’s history to grow up without war. We must ensure, we must collectively ensure, that they never experience the opposite of peace and democracy. We must make sure they never go through what we had to endure.”
“Just last year, I was in the audience as you awarded the M100 Prize to the people of Ukraine. A video was shown, depicting the pain, suffering, and destruction of innocent people and their ancestral homes, but also showcasing the courage, determination, and resilience of Ukrainians fighting for freedom and democracy, with everything they have,” Osmani said.
She further emphasized that Kosovars feel the pain currently experienced by Ukrainians.
“But as happens with everyone from Kosovo, when we see these videos from Ukraine, it is not just a distant feeling or an abstract notion of international justice norms and the necessity to defend them. For us, it is a re-lived horror, a continuously felt pain, a deep wound, but a wound that has never stopped us from becoming survivors who thrive.”
“We were in their place, we were in their position, we saw the destruction and suffering caused by the opposite of democracy. That is why today we are so committed, so steadfast, and so determined to fight every battle and to pay any price to ensure survival and success.”
“Our people will always be a beacon of democracy – because we know what it means to live without it. And this is not the world we want. Our mission in this life is to ensure that our children do not inherit that world,” Osmani concluded.
