President Vjosa Osmani has commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the massacre in the villages of Shtuticë, Verbovc, and the surrounding areas in the Drenica region.
“In Shtuticë, Verbovc, and neighboring villages, the genocidal regime of Serbia barbarically executed 275 Albanians: innocent children, the elderly, women, and men simply because they were Albanian and longed for freedom,” Osmani wrote.
Full statement:
“Twenty-three years ago, the soil of Drenica was soaked with a grief that will never fade.
In Shtuticë, Verbovc, and the surrounding villages, the genocidal regime of Serbia barbarically executed 275 Albanians: innocent children, the elderly, women, and men—solely because they were Albanian and cherished freedom.
This massacre, one of the most horrific of the war, remains an open wound on humanity’s conscience and a crime that cries out for justice. It was a monstrous act aimed at exterminating the local population.
But on that day, when the horror of this crime took so many lives, the flame of freedom was kept alive by the fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), led by the heroic Ilaz Kodra. They did not retreat, they did not surrender. They became a shield for the people, and 40 of them, with their blood, made our freedom eternal.
Today, we not only remember the martyrs of this massacre but also honor the resilience, sacrifice, and dignity of those who gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy today.
May the glory of the KLA heroes and the memory of the martyrs of Shtuticë, Verbovc, Drenica, and all of Kosovo be eternal!”
