In Kosovo on January 15, state leaders honored the victims of the Reçak massacre.
In this village of Shtime, 25 years ago, Serbian forces killed 45 Albanian civilians.
During the laying of flower wreaths in this village of Shtime, the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, thanked the former American ambassador, William Walker, who was present at the ceremony.
Walker, during the year 1999, had served as the head of the Verification Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and had documented the crimes committed in this village.
According to Osmani, the Reçak massacre internationalized the issue of Kosovo. She stated that for 25 years, Walker had worked to defend the truth of Reçak, but added that this event is still denied in Serbia.
“… at a time when unfortunately, the current regime of [Serbian President, Aleksandar] Vučić, which is the successor of the regime of [former Serbian leader, Slobodan] Milošević, not only denies the Reçak massacre but also arrests and tortures those who place flowers on the graves of the children killed during the war,” said Osmani.
For Walker, this anniversary is an emotional event, but he added that the residents of this village sacrificed for the citizens to have the Republic of Kosovo today.
During the commemorative academy for the 25th anniversary of the events in Reçak, Osmani said that the massacre in this village of Shtime “shook the foundations of human conscience everywhere in the democratic world”.
“Because the world experienced one of the most terrible massacres that happened in Europe at the end of the 20th century. This massacre has living witnesses who experienced the horror of that day. In addition to the surviving residents, whose testimonies are essential not only for our historical memory but also for revealing the author of the crime, this massacre also had a chief witness who is with us on this anniversary, Ambassador William Walker,” said Osmani, adding that the testimony of the former ambassador was a turning point in Kosovo’s efforts for freedom.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, stated that the Reçak massacre “shook international public opinion and diplomacy and made NATO’s military intervention to stop Serbia’s genocide in Kosovo necessary”.
Prime Minister Kurti said at the commemorative academy that the Reçak massacre was the most terrifying.
He mentioned that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić continues to deny the crimes committed during the war, emphasizing that Kosovo does not forgive crimes.
“Then, from the position of the Minister of Information, and today from that of the President of Serbia, this man has consistently denied this crime against humanity committed by the power of Serbia,” said Kurti.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament Glauk Konjufca said that after the Reçak massacre, the democratic world “understood that the language Serbia understands is the language of force”, referring to NATO bombings on Serbian targets.
On the anniversary of the Reçak massacre, the American ambassador in Pristina, Jeff Hovenier, quoted the saying of Dr. Martin Luther King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, urging not to allow what happened in this village to be denied.
“Let no one forget or deny what happened in Reçak, or why the United States and our allies came to the defense of the people of Kosovo. I remember that day very well,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Let no one forget or deny what happened in Recak/Racak, or why the United States and our allies came to the defense of the people of Kosovo. I remember that day well.… https://t.co/jeIIGzCEPn— Ambassador Jeff Hovenier (@USAmbKosovo) January 15, 2024
After the Reçak massacre, in March 1999, NATO attacked military and police targets in former Yugoslavia.
After 78 days of attacks, the bombings ceased on June 10, 1999, with the approval of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
NATO’s intervention in Kosovo also enabled the return of over 800,000 refugees to their homes, internally displaced persons, and those outside Kosovo.
In the war in Kosovo in 1998/99, over 13,000 civilians were killed, and thousands more went missing.
Over 1,600 people are still missing – the majority of them Albanians.
