Ky esht fjalimi original i TONY BLER....p Speech by Tony Blair to National Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo Friday, Jul 09, 2010 in Office of Tony Blair Friday 9th July 2010 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Mr President, Mr Prime Minister Urime! Une jam i krenar per ju! Congratulations. I am proud of you. I recall late in 1998, the visit to Downing Street of Ibrahim Rugova. He was a quiet, modest man. He gave me a little present of purple and white crystal. I kept it all through my time in Downing Street on desk. Now it is on the mantelpiece in my home. He told me the truth about Kosovo, the plight of its people, the need for the world to listen, the duty of the world to act. He didn’t shout, he didn’t make his case in slogans or extravagant gestures. He just spoke gently but with a most impressive sincerity. As he left he said to me: “Please, I ask only this: do not let my people suffer any more. Feel for them as you would for your own. And help.” I said Britain would help. I gave him my “besa.” My bond. I kept it. Today I remember Ibrahim Rugova and pay tribute to his leadership, determination and wisdom. I recall too my first meetings with ordinary Kosovans, in the refugee camps of Macedonia, living in tents, not knowing what future, if any would be theirs, alone, vulnerable. I recall our conversations, the stories of brutality and misery. But I recall also the pride, and the courage. It is 11 years ago now. And here you are, still with immense challenges ahead, but with today a state, recognition from 69 countries, membership of the IMF and World Bank and most of all – peace. We helped. NATO helped. Britain and our brave armed forces helped. But above all, it was your achievement, yours the people of the independent sovereign state of Kosovo. The Ambassador showed me today the New Born monument here in Pristina. It is simple, plain and inspiring. Its signatures, thousands of them, from people making their own declarations of independence. It’s also symbolic. What we did, when we intervened in 1999, was to give you the chance of a new chapter in Kosovo’s history. But it was for you to write it. And you are. I know that my good friend President Bill Clinton came to speak to you here a few months ago. In his speech he made much reference to Rwanda. As you know, he shared my very basic view - never again. It was his commitment to prevent ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, despite the very difficult decisions that followed for both of us and others, which ensured NATO involvement. It was at first a rescue mission, upholding European values, values shared then as now with the United States of America. But for both of us, it eventually became clear that the only way to continue the defence of those values of peace and of freedom, was to allow Kosovo the independence that it had largely achieved anyway in the last years of Tito. We hold to that view. Kosovo’s independence was right. Kosovo’s independence is a fact. And Kosovo’s independence will endure. Now you must determine the nature of the state – not its borders or its sovereignty, but its institutions, its economy, its values. This state of Kosovo is a state that belongs not to one group or one religion. It is for all the people of Kosovo. er presindentin RUGOVA.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 10:49:16 +0000
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