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| A Kosovar veteran looking at the graves of those who fell in the Recak Massacre |
On January 15th, Kosovo's state leaders honored the victims of the Reçak massacre. In the village of Shtime, 25 years ago, Serbian forces killed 45 Albanian civilians.
During the laying of flower wreaths in the village, Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani thanked former U.S. Ambassador William Walker, who was present at the ceremony. Walker served as the head of the Verification Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1999 and documented the crimes committed in this village.
Osmani stated that the Reçak massacre internationalized the Kosovo issue, emphasizing that Walker has worked for 25 years to defend the truth of Reçak. She added that this event is still denied in Serbia.
"In a time when, unfortunately, the current regime of [Serbian President] Vučić, a continuation of the [former Serbian leader] Milošević regime, not only denies the Reçak massacre but also arrests and tortures those who lay flowers on the graves of the children killed during the war," said Osmani.
During the commemorative event, Walker called this anniversary an emotional moment. He added that the residents of this village sacrificed for citizens to have the Republic of Kosovo today.
"I came today, as I have in the last 25 years, to see what remains of that memory among young people under 25 and under 30, constituting 30 percent of the population. These young people do not have their own memory of what life was like in Kosovo under Milosevic's dictatorship and the government in Belgrade. For me, Reçak represents a change, a movement from what Reçak represents today. For me, it represents what Kosovo has achieved since 2008," Walker stated during the commemorative ceremony.
During the commemorative academy for the 25th anniversary of the events in Reçak, Osmani said that the massacre "shook the foundations of human conscience everywhere in the democratic world."
"Because the world witnessed one of the most terrible massacres that occurred 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 perpetrator of the crime, this massacre also had a chief witness who is with us on this anniversary, Ambassador William Walker," said Osmani, adding that Walker's testimony was a turning point in Kosovo's efforts for freedom.
Kosovo's Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, stated during the commemorative academy that the Reçak massacre "shook the international public opinion and international diplomacy and made NATO's military intervention to stop Serbia's genocide in Kosovo necessary."
Kurti emphasized that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić continues to deny the crimes committed during the war, stating that Kosovo does not forgive the crimes.
"Back then, from the position of the Minister of Information, and today from that of the President of Serbia, this person has continuously denied this crime against humanity committed by the Serbian authorities," said Kurti.
Meanwhile, 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 airstrikes on Serbian positions.
On the anniversary of the Reçak massacre, U.S. Ambassador to Pristina Jeff Hovenier quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, stating that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," calling for the events in this village not to be denied.
"Do not allow anyone to forget or deny what happened in Reçak, or why the United States and allies intervened to protect the people of Kosovo. I remember that day very well," he wrote on Twitter.
After the Reçak massacre, in March 1999, NATO attacked military police positions in former Yugoslavia. After 78 days of airstrikes, the bombings ceased on June 10, 1999, with the approval of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
NATO's intervention in Kosovo also enabled more than 800,000 refugees to return to their homes, both internally and externally displaced persons. In the Kosovo war of 1998/99, over 13,000 civilians were killed, and thousands remain missing, with over 1,600 still unaccounted for, the majority of them Albanians.