Currently, 37 thousand people receive veteran's pension

Investigations and judgments continue after 20 years of end of the war, but the number of those who participated as warriors is not correctly known. As everyone talks about the matter, about 37 thousand people retire as veterans, and all the country's leaders claim to be alone, about 15 thousand warriors.

Various figures are said when the total number of those who participated in the recent war in Kosovo is required. In addition to UCK's image, the state budget is already being damaged.

As the investigations continue, about 37 thousand people receive retirement.

Labour and Social Management Minister Skender Recica shows how many are currently, and according to him, the number is steadily increasing.

Recica: 37 thousand people currently receive pensions

They are currently moving every day, because every day there are new requirements. If I'm not mistaken, I haven't got the exact number today, but there are about 37 thousand that enter the payment system, and what I can guarantee to veterans and citizens is that we have a moral and civic obligation to make sure that we have budgets, that those rights guaranteed by law, we have to apply them in practice. And my responsibility as minister is for us to plan a budget for their payments under law”, says Recica.

After the war, the Kosovo Liberation Army completed its mandate on 13 June. On 29 June it was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps, (TMK). One of the first tasks at the time was the recording of veterans and weapons used in war.

KPC chief of logistics at the time, Kadri Kastrati, tells Kosovo Press how many veterans registered at the time were.

Kastrati: With the delivery of fighters, 13,458 veterans have been registered.

One of the tasks that was immediately after the war was recorded was the veterans' registration and recording of the weapons we have behind, because deminitation has demanded a number of weapons as well as soldiers with warehouses under the agreement we had with KFOR. And exactly with Joni and KPC general staff at the time were 13,458 veteran warriors, rifle and uniform men who were on the front lines who stood up for the enemy during the 98-99” war, Kastrati says.

For the number of veterans, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who says there were no more than 15 thousand war veterans.

Thaci: No more than 15 thousand war veterans

We all know that on official lists of Kosovo Liberation Army veterans were not more than 12,000 to 15 thousand... when I speak of 12,000 to 15 thousand fighters, who have been in arms and uniform, praising and respecting the contribution of every citizen who, for me all indiscriminately, are Kosovo deliverors for the contribution they have made in one form or another, Thaci has declared.

These statements by President Thaci, deputy chairman of war organisations (OVL-UÇK), Nasim Haradinaj, is calling them speculative, adding that the word “veteran” is still unclear.

Haradinaj: Not to speculate with the number of war veterans

We can't speculate with numbers because we have a lot of confusion about the veteran word and when I say so, I think maybe that's where the president thought of war veterans. In opinion, a word that has the misuse of the word veteran has spread. Because the veteran is also a veteran, a veteran is an assistant to war, and if we say only as a veteran then I think the number 100,000 if you give it is real, but when we get to the first category of veterans, because it's used most of that to pay, I think these lists are inflated, or they're badly cracked, or they're not rectified correctly according to the constitution1> law, he says.

He says all these discussions are unnecessary, as long as it's an approved law in the Assembly, which, according to him, has never been implemented.

Last month, the Kosovo Special Prosecutor had filed an indictment he sent to the Constitutional Court in Pristina for the subject dealing with the KLA veterans' case, in the direction of the criminal work 58 misuse of official position or authority.

In this regard, the list of those allegedly profiting illegally on behalf of war veteran status has also been published.