Three journalists reporting Kosovo release

Former journalist Lulzim Doctor, in a post in his Facebook account, has no doubt recalled the extraordinary experience of publishing the special edition of the newspaper “Renaissance”, on June 12, 1999, at Kosovo refugee camps in Macedonia.

The realisation of this initiative was made possible thanks to the unique commitment of prominent journalist Bedri Sadik, and colleague Blerim Reka.

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Three journalists report Kosovo liberation

The next day of the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement, which ended the war in Kosovo, I left on the first bus from Struga to Skopje. I had not practiced my journalism profession in a long time after a unique experience as a performer, organiser and driver with foreign correspondents from Los Angeles Times, Radio CBS, San Francisco Chronicle, etc. I called the daily colleague “Renaissance” We buy Reka who cut me short: “Come on that Bedriu and I want to get a number of the papers out!”

Even though I knew he knew what daily newspapers meant, I asked him if he was aware of what he said, how could three people publish a daily newspaper. You come up on the Bitpazzar counter and then you see”, Brian told me and he broke my phone.
We buy Reka as the secretist that was and Bedri Sadik, embedded in Skopje as correspondent of “Renaissance”, I found them in a small attic bar, along with the unsigned hero who stood in the rear of Jonuz Zymber, whose role will come in expression later during the process of printing and distribution of the oldest newspaper in Albanian in the space of the former Yugoslavia. Some computers were located in the local area hoping to be shown the newspaper and to be distributed on 12 June to all refugee camps and Albanian cities in Macedonia.
Blerim Reka took over the entire 12-page newspaper “Renaissance”, Bedri Sadiku as a life-ridden fighter, journalist to lead the Morrnicas, was tasked with entering Kosovo with KFOR's first troops. I as a foreign policy writer shared the task of preparing three pages of newspapers, echoing that Kosovo's liberation was doing in world media.

As we went and came to the correspondent's offices at the Tiirqanja shopping mall, where Bedriu had the “Renaissance office”, I was afraid of how this newspaper would come from us three journalists. I told Brian that I intend to write an editorial with the title “Kosovo NeoAlbanianism for the New Century”, for my dream of freedom. The acquisition was making his editorial ready that was published on the forehead for the normisation of Kosovo. Bedriu had prepared his photoparast and journalist's notation and had the most difficult task. Fate was smiling at us so that we could finally be freely informed and according to our professional conscience. How fortunate, how much responsibility, joy, and a mixed feeling that when historical blood is fulfilled as a reality, you begin to look around yourself with disbelief as to whether this is true.

The next day, June 12th 1999, at 5th and 17 minutes Bedri Sadiku entered Kosovo with British KFOR forces. He had reached Grand and Renaissance in Pristina, where he left at 17 and headed for Skopje. Where he brought the story with the pictures.
As we opened our store with Brian and his close friend Jonuzi, we would see the “Renaissance” of freedom. Each of us did our job, with the thoughts of Badr. News of several murders of Pristina citizens hit us hard, but failed to stop us from breathing.

Later in the afternoon, Bedriu returns. He reflects on his journey from Skopje to Pristina. When KFOR's first troops had been stopped for a while on the road near Lipjan, he had entered the centre of Pristina and the Grande Hotel was taking pictures of Russian troops and the lush Serbian Soldesque while NATO Forces had not yet entered Pristina! In that mess where all parties for their own reasons were intent on defiling in the square, Grandy had become neuroglomatic. One spark could rekindle armed conflict.

Bedriu came as a spirit of wounded freedom and confessed to us the wayward Pristina of isolation, war and fear. By smoking cigarettes, changing words, working fast, sometime after midnight we were able to show off the “Renaissance” on 12 pages.

I had seen Jonuz Zümber hanging around with the accuracy of a Swiss from duty to duty in his editorial support mission, but I had never seen how he opened his eyes, laughed a lot, and took the newspaper early to send it to a printery in Koqani. Crushed by the heavy emotional day in our life, Brian and I went to bed. Jonuzi's work started sharp now. When we woke up earlier this morning and afternoon we met Jonuz back from Ohrid, we knew what we had done. In all refugee camps from Kosovo and Albanian cities in Macedonia, the newspaper “Renaissance” was expected as the dilemma of freedom. All the specimens were free of charge, and the joy was great enough to be washed with tears. Kosovo was released and three journalists had marked the act: Blerim Reka, Bedri Sadiku and Lulzim Doctor.