President Thaci on Freedom Birthday: Kosovo is our boasting and pride

The president of the Republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, in the central manifestation for marking the 20th anniversary of NATO troops' entry, has congratulated all citizens on June 12th, the birthday of Kosovo's freedom.

June “12th is the foundation of our identity as citizens, as a people, like Kosovo, as part of Europe and the West”, President Thaci has said.

The head of state has said that what he did in the spring of 1999, the Civilised World, personified in the US, the European Union, the Atlantic Alliance, has been a huge and extraordinary step.

We boast that we are today the most pro-American, most pro-Western and pro-European people in these parts of the world”, he has said, stressing that Kosovo's freedom is the common value of all of us here.

This is President Thaci's full speech:

I want from the beginning to congratulate the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo because June 12th of 1999 is the birthday of Kosovo freedom.

Each of us who live in Kosovo, but many others who live throughout the world, have the day we were born as humans.

But June 12th is the date that brings us all together as Kosovo citizens.

This day all of us were reborn as free citizens of this free country.

June 12th is the foundation of our identity as citizens, as a people, like Kosovo, as an integral part of Europe and the West.

We will never forget this, respect it forever.

As we are today together, like Kosovars, Americans, Britons, Germans, French, Italians, and many other countries on this beautiful June day in the capital of the state of Kosovo, in Pristina, we were together in the worst, darkest and most tragic period in Kosovo's new history:

when the very survival of a people was threatened,

when Kosovo citizens were able to sacrifice everything for freedom and become gods of their fate.

What she did in the spring of 1999, the Civilised World, personified in the US, the European Union, the North Atlantic Alliance, has been a huge and extraordinary step.

It has been a decisive step to save an entire people, to enable evil to suffer defeat and that all of us will be offered the historic opportunity to build a future for us and for future generations.

As long as there are lives and people in these parts as there is Kosovo on this earth, we will be grateful for your human and civilist stance and decision of spring 1999.

It was a just and honest attitude and decision!

Even today, as the president of Kosovo, I tell you again, with the greatest sincerity and humility: Thank you.

Even after the end of the war and peace security and the 50,000 troops of the Atlantic Alliance, the Civilised World was with us.

It was to basically change our country in all possible respects.

To build a new Kosovo, in all dimensions.

Kosovo became the youngest liberal democracy in Europe.

We successfully held the first free elections, both at local and central power levels.

We taught them to respect the rights of all minorities and protect human rights.

We created the free market economy.

We made investments from outside.

We were stable as a society.

We took the first steps towards the Euro-Atlantic integration process.

And finally, in respect of the will of the people of Kosovo to make it their own state, willingly to find the best solutions to accommodate all the needs of the Serb community and other communities in Kosovo, we declare Kosovo independence on February 17, 2008.

Kosovo freedom is the common value of all of us here.

Every Kosovo politician, each its citizen, has not the least doubts about what we are as a people or what our supreme identity is.

We are Europeans and we want to become a member state of the European Union.

We are Western and want to be a NATO Pact member state.

We boast that we are today the most pro-American, most pro-Western and pro-European people in these parts of the world.

But we are convinced that together we must and can move towards Kosovo's integration into the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union.

We deserve this.

Just as we deserved freedom.

Just like we deserved to become a country.

On the other hand, we know that confession to us as Kosovo, as a state, cannot be rounded up completely without raising Kosovo's flag at East River, at UN headquarters.

Without even securing recognition by the five EU states.

Just as we were many years ago willing to make the historic agreement with Serbia, so we are willing today to talk with Serbia to make the comprehensive agreement on normalising relations between the two states.

To this day, we still live on the burden of a serious and tragic history that has occurred in Kosovo.

We cannot forget genocide and ethnic cleansing!

This memory and endless respect are owed to all who suffered and sacrificed for Kosovo freedom.

But, on the other hand, we owe it to our children and the coming generations to make the deal with Serbia.

So we can live as a state of peace and neighbor to everyone.

To ensure well-being for all Kosovo citizens.

To become a UN member state and all international organisations.

And finally, to put the Kosovo flag in both NATO and the EU.

There is no one to stop us!

Kosovo is our boasting, it is our pride, it is our destiny.

Congratulations again on Kosovo Freedom Day.

Thank you for your attention.