Unprecedented: President talks about her appearance in the annual speech, critics call them anti-Kosovars

She has provided an answer to all the criticism about her appearance that she may have had during the year, so calling critics as informed by anti-Kosovo clans.

She even claims that she is trying to minimize her role as president because she is a woman.

We never hold back on charges as shameful and ridiculous as we listen to them every day and are informed by the interests of the antiKosovo clans. I never back down when they try to color me with all sorts of epithets that attack my appearance or my integrity. For the first are insignificant, as regards recognition of integrity and dignity, loving citizens I keep my eyes always on your own. Not before the incendiary sexism and the tendency to minimize the president's role just because he's a woman at the helm. And that's why nobody's gonna make it to us, I assure you. Ousman said.

Osmani has also made an address to the issue of criticism that there is no foreign policy.

In this case it has been reluctant to attack former Kosovo politicians.

Kosovo has no foreign policy but is saying some voices, of course Kosovo has foreign policy, in fact Kosovo has foreign policy at last. But Kosovo has been lobby for border change, and payment to postpone individual agendas, no flirting with Serbia and Russia. The time of the Quaker merchants has ended forever. Now we must prevent these damage step by step and patiently and with a clear goal. Ousman said./ P ERISCOPI/

The president's full speech, Vjosa Osmani:

I'm addressing you again from this district's speaker on the eve of closing a year that has really been a year of extraordinary circumstances and therefore a year of challenging developments. But what I want to do from the beginning of this address is thank the citizens of our country, our fellow citizens, our hard work, the unique sustainability, and the everyday commitment that each day is better than the other.

It is you, all of you, dear citizens, who make this place better. It's the taxi driver who works beyond the hours to support his family, is the school teacher who skillfully educates a whole generation of teaching in a packed classroom; it's the nurse who sacrifices sleep for our collective health; it's the owner of small business in a corner of the neighborhood that the proud develops business activity despite economic parameters that are currently not so favourable is such a diverse mosaic of individuals who are really our daily heroes.

It's people who make countries, not vice versa. So in this end we reflect also on any individual success that eventually resulted in our collective success. Your loving citizens' work, along with the work of institutions, has contributed to our Kosovo being strengthened and consolidated more and more both inside and on the international plain. It's our citizens who always confirm that when proper conditions are created and the platform is guaranteed, success is almost every time sure. This has been witnessed by our achievements in sports, art, science, and elsewhere. As such, year-on-year, our Kosovo with you dear citizens and through you is increasingly empowered.

This year we have opened Kosovo for the world through international forums and cultural events, as well as sent a piece of Kosovo around the world through artists, athletes, diplomats, scientists, students and businesspeople. In either case, we showed the world that Kosovo is the country of youth, a strong and sound ambition. We proved ourselves to be a country of potential and a peace-loving and reliable partner state.

Solidarity, understanding, and supporting one another helped us to succeed in our historic challenges on our long and full course of sacrifice. Our common dream of a state as our citizens deserve is becoming a reality every day. But as it makes sense, we cannot move forward unless we remember every day the way we have traveled this far.

Therefore, from this folktale of the temple of democracy, I urge you to turn your attention to the centuries - old efforts of our people for freedom, to remember generations, sons and daughters who saved nothing to enable the realization of our historic goal - the dream of freedom and independence.

To remember today, like any other day, our guide, the founding father of the state of Kosovo, President Ibrahim Rugova, who led Kosovo based on the postatate “Leari, Independence, Democracy” to the creation of powerful alliances which, to this day, are strategically necessary to our country; to remember the symbol of armed resistance, legendary commander Adam Yashar and all those sons and daughters who lined up beside him in the Kosovo Liberation Army, thus granting their most expensive, their lives, in order to achieve freedom or freedom. It reminds us of all our people who worked and sacrificed so much so that our freedom today can be experienced and enjoyed by everyone and that our independence and sovereignty can be irrevocable and invulable reality.

And, remembering them, remembering our so-called course, the determination with which we testified that not only do we know how to dream of freedom of state but also to live it everydayly.

Let us return it once again, as always, to the pain of those who have disappeared with violence, to the dawn of their destiny, and to the weary lives of over a thousand children killed during the war; and to the thousands of women who survived sexual violence during the war, who became a symbol of force, endurance, and the constant battle for justice, to the thousands of orphans, to the families of the martyrs, and to all who gave everything for this country, because their attention to them is never enough.

As we look back to the past so that we can better understand the present, it will necessarily remind us of the challenges and sufferings experienced in the long run as a result of the pandemic. As soon as we believed that we were on fire, we faced another door of human pain - Russia's terrible fight against Ukraine and, therefore, the global economic and energy crisis.

This war is once again proving that the accommodation of autism and hegemonic tendencies is never the right course, for this only encourages them to exercise more violence and destruction, more tyranny and hegemony.

Ukraine is witnessing today, as Kosovo witnessed in 1999, that no one and nothing can stop the will of a people to live free. The ideals of freedom of democracy were then at risk even today, but Kosovo is the best example of what a united people can achieve about the ideal of freedom and what the democratic world can achieve when it unites around protecting these ideals. Therefore, the people and the state of Kosovo have stood by Ukraine without any equivoles, and we have already passed sanctions on Russia without any hesitation. Because to hesitate in such situations is to become an accomplice in crimes against innocent civilians. There can be no neutrality between good and evil; between aggressor and victim; between peace and genocide. In such situations the choice should be clear to all and Kosovo has always chosen to stand on the right side of history.

Dear citizens,

While these global security challenges have also created tremendous challenges in economics and energy security, let us remember the daily difficulties our citizen faces and consider whether our political action has been sufficient for them. In such dire situations, we all have to overcome daily differences and unite forces and minds so that measures undertaken to focus solely on civic interest in dealing with these crises.

Despite the challenges, this year brought the further consolidation and empowerment of the state, its institutions, their willingness to stand up for citizens' demands. We interacted within the country, at times agreeing with different opinions about the path to go but united in goals, as if we empowered the state's weight in the international arena.

As president of the state, I have taken care of my constitutional responsibilities this year to exercise in the interest of citizens, as well as inconforming aspirations my people ask of the first of the state.

I have never hesitated or hesitated that the ideals of generations, artified politically by President Rugova, the designer and architect of the modern state of Kosovo, and protected by the courage of thousands of women and men in the KLA uniform that were put to the defense of this ideal of their country, to articulable, by the power of arguments, against anyone at any time. The sovereign and independent state in which each citizen feels dignified and can fulfill the expectations of his own right; the state in which individual and collective freedoms are guaranteed by constitution and protected by law; the state in which he oversaw the complete freedom of choice; the state in which the citizen is protected through state institutions this is the ideal with which we have grown up and politically shaped so this is the ideal from which we cannot give up, because he touches the roots of our history, political culture and civil law living for free.

Every day of this year we have insisted that the state and the law eventually serve not only some but all. Rule of law is essential for the functioning of any state pillar. It's actually a prerequisite for that. But, as you know, honoured MPs, Kosovo's north continues to be a challenge because of the territorial claims Serbia has on Kosovo, which it expresses through the financing and support of illegal criminal structures. But we are as determined as ever to create security and rule of law in every corner of our territory. Criminal gangs will not be able to dominate the desire of our citizens and those in the north to live free in their homeland in Kosovo.

Of course, criminal gangs do not like the determination of institutions for all citizens to be equal before the law, they do not like law enforcement throughout the country. But, above all, they do not like the fight of uncompromising organised crime and corruption. But let it be made clear that this is the way we will never stray from and that we will never give up. They will face justice for criminal acts against the constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as for the intimidation and threats that our citizens are making.

We are all witnessing Serbia's continuing threat to Kosovo. This threat of aggression has recently been spread through the hegemonic idea of placing Serbia's troops in Kosovo. But Serbia and its leader, Vuciq, well know that the presence of the Serbian Army on Kosovo territory ended once and for all on June 12, 1999. In 1999, when NATO troops broke the back of Serbia's hegemonistic idea of an Albanian-free Kosovo where extermination was their genocide goal.

I want to thank, on behalf of all citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, the Kosovo police, who despite the challenges are caring for the lives of all our citizens indiscriminately, as well as all other security and intelligence officials for their work to protect the country's interests. The work of Kosovo institutions for establishing order and law in the country's north is also an effort to protect local Serbs from illegal structures organised in criminal gangs aimed at pressure, intimidation and their threat. Kosovo is one and a whole, home to all, as well as the citizens of the Serb community, like all other communities, so we have a constitutional obligation to care for them from north to south, from east to west Kosovo.

Our everyday devotion is the creation of an environment in which peace and stability are held. But beyond that commitment, we are in our home, in our centuries-old hearths and every day contribute to good neighborhoods. Serbia needs to understand clearly and ultimately that Kosovo is a state and such will remain forever, that Kosovo's independence is irreversible and that the process of dialogue should focus on mutual recognition as the only guarantee for long-term peace and stability in the region.

And despite the challenges, I assure you that our country's sovereignty will continue to remain holy and territorial integrity incompatible. The independence of our country has been built with blood, and our home, Republic of Kosovo, has more solid foundations than some might think. Those foundations contain the sacrifice of our heroes and martyrs, so there is no one moving them or shaking them.

As a legacy of this heroization, we have our army, the Kosovo Security Force, where our country's girls and boys proudly hold the uniform of the state of Kosovo, and are willing to take over the country at all times.

This force, built with NATO standards, is making us proud of its achievements every day. Increasing the budget for the military shows our common commitment to strengthening it further, while our strategic orientation has no way of making it clearer: The state of Kosovo has its place in NATO, and our military will serve world peace and security in support of soldiers of other NATO member states.

Dear deputies,
Dear citizens,

During 2022, as in the preceding year, we have invested heavily in expanding bilateral and multilateral relations with states and organizations in a spirit of co-operation, mutual respect.

Our foreign policy is serving overall state interests and its citizens, based on promoting Euro-Atlantic values, building partnerships with states from different continents, and deepening alliances with our traditional strategic partners.

Within strategic foreign policy orientation, as its leader, I have worked towards strengthening the international subjectivity of our Republic, advancing the process of integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, promoting good relations with states around the world, and promoting the country's economic interests.

Gradually and safely, we are moving from promise to deed. So this year we have taken concrete steps towards membership in the Council of Europe. Membership in this institution is the highlight of Kosovo's commitment to human rights protection. Yesterday, we already signed the application for membership in the European Union, which is now submitted to the Czech Presidency, which I want to use the opportunity to thank him for the extraordinary support over the past six months. EU membership is our strategic goal, so the application brings us a step closer to realising this historic goal of the people of Kosovo. In that spirit, we have started at a time as well as political discussions with our allies for Kosovo's involvement in NATO's Partnership for Peace programme as the formal step ahead of NATO membership.

But above all, during this year we have seen to preserve and deepen existing friendships, especially with the United States, with Great Britain, with European Union member states and many other countries, so we have worked to strengthen partnerships with them and on continents across Europe. Naturally, we have strengthened our brotherly reports with Albania daily, eliminating barriers and increasing the number of agreements that benefit our citizens.

Aiming at representation of Kosovo's growing presence in the international arena, only this year have I met 44 heads of state, many of them from two to three times from all continents, 46 prime ministers, many from two to three times, many heads of parliaments, leaders of different dictatorships, including many leaders of international organisations. During this year, 19 bilateral visits (such as guests or nicotine) have been realised, as well as Kosovo has been represented at numerous regional and international forums and meetings.

At every meeting of each focus visit was strengthening co-operation in behalf of the continued development of our state. In the midst of these meetings, I also want to point out meetings with leaders of non-conception countries with which we are gradually building sound frameworks of co-operation based on common values.

Since the beginning of my presidency, I have stressed that Kosovo's international position is strengthened through its participation both in regional and multilateral initiatives as an equal party, only as equal to other states. This year, Kosovo was invited to be an equal party in the creation of the European Political Community, which is the initiative of President Macro, uniting 44 states of our continent. At the first summit of this community, I addressed the challenges Kosovo is facing and asked for our partners' support in addressing them.

In all EU-Western summits where I was invited to represent the country, there was one thing in focus: the clear message that Kosovo deserves to be part of the European Union and that with reforms we are implementing in different sectors and with the geostrategic impact of Russia's fight against Ukraine, we deserve to have accelerated membership process. In all these summits, Kosovo's actions for EU approach have been assessed as exemplary, meanwhile, as it proved now that the visa liberalisation process is closing, support for our country is only growing.

But, this year we have also been assured to consolidate Kosovo's country as both a host of international initiatives and forums dealing with topics of particular importance for us and our partners. In October of this year, Kosovo was the initiative of the first edition of the Forum for Women, Peace and Security, in which over 500 participants -- from five different continents, and over 130 different panelists -- have offered their own review of these issues. The forum, finally, has placed Kosovo on the map of major international events of this nature. But, above all, it has confirmed our readiness and capacity for valuable and corresponding contribution towards addressing common challenges and advancing agendas in common interest.

As the American Secretary of State initiated, Mr. Blinken when addressing those present at this forum: quoting Secretary Albright: “The Kosovo war was a confrontation between barbarous killings and the necessary force, amid fierce intolerance and respect for human rights, between tyranny and democracy. We won because our alliance was united and strong. Most importantly, we succeeded because our cause was right and because of the people of Kosovo. Honored MPs, all this is true today, and as we remember and remain faithful to it, we are convinced that we will prevail again.

At our meeting in Washington D.C., Secretary Blinken reaffirmed that our partnership remains steadfast, while in my conversations with President Biden during September, he reiterated his great support for the country and our people, which is best described in his own words: We will never leave you alone!

This American garrison, repeated these days, testifies that Kosovo has no partner more important than the United States, so we must treat this alliance as sacred and preserve and cultivate it eternally.

Dear citizens,

After all, our foreign policy this year, like that of other states, has been influenced by the international context, changes in the global economy and hybrid threats. In an increasingly interrelated world, the international environment in which states operate is becoming more complex, unpredictable, and subject to unstoppable changes. So a safe regional and global environment requires international co-operation among all states, as regional and global problems require partnership-based solutions and reciprocity, not forgetting the values that unite us. In this direction, Kosovo has been completely in line with US and European Union decisions not only in terms of sanctions against Russia but in any other foreign policy decision. Given these developments, building capacity for cyber security has already become necessary, as hybrid warfare and non-traditional security threats continue to challenge states around the globe.

Eventually, the Republic of Kosovo has never had more active, more meaningful, more prepared and more co-ordinated foreign policy. Of course, this foreign policy focused on Kosovo's and only Kosovo's interest, not close individual and often illegal interests, is hindering some, not only in Serbia but also abroad. Kosovo has no foreign policy”, they are saying some voices. Of course Kosovo has foreign policy. In fact, at last, Kosovo has foreign policy. But I tell you what Kosovo doesn't now: There is no lobby for border change, there are no lobbyists' fees to push ahead with individual public agendas, there are no paid interviews to promote specific leaders, no flirting with Serbia and with Russia for the purpose of individual interests, no leaders who compare Kosovo to Nagorno Karabakh and Abkhazia and Crime. The time of merchants of the border has passed forever!

The challenges of foreign policy are, of course, untold because mistakes have been of great magnitude. Now we must repair these damage, step by step, with patience and clear vision.

Therefore, together we are building a Kosovo partner worthy of political initiatives and peacekeeping missions; which interacts with democratic countries in the field of foreign policy and with NATO member states on global security issues; a Kosovo which has become a reliable factor for the international community that actively participates in these initiatives and makes Kosovo visible throughout as a credit partner. Even in the initiative as President Biden's Democracy Summit, Kosovo is among the most successful and champion performers in fulfilling the pledges made.

Finally, our foreign policy today is in full service and the function of strengthening our citizenship in the international arena and consolidating Kosovo as the key factor of stability and prosperity in our region and beyond.

Dear MPs!
Dear citizens of our country!

Protection and guaranteeing civil rights and freedoms, establishing a safe environment for all, as well as fighting negative phenomena, is vital to the actual functioning of a democratic society. In fulfilling this common goal, I am committed to expanding co-operation with our institutions in order to ensure order and law throughout the country.

And when we talk about human rights, I want to stop in particular free of the cruel acts of childicide.

Unfortunately, in parallel with the David 19 pandemic, a pandemic in the shade took off even the pandemic of violence against women.

This phenomenon must already be seen by the prism of a national emergency, and as such, it is one of the most serious wounds of one of the most complex challenges of our day.
• In the last five years alone, over 14,000 cases of domestic violence were recorded in our Kosovo, of which in the devastating majority, the victims were girls and women.
• In our country, according to data from women's protection organisations, by 2010, 50 women became victims of childicide. 50 women were killed by men. 50 women are no longer with us, just because they were women!

These numbers are not just statistics because they do not tell the full story of these women. Each number is a life; it is synonymous with pain, uncertainty, hopelessness, frustration, and despair. Each number should serve as the wake of the alarm that keeps our conscience awake and gives momentum to the action of our joint activism.

More painful, however, is the fact that in many cases violence continues to swell in silence. There is so much violence exposed; there are so many voices still unpowered; there is so much pain that remains confined within walls and roofs.

Let's finally realize that our girls' wives don't lack voice. But it's our job to constantly empower them to use it. Our girls' wives don't lack courage. But it's our responsibility to create the right platforms that guarantee them security and equality at home, at work, on the road, within the community, access to heritage and justice.

In the face of violence, we should not be silent; in the face of injustice we must further strengthen order and law; in the face of discrimination, we will promote dignity of integrity; and gender inequality will fight through integration, education, communication and co-operation.

We don't have girls and women to lose. No more. So, from the dominant discurs that we're a society of values, it's a final time to start breaking down every concept of the social norm historically ill-structed and promoted by the patriarchate. Because worth can only be discussed when there is equality, integrity, and dignity.

And we'll get to that when there's justice. But the trends in our justice system are disturbing. In 2016 alone, 2019, according to local organisations, on average about 2/3 of the cases have been signed. 2/3 cases of violence against women have been prewritten! On the other hand, an even more disturbing statistic involves sexual rape. According to data published by EULEX, the KDR has reported that 173 cases of sexual rape that have reached basic courts in 2019-2021. Of these 173 cases, 76 have been completed and in 38 cases punishful judgments, while in 38 other cases, courts have issued legal acts of freedom, rejection or substance have been prewritten. Of all the punitive cases, only in eight acts, in only eight, the length of the sentence was in accordance with the law. In only 8 cases so far, out of 173 subjects, 8 out of 173, so about 5% of the sentences were in accordance with the law. In almost all cases, so - called extenuating circumstances have been taken into account, while in few cases critical circumstances have been taken into account.

I'm telling you what I said before the law institutions in the week for the protection of the victims' rights: Such an approach to the justice system encourages the killing of women. Such an approach encourages more violence. Therefore, let us seek unanimously and decisively that the authors urgently face the power of the law.

Dear citizens,

Last year, the Republic of Kosovo was ranked highest in international indexes and reports concerning reforms in the area of rule of law. But this positive fact should not create self - fulfillment. Instead, strengthening the justice system continues to remain among the main challenges of the Republic of Kosovo.

The need for reform and strengthening of the justice system should not come to mind only when free - walking criminals commit a single crime because our past justice system has punished them with the easiest possible sentences even with penalties that are not provided by law. It is also not enough to respond only when we see unpunished criminal groups being prosecuted and unpunished by our justice system, violently and openly challenging our constitutional order, especially in the northern municipalities of our Republic.

Supporting the system of justice is done only by strengthening it, with people of integrity and professionalism who have both the ideal and the ideal, not just the profession.

In our justice system, there should be no room for those who exploit it as a springboard to get rich and turn blackmail into a means of achieving narrow goals and interests. Independence and integrity of the justice system is a fundamental principle for its effective functioning. But independence involves not only privileges, whatever it may be, but also responsibilities and accountability. Above all, there can be no independence for the constitution and the laws. Responsibilities and accountability apply to all three pillars of power, and this is the irreplaceable guarantee of a stable democracy.

Among the basic aspects of human rights protection is judicial protection of these rights. This cannot be done without an independent, professional, and fundamental system of justice. So I've seen it not only as a contribution to this course for years but as a necessity, and I want to call on this Parliament to address this issue as urgent and as soon as possible to complete its work and come forward with a final package which will not be a veto of the page, but a real veto that includes all the important pillars in particular that of integrity.

Dear citizens,

In the role of President of the Republic, at every step, in every decision and every attitude was your loving citizens' faith, your faith that has served me as a compass for orientation, because I am convinced that the will of the citizens keeps us on earth forever and ever on the right path.

When the foundations are solid and the strongest foundation has been and your faith remains forever any external tendency to cause deviation from the right path results in failure.

There will never be an act of intentional decisions on this journey, because my main purpose is to be able to see you in the eye at the end of every day and every year for as long as I am in your service and to find understanding, increased trust and confirmation that I have served all citizens with dignity and integrity.

So, I will never back down on charges as shameful and ridiculous as we listen to them every day, and they are perceived by the interests of the anti-Kosovo anti-Kosovo clans. I don't back down even when they try to paint me with all sorts of epithets that attack my appearance or my integrity, because the first is essentially trivial and about appreciation for integrity and dignity, loving citizens, I keep my eyes on you forever. And eventually, I will not back down even before the sexism, the unprecedented sexism of the tendency to minimize the role of the President's Office just because there is a woman at the helm, and in our Republic no one will ever make it out, so I assure you, to silence or intimidate us. Every girl and woman in my country is as worthy of any duty or function as every boy and man.

On my journey forward, as yet, I will work respecting the civic will, the constitutional spirit on which this country was built, and the sacrifice and ideality of those who laid the foundation of our state.

This year as much as it was year of opportunity will be remembered as a year of challenges. As we move toward the new year, we understand that the consequences of the current crises will continue to be among us.

But as a people, we stand out for endurance and endurance, ambition and unlimited energy, so we will succeed together. We have triumphed even in the most difficult periods of our history. This unity is now more necessary than ever in the face of continued aggression coming from Serbia and Russia.

In order to protect the negligibles of our interests, I will work hard to ensure that interilateral co-ordination is at the centre every time and in the service of national interest. Therefore my door is always open, and my hand is always spread out to all those who believe and work in the same spirit. And in that same spirit, as foreign policy leaders and supreme commander of our army, I will continue to strengthen and expand our partnerships in every corner of the world, guaranteeing peace, security, sovereignty, constitutionality and territorial integrity of our Republic.

Dear citizens,

Until we finish chapter 2022 together, we remember that in the New Year we will also mark the 15th anniversary of our independent and sovereign Republic. I hope that this jubilee anniversary, as well as you want it, is the anniversary of the holiday, joy and joy of our common achievements and the reconfirming of our unequivocal commitment to continued consolidation as an equal country in Euro-Atlantic structures.

As a new country, our challenges are inevitable, but so are countless possibilities. As we work for our Euro-Atlantic future, our focus remains always clear: “independent and sovereign state, installed in the European Union and NATO, and in permanent friendship with the United States of America”, said the founder of our state, President Ibrahim Rugova. And so it will remain forever.

May the days of this blessed year be on the eve of New Year's Eve, may I triumph in health, goodness and prosperity in every corner and under every roof.