Krasniqi commemorates the massacres in Poklek and Old Chikatova: Wounds that burn after 26 years

Democratic Party of Kosovo Chairman Memli Krasniqi has today commemorated the April 17th 1999 massacres in Poklek and Old Chikatova, calling them among the most painful events in our new history.

April “17th, more than a date on the calendar, is a never-ending wound, a memory that burns after 26 years,” has declared Krasniqi.

He recalled that 54 Albanian civilians, mostly women, children and elderly people from the Muqorli and Elshani families, were brutally killed and burned in Poklek, while 24 other civilians by Serb forces were massacred that same day in Old Chikatova.

There were children who stopped waking up, mothers who were burned with babies in their arms, old people who disappeared without a voice. One day, two settlements, dozens of families permanently destroyed”, Krasniqi added.

Chairman The PDK stressed that even though 26 years have passed by these crimes, justice is still lacking.

This crime is not forgotten. But he has not even been punished. When justice is silent, the responsibility lies upon us who remember us not only to give voice to those who no longer have voice but never to allow the same darkness to fall upon us again”.

This same day, Krasniqi also recalled the testimony of freedom, Sokol Elshani, who heroicly fell to Krajkova./Periscopi/