Kryeministri i Republikës së Kosovës, Albin Kurti, mori pjesë në ngjarjen e organizuar nga Partia Socialdemokrate e Gjermanisë, SPD, në hapësirat e Bundestagut gjerman, për nder të 75-vjetorit të themelimit të Këshillit të Evropës. 

Në fjalën e tij, Kryeministri Kurti rikujtoi se 75 vjet më parë, në prill të vitit 1949, u krijuan dy institucione që kanë transformuar historinë evropiane: NATO dhe Këshilli i Evropës, të cilat i cilësoi si shtyllat e paqes demokratike në Evropë. 

Ai përmendi përjetimet e qytetarëve tanë në luftën për çlirim dhe pavarësi, e për të cilët lidhja me këto institucione perëndimore e demokratike ishte dhe që atëherë mbështetje për t’i ikur tmerreve të kohës. 

Duke nënvizuar se vendi ynë aspiron dhe punon për anëtarësimin në NATO e Bashkimin Evropian, kryeministri Kurti tha se hapi i parë për bashkimin me demokracitë evropiane është anëtarësimi në Këshillin e Evropës. 

“75 vjet nga krijimi i Këshillit të Evropës, 25 vjet që kur NATO, përfshirë Gjermaninë, shkoi në luftë për të mbrojtur dhe shpëtuar qytetarët e Kosovës nga tmerret e masakrave, vrasjeve, përdhunimeve dhe dëbimeve masive. 2024 është viti i duhur që demokracia e fundit në Evropë që nuk është ende anëtare e Këshillit të Evropës t’i bashkohet asaj”, u shpreh Kryeministri Kurti. 

Në vijim, ai elaboroi rreth përkushtimit të vendit tonë për vlerat e parimet demokratike, sundimin e ligjit, mbrojtjen e të drejtave të njeriut e vëmendjen ndaj nevojave të komuniteteve joshumicë. 

Ai tha se në këto tri vjet qeverisje, kemi dëshmuar se zhvillimin socio-ekonomik dhe progresi demokratik shkojnë krah për krah. 

Kryeministri bëri thirrje miqve tanë gjermanë që ta mbështesin vendin tonë edhe në këtë hap të fundit të anëtarësimit të plotë në Këshillin e Evropës, si vendi i 47-të anëtar. 

Në fund falënderoi Bundestagun dhe SPD për mikpritjen, interesin, mbështetjen dhe rolin kyç demokratizimin e Evropës dhe për ndihmën e vazhdueshme. 

Fjala e plotë e kryeministrit Kurti në gjuhën angleze: 

Dear Dr. Mützenich

Dear Derya,

Dear Frank,

Dear SPD parliamentary group,

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends, 

75 years ago, in April 1949, two institutions were created that have transformed European history. One is NATO and the other is the Council of Europe. They are the twin pillars of the most successful period of democratic peace in Europe. 

NATO defends democracies through common deterrence against aggression from the outside. The Council of Europe defends democracy and human rights through a unique European human rights court inside all our democracies. 

The period since the end of the Cold War in Europe has seen one that saw our continent fall apart again into two parts. 

There was the fortunate Western Europe: countries, where citizens could go to bed without worrying about a neighboring country invading them the next week, bombing their homes and expelling their population. Countries also where there was no fear of a dictator sending the secret police to arrest critics late at night and put them in jail to be tortured. 

At the same time, however, there was a less fortunate “other Europe”, a part of our continent with countries whose citizens had good reason to fear repression, state torture, war and even genocide. 

This is the Europe of countries like Croatia in 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, and Ukraine today. This is where Kosova found itself also after 1989. 

My people experienced repression, massacres of civilians, arrests and torture and war. We suffered the mass expulsion of more than a million people in 1999. I was one of those who were then put in jail for political reasons for years, becoming prisoner of war too. 

The hopeful story of the past three decades is the massive expansion of this Europe of democratic peace. In the years since 1990 NATO, the EU and the Council of Europe more than doubled. 

Citizens in the less fortunate other Europe rightly associated joining these institutions with escaping the nightmares they feared, and some continued to experience. 

This is why the promise of enlargement is so important to us. This is why the decision I want to talk to you about today is so important. It is about a big step when Kosova can get away from the less fortunate Europe in which we have to worry about being invaded, into the fortunate Europe of democratic peace. But this step we can only take with your support: the support of Germany, of this government, of the SPD, which leads this government. 

In the next decade we want to join NATO. We want to join the European Union as soon as possible. But the first step we can take this year is to join the first club of European democracies, created exactly 75 years ago in London, the Council of Europe. 

Last week, a vote on Kosova’s application to join the Council of Europe took place in Strasbourg, in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. German members of the Bundestag played a major role there. I am sitting next to Frank (Schwabe) and want to thank him personally for his contribution. It was very moving to see members from 46 parliaments in Europe stating that they support Kosovo joining this body. And then they voted 131 to 29, for Kosovo to take a big step towards integration in the Europe of democratic peace. 

75 years since the Council of Europe was created, 25 years since NATO, including Germany, went to war to defend and save citizens of Kosova against the horrors of massacres, killings, rape and mass expulsions. 2024 is the right year for the last democracy in Europe that is not yet a member of the Council of Europe to join it. 

For this to happen two things must take place. 

We, the government of Kosova, have commitments to the Council of Europe to underline that we cherish and respect the common values of human rights on which it is built.  We will keep them and show in this way that we will strengthen the institutions. Our government in these three years in office has shown that socio-economic development and democratic progress go hand in hand. They do not exclude each other. They positively condition each other. 

Let me give you one example. Kosovo will aim to become soon the second country in the Western Balkans, after our neighbours Montenegro, offering its citizens the right of same sex civil unions. We will work hard to pass this in the very near future. For this I will personally build a parliamentary majority – and will appeal for broad support on this also from the opposition parties. The decision on the government meeting for this matter has already been taken. 

We do this because it is right, because it is a right, because it is in our constitution and because we know that the European Court of Human right has issued judgements demanding this be done. We know that there are countries in the Council of Europe for a long time that have ignored the court on this. Kosova will be different. We want to thereby inspire others. 

We also will resolve outstanding issues facing our minorities, their rights and their needs, including the Kosovo Serb minority, as a priority. On this, too, we are working with German members of the Bundestag to outline new and great initiatives. My meetings here in Berlin on this have been very encouraging.  

At the same time, we appeal from there, the Bundestag, to the German government to listen to the many German parliamentarians who last week in Strasbourg spoke so eloquently why admitting Kosova this year is the right thing to do. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe looked into this matter carefully, on the basis of many detailed reports, and we saw the result: 131 for, only 29 against. 

The key decision that must be made now is to put our accession on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe this May. 

I will ask Germany and our German friends to help us. We want to help them in their task of convincing others. Admitting Kosovo as the 47th member of the Council of Europe on its 75th anniversary this year is a historic breakthrough, for my country and its citizens, for our region and we believe for the whole Council of Europe. 

It would show that an irreversible emancipation from a recent past of tragedies is possible, by adhering to universal human rights standards. 

I want to thank you – the Bundestag and the SPD, one of the most inspiring parties in the history of European democracy, for hosting me, for your interest, for your support, for having played a key role in creating the democratic Europe Kosova now aims to join, and for helping us do so in 2024. 

Thank you for everything you have done so far. Thank you in advance. Vielen dank. 

We will succeed with your support. /Kosova.info/