KOSOVO ALBANIAN VETERANS PROTEST
EX-COMMANDER'S ARREST
KosovaLive / BBC Monitoring - May 1, 2004
Prishtina (Pristina), 29 April: The attacks of international politicians
continue unchecked against the glorious war that our people fought and against
its exponents. Attacks on the war of the UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army) are
attacks against our future. We fought so as to live in freedom, just like any
other nation, and to condemn and judge the UCK war means to keep a nation in
slavery, reads a statement issued by the associations that have emerged from the
UCK war.
The associations released their statement for the media today in Prishtina,
protesting against the arrest of General Sami Lushtaku. They announced protest
rallies in all Kosova (Kosovo) towns next week.
The statement reads, "Is it democracy to condemn a people to eternal slavery?
Does the UN Charter not recognize the right of peoples to self-determination?
Why are the Albanians denied this right by the signatories of this charter?
Albanians are paying the international democracy with imprisonment, arrests,
poverty, humiliation, abuse of their dignity, deception, robbery, and crime. We
do not need this false democracy. There can be no democracy in slavery. We do
not agree with democracy. Let them apply it to their own countries."
The associations that have emerged from the war maintain that the arrest of UCK
officers, which has been going on for the last five years, and the latest arrest
of Gen. Sami Lushtaku have only one aim: to prepare the ground for restoring
Serbian sovereignty over Kosova.
"UCK fighters do not come from Mars or the moon. They are the sons of this
nation, who have been raised and inspired by the ceaseless wars of this nation.
So, the people will never agree with the arrest of the liberators, because it is
determined to continue in its road towards freedom, regardless of the price it
has to pay. We have nothing to lose but our slavery. If you want peace in the
Balkans, Europe, and beyond, do not stand in the way of this nation's struggle
for its right to self-determination. Otherwise, the consequences will be serious
for the entire region," the statement reads.
Source: Kosovapress news agency web site,
Pristina, in Albanian 29 Apr 04
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