The Historic Shame of the Governments of Kosovo and Albania:
FLAMUR ƁUÇPAPAJ
Deliberate Silence Toward the Kosovo War
The silence of the governments of Kosovo and Albania, of their Ministries of Culture, and of the National Film Centers in Pristina and Tirana is neither accidental nor the result of administrative incompetence. It is a conscious political choice, and it constitutes a historic shame and a betrayal of the memory of the Kosovo Liberation War.
For more than a quarter of a century, these governments have refused to fulfill their most basic national obligation: to build a state-backed cinematic narrative about the war, its martyrs, and the foundational battles of Kosovo’s freedom. Adem Jashari, Zahir Pajaziti, Sali Çeku, Mujë Krasniqi, Agim Ramadani, and hundreds of other fighters have been erased from the Albanian state screen, as if their sacrifice were an embarrassment to those in power.
Particularly morally reprehensible is the silence surrounding the Battle of Koshare, the historic moment when the forcibly imposed Albanian–Albanian border was broken and when it was proven that national unity was not a slogan, but an act of war and blood. To this day, there is no Albanian state-produced film about this battle, while Serbia has produced propaganda films portraying the KLA as a terrorist organization and Albanian heroes as criminals.
This creates a terrifying national danger: are our children going to learn the history of the Kosovo War from Serbian films? Will future generations grow up believing that Adem Jashari, Agim Ramadani, and the fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army were “terrorists,” simply because Albanian governments lacked the courage, the will, and the responsibility to tell their own truth?
When the state remains silent, hostile narratives speak in its place. When cultural institutions remain mute, lies become institutionalized. This silence is not the result of a lack of funding, but of a lack of political character—of fear of disturbing so-called “international balances,” and of leaders without homeland, without memory, and without historical responsibility, who in the event of war would board a plane with stolen millions, leaving the people and the flag behind.
The consequences are catastrophic: the distortion of collective memory, the relativization of Serbian crimes, the criminalization of the liberation struggle, and the weakening of the Albanian position on the international stage. Today, Serbia is attempting to assume the role of victim, while Albanian liberators are put on trial. This is happening because Albanian states failed to build their cultural and historical defense.
The silence of the governments of Kosovo and Albania toward the Kosovo War is more than negligence—it is historical guilt. History will judge these governments not for what they said, but for what they never dared to say.
