PhD Sami Repishti
Baldwin, New York. Ngjarjet tragjike në Kosovë detyruen shumë shqiptaro-amerikanë me u mobilizue në mbrojtjen e jetës dhe lirisë së popullsisë shqiptare në ish Krahinën e Kosovës.
Me 4 shtator 1986, në nji hotel luksoz të Ëestchester, N.Y. u mbajt nji mbledhje për “fund-raising”në favor të kongresmenit arbresh-amerikan Z. Joseph DioGuardi, që kandidohej për herën e dytë si përfaqsues i zonës ku banon. Prezent në këte mbledhje ishte edhe Nen Presidenti i Amerikës, SH.T. George W. Bush. Me kerkesën time për dorëzimin e nji Peticioni zyrtarit të naltë amerkan, u lejova të dorëzoj Peticionin e maposhtëm. Z. NenPresidenti G.W.Bush e mori, me falënderoj, si dhe shqiptoj disa fjalë inkurajuese për inisiativen tonë dhe premtimin se do të na ndihmojë.
Peticioni kerkonte hapjen e nji Konsullate Amerikane në Prishtinë me deshmue-dhe mundësisht me pengue- shtypjen dhe gjakderdhjen në Kosovë, sidomos mbas demonstratave të marsit dhe prillit të vitit 1981, evenimente me shumë randësi dhe ndoshta fillimi i luftës së hapët kundër autoritetit jugosllav për pavarësinë e Kosovës që u arrit me 17 shkurt 2008.
Ma poshtë ashtë kopja origjinale e Peticionit që unë pata nderin me pergatitë,me paraqitë dhe me nënshkrue:
P E T I C I O N
His Excellency George W. Bush
Vice President of the United States of America
The Executive Mansion
Washington D.C. 20500
Excellency’
As a former political prisoner ëho has spent eleven years of his youth in Communist prison-labor camps, and as a human rights activist, I am taking the liberty of bringning to your attention the following Petition:
For several reasons, the Western Ëorld’s attention has been concentrated on the violation of human rights in countries where the journalists and TV cameras are allowed to operate. Yet, more than half of the ëorld does not allow mass media reporting, and secrecy remains its weapon against public scrutiny. One of the countries that remains closed to international public eye is also the RSF of Yugoslavia.
I am selecting this country because of the unwarranted treatment it enjoys, in spite of blatant violations of human rights there. More specifically, I am referring to the persecution of the more than two million ethnic Albanians living there as a distinct national group, mostly in the region of Kosova. Perceived by the Yugoslav Government as nationally undesirable and politically unreliable, ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia have been the object of persecution since 1944 by the Communist regime, including several mass killings. The most recent one took place in Spring 1981. Prof. Pedro Ramet, of the Washington U. indicates that maybe over thousand ethnic Ålbanians, mostly students of the University of Kosova, were massacred by the Yugoslava Army and Police during the demonstrations of March and Prill 1981. The official figure is nine dead. No names have been given, and the burial of the victims was kept secret. Amnesty International, The International Human Rights, The International Commission of Jurists and several other authoritative organizations have denonced these crimes. It is believed that over 35.000 ethnic Albanians have been arrested since 1981 and given jail sentences ranging from one month to twenty years imprisonment. The writer Adem Demaçi is now sending his 26th year in jail, the longest term in record in Yugoslavia. Torture and mistreatement of Albanian politcal prisoners has been reported repeatedly by Amnesty International. About 12 percent of the political prisoners are Albanian minors. Most of the several hundreds of the Albanian prisoners of conscience have been adopted by Amnesty International because they have not used, nor advocated the use of, violence.
The Albanian mass movement for personal dignity and national rights in Kosova, Yugoslavia, is peaceful. Whether it expresses itself in demands for economic development to help fight poverty and a crippling unemployment, for more schools to fight illiteracy, for more health care to fight diseases, or for more political freedom to fight oppression, it deserves our attention and our assistance, because it’s peaceful and just!
Shortly after the bloody repression of Spring 1981, I met privately with a distinguished Yugoslav intellectual (1) to discuss the present calamitous situation in Kosova, where the interpersonal relationships between the Albanian majority and the Serbian ruling minority have reached a new low point. To my question as to why the Serbian student demonstrators of 1968, in Belgrade, were handled through negotiations and eventually an agreement was reached, but in Kosova the Army was sent to crush in blood the Albanian students’ demonstrations at the University of Kosova, he answered:” For one reason: in Belgrade there are 150 foreign Embassies and as many foreign correspondents. In Kosova there is none!” A massacre in Belgrade would have spelled disaster for Tito who liked to think of his country as a free one. Secrecay is the best weapon for all closed societies. A massacre in Kosova went unnoticed.
However, in Kosova, the Yugoslav Government showed its true face”.
My colleague spoke the truth! Openness is not the virtue of Communist Yugoslavia. Secrecy is. There is darkness in Kosova, today! The criminal hands of the oppressors feel free to move unchecked. Silence kills, as we have already learned, and we cannot afford to remain silent. I sincerely believe that the Yugoslav Government would exercise some restraint if its actions were exposed and condemned publicly. Someone must see, and must watch what is going on there.
I am therefore appealing to the Government of the United States to give serious consideration to the possibility of opening an American Consulate in Prishtina, chieftown of Kosova (SFR of Yugoslavia)
I sincerely believe that the official presence of a Great Power, like The United States in Prishtina would be a humanitarian act as well as a politically wise move. The situation in Kosova remains very tense. Yugoslavia is going through a political, economic and social crisis which threatens its vey foundations. Yugoslavia is a very sensitive spot in the divided continent of Europe. An American Consulate in Prishtina would generate a feeling of security among the local Albanian population, it would reduce the existing tensions, it would contribute to the political stability of the region, and consequenly of Yugoslavia itself. An American Consulate in Kosova would definitely serve peace in the area by defusing a potentisally explosive situation ëhich could greatly complicate the present deiicate balance of the historically turbulent Balkan Peninsula.
An American Consulate in Prishtina would also be a beacon of light for the local population, a source of hope for the oppressed ethnic Albanians that never again in the future the Yugoslav Government will massacre them with impunity.
America can help! We can assist those in need, we can alleviate the suffering of those in pain. For, in spite of victims and intensive propaganda against our country by those who violate the human rights of innocent people, for the poor and the oppressed of the world these United States are, and will remain, their best hope.
Baldwin, New York Respectfully.
September , 1986 Sami Repishti, PhD.
Chairman, Dept.Foreign Languages
Malverne P.S. New York
Adj,Assist.Prof of French,Adelphi U.
(1)Professor Mihajlo Mihajlov. Member Amnesty International
Shenim: Dhetë vjet ma vonë, në vitin 1997, situata në Kosovë u përkeqësue shumë, dhe Departmenti I Shtetit Amerikan vlerësoj se ka ardhë koha me hapë Konsullatën Amerikane ne Prishtinë. Konsullata u hap me festim të hapët dhe pjesëmarrjen e shumë autoriteteve vendëse dhe nga Bota e Lirë, në mes tyne Presidenti historik I Kosovës Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, Kongresmeni Elliot Engel e të tjerë.
Në fjalimin përshëndetës Dr. Rugova deklaroi se kjo fitore ashtë fryti I punës së shqiptarve në Amerikë dhe dergoj të falat e tia ma të përzemërta. Sot, na jemi të gjithë kryenalt për kontributin tonë si argatë të Nanës Kosovë. Edhe shumë të tjera…! SR
