Dear Lume and Endrit, dear mother and dear father,/
Today is a special day for me, for it marks a new moment in my political engagement and my career spanning three decades.
As everyone in my generation, I grew up facing challenges that the people of Kosovo endured.
Therefore, I am both excited and pride to be in this square and to address you as the President of the Republic of Kosovo.
As a student, it was in this square that I demonstrated for freedom and democratic rights.
For liberation and freedom of Kosovo many generations have sacrificed themselves.
Therefore, I invite you, as citizens of the Republic to pray for and to express our gratitude for all those who gave their life so that today we can be free, sovereign and independent.
I invite you to think for a second for the sacrifices that each one of you has made so that we can join here, today, together, in this ceremony, marking a regular democratic transition.
Today, we are united as a country and as people.
We stand here. All communities, majority community, ethnic communities, religious communities, LGBTI…
We knew how to stand united in the good times and in the bad times. When in bitterness or in times of joy. For in unity we grew as a nation and as a state.
Our unity was the strongest evidence for the world that we are a society committed to a political system that guarantees individual and collective rights. An order that originates in the transparent processes of building democracy that has been so deeply entrenched that it cannot be uprooted any more.
Therefore, thank you to all of you.
It is that thanks to your contribution and to your sacrifice, thanks to your civic cohesion, today we confirm to the world that we have reached maturity of a European democracy, only in eight years of functioning as a democratic state.
Today, dear guests and dear citizens, we start building a new tradition.
This is another stone in building a joint history as a multi-ethnic, secular state that embraces the values of the Euro-Atlantic family. This ceremony is a new chapter in our book of joint successes, where elections, ceremonies, national holidays, slowly enrich the delicate story of our state.
These are ornaments of the statehood that we are jointly engraving.
This ceremony will be soon over, but our state will keep going forward. Ever quicker, ever better.
I assure you that our state will never stand still. There will be no brakes or pauses. We have no time to loose.
We have lost enough centuries. We have lost enough epochs. We went from medieval times to communism. From communism to war. Never experiencing a democratic transition.
We have been free since 17 years now. And we have no more years, not a single day actually, to loose to anger, to hate and to histories of blood.
As President of the Republic of Kosovo, let me tell you, I have no intention to be wrapped in a flag of a hero.
Today, here, I want to tell you that I feel honoured enough just by being the President of heroes. That made the impossible possible. That made a dream, a reality.
The hero is the worker that gives up many of joys of life only to be able to pay for his or her children’s’ education. The hero is the entrepreneur who employs many families and pays taxes. The hero is the war veteran that gave everything for the country, without expecting a reward, without thinking about the dangers. The war invalid that paid with his body the price for freedom. Families of the martyrs that gave their loved ones for the homeland. Former inmates that suffered prison for they wanted democracy. Hero is our citizens in diaspora that saved nothing for Kosovo that is today. Heroes were one million refugees during the war.
Today, the hero is every member of every minority community that is determined to remain in Kosovo, where his and her roots are, and where he and she stand ready to face any challenge that life will throw at them.
The hero is the teacher that educates new generations. The hero is the farmer that grows our bred. And doctor that treat and heals us. Hero is the environmentalist that takes care of nature.
Hero is the citizen of Kosovo.
This citizen remembers but forgives. Does not forget but does not take revenge. They are proud and rise beyond the past, seeking reconciliation.
Hero is the student that keeps pace with the trends of knowledge around the world. Heroes are the children that attend the schools that we build with our hard work. Today, the hero is a good prosecutor, a just judge. Hero is the police officer that protects us, day and night. Hero is the solider that defends our freedom and our peace.