In Kosovo:
an exhibition about Dr. Ibrahim Rugova in Kosovo Museum
The Kosovo Museum is the earliest institution of cultural heritage in Kosovo, established with the goal of preserving, restoration-conservation and presentation of movable heritage on the territory.
In this way the Kosovo Museum offers the visitor an exhibition –opened on 24th May 2018- about “The contribution of the historic president Dr. Ibrahim Rugova to the formation of Kosovo”.
The photos below show the importance of both Ibrahim Rugova and the United States of America in the formation of Kosovo.
“God bless America and our Western friends”, Ibrahim Rugova, the first president of Kosovo, used to say at the end of his speeches in the 1990’s.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Ibrahim Rugova, (Cerrcë, 1944 – Pristina, 2006) “was a Kosovar nationalist writer and politician who devoted his public life to peaceful attempts to gain independence for ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
After completing his education in Pristina and Paris, Rugova taught literature at the Institute for Albanian Studies in Pristina and wrote books. In 1988 he became president of the Kosovo Writers’ Union.
When Slodoban Milošević revoked Kosovo’s autonomy the next year and placed the province under Serbian control, a group of academics formed the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), with Rugova at its head. As the Serbian government grew increasingly oppressive, the LDK declared the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, and in 1992 Rugova was elected president.
International recognition was not forthcoming, however, and when the Dayton (Ohio) accords, which in 1995 ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, made no mention of Kosovo, the armed resistance of the Kosovo Liberation Army gained popular support. Rugova was reelected president in an unofficial vote in 1998. He was not included in peace negotiations in 1999 and fled to Italy when NATO began bombing in the province that year, but he returned after the UN took overhe bodies of nine administration of the province. The excesses of the Kosovo Liberation Army brought renewed support for the pacifist LDK, and Rugova was reelected president in 2002 and 2004. In 1998 he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.”
These photos were taken in August 2018.
