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‘Kush s’ma ka falë gjakun kësaj stine, Kosovës ia ka dhanë një thikë pas shpine.’

Starting the Reconciliation Campaign – Hava Shala interview extract

” The beginning of the Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Campaign. The spokesperson of Milošević’s government appeared on [prime time] news at that time […] And said, ‘They were not killed by our army and our police,’ by them, ‘primitive Albanians were killed because of blood feuds.’ […] It was very irritating, it was unacceptable to me, it was very discriminatory, it was very untrue, it was very dehumanizing. And the next day, I went to Peja. Myrvete was the first person I wanted to meet and the one I went there with the intention to meet […] I met her in Peja, and we started talking, I don’t remember whether she had watched the news or not. Myrvete and I, always understood each other well; we were friends even before, before prison, during prison, and after prison. And we understood each-other, we didn’t have to explain much, we didn’t have to put in an effort to convince each other… she considered [Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Campaign] very important, and she said, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ […] Brahim, Lul, Myrvete and I went to Adem’s [Grabovci] house that day, and we talked and we agreed without hesitation; I mean, we didn’t need to discuss much, we didn’t need to talk much or philosophize. […] Then we thought about a person, a honourable, treasured, and valuable face who also has the competence to enter the oda, to hold oda-style conversations, it was professor Zekerija Cana and professor Anton Çetta, Zekerija Cana first, respectively. He was honourable, at least to us, but not only to us, we knew his political engagement, his writings. ”

The full interview can be read at: https://oralhistorykosovo.org/hava-shala/