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“Urtësi, sot e mot!”

Lumturije Lumka Krasniqi – Interview extract

“…a woman somewhere in the surroundings of Istog, her father had been killed, and she did not want to forgive, the family yes, but she didn’t want to, the case was terrible. Her name was… she gave her word, she gave the besa [word of honor] to her father not to forgive, avenge his death. So, we went the next day, but she did not forgive it. When I returned home, I said to my father, ‘Dad,’ I said, ‘I want to ask you something.’ My father said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I have a question.’ I said, ‘for example, God forbid someone killed you,’ I said, ‘and you asked me to avenge your death, and I promised you to take out the blood, and now, the people asked me, for the sake of the Movement, to forgive your blood that I promised you to avenge, if I forgave it, what would you say? Were I to forgive it, or were I to keep my promise?’ He said, ‘When it concerns the national cause,’ he said, ‘never keep a personal promise. Personal promises are broken for the sake of the national cause. Everything,’ he said, ‘not just me, but even if the whole family were killed, if the nation asked for it, if the national flag asked for it,’ he said, ‘not only forgive it, but give your life for it. So,’ he said, ‘this is my answer, for the national cause and the flag.’ I was touched; I wondered why that woman was not forgiving the blood. However, the following week she already agreed, she agreed to forgive it, and we went. We went after two weeks, and she forgave the blood, but I remember the inner conflict of that woman. I will never forget her, her braid. When she entered the room, we were crying more than she was. Terrible, terrible!”

The full interview can be read at: https://oralhistorykosovo.org/lumturije-lumka-krasniqi/