The "Day of Hope and Freedom" commemorates the 24th anniversary of NATO's intervention in Kosovo

In Kosovo, the 24th anniversary of the launch of NATO bombings on Serbian military and police targets has been marked.

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, accompanied by the ambassadors of the QUINT countries (the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy) paid tribute to the Memorial of fallen NATO soldiers in Kosovo, where emphasized that NATO "made it impossible for the criminal regime to ethnically cleanse the people of Kosovo".

"That's why we are always grateful to them. March 24 is the day of turnaround, hope and freedom. We will repeat every time that the people of Kosovo were victims in 1999, while Serbia was the aggressor. This is how it will always be in the annals of history", President Osmani is quoted as saying in the press release.

She added that the will of the people of Kosovo for freedom received the appropriate support from the Western world, which, as she said, "was placed on the right side of history".

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, during a speech in Gllogjan, where the Epic of Dukagjin was celebrated, said that the justice and nobility of the people of Kosovo "made us gain allies in support, on our side".

"It is precisely March 24, 1999, when the NATO alliance began bombing Serbian military and police targets. In the political aspect, Bill Clinton, in the diplomatic one Medeline Albright, in the information one James Rubin, in the military one Wesly Clark. It was this combination that put an end to the occupation of Serbia, while it gave hope to our people," Kurti said.

He emphasized that the bombings that lasted 78 days "stopped the genocide against the Albanian people by the fascist regime of Milosevic".

Even the Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Glauk Konjufca, said that under the command of General Wesley Clark, the 78-day NATO bombing campaign led by the United States of America ended the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Albanians in Kosovo.

"And freedom shone from the burning sky. 24 years later, the Republic of Kosovo, built on the foundations of the KLA's liberation war, the martyrdom of our people and NATO's military assistance, is a democratic, sovereign and independent state. The best example in the Balkans, Europe and beyond for the free life of equal citizens, human rights and the rights of minority communities", wrote Konjufca on the Facebook social network.

March 24 marks 24 years since the start of NATO airstrikes against military and police targets in the former Yugoslavia.

After 78 days of attacks, the bombings stopped on June 10, 1999, with the Kumanovo Technical Agreement, which provided for the withdrawal of all Serbian military and police forces from Kosovo.

The agreement was followed by the adoption of Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council.

This Resolution was a compromise of the five permanent member countries of the Security Council based on which a United Nations administration - UNMIK was established in Kosovo, which administered the transitional phase until the establishment of local institutions and the permanent settlement of the conflict. the status of Kosovo.

NATO's intervention in Kosovo had enabled the return to their homes of more than 800 thousand refugees, displaced persons inside and outside Kosovo.

On June 12, 1999, the deployment of about 50,000 soldiers from 36 countries of the world began, of which 30,000 were from NATO countries./REL