Kosovo, the youngest country in Europe, turned nine on Friday. Nine years have passed since MPs signed the Kosovo declaration of independence on Feb. 17, 2008.
Kosovo Parliament held a special session on Thursday on the occasion, while on Friday Prime Ministers of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa and Albanian PM, Edi Rama, laid flowers to the grave of late Kosovo president and leader, Ibrahim Rugova.
The two PMs later visited Prekaz village, where Serbian army martyred the whole Jashari family back in 1998, including Adem Jashari, one of the main founders of Kosovo Liberation Army.
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was not present at the official ceremonies staged Friday as he has traveled to Munih, Germany, where is due to participate a Security Conference.
The symbol of the Independence, the NEWBORN obelisk has changed color and form again this anniversary. Obelisk’s message is “No Walls”, as a sign of protest to Brussels, which has let Kosovo as the only one country in Western Balkans, whose citizens are not allowed to travel visa-free to Europe’s Schengen Zone.
Speaking at the special plenary session on Thursday, President Thaçi said that Kosovo is recognized by 113 countries worldwide. Serbia on the other side, insists in its decision to not recognize Kosovo. Despite being recognized from most of countries in the world, Kosovo remains out of the UN.
During the last year, Kosovo became member of FIFA and UEFA with its National Team participating the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
Kosovo won the first Olympic medal in Rio 2016 Olympic Games last summer.
The small balkan country aims to join the European Union as well as establishing an army and became a NATO member./tvklan.al
