26 Years have Passed Since the War in Kosovo, Yet Many Have Forgotten the Terrible Scars it Left.
Interview By Markus Bontempo with Luljeta “Leta” Sejdiu
Special Report
CONTENT WARNING:
This article contains sensitive content that some might find upsetting. This article was not written to vilify anyone for the tragedies that occurred, but to shed light on the tragic events that took place.
Special thanks to Visar Kurtaj for making this interview possible.
June 12, 1999 marked the end of the war in Kosovo in what is now known as Kosovo’s Liberation Day. As is the case with many armed conflicts, civilians bore the brunt of the violence. Survivor of the war Luljeta “Leta” Sejdiu recalls her first-hand experiences of fleeing the violence and shares what this tragedy has taught her.
MARKUS
“Thank you so much for discussing this with me today, Leta. I know that this is a very sensitive topic so I would like to thank you for joining me. My first question is, what does this anniversary mean to you?”
LETA
“The 26-year anniversary means a lot to me; freedom. When I see the young generation in Kosovo, they’re able to graduate in their own language, so that means a lot.”
MARKUS
“Absolutely, that is really important. What do you think people should know about this conflict?”
LETA
“This conflict is very complicated. In 1912, the borders were set up in [the] Balkans, which Albanians and Kosovo [were] split. We were part of Yugoslavia, so majority there were Serbs [in Yugoslavia]. We had our own autonomy, but we were treated as a second class. For like a 200 years or so, I think, [Kosovo] was occupied by Serbia. We didn’t have a lot of freedom, especially like my dad [who] was educated, but for him to be able to have a degree, […] he had to learn Serbian. So we have some rights, like autonomy, but not fully, and around [the] ‘80s, Serbia decided to strip all the rights away from us, and then they replaced, police stations, hospitals, schools and everything, even a post office, [with] people from Serbia. So we lost jobs, we lost everything. And then protests started for our rights, and then the war started there.”
MARKUS
“Thank you for sharing that with me. How old were you when the war started?”
LETA
“I was around 12 when the rights were stripped away from us, and they started protests, and they started [escalating]. I lost a friend, my classmate, during that time. They were putting poisons in schools and stuff like that. But the real war [was] after [the] Bosnia war ended, it started in my country in 1998 and 99 when I was 20.”
MARKUS
“I’m sorry, that must have been really, really hard to experience. Could you please tell me a little bit about what it was like from your perspective?”
LETA
“That was really hard. It was really hard to be in that situation. I just don’t know how to describe [it], like being there and seeing people burning homes and not to be able to eat or anything. When the real [war] started, I was split from my mother and my family, and then I got in with my kid’s father. We moved to mountains for survival, and we got surrounded there, so we were sent back to the city. They started burning home, and they were shooting up buildings. It was terrifying […] to be there. A lot of times when you’re in that situation, you pretty much freeze. I don’t know how to describe it, but I never wish on any enemy to go through that. It was hard.”
MARKUS
“Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I know that is a really difficult thing to talk about. What are some things that you hope people can learn from this conflict and from your experiences?”
LETA
“So through my experience, for 23 years, I was holding all the anger and devastation with me. I would have these nightmares all the time. It’s like PTSD; you live, but you don’t even realize it. To be able to look back and heal from and understand that is something you can control. For the longest time, I was really destroyed from anger and devastation; losing friends, classmates, you’re losing family members, you’re losing all that, and you’re being split from anybody you’ve ever known. I’m the only one here in United States, the rest of the family lives in England, so everybody was kind of separated, and it’s really hard. But when you look back, you’re going to learn from it and you just have to let it go and not hold on to that, to be able to survive it, to live, and to create a better future. Sometimes those challenges teach us to be stronger and to hope for a better world for a new generation. We don’t need conflict. We all come from one creation, one source, to have love, hope for one another, to lift one another up. That’s what I have [learned] from that experience.”
MARKUS
“Absolutely, that’s very profound. Thank you so much again for opening up about such a sensitive topic. With everything that we’ve seen around the world over these past few years, talking about these tragedies is so important for new generations to learn from and understand. It has been a pleasure to speak with you today Leta, thanks once again.”