Tirana’s Municipal Council passed without any votes against Mayor Erion Veliaj’s proposal to grant the title of “Honorary Citizen” to four former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The decision includes Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi, in an initiative that the Municipality presents as recognition of their role in the war for Kosovo’s liberation and in relations with Tirana.
Unanimous approval in the Municipal Council
According to the approved decision, Veliaj’s proposal received unanimous support in Tirana’s Municipal Council. With this vote, the four former KLA leaders will hold the title of “Honorary Citizen” of the capital.
The move had also first passed through the Municipality’s internal structures. Earlier, the initiative had received unanimous approval from the Artistic-Cultural Commission, following a proposal by the Titles Commission, which is headed by historian Pëllumb Xhufi.
How the Municipality justifies the recognition
The official version links this title to the contribution of the four names in the Kosovo Liberation Army, in its political representation, and in the processes that, according to the wording of the decision, led toward Kosovo’s freedom, independence and statehood.
The Municipality’s justification also mentions their ties with Tirana and Albania, as well as the role of the Albanian capital as a center of political and civic support for Kosovo during the war.
The four names included in the decision
The title is awarded to Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi. For each of them, the official wording repeats the assessment of their contribution to the liberation war, to Kosovo’s political journey and to bringing relations between Kosovo and Albania closer.
The text of the decision also emphasizes that these processes were seen within the framework of support from the United States and Euro-Atlantic partners, an element that the Municipality included in its political and symbolic reasoning.
A decision with political and symbolic weight
Beyond the ceremonial aspect, the Municipal Council’s vote carries clear political weight, as it touches on a topic with high public sensitivity in relation to the history of the Kosovo war and the way local institutions build official honors.
The fact that the decision was approved unanimously shows that in this case there was no visible public debate within the council over the content of the proposal, at least at the voting stage. This makes even more visible the way symbolic titles often pass as consensus acts, without much institutional opposition.
The Municipal Council’s decision now brings into force the honor for the four former KLA leaders, in an act that the Municipality of Tirana presents as recognition of a historic contribution and of their ties to the Albanian capital.