Category: General

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on May 25th 2009 passed a resolution on Kosovo. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Kosovo this resolution welcomes the progress made during the first year of independence. The OIC resolution also welcomes the deployment of EULEX, reconfiguration of UNMIK and calls on the international community to continue supporting multilateral efforts in Kosovo. The resolution establishes regular updates to the OIC regarding progress of Kosovo, thus placing Kosovo high on the OIC agenda.

The adoption of this resolution marks a significant step for Kosovo.

Earlier this week the Serbian Foreign Ministry attempted to mark a diplomatic victory by claiming that the resolution has been sidetracked and rejected. A bigger question was brought up when the Serbian Foreign Ministry claimed to have influenced the content of the resolution by bringing forth changes that omitted any call for recognition of Kosovo by OIC member states. Although this claim is yet to be verified, diplomatic sources state that the OIC resolution never contained any call to OIC members to recognize Kosovo.

Recognition of states is not in the jurisdiction of the OIC and is entirely up to each member state of the OIC to recognize Kosovo on its own terms.

James Berisha, a Kosovar-American, originally from Brestovc, Kosovo is beginning his journey today on May 25, 2009 departing at 8:00 am El Paso time (16:00 CET) with his single engine plane starting from El Paso, Texas, USA to more than 30 countries in Central and South America to rally support for newly independent Kosovo.

KosovoThanksYou team enthusiastically supports James’ project and goal to raise awareness among Central and South America countries regarding the Kosovo recognition.

We wish James a safe journey and we encourage him to  fly as a free bird for the independence of Kosovo!

For more information visit Flying for Kosovo

See flying tour map

International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced that 35 United Nations Member Sates have filed written statements on the advisory opinion about the Declaration of Independence by the Government of Kosovo. The texts of the written statements and of the written contribution are confidential at this stage of the proceedings.

Among the countries that have filed written statements, 21 have recognized  and 14 including Serbia have not recognized the Independence of Kosovo.

Countries that have recognized Kosovo (21): Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,  Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Latvia, Maldives, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America.

Countries that have not recognized Kosovo (14): Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Iran.

The decision about the advisory opinion is expected to be made sometime in the middle of next year.

See ICJ announcement

During a speech made to the London School of Economics on the 31st of March 2009, the President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, gave positive signs that Indonesia might recognize Kosovo if it becomes clear that Kosovo is a special case. The president also noted that the independence of Kosovo is part of the nation building process resulting from the collapse of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a process that has not yet concluded.

President Yudhoyono said that Indonesia considers two important points in this situation, the sovereignty of countries under international law, and the will of the people of Kosovo to be independent.

President Yudhoyono stated that “for now it is quite possible for Indonesia to accept the independent status of Kosovo after we examine carefully that there is a different situation in Myanmar”, adding that, “after the process of Balkanization you have the independent state of Kosovo.”

The President of Indonesia also added that “we are still following the situation in Kosovo and it is quite possible that some day Indonesia recognizes the independence of Kosovo.”

The Orchestral Version of the Kosovo National Anthem composed by Mendi Mengjiqi is now available at the Kosovo Thanks You website.

This recording of the Kosovo Anthem was performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Kosovo on February 17, 2009, marking the first anniversary of Kosovo’s Independence.

Until now, the only version available of Kosovo’s Anthem was the computerized MIDI version. The Kosovo Thanks You team is making this version public for the first time.

Download Anthem (MP3):

– Philharmonic Orchestra of Kosovo

– United States Navy Band

– MIDI

Related links:  State Symbols

The 24th of March marks the 10th anniversary of NATO strikes aimed at stoping vioelence and ethnic cleansing on Kosovar Albanians. A whole generation of Kosovars will remember this day for all their lives, and with 10 years behind us we can only focus on the future and for this future to be a bright one. Today Kosovo is independent and recognized by 56 UN member states, and many other friends around the world.

But also to this day, the same ideology that in 1999 attempted to forcefully subdue a peaceful nation and tried for almost a century to destroy its future by closing universities, schools and treating Kosovo as a colony, is continuing its bizare and hard to comprehend campaign. The ideology that sits today in Belgrade has caused too much suffering for everyone in South East Europe and we can only hope that 10 years from now it will be history.

Therefore, 10 years may have passed and most countries in the Balkans might have moved on, but we still await for the rest to catch up. At least so we hope.

We must also not forget the thousands that are missing and whose families await to learn about the fate of their loved ones. 10 years later, forgivness has yet to be sought by those that caused harm.

We may celebrate, but we must also remember.

The guilty verdict by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the trial of 5 out of 6 high ranking Serb government figures for the crimes they committed and organized during the Kosovo-Serbia war in 1999 brings some justice to the people of Kosovo. This decision, although welcomed, should be a reminder to the countries around the world that justice is still being demanded by the victims.

Additionally, the guilty verdict of a Former Serbian Prime Minster, top Generals and security decision makers, of the Serbian Republic should speak volumes about the legality of Kosovar independence. Kosovo had and continues to have not only the moral right, but the legal right to protect its people and its independence.

It is important not to forget that many Kosovars are still missing and are presumed dead. Many perpetrators of these crimes are still free and living in Serbia, and some are also active in political life and decision making.

As long as these questions remain unanswered, justice will only be half-done.

The guilty verdict is welcomed, but also serves as a reminder to the world that this is not the end of the story.

Dear citizens of Kosovo and of all the countries of the World,

Kosovo just turned 1 year old. It was on the 17th of February 2008 that our country declared its freedom and its desire to grow and stand on its feet.

Today we celebrate that day.

In 1 year, we have been recognized by 54 UN Member states, most of the EU and NATO. The year that is coming, will also be fruitful and prosperous. In the face of all challenges, our young nation has come out stronger and took its place in the world. The reality of Kosovo has been accepted by the World. Yet a lot remains to be done.

To mark this occassion, KosovoThanksYou has started a new Twitter feed and prepared a celebration video. View the Kosovo Flag Around the World project.

The KosovoThanksYou team will be covering the celebrations from Prishtina and will publish photos and videos as they become available.

We wish you all a Happy Independence Day!
The Team

Updated: 17 February 2008

The Embassy of Republic of Bulgaria in Bern confirmed for KosovoThanksYou that Bulgaria recognizes the passport of Republic of Kosovo. Also, the embassy noted, citizens of Kosovo are required to have a viza in order to enter Bulgaria.

We also received reports that Kosovars were able to use their Passports in Bulgaria [See passport stamp]

We want to thank Bulgaria for the continued support and its role in stabilizing South East Europe. Travel of citizens of both Bulgaria and Kosovo to these countries is an important step for the economy and European integration of the Balkans.

The KosovoThanksYou team with the help of the flag designer M. Ibrahimi has acquired the correct values for the colors of the Flag and Coat of Arms of Republic of Kosovo. This information is currently only available on the KosovoThanksYou.com site.

In the past few months there has been some confusion about the exact colors of the Kosovar flag. Confusion stems from conversion between CMYK and RGB color formats, which was not done properly.

The colors on the Government Website are in CMYK format that have been converted to RGB without corrections. This makes the Kosova outline look darker on the screen. The correct RGB version of the flag as well as the color values are listed below.

At this point, this specification remains the only Kosovo Flag color standard publicly available.

Republic of Kosovo flag color codes:

Background: R:24, G:56, B:132 (or #183884)
Kosova: R:219, G:187, B:91 (or #DBBB5B)
Stars: R: 255, G: 255, B: 255 (or #FFFFFF)

Download high resolution: Flag | Coat of arms

Coat of Arms and Flag Download in:
SVG, EPS