Who was Dr. Ibrahim Rugova?

On January 10, 1945, the Yugoslav communists shoot his father Ukë Rugova and grandfather Rrustë Rugova, who had been a well-known fighter against the Chetnik detachments that were infiltrating during the Second World War in the province of Rugova.

Ibrahim Rugova finished high school in Peja in 1967. He graduated from the Department of Albanianology of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Pristina in 1971.

Rugova stayed during an academic year (1976-77) in Paris, at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, under the supervision of Prof. Roland Barthes, where he pursued his scientific interests in the study of literature, with a focus on literary theory.

Ibrahim Rugova received his doctorate in literature at the University of Pristina in 1984.

In 1996, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Kosovo.

In this same year, he was declared an honorary doctor of the University of Paris VIII in Paris.

Author of ten books (see below), Dr. Ibrahim Rugova was initially an editor in the student newspaper "Bota e re" and in the scientific magazine "Dituria" (1971-72), which were published in Pristina. Then for nearly two decades, Dr. Rugova worked at the Albanological Institute of Pristina as a literature researcher. For a while, he was the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Albanological Traces", which was published by this Institute.

Dr. Rugova was elected chairman of the Writers' Association of Kosovo in 1988, which became a powerful nucleus of the Albanian movement opposing the Serbian/Yugoslav communist rule in Kosovo.

As an intellectual who gave voice to this intellectual and political movement, Dr. Rugova was elected on December 23, 1989 as the president of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the first political party in Kosovo that directly challenged the communist regime in power.

The LDK quickly became the leading political force in Kosovo, gathering the majority of the people, although in the meantime other parties and groups appeared on the scene.

Under the leadership of Dr. Ibrahim Rugovës, LDK, in cooperation with other Albanian political forces in Kosovo and with the then Assembly of Kosovo, completed the legal framework for the institutionalization of Kosovo's independence.

The Declaration of Independence (July 2, 1990), the declaration of Kosovo as a Republic and the adoption of its constitution (September 7, 1990), the popular referendum on the independence and sovereignty of Kosovo held at the end of September 1991, was a prelude to the first multi-party elections for The Assembly of Kosovo and the presidential elections in the Republic of Kosovo on May 24, 1992.

The LDK won the overwhelming majority of deputies in the Assembly, in which three other parties were also represented, while Dr. Ibrahim Rugova was elected President of the Republic of Kosovo with an overwhelming majority of votes.

Dr. Ibrahim Rugova was re-elected President of the Republic of Kosovo in the elections held in March 1998. His party, LDK, won the majority of seats in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo that year.

Under Rugova's leadership, the LDK won 58% of the electoral vote in the internationally sponsored local elections in post-war Kosovo in October 2000.

International awards and titles:

- In 1995, Dr. Rugova was awarded the Paul Litzer Foundation Peace Prize in Denmark.

- In 1996, Ibrahim Rugova was declared an Honorary Doctor (Honoris Causa) of the University of Paris VIII Sorbonne, France.

- In 1998, Rugova was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize.

- In 1999, Rugova received the Peace Prize of the city of Münster, Germany, and was declared an honorary citizen of the Italian cities of Venice, Milan and Brescia.

- In 2000, Dr. Rugova received the "Manuel Carrasco i Formiguera" Peace Prize of the Democratic Union of Catalonia, in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

- In 2004, the Pan-European Coudenhove-Kalergi Foundation awarded the President of Kosovo, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, the Europe Prize for 2004. Previous recipients of the Europe Prize are:

- King Juan Carlos of Spain, - Helmut Kohl, - Ronald Reagan, - Otto von Habsburg and - Emil Constantinescu.

- In 2004, General Jerry Beck, Commander of the KFOR Multinational Brigade East, who was on a farewell visit to the President of Kosovo on Monday, February 16, 2004, presented Dr. Rugova with a letter of commendation signed by the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Catherine Baker Knoll.

“...On behalf of the 12 million citizens of Pennsylvania, I want to commend you for your extraordinary achievements and thank you for your friendship to the United States.” (Mrs. Kathryn Baker Noll)

- In 2004, the President of Kosovo, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, was declared Honorary Senator of Europe by the Senate of Europe in a solemn ceremony held on Monday, February 2, 2004, in the afternoon in the Belgian city of Antwerp. This is a group of the most eminent figures of the European political scene, which honors the most prominent personalities in the world of politics, journalism, exact sciences or humanities who have made their contribution to democracy, peace, development or stability in Europe.

"Even with the objections that Ibrahim Rugova has faced in the political scene these years, the President of Kosovo has had the courage to continue striving for his ideal in one of the most difficult areas of the Balkans".

"It is very difficult to fight for the self-determination and free will of a small people, when this does not correspond to the wishes of large peoples. Rugova continued to fight alone, sometimes without encountering understanding for an ideal that could give Europe the peace we need. It is precisely this that will honor him today with the title of European Senator so that he will not be discouraged." (Mr. Otto von Habsburg)

- On September 9, 2004, Ibrahim Rugova was declared an Honorary Doctor (Honoris Causa) of the University of Tirana.

- On November 20, 2005, the New York City Council honored the President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, with a special recognition for his dedication to affirming the principles of democracy and for his inspiring political leadership.

- On January 21, 2006, the heart of the First President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, stopped beating.