KOSOVO: Creator of new flag and former KLA fighter describes elation at his design representing Kosovo

Record ID: 737715

  • Title: KOSOVO: Creator of new flag and former KLA fighter describes elation at his design representing Kosovo
  • Date: 23rd February 2008
  • Summary: (BN11) PRISTINA, KOSOVO (FEBRUARY 23, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF KOSOVO GOVERNMENT BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2GB62CWZEOWQHPD540PT0GM2O
  • Story Text: Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on Saturday (February 23) met Muhmer Ibrahimi, the creator of Kosovo's new flag, to congratulate him on his design.
    The flag of the Republic of Kosovo was adopted by the Assembly of Kosovo following the unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17.
    On June 12, 2007, the then government of Kosovo launched a ten-day international competition for people to submit drafts for the new flag. Over a thousand proposals were submitted.
    The competition rules insisted that the final design must not use ethnic or national symbols or colour schemes in order to ensure that it represented all citizens of Kosovo.
    A fighter in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the war, Muhmer Ibrahimi's winning design features six white stars in an arc above a golden map of Kosovo on a blue field.

    "I feel very good that the soul, the mind, sacrifice, the ideal and hand of a former freedom fighter of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has presented and designed the new symbol of Kosovo", Thaci said after meeting Ibrahimi.
    The six stars - all equal in size - are meant to symbolize equal rights between Kosovo's six major ethnic groups: Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Gorania, Roma and Bosniaks.
    The Kosovo map on the flag is supposed to represent the integrity of the territory and the gold colour, the richness of minerals and resources and the people. The blue symbolizes the aspirations for Euro-Atlantic integration.

    "The main inspiration has been the movement of the state of Kosovo towards Euro-Atlantic integration", Ibrahimi said after his meeting with Thaci.
    Back in his office, surrounded by photographs of his days as a KLA fighter, Ibrahimi described his emotions on hearing his design had been selected. "Of course I felt very happy and proud, these are emotions you cannot describe - indescribable and very great emotions," he said.
    The new flag means that Kosovo will now give up the black-on-red, double-headed eagle of the Albanian national flag.
    The province, most of whose population is ethnic Albanian, has used the flag of neighbouring Albania since NATO drove out Serb forces in 1999 and the UN took control.
    It was carried into battle by guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and now flies from state buildings and homes across the territory.
    Late Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova, who led the Kosovo drive for independence before the KLA uprising, had proposed his own party flag to replace the Albanian national flag. But the idea was rejected.
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