The life and work of the former Prime Minister in exile, Bujar Bukoshi, were honored with a commemorative gathering. Among family members, friends, and institutional figures, it was said that Bukoshi is one of the key names in political life.
The acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, emphasized that he was a supporter of peaceful resistance and armed uprising.
“Today marks 26 years since the liberation of Kosovo from Serbia as an occupying state, since June 12, 1999. Although a quarter of a century has passed since the time of the war, even today anyone who wants to understand Kosovo as a state, as a society, and as a political reality must know Kosovo of the 1990s well. And as soon as we approach the history of Kosovo in the decade of the 1990s, one of the key political names that emerges is that of Bujar Bukoshi, who passed away just two days ago on June 10, 2025, at the age of 78. In the chronicles and daily news of that time, the name Bujar Bukoshi was almost everywhere. From 1991, Bujar Bukoshi was the Prime Minister of the government in exile of the Republic of Kosovo,” he declared.
The name of the former Prime Minister in exile, Kurti added, is also immortalized by his hand in the foundational document — the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo.
“At a time when he was rejected by many others, Bujar Bukoshi took on the role of Prime Minister of Kosovo from President Ibrahim Rugova on October 12, 1991. So, Bujar Bukoshi was the first and last Prime Minister of the first Republic of Kosovo… He was courageous in every situation, brave in politics, realistic in his stances, and a lover of action. In the autumn of 1997, former Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi supported the student protests at the University of Prishtina as a republican institution and a center of resistance, which at that time was once led by Rector Ejup Statovci and later by Rector Zenel Kelmendi,” he expressed.
Bukoshi’s daughter, Shota, said he was supportive, courageous, and visionary.
“One of the hardest services I’ve had to do for my father is this one I’m doing now, speaking about him on behalf of the family. Something he would surely have lightened with a joke. On behalf of the family, we sincerely thank you for your presence and for the opportunity to remember and honor my father. Many of you know what my father did as a doctor, as a political activist for Kosovo’s freedom, and his service as the first Prime Minister of Kosovo. Naturally, we as his family know Bujar Bukoshi as a public figure, but we know the side most do not — Bujar as a father, husband, and grandfather. As much as he was precise with the scalpel in the operating room, he was also direct and brave in pursuing the vision for our country,” she said.
Also, the chairman of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, academic Mehmet Kraja, honored his life and work, saying that in conversations with Bukoshi, they wanted a different Kosovo.
“I had a long friendship with Bujar Bukoshi, without any pretensions, neither to change the world nor to change the rules of life. We simply started from an ideal and reached where most people do — more disappointed and less happy — having traveled a difficult path to face not the abstract dimension of an ideal but the real dimensions of a world that mercilessly disables and destroys all dreams,” he concluded.
Former Prime Minister in exile, Bujar Bukoshi, passed away at the age of 78.
