Central European - 2 years ago

In a public conversation on April 15 at CEU, the former President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, shared her personal journey of becoming in 2011 the country’s first woman president as well as the youngest democratically elected head of state in the world at that time. The event, “Conflict to Concord: President Atifete Jahjaga s Journey Through Post-War Ethnic Tensions”, was moderated by CEU Rector Emeritus and Professor of History, Michael Ignatieff. It was presented as part of the Open Society University Network’s (OSUN) Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network and their Civic Engagement Initiative. OSUN and CIVICA, an alliance of 10 European social science universities, co-organized and funded the event.  With the support of OSUN and the university, the visit was initiated by student Lena Ibishi, who is studying in CEU’s Culture, Politics and Society BA program. Ibishi, who is from Kosovo, interned in Jahjaga’s office at the age of 17 and now serves as a CIVICA Ambassador for CEU, connecting students from across the alliance with civic engagement opportunities. She is also currently an intern at the Embassy of Kosovo in Vienna.  “By facilitating President Jahjaga s visit, I aimed to provide a platform for my peers to engage with a leader whose journey embodies resilience, compassion and an unwavering pursuit of justice,” said Ibishi.   The conversation opened with Ignatieff tracing Jahjaga’s years leading to her ascent to the presidential post at the age of 36. Born in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia toward the end of the Tito regime, Jahjaga experienced the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and the events of the Kosovo War in the 90s.   “I belong to the generation that did their entire education in the house system because of the Milosevic regime,” Jahjaga said. “We were banned from the right to education, the right to employment, the right to the healthcare system. We were stripped of every possible right as Kosovo Albanians.” During the 90s, Kosovo Albanian students were not permitted to enter educational buildings. The alternative, which allowed young people to pursue their education, was the clandestine use of houses and private residences that were transformed into educational spaces.   During the talk, Jahjaga shared accounts of police officers and military entering such spaces and beating students and instructors, including herself and her brother. She discussed how her family spent time during the war locked in their apartment in the city of Pristina, emerging only after the NATO troops entered the city announcing that it had been liberated. Her accounts illustrated a heart-wrenching reality of what Kosovars endured.  After earning her law degree, she was hired as the local legal expert by the United Nations. “In the very first weeks working with the UN, we started doing the bylaws for the creation of the new police organization, which was called the Kosovo Police Service at that time, using the best criteria, the best Western standards, and something that was totally different from the organization that we used to see in the 70s, 80s and 90s. For the first time, after the end of the war, we introduced women within the police organization,” she said.  Jahjaga discussed how during her decade with the organization, she encouraged many more women to join, significantly growing the force, and in 2011, retired from the ranks as a five-star general at the age of 35. She attributed this proven public service among the reasons she was nominated that same year as the independent candidate for the head of state. During 2011, the Republic of Kosovo faced constitutional crisis, in which the country’s leader was removed, and Jahjaga became President, serving until 2016. 
From Conflict to Concord April 15, 2024. Photo by CEU/Elena Azzalini. When asked by Ignatieff to name her proudest decision from her time as President, Jahjaga responded: “Investing in young people and women, particularly into their education, is not only life-changing for that individual...but it s also the turning point for our country and the future of our country. For me, it was an institutional and moral obligation to do everything in my power to invest in them so they can take the lead of our country.”   Reflecting on the evening, Ibishi said: “The event served as a testament to the power of dialogue and collaboration in fostering meaningful change. It underscored CEU s commitment to nurturing global citizenship and fostering a community of engaged and empowered individuals.” She added: “[President Jahjaga’s] path from adversity to empowerment—which ranged from enduring the Kosovo war as a young person to revitalizing the police in a new country, to becoming in 2011 the world’s youngest democratically elected leader at the time—serves as a beacon of hope.”  In addition to the CEU audience, the event was attended by distinguished guests including Minister Counselor Albinot Bimbashi from the Embassy of Kosovo in Vienna and the Austrian politician Ulrike Lunacek, who acknowledged during the post-talk discussion Jahjaga s tireless advocacy for human rights.    Watch the full-length conversation here:   
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