On August 10, 1998, Bekim Berisha, known by the nickname "Abeja", as one of the fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army, fell heroically after a few hours of fighting with the Serbian forces.
Bekim Berisha was born on June 15, 1966 in Graboc, Peja. The grandfather of the martyr, Nexhip Selmani, had fought against the Serbian invaders for years
Parents Fazli and Fahrije Berisha had six children: five sons and a daughter, while Bekimi was the sixth child in a row. Bekim Berisha completed primary school in Gorazhdevc, Peja, and art high school in Peja.
Raised and educated with care and pride by his grandfather and father, who lovingly cultivated national feelings in the young soul of Kosovo's future freedom fighter, Bekim Berisha, unable to continue his studies, he was forced to leave Kosovo. . The first stop for the young emigrant from Graboc in Peja was Croatia.
At first he worked as a manual worker. He engaged in heavy physical work, in order to make a living, only to help his family and enroll in the Faculty of Hospitality in Opatija and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb, KosovaPress reports.
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He successfully completed both of these faculties. During his stay in Croatia, Bekim Berisha learned six foreign languages, so he managed to read various literature, economic, tourist and even military.
At this time, first in Croatia and later in Bosnia, the war of Croats and Bosniaks against the Serbian colonial regime broke out. Although a professional in the field of tourism and veterinary medicine, Bekim Berisha without hesitation voluntarily responded to the invitation to fight against this regime. At this time Bekim Berisha lived in the Netherlands, but left Western life and joined the Croatian fighters, respectively the elite Croatian units.
As a fighter and strategist in the fight against the Serbs in Croatia, the General Staff of the Croatian Army decorated Bekim Berisha with the rank of general. From the war in Croatia, Bekim Berisha goes to the war in Bosnia, again against the Serbian forces, taking part in many fierce battles.
The situation after the war in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia clearly showed that the day was not far when the war would start in Kosovo as well. So Bekim Berisha at the beginning of March 1998 with a group of expatriate friends entered Kosovo illegally, joining the ranks of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
At first it was settled in Açareve, Drenica. Here he began the organization and first preparations with the young soldiers for learning the military art. On April 22, 1998 in Açarevë Bekim Berisha with other KLA fighters raised the Albanian flag and opened the Military Academy. However, at this time, the fighting between the Serbian forces and those of the KLA intensified in the Operational Area of Dukagjin. Bekim Berisha together with the martyr Bedri Shala went to Gllogjan of Deçan, thus becoming a strong wing of the commander Ramush Haradinaj and the fighters of Dukagjin. Here, Bekim Berisha showed skill in the military training of young soldiers, and especially in carrying, securing and collecting weapons.
KLA fighter Bekim Berisha, in the Battle of Junik, on May 29, 1998, engaged in the defense of this area, which had a special strategic importance, giving the maximum contribution to the protection of this village from falling into the hands of the Serbian forces which had surrounded it with a large military and human arsenal. And exactly the fall of Bekim Berisha in the field of honor, together with the brave fighters Bedri Shala, Elton Zherka, Përmet Vulen, Bashkim Leku etc. caused Junik to fall into the hands of Serbian forces. It was the day of August 10, 1998 when Bekim Berisha fell from a cannonball, entering the eternity of the war for the liberation of Kosovo from Serbian forces.
For the merits and heroism of Bekim Berisha in the war against the savage Serbian regime that ruled for almost a century in Kosovo, the General Staff of the KPC, after the end of the war, promoted him to the rank of Major General. Bekim Berisha was first buried in Junik. Later, the reburial took place in his hometown, where a monument was erected that shines brightly and is a way of telling stories for future generations.
Although historians think that the domain of the field of activity of the individual narrows the field of interest of the historian, striking figures such as the figure of Bekim Berisha, is a great responsibility for every historical feather that will deal with this figure.
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"Serbs do not want diplomacy other than war," he said in one of a series of rare videos that the AP had published, in which Berisha also spoke during the war.
He later said in another statement that Serbs do not understand dialogue, but only "Fire for Fire" relations.
