The Conference of Bujan, the founding assembly of the National Liberation Council for Kosovo and the Dukagjin Plain, was held in the tower of Sali Mani in the village of Bujan, Gjakova Highlands. The decision to form the Regional National Liberation Council was made by the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for Kosovo and Metohija (Dukagjin) at the Sharri Conference (November 4–6, 1943), attended by members of the Main Staff of the National Liberation Army for Kosovo and Metohija (Dukagjin) and representatives of the local committees of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. At that time, in the liberated area of the Gjakova Highlands, partisan battalions such as “Bajram Curri“, “Perlat Rexhepi“, and “Rinia” were operating, alongside the Main Staff of the National Liberation Army for Kosovo and the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for Kosovo. Out of the 61 delegates invited by the Main Staff of the National Liberation Army and partisan authorities of Kosovo, 49 attended the conference in Bujan. Most of the delegates were Communists, but there were also nationalists, patriotic democrats, representatives of armed units, youth, and anti-fascist women, as well as members of national liberation councils, etc. Besides representatives from Kosovo, delegates from Plav and Gusinje, as well as some from the Gjakova Highlands, which administratively belonged to Albania, also attended the conference. After the discussions, the commission tasked with drafting the conference document, composed of Zekeria Rexha, Hajdar Dushi, Mehmet Hoxha, Pavle Jovićević, Xheladin Hana, Fadil Hoxha, and Mita Milković, presented the Resolution of the Conference for approval, as well as the call addressed to the peoples of Kosovo and the Dukagjin Plain. The resolution declared the conference’s goal to be the brotherhood of peoples and the unity of all patriots in the fight against the fascist occupiers. In a way, it also outlined the long-term solution to the national problem of the Albanians in Kosovo: brotherhood with the Yugoslav peoples and joint resistance against the occupiers. The people of Kosovo enthusiastically welcomed the decisions of the conference, while the Yugoslav leadership opposed them. Thus, on March 28, 1944, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, through a letter signed by Milovan Djilas, attacked the decisions of the conference regarding the right of Albanians to self-determination up to secession, after victory over fascism. (In the photo: The tower where the Bujan Conference was held.)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. I , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 836–838.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konferenza_e_Bujanit
Graphic processing: AHCF
