What did Rexhep Tahiri warn about Zahiraj neighborhood?

Rexhep Tahiri was the last resident to leave the Zahiraj neighborhood. He had warned in time that if not investing in road regulation and if they do not help those few Zahiraj residents will be extinguished. And indeed it so, now Zahiraj’s neighborhood is abandoned and uninhabitable.

Rexhep Tahiri was the only active resident to face the Serbian army and gendarmerie. He was the only one who spoke openly to Zahirajt and openly defended the theory that the Zahirairs are part of Kosovo. No local government has ever dealt with the problem of Zahiraj.

Rexhep Tahiri lived in difficult living conditions and he took a big risk. He also fought against the provocations of the Serbian army, only to make his resistance understand that there is Kosovo’s land.

But Rexhep Tahiri’s hopes were quenched when no central municipal government took seriously his request to help and support him and the few residents there.

Now Zahiraj as neighborhoods are extinguished and Rexhep Tahiri can only remember those moments he experienced with his family in front of the Serbian gendarmerie.
What is known about Zahirjat and why their problem was ignored for years? Although the Zahirajva neighborhood was always part of Kosovo, after the war it remained as a disputable part and in reality the state of Kosovo never had access.

Zahirajt were part of Kosovo, but after the war, KFOR maps and Kumanovo talks left Zahirajt within Serbia’s artificial borders.

Zahirajt have already left the village and 19 years now no one has visited this beautiful village. Once there was Pajazit Zahiri and Rexhep Tahiri guarding in that neighborhood, but three years ago they were displaced too

Rexhep Tahiri, who now lives in Gjilan, says he has been forced to leave the village. ‘Nobody wanted us and no one supported us. Municipality of Gjilan did not invest or support us. I was forced to abandon the hometown by harsh conditions and provocations of the gendarmerie, ‘he says.

“I know that the Zahirajt are a political problem and actually exceeds the municipal level, but at least with few investments Gjilan Municipality must show that they have not forgotten its trunk. If we had accepted the conditions of Serbia, today Zahiraj would have all the conditions. We have not accepted and will not accept any investment coming from the Serbian state. I have had great hope that the Municipality of Gjilan, having all the cadastral documentation, will solve the issue of road regulation which is no more than two kilometers ‘, says Tahiri.

Tahiri from Zahiraj says that the model expected to be applied by KFOR and the Serbian army in Karaqeva should also be applied to the Zahiraj neighborhood. ‘We unjustly entered the border dispute with Serbia, although Zahiraj always belonged to Kosovo. We pay all the taxes and communal obligations in Gjilan, ‘he said.

Zahiraj before the war had 10 houses. The main problem they have is that about 150 hectares of land has remained forever in Serbia, while their homes are still in KFOR maps and Serbian maps as part of Presheva./rajon ipress/

The text was translated by Driton Dalipi