LAND TO THE LAWFUL OWNERS! Soon the People’s Assembly will review the law on land. In connection with this, two problems arise: 1. Every social system, all religions and international law have considered private property sacred and have enshrined it in law. This indisputable human right was violated in Albania under the Enverian-Marxist regime: a regime that brought great, immeasurable misfortunes to the future of the «people» and the unfortunate country. The short-sighted governments of the last two years, «Nano 1-2», «Bufi» and «Ahmeti», followed the familiar communist line on the problem of ownership of land, building plots, buildings, etc. Worse still: with the «laws», «instructions» and «procedures» they issued, they deliberately complicated everything. During their governments, corrupt officials and civil servants, armed with these provisions, carried out the most monstrous and incredible scams involving Albanian and foreign buyers, enriching themselves with other people’s property. Only what was necessary. Such cruel mafia «exploits» have taken place that they have now entered the golden collection of the stories of our time, and are painful. All of this constitutes a special subject for the justice system of the future. But let us not stray from the issue. What was this sale of commercial units, «state property» (!), at ridiculous prices to the former shop assistants who worked in those units? By what right were they seized, when it was known that they were state-owned properties or had been built on plots belonging to other people? In this case, absurd logic masked the shameful activity, because would it not, for example, have met the requirements for embarking on trade reform to lease these premises to the shop assistants working in them until the law was announced? But no. Provisions were issued to the detriment of the owners, because that was how the pockets of some horse traders were filled. The same thing was done with the sale of plots of land.

Dear Doctor, Believing that, despite your political commitments and the goals you aspire to achieve through them, you will at least understand the public and open manner in which I am addressing you, I wish to remind you (and not only you) of some of my thoughts and objections. The different lives each of us has led do not deprive me of this desire; indeed, I would say that this is one more argument for it. Nor is it your being a member of parliament and leader of one of the political forces that can be said to be the real impetus for the lines I am writing to you. I believe you should know that at a commemorative conference on the execution of the «Group of Deputies», one of the nine who survived through a wholly accidental circumstance spoke the name of one of the persecutors of Albania’s first democratic opposition. That name was Lefter Lakrori, your father, who, together with dozens of others, tools of the dictatorship, sent those true Albanian intellectuals to the gallows and before the firing squad. We should all bow our heads in respect before them, because they struggled and were martyred for Albania 45 years ago! I want to believe that you do not take this amiss, and that to be an intellectual it is not enough to have attended the lecture halls of Oxford, Cambridge, or elsewhere. To be an intellectual, one must be honest and just, and be free of thoughts of revenge. This is a new era; no one can or should be given any opportunity for revenge, otherwise we would once again betray humanity, and the future, in the basest way. I would ask you to believe this. Dear Professor, I would like us to understand the idea behind this letter. I do not believe that you were educated and cultivated, studied science, and earned academic degrees because your father persecuted democratic people (although it cannot be denied that you had an opportunity through him). (Think! If, when you were only 18, you had been told that you were not entitled to enter university, that you were not entitled to study physics or literature, would you have been able to meet the challenge with all your ability, desire and strength of mind without first having to face—let alone the fact that there would be no question of earning a doctorate in science? The first thing you would undoubtedly have needed was to pray to God to preserve your sanity). (Continued on page 2)

«From the outset, the Albanian Socialist Party (PSSH) has had as its objective full membership in the Socialist International, but it never proceeded with the idea of first establishing itself at the grassroots, then being recognized by the International, and only afterwards making ourselves known and establishing ourselves in Albania. Before the Socialist International recognizes and accepts us, the Albanian people must first know and understand us; the reverse must not happen, as it did with another party. In setting out this course, the PSSH viewed its links and bilateral relations with the other parties as a guiding principle within the Socialist International. That is why, until the March 22 elections, we did not submit a written application to this forum of international authority. Conditions have now advanced, and following a decision by the PS Central Committee, the PSSH recently submitted the relevant application for membership in the Socialist International and in the separate organization known as Medsbeut. The congress is invited to support the application submitted by a special majority and to give a voice to the strength of this forum, with the PS’s 100,000 members represented by the force of their acceptance into this international political forum of the masses. Taken from the discussions on Comrade Fatos Nano’s report, delivered at the 10th Congress of the PPSH, 21.6.1992.

According to the Greek and Serbian press, Prime Minister Kostandin Micotaqis asked US President Bush, in July of last year, when he was visiting Greece, for the United States to recognize Greece’s «special role» in the Balkans. It is reported that Prime Minister Micotaqis repeated this request to Bush during his visit to the United States in December 1991, and it is understood that Bush approved it («Politika», Belgrade, 11.12.1991, p. 2). It is not stated how genuine the American approval was, but the truth is that afterwards Greek diplomacy, which had been «dozing», became active as never before, particularly as expressed in the frequent journeys between Athens and Belgrade (and later Athens - Bucharest - Belgrade - Tirana - Athens). It is also true that, with or without American approval, the Greek government and diplomacy have tried to assume this «special» role. A year has now passed since the beginning of the implementation of the Greek diplomacy’s «special role», and Albanian public interest in understanding the content of the southern neighbor’s diplomatic «special role» is natural, all the more so when this activity has drawn the attention of much more distant countries as well. To understand its «special role» in the Balkans, Greek diplomacy chose Serbia and its leadership as its first partner. Even the Greek press, which had shown sympathy for what was happening in Yugoslavia (as long as Serbia seemed to be on the rise)—such as the «spectacular antibureaucratic revolutions» with which Millosheviçi overthrew the governments of Montenegro, Vojvodina and Kosovo and announced a march on Slovenia; when the Croat-Slovene idea of preserving Yugoslavia in the form of a «loose federation» was not accepted by Serbia, etc.—began to feel the pain of its policy. As Slovenia and Croatia now sought separation and Serbia faced international isolation, Greek diplomacy sprang into action at the end of October 1991 and announced that it had «special ties with Serbia» («Politika», 2.11.1991, p. 1). Delegations at every level began making unusually frequent trips, by the standards of normal relations between states, up to and including Greek Foreign Minister Samaras, followed by successive visits by Prime Minister Micotaqis himself. The first distinctive feature of the «special role» that stood out was the complete convergence of the Greek diplomatic point of view with that of the Serbian leadership, and of Prime Minister Micotaqis’s position with that of Serbian President Millosheviç. In other words, it was the fact that the identity of the viewpoints— ... others), carried out the idea of a free and democratic Albania. Perhaps the lesson we can draw from the experience of these two Balkan politicians was evident from their very first meeting. After Micoaqitës’s first visit to Belgrade, in his presence, at the press conference that followed, S. Millosheviçi told journalists that “we were able to establish an identity of views on most of the open issues...” (Politika, 1.12.1991; p. 1). Without attempting to give a chronology of the “open issues” on which an identity of views was established, it is enough to mention just a few. One of them was the conflict between the Croatian-Slovenian view that Yugoslavia could not be preserved and that they therefore sought separation on the basis of international law applicable to such cases, and the Serbian view that Yugoslavia should be preserved in the form of a “loose federation” (which it had previously opposed). At the press conference in Belgrade, Micoaqitës supported the Serbian position, saying that “efforts must be made to preserve Yugoslavia as a whole, even in the form of a loose federation” (Politika, 1.12.1991, p. 1). Other open issues on which the identity of Greek-Serbian views was demonstrated throughout that year included the recognition of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia, HYSAJMEDIN FERAJ (Continued on page 3)

The Association of the Economically and Politically Persecuted (former kulaks) was founded after the Association of Political Prisoners and the «Property with Justice» Association, but in a way it is their moon, since it was precisely from the former kulaks that the first contingents of political prisoners and the first people economically dispossessed were taken. The Association now numbers 200,000 members and, had it crossed the «rainbow», as Omonia did before the March 22 elections, today there would certainly be more than 10 members of parliament from our ranks. But not only are we not crossing the «rainbow», we are not even seeing its reflection in a puddle. Who were the kulaks? The kulaks were the wealthy and partly middle-class layer of the Albanian population (from the Russian word kulak—rich), who would tell the poor man: Don’t you have land? Come, take this field here, take the pair of oxen and the hut, and work and prosper! The kulaks were those who sustained the four years of the National Liberation War with bread, food and clothing. They were the ones who gave sons not only to the «National Front», but also to the partisan brigades. What happened to them after the war, during the years of the so-called «people’s power»? They were dispossessed; their land, livestock, mills, workshops, vineyards and pastures were taken from them, even their bridal trousseaus (so their communist ladies could have them). But do you know what it meant to be branded a kulak? They hung a bell around your neck, put you backwards on a donkey and paraded you through the bazaar, saying: This is the kulak, this is the enemy, the one who has sucked our blood! Then came the taxes and extraordinary levies. Isolation. Internment. Surveillance. The first contingents of political prisoners came from the kulaks. The kulak was blamed for everything. The genocide went so far that a kulak was even deprived of the right to marry. No bride was to be given to his son. Ah, wolf, you were happier than the kulak in the age of Enver Hoxha. In your time, the bloodthirsty men were forbidden to kill you! You left behind more heirs than the kulak. The great Dante had his «Divine Comedy», with one Hell; Enver Hoxha had Albania with two hells: the hell of economic persecution and the hell of political persecution. That, gentlemen, is the kulak in brief. What does he want today? Political rehabilitation, the return of his lands, and compensation for the damage caused by the dictatorship. He does not seek revenge. He does not want to put others into the two hells he went through himself. We have asked for compensation for our properties, but we have received only dry replies: The Law on Land will be implemented (that is, it will be divided equally per person). Wasn’t this law enacted by the socialists? Wasn’t it blocked by the apolitical anarchists (that is, by you)? Or was it an electioneering tactic? SHERIF BALLI

(From the commemorative conference on the execution of the «Group of Deputies») (From the Mr. Gjovalin Vlashi, one of the two surviving witnesses from the «Group of Deputies»: - I am speaking here, although I have no right to do so, because I am still an «enemy of the people»... - When prosecutor Josif Pashko delivered his closing argument and demanded hanging for Shefqet Beja, Sulo Klosi and Rezila Alizoti, Mrs. Eleni screamed: «No, no, not by hanging! Let’s burn them with gasoline...» - Although I still have not been declared innocent and am still considered a «war criminal», my persecutor walks freely, with all the honors and dignity, in the streets of Tirana... (From the hall: Say his name! Say his name!...) I do not want to say it because he is the father of a former minister... (From the hall: Say it, say it!). All right, then, it is Lefter Lakrori! (Laughter in the hall). Mr. Shefki Minarolli (from a television interview): - Mihallaq Ziqishti put the noose around my neck and demanded that I sign the indictment, saying he would strangle me. I refused... They tortured me, crucified me, and finally Mihallaq Ziqishti said: «We’ll sign it ourselves; it doesn’t matter if you don’t sign»... - After Dr. Sazani was killed, prosecutor general Josif Pashko took his bedroom, and from then on slept with Mrs. Eleni in the bed of a dead man... After Shefki Minarolli was executed, the furniture was taken by the persecutor Misto Treska, Albania’s later ambassador to France. - On October 10, 1947, when the horrific massacre took place at Breg i Lumit, where the martyrs of democracy were executed, the Youth Secretary for Tirana organized a festive dance evening at the capital’s red club in honor of this national event! REPUBLIC ... and once again I must assure you that our lives are different... You became a professor through your ability and your work. I respect and admire you. You also became a minister for a time, and I am surprised that you accepted! I do not believe that being the education minister of a state would have been enough... YLLI RAKIPI (Continued on page 2)

Open letter to President Berisha IN THE NEXT ISSUE: Interview with the writer Ismail Kadare