MERO BAZE We have only four minesweepers. An Albanian serviceman in the cramped cabin of a warship at the Bishtpalë military base in Durrës, for the first time in his life, was “revealing the military secret” to NATO’s highest-ranking official. Perhaps, through “carelessness,” the training boards may still be in the base’s warehouses, where the firing-practice boards show NATO as the enemy, with a caricature face of its chief. First Captain Fitim Hallili, (continued on page 2) Photo: ARMAND BABANI

ROLAND GJOZA We were at the psychiatric hospital in Elbasan. Three facts struck us. 1. In the hospital ward, 10 people accompanied by police. Abnormal people, even cheerful. They were from Shkodra. Participants in the toppling of Stalin’s bust. What should be done with them? They should be treated, we were told. Compulsory treatment, it said in the referral document from Tirana prison hospital. All the usual procedures for admission to our hospital had been bypassed. So, in a word, we were supposed to give them injections like other patients, to really drive them mad... —Is this an isolated case? —This is the most absurd case. But there was a special ward here for political prisoners, who underwent a practical “cure,” the doctor said. 2. The hospital archive. Thousands of files. We opened some of the files of people sentenced for agitation and propaganda, who had been brought to the hospital “to be cured.” It said: “In the name of the people, sentenced in absentia,” exactly as if it said “sentenced to execution by firing squad.” Below was the name and signature of Hajredin Shyti. 3. In the ward where hopelessly ill patients happen to be placed, we met Samiu. He had come from America, been arrested, and sent to Burrel prison without a trial. After 4 years, they sent him to the madhouse. It is unbelievable, but he has lived there for 40 years, still not understanding what is happening to him. For Samiu, time froze on the first day he saw himself in prison, without a trial.

God, preserve the reason he has left! If he has any left. Sebastianos. Metropolitan of Dropull (?) “Metropolitan of the most extreme and unreasonable chauvinism (if a chauvinist can have reason). The most complex figure of a medieval chauvinist. Inspirer of the so-called ‘Vorio-Epir.’ Most recently, in an open letter, he has appealed to his ‘Vorio-Epirote brothers’ to return to ‘Vorio-Epir’ and for the Albanian state’s struggle to ‘displace the Vorio-Epirote brothers’ to stop. A new sign of Sebastianos’s complete pathology as a chauvinist: after publishing a book in which he supposedly discovered that Albanians are not indigenous to their own lands (?!), and demanding (in this book) that the so-called Vorio-Epir be ‘liberated’ by placing the border on the Shkumbin River (?!), he issues an appeal. So why do we pay attention to a Sebastiano? It is quite simple. Our old ‘friend,’ now in his new neighborhood, in his new struggle ‘to liberate’ ‘Vorio Epir,’ is seeking the help of the Greek Government and the Greek Church. He has the right to appeal to his state, to his Church. We hope that the Greek Government, given the relations between the two countries, the two states, the two peoples... We may also ask whether the Sebastiano phenomenon represents, so to speak, a grey eminence behind partly concealed policies. No, we have not confused the shouting of a Sebastiano with the new forms of interstate relations, even though the priest Sebastiano bursts out: “We demand Vorio Epir, just as Albania demands Kosovo.” (?!). Neither the Greek Government, nor the Greek Church, nor the Albanian Church(!) distances itself from Sebastianos’s appeals and demands?! WHEN WILL THEY DO SUCH A THING? Text continues below the visible edge. apparently (?!), since in this book he calls for the so-called Northern Epirus to be “liberated,” placing the border on the Shkumbin River (?!), and urges the Greek government to realize the honorable dream of uniting Northern Epirus with “Mother Greece.” Sebastianos once again appears ferocious. A Don Quixote-like knight of chauvinism. Nothing to be surprised about. Sebastianos is playing his old role. No one is disturbed by his incoherent appeals. The newspaper “Republika” has never confused Sebastianos. (or So why are we paying attention to a Sebastiano? It is very simple. Our old “friend” in Athens knows him; in his new plea “for the liberation of Northern Epirus” he seeks the help of the Greek Government and the help of the Greek Church. It is his hope that the Greek Government, and also the Greek Church, will distance themselves from the appeals and demands of a Sebastiano. And a prayer to God: Preserve, O Lord, the reason of the chauvinist Don Quixote knight Sebastiano! At least preserve, O Lord, the reason of a clear-headed chauvinist. “REPUBLIKA”

FARUK MYRTAJ But we absolutely must go there! Not so much to remember that we are all mortal, sons of suffering and death; not so much to remind ourselves that first we must make an effort to understand one another, as we are, just as we are; not so much because of the great fact that the cities of the living must always, especially, finally move closer to the cemeteries of the dead—that one day we will all go there... But because the living are responsible for the dead. We choose the best places for their graves, places with less damp, the hillsides, places with white soil. And we plant cypress trees around them. And we bring them flowers from time to time. Funeral rites are sacred to us Albanians. You can attend anyone’s funeral, regardless of how they lived, regardless of your relationship with them. Someone dies, and we stop for them. Perhaps without having cleared things up with them about what divided us, perhaps without having expressed our love or gratitude to them fully. And it is proverbial that no Albanian stoops to collect something for another person’s home. It is magnificent, and a little unforgettable. If there is anything immovable in our tradition, it is precisely this. But... go to the cemeteries and you will see! Almost the entire surrounding wall of the Kombinat cemetery has been stolen. It would be a thousand times more honorable to steal the surrounding wall of a city, a house, or even an entire state. Better to leave a place unprotected than to steal the wall around the dead. They have even started taking the tombstones there! Stop! Do not sin unforgivably, people! No matter how poor you are, no matter how destitute you are, no matter...! A whole lifetime would not be enough to justify these actions. There are also dozens of people and quite a few institutions that are paid, and receive payment, to protect and maintain these places of farewell and honor. If they feel no responsibility for money received without justification, for work not done, let them answer for the shame that the stolen life and death cast upon them. Don’t go to the cemetery! But we absolutely must go there. One day we will go there! The dead leave and leave the living behind. To take care. To take care of life and death!

Interview with the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Tirana, Mr. Metin Ornekol READ ON p. 3

From March 13 to 18, 1993, a delegation from the city of Safranbolu, led by the mayor, Mr. Mustafa Eren, paid a friendly visit to Berat. The city of Safranbolu is one of Turkey’s important tourist centers. Like Berat, it is known for its characteristic houses and is therefore considered a museum city. This visit was organized at the invitation of Berat Municipality and the Berat branch of the Albania-Turkey Friendship Association. During the visit, the citizens of Berat and Safranbolu were declared “sister cities.” In order for the residents of these cities to get to know one another better, it was decided to make reciprocal visits and organize joint cultural and social activities.

“I’m going to hand out prizes and make some new appointments,” said the thoughtful N, the chief judge, on Saturday morning in front of the public baths, across from the “Partizani” cinema. While people waited to hear the prizes and new appointments, quite unexpectedly the thoughtful N began cursing: “Down with Blerim Çela! Blerim is to blame for construction of homes no longer getting started in Albania. The Minister of Construction isn’t to blame, nor the Minister of Tourism. The most innocent is Genc Ruli. Did this Deputy Prime Minister ask foreign investors for 18% of the capital for himself? This isn’t Genc’s brother-in-law. Even if he is, we live in a civilized society with friendly ties, and he stops the cigarette trade he was conducting. The State Security service worked for the monist state and the Greeks; the brothers-in-law worked for themselves. We were also talking about stand-ins. An OSCAR award for the stand-in and 11 others for the magazine ‘Spektër.’ Why, during the first election campaign, did ‘ZP’ spare some candidates for Parliament in the PD and not denounce them as State Security spies? They say he spared them because ‘Ramiz Alia was authorizing’ Oscar awards. Who is that investor who was going to invest 40 million dollars in Albania and ... the fool left ... because he refused to give a minister 48 million. What fools these foreign investors are, too! It is not at all true that Kastrioti Islami, Gramoz Pashko and Gramoz Ruçi are ferry owners. These are politicians who defend the rights of the underprivileged. How could they be owners? Fatos Nano has by now collected 100 million dollars for the same thing from prison in New York. A band has emerged in the mountains of Skrapar that will fight American imperialism. It will get its commissar from ‘Zëri i Popullit.’ Manfred Werner liked the Socialist Party very much, especially its leadership, and said that NATO is ready to accept this party into its ranks. Todi Lubonja played cards with Ramiz Alia all his life, but the one who signed was Ramiz Alia. Their last game had ended in a ‘remi.’ Hell Gjoni’s son is expected to be appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office, competing with Simon Stefani’s son. When did Mr. Bremen iman meet comrade Ramiz for the first time, and why did he meet him?” THE CHRONICLER

Don’t go to the cemetery! FARUK MYRTAJ But surely you must go there to see 30 [text cut off at the bottom edge] in order to remember that others have been mortal, bi... [text cut off at the bottom edge]

THE MOST REVEREND METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOPRIC OF POGONI & KONITSA OPEN LETTER To the Northern Epirote Brothers SUBJECT: “Northern Epirus is in danger of being lost” [Letter in Greek, printed in italics; the words are mostly illegible in the image] Sebastianos Metropolitan of Dropull VORIO EPIRI OF GREECE ATHENS 1992 + We are creating a tower... [partly illegible handwriting] † Andreas, Metropolitan of Dryinoupolis, Pogoniani and Konitsa [handwritten Greek: Τὸ ...] VORIO EPIRI OF GREECE — ATHENS 1992

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