(From the speech by Mr. Mehmet Çeliku, PR deputy in parliament, on 21.4.1993) . On 21. 4. 1993, the Albanian parliament approved the draft law on compensation for property... The PR deputy and several DP deputies voted against this draft law ► read on page 2 “SOCIALIST LOGIC.” Ruke 93 For the Albanian parliament, today is a historic day. A draft law of vital importance for the future of democracy is being discussed at a time when I do not possess any kind of property. The reason? The Republican Party’s now well-known position on property and the owner is the only position that, from the outset, we must declare our position against the views expressed on behalf of the parliamentary groups of the DP, PS, PSD. I am opposed in principle to this draft law, conceived as a continuation of the draft law “On the Return and Compensation of Property to Former Owners,” but which in reality is one and the same. In discussing the draft law under consideration, what matters is finding a fundamentally just solution to the vital problem of property; in truth, the issue is not the details we are discussing but the principled position. I convey the opinion of the Republican Party and fully agree with it, even though I do not possess any kind of property. Why? owner is the only clear position and offers a long-term solution to one of the most difficult problems on which democracy must take a stand. The PR program offers an optimal and comprehensive solution to the problem: property to its lawful owner, and this position must be the same for agricultural land as for residential areas. The concept is simple: there is one owner; the types of property are different. From the outset, I must declare that I oppose the view presented PSD. I oppose this draft law in principle, and I am not discussing technical details. The draft law in question preserves the communist structure and concept of dividing property proportionally, creating new owners without recognizing the former owners and to the detriment of the lawful owners. We all know very well that property is sacred; likewise, we all agree that property belongs to, and must be recognized as belonging to, its lawful owner. When it comes to legislative implementation of this position, compensation is conceived as Today the Republican Party declares that the petition on property (which must be established on the basis of inherited ownership), calling for the complete annulment of the communist laws on nationalization and confiscation, was signed by 240,000 voters throughout the country. The petition did not reach many areas where land has been divided according to inherited boundaries. Various methods of boycotting were used to prevent people from signing the petition, both by neo-communists and by those enjoying unlawful ownership. But it was signed by 240,000 voters, one person at a time. Our parliament approved a law that the Republican Party considers entirely neo-communist. The PR has emphasized many times that it does not accept that law and, under Article 23 of the Constitution, reserves the right to challenge the Law on Land Ownership; it calls on parliament to review this law as soon as possible, before it is too late. Failure to recognize inherited ownership, and implementation of the law as approved by our parliament, constitute the beginning of insoluble social contradictions today and an even greater danger for the future. It will be to the credit of our parliament to return seriously and realistically once again to the Law on Land Ownership and to eradicate communist ideology from our homes forever. ALBANIAN REPUBLICAN PARTY

Today in Shkodër, in Tirana and throughout Albania... “GOD came among us” [visible text beneath the photo] ...Christ died and rose again

Today in Shkodër, in Tirana and throughout Albania... “GOD came among us” The Pope belongs to the whole world, but the special care he has for us, for all of us, the fact that God had abandoned Albania, and the particular importance he has today for the history of the Albanian nation allow us to remember and call the Holy Father, as a sign of love and esteem, the Pope of the Albanians. In 1463, Pope Pius II tried to secure the support of European rulers for a final crusade against the Turks. The gathering was to take place in Ancona, with a landing in Albania. Pope Pius II was to lead the crusade himself, and although elderly and ill, he travelled to Ancona, where he saw that the promises of the Western rulers had not been kept. The Pope died... Skënderbeu died. Europe fell silent... The boundary between Islam and Christianity was established in the Balkans, through no fault of Albania. O Black Hour! Two tragic deaths that would be remembered in the history of the nation, because it was precisely on the day when Pius II failed to cross the Adriatic and set foot on blessed Albanian soil that the road of suffering began. Our people climbed Golgotha to be martyred on the cross through the centuries. Neither the Muslim Turks nor the Orthodox Greeks and Serbs did what the Albanian communists did. From the day they brought the seed of fratricide into Albania, they ... [source text is damaged/garbled]. The result of the Turkish occupation dates back to 1467. But Christ died and rose again. May APRIL TWENTY-FIFTH be the date of the RESURRECTION of our nation! John Paul II is the first Pope to set foot in Albania, and he is precisely a Pope endowed with Grace (Charisma), among a people that has known the history of Christianity since the day the chief apostle Peter closed his eyes and was martyred in Rome. In this meeting of Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and various schismatics, there have always been debates about papal authority, the essence of which lies precisely in Divine Grace. Schismatics do not accept papal authority because they do not accept that the charisma Christ gave Peter and the other apostles is inherited by their successors. This theological discussion is very complicated, but the point here is that John Paul II enjoys extraordinary popularity. This popularity comes not from economic or military power, or other kinds of power that constitute ordinary civil authority, but from His Grace. In fact, he comes from a state that owns only 44 hectares of land, the size of a large farm. It is his innate qualities, acquired over a life full of struggles, and his attributes as primate of the Catholic Church that give him his influence and all-encompassing authority. It matters little whether this authority is a gift of Grace or acquired ... [source text is damaged/garbled]. Mother Teresa beautifully embodied this historic role of the Pope when she wrote to him in an autograph: “The people who were on Golgotha said: ‘God came among us,’ when they learned of the Holy Father’s visit.” Much is said about Karol Wojtyła’s qualities. Qualities of this kind have always been the subject of discussion because of their multifaceted message. He is a polymath, an athlete (a skier), a polyglot, a philosopher and a writer. As soon as he was elected Pope, he held a press conference in the presence of 1,500 journalists, whom he smiled at and spoke to. (Continued on page 3)

The madwoman N. came out into “Skënderbeu” Square dressed in a tailcoat and, instead of a hat. The madwoman N. came out into “Skënderbeu” Square dressed in a tailcoat and, instead of a hat: “Today I’m giving a cocktail party,” she said. “There’s no need for invitations. Invitations are out of diplomatic fashion.” After noticing that the number of people gathered was larger than usual, she continued: “I am the dean of the diplomatic corps. You will say that only ambassadors become dean, and that it is the one who has been in office longest. You are mistaken. I have changed the rules, and now embassy secretaries become dean. I am the first. Let neither the Algerian ambassador, nor the Palestinian one, nor the Romanian one take offence. Why did I decide that secretaries should become dean? I know the entire diplomatic corps in Tirana, and over these two years I have met those who have arrived and those who have left. I have disqualified the ambassadors myself, and the secretaries have the right to the post. I am a secretary at the embassy of a country that would die for Albania. Let me boast a little about myself. I’ll tell you why I deserve to be dean of the diplomatic corps. Tell me, which ambassador in Tirana has dared to invite more ministers to lunch or dinner at home during the period from 31 March 1991 to 22 March 1992 than I have? Which ambassador has been clever enough, when he wanted to speak to his own prime minister but could never reach him in his own country, to go to the Albanian prime minister of the time, precisely at the hour when prime ministers were talking on the telephone? Which ambassador accredited in Tirana, however great his country may be, has ticket number 1 at the church in Tirana, as I do? Did you see at the Easter ceremony on 18 April how the ambassadors were left at the back while I, the secretary, came out at the head of the line? And finally, who knows—on 14 March, when I went on a picnic with my hospital in the village of Lushnjë, which ambassador was as capable as I am of having 20 Albanian journalists follow him like lapdogs along the roads of Elbasan? So, dear citizens, come and applaud me. I am the dean of the diplomatic corps. I will enter the history of my country for something I won’t tell you. But I will also enter the history of diplomacy for inventing the ‘Aslandis’ method. Don’t laugh! He isn’t the chewing-gum or potato-salami salesman. He is a professor and doctor of bacteriology who, with a single stroke of the pen, gets three consulates and opens one consulate for every 16,000 inhabitants. I will sell this method in Liberia too, and I have discussed it with the Ambassador of Liberia. Using this method, Liberia will open 500 consulates in America, because Black Americans are originally from Liberia. According to the consulates established by the Albanian Party of Greece, at one consulate for every 16,000 inhabitants in Albania, 500 consulates will be opened for the 25 million Black people in America. So that native Americans do not take offence, I suggested to the Liberian Ambassador that these consulates be called ‘Seasonal Employment Offices,’ ‘Offices for the Dancing of Roots,’ ‘Offices of the Common Origin of the Two Crosses,’ and so on. I’ll end my speech by announcing that I am the dean of the diplomatic corps, and if you don’t think of me, at least put me at the head of the line. All the ambassadors behind me! Contact me through my Albanian secretary, whose name I won’t tell you, and every visa application is guaranteed. But if Sali ... through the Albanian Party of Greece for Good Relations with Albania. THE CHRONICLER

In its 24 April 1993 issue, on the front page, the newspaper “RD” publishes a statement by the Greek prime minister concerning his meeting with the Albanian president. The statement is presented in the form of an interview, with an anonymous journalist as its author... meanwhile, not a word from the interview the Albanian president gave on this occasion can be found on any of the newspaper’s four pages. Perhaps Greek newspapers will publish this interview... The Observer

Today the Republican Party declares that the petition on property (which must be established on the basis of inherited ownership), calling for the complete annulment of the communist laws on nationalization and confiscation, was signed by 240,000 voters throughout the country.