FATOS ARAPI In my forty-odd years of creative life I have known these intellectuals: Skënder Luarasi, Petro Marko, Nonda Bulka, Sterjo Spasse, Ali Asllani, Lasgush Poradeci, Mitrush Kuteli, then Jakov Xoxe, Kasem Trebeshina, Sabri Godo; then Ismail Kadare, Dhritëro Agolli, Bilal Xhaferri; then Ali Aliu, Rexhep Qosja, Ali Podrimja, Ramiz Kelmendi, Rexhep Ismaili, Sabri Hamiti, Din Mehmeti, Azem Shkreli, etc., etc. Naturally, in other fields of science and culture there are other great intellectuals, fighters for free thought and Albanian democracy. Which intellectuals are the Albanian newspapers making a din about today? Are these the servants of the p...snike of the party, the immoral ones, the murderers, the forgers, etc., etc.? Are these the belated democrats? (without quotation marks, eh!); is it these people whose mouths someone has opened today and forced the free Albanian word down their throats? The lives and works of these men (including their own testimonies) are part of the highest conscience of the Albanian nation over the past forty-odd years. They are the ones who, in the fields of art and culture, have borne the heaviest burden and honorably withstood the savagery of Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship; who, with courage and wisdom, have drawn the people along after them, prepared the young for the clashes that were to come, cultivated the Albanian person and brought them closer to the civilized world. To lead your people, it is not always necessary to hold in your hands the cold iron of the state’s steering wheel. Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu thought, “power above all!” Albanian intellectuals did not. Albanian intellectuals have always thought that Justice and Truth must be firmly grasped. They are invincible. The spirit of Beauty is invincible. Neither De Rada, nor Naimi, nor Konica or Fishta ever sat at the state’s steering wheel. But they prepared the Albanian nation of today. The historical missions and duties of intellectuals are different; the direction of their creative thought is different; the aims of the spaces of freedom and democracy they reach for are different. Naturally, a mature people, a truly free nation, helps its intellectuals, feels their need, and thereby hastens its own progress. Otherwise, intellectuals seek other paths to fulfill their sacred mission, without worrying much about the degrading writings of newspapers and various signatures. These writings, however, merely show the level of culture, and the political and moral makeup and content of today’s Albanian society, of the groups and political forces to which these newspapers belong.

“Albania is an outstanding example of human courage in leaving behind a bitter past and moving toward freedom and democracy.” Invited by the President of the Republic of Albania, former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in Albania on Tuesday evening for a three-day visit. At Rinas Airport he was received by the President of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Sali Berisha. It should be stressed from the outset that Albania regards Carter’s visit not as a visit by a former US President, but as a visit by one of America’s presidents. And there are reasons for this. The fact is that Jimmy Carter continues to be a major figure in American political life today. He has successfully played the role of mediator in resolving several national and international conflicts. Jimmy Carter, Chairman of the International Negotiation Network Council, has devoted considerable attention throughout his career to the most important issues of political and social life. In addition to his presidential term, he successfully brought about the Camp David Accords and the SALT II Treaty. During his political career, Mr. Carter has worked for greater protection of human rights, democratic reform, and the achievement of peace agreements in various regions of the world. The former American president comes to Albania after visits to Togo, Sudan and Yemen. In those countries he held talks on resolving conflicts ... Jimmy Carter was elected the 39th president of the United States in 1976 as the Democratic Party candidate, by voters who knew little about him. He had never before run for such office and had no particular experience in international affairs or close ties to Washington. He remained an enigma to the American people even during his campaign to secure a second four-year term in 1980. He was born in Plains, Ga., on October 1, 1924. The eldest of four children, he grew up in his hometown, where his father was a farmer. He was educated there as well, and in 1935 began to be raised in the Baptist faith, which strongly influenced his life. Nevertheless, he did not embrace his church’s conservative political philosophy, the traditional Southern one; he could not accept the [unclear] in his home, while Carter’s mother, very liberal on social and racial issues, had a considerable influence on his social conscience. In 1946 he graduated from the US Naval Academy, ranking 59th among 820 students. In July of that year he married Rosalynn Smith. Carter’s naval career began with service on warships, but later he moved to submarines as one of the Navy’s finest officers. After studying nuclear physics, he served on the crew of the nuclear submarine “Sea Wolf.” In 1953 his father died and Carter returned to his hometown to manage his farm. He started a fertilizer and soil business, expanded his holdings, bought a cotton-cleaning machine and a [unclear] for digging and exploration. As a result, by the time Jimmy Carter ran for president, he owned 1,250 hectares of land, yielding a profit of 600,000 dollars, with total capital of 1 million dollars. American president has come those countries he held talks on resolving conflicts and achieving stability. In light of this, it should be stressed that the scope of Carter’s talks with Albania’s highest-ranking figures cannot be limited to Albania–America relations, but must also include the very serious and dangerous problems affecting our region. At yesterday’s meetings between the two presidents, which lasted about two hours, President Berisha gave this great American a broad overview of Albania’s past and present. In particular, the conversation focused on Albania’s future. After welcoming him, President Berisha said: “You were the first world figure to send me a warm message, extend the hand of friendship, and encourage the newly formed Albanian opposition forces in their difficult efforts to overthrow the communist dictatorship and build a democratic society.” Mr Berisha then gave Mr Carter an overview of the state of the reforms, the agreements with the IMF, price liberalisation, the privatisation of enterprises, and the difficulties encountered in implementing this policy. But one thing is clear, Mr Berisha said: Albanians quickly understood the message of freedom and independent work. The improvements seen after one year are the fruit of this work. During the conversation, President Berisha spoke at length about developments in the region, particularly the danger of creating a Greater Serbia, which is now being forged by force of arms in the centre of Yugoslavia. The President must deal with Kosovo as soon as possible, placing it under international control, since only in this way can the explosive situation created by Serbian oppression be eased and an agreement on the Kosovo question reached; the centre in Atlanta will continue to address this issue. According to official sources, after his talks with President Berisha, Mr Carter will meet with other figures from Albania’s political and state life, religious groups, and senior officials of social organisations. The newspaper will inform you of further activities in its next issue. Correspondent of “Republika” Jimmy Carter was elected the 39th president of the United States in 1976 as the Democratic Party candidate.

Lawyers implicated in illegal adoptions are sought

News Lawyers implicated in illegal adoptions are sought Seven of the former Albanian lawyers who engaged in the “business” of child adoption are being sought by Albanian courts, accused of unlawful profiteering and abuse. In addition to former deputy prosecutor Plaku, who is now in prison, the justice authorities are also seeking these lawyers, most of whom, after their illegal gains and trafficking, chose to leave, mainly for Italy. The past three years were a golden period, almost a paradise, when lawyer-businessmen exploited the extreme poverty of parents to traffic their children. The minors were sent mainly to Italy, but also to Greece. More than 300 children have been adopted, a spokesperson for the prosecution told our newspaper, but there are many illegal and corrupt cases. We will seek the extradition of the lawyers from Italy, the prosecution spokesperson concluded.

In an interview that former president Ramiz Alia gave to the “Associated Press,” he fiercely attacked the capitalists and accused the current government of selling the country to foreign capitalists. Alia, 68, held in Tirana prison after a year under house arrest, cited as an argument a two-billion-dollar project proposed by a Maltese businessman. Alia considered himself a victim of the “witch hunt,” according to the “Associated Press,” while he offered no explanation regarding his implication in the case of humanitarian aid from Italy to Albania, unless one takes as his own Alia’s statement that “Beni (meaning Ramiz Alia’s son) got involved with Levante Co because he knew Italian.” The Editor

September 1, 1928. By a decision of the Constituent Assembly, convened precisely for this purpose, following a proposal by a group of delegates from Skrapar, the name of the regime in Albania was changed: the Albanian Republic, with Ahmet Zogu as president, became a kingdom, with Zogu proclaimed Zogu I, King of the Albanians. This change sparked much discussion abroad, but even more within the country. Who were those who lit the spark and decided that democracy in Albania would not remain caught up in the Albanian political scene, along with the other political fragments which, after the establishment of the communist dictatorship, managed to exist only abroad, in exile? At the time, for Zogu’s opponents, his proclamation as king was not an unusual occurrence; it was an opportunity to denounce him as a dictator, saying that he legitimately imprisoned people, that he had no property as king and did not cut down or close anything. Some considered it a historic event, others a monarchist version. But there was a lack of forces supporting him. In the West, others made the decisions; most of them were in exile. The purpose of this article is, on the one hand, to assess the legitimacy of Zogu’s manoeuvre and, on the other, to weigh whether proclaiming Zogu king brought harm or benefit to the country, which had then embarked on a promising path of development and for which Zogu himself undoubtedly bore the principal responsibility and deserved the principal credit. One of the initiatives arising from the domestic circumstances was that Albania, being a poor and unconsolidated country whose state had endured the well-known upheavals, and whose international position was questionable—first of all as a consequence of its neighbours’ wars over its territories—needed a strong hand. Despite what the first period of the 1920s had shown, that strong hand was Ahmet Zogu. This was the main reason the Albanian Republic was proclaimed in 1925 and Ahmet Zogu became its president, with a five-year term. The red statute during the period 1925–1928 and the Italo-Albanian Pact, signed in November 1926, proved the wisdom of this choice in terms of foreign policy. But then what drove Zogu to proclaim himself king, knowing this would provoke a reaction at home and abroad? Was proclaiming Albania a kingdom an absolute necessity after three years of republican existence? Here, first of all, the decisions of the London Conference of July 29, 1913, may have played a part. They defined Albania’s status as a principality with a foreign prince, appointed by the Great Powers; he was the German Wihelm Widi. Although Widi’s reign lasted only six months because of prolonged unrest, Albania’s status did not change. In the king’s absence, it continued to be headed by a Regency Council appointed as the High Council. Later, in 1925, the Albanian Republic was proclaimed. After liberation from Turkey, with the exception of Serbia and Montenegro, in 1924, at the beginning of this century, he was overthrown in his birthplace, where his father dealt with capital totalling 1 million dollars. By proclaiming the Albanian Republic, Albania became the only country in the Balkans to depart from the status assigned by the Great Powers. Therefore, and also because of its close rapprochement with Italy, not only Yugoslavia—which openly expressed its opposition to the proclamation of the Albanian Republic—but also the Great Powers allied with Yugoslavia may have viewed it unfavourably and suspected it of challenging the decisions of the 1913 London Conference. Perhaps this was another motive that compelled Zogu to proclaim Albania a kingdom. His proclamation as King of the Albanians nevertheless constituted a violation of the London decisions, which stipulated that the Albanian throne should be occupied by a foreign king, a prince. This “defect” of the kingdom under the Zogist dynasty was made even more apparent by the fact that Prince Widi had not abdicated, but had left (continued on page 3).

Carter: It was an interesting conversation, which covered many issues, during which we learned about Albania’s past and its current development. We spoke in particular about Albania’s future. I think Albania is an outstanding example of human courage in leaving behind a bitter past and moving toward freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. I also see that Albania is working and supporting efforts to secure peace in the Balkans. Berisha: I think these talks were extraordinarily important for relations between Albania and the US. They will give a powerful new impetus to the friendly development of these relations. Once again, I thank our distinguished friend for the contribution he has made to democratic development in Albania. His encouraging message to the democratic forces was the first and extraordinarily important message for Albania and the Albanians, who have always been in President Carter’s thoughts.

On September 20–21, at 10:00, a meeting of the National Council of the PRSH will be held in the hall of the National Historical Museum in Tirana. In addition to the members of this council, all secretaries and chairs of the governing councils of the branches will attend. At the meeting you will discuss organizational issues, based on the material we have sent you. On September 5, at 18:00, a nationwide peaceful rally of former prisoners and political persecuted persons will be held at Skënderbej Square, Tirana. We invite all former prisoners and those persecuted by the dictatorship regime, as well as all Albanian democratic forces, to attend. The Presidium of the National Association of Former Political Persecuted Persons of Albania The Chair KURT KOLA

The madwoman N. of Tirana was seen Tuesday afternoon putting up posters on Parliament Street. The madwoman was shouting: “A new tactic! The PS will not return to Parliament. A secret meeting of the young people has been held, and it has been decided to prevent the socialists from entering Parliament. Barricades will be set up. The Ministry of Foreign Relations will establish a special directorate for shutting down abroad. All the breweries are closing. Beer will come from Macedonia. Beer from Macedonia will develop capitalism. The owners of ‘Cooper’ know about a concert that the Ministry of Order will attend after the performance of the first part of ‘Lumi i Lësit’. A study of corruption and taxes. Forest fires continue in Europe. The forests are being burned on the secret orders of presidents. President Skallaro has burned more forests than Karamani, but analysts point out that the president of Albania holds first place. The war against the USA is entering a new phase. The preparation of various special forces is continuing at the White House. A cocktail party for political prisoners, especially for former ministers and prison directors. What kind of cigarettes does Mr Buli have? Abdi Xhaja, the minister, will not resign. Soon a Zog, a singer and director in the two newspapers, will declare that he was an informant for the State Security, but that he was young at the time. Television will show a new ministers’ weekend in Velipojë. Two apartment blocks will be built in Tirana to gain experience in Macedonian poultry farming. How much was a deputy paid after an article was published a few months ago in the newspaper ‘Zëri i Omonias’? At the end of January, first place. A former court president is being sought to establish the Committee for the Protection of Human Rights. The Chronicler