Photo: Muharrem Mjeku

The former owners still have not received them “Albania really is a European country,” a foreign colleague told me a few weeks ago, as he read the signs of the World Bank, the Commission of the European Community, UNDP, and the EC Observer Mission, right on the doors of the villas of the former bloc of communist rulers who led Albania for 45 years. If you keep walking along the streets of this former bloc, on the doors of other villas you will read: Embassy of Switzerland, Embassy of Libya, OMV Exploration (an oil exploration company), etc. All those who use these villas today pay sums of up to 7–8 thousand dollars in monthly rent, to the state, specifically, and not to their former owners, who for several months have been seeking recognition of their ownership of them. They are the Kareco, Vokopola, Mborja, Gera, Nocka, Bidoshi, Alizoti, Simojeni, Thaqi, Lalo, and Tafaj families, who have sent petitions to the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Prime Minister as well. Shehu, deputy chairman of this commission. But in fact, this commission has been forbidden from considering the return of ownership of the villas in Tirana’s former bloc, although none of its members confirms this. One of them says that another Commission for the Return and Compensation of Property has been set up near the Prime Minister’s Office, but officials at that institution deny this. One of them says the villas are administered by the Government Services Directorate. “The Prime Minister has this matter in hand; I cannot say anything more,” Fatos Fortuzi, director of this Directorate, whose offices are located in one of these very villas, tells us by phone. But it was precisely this Directorate that set up a commission to assess the additions made by the state to these villas. Bedri Qosja, the chairman of this commission, says that the calculations of these additions have been completed and submitted. According to the former owners, this was done ... [text continues outside the frame] in November of last year. For their part, the former owners have been and remain willing to pay for these additions so that they may be recognized as the rightful owners. The months go by, and they are forced to live on nothing but pensioners’ salaries, social assistance, or even the salaries of artists employed by the state. Alqi Kareco, the well-known 62-year-old musician, is, together with his two brothers, the legal heir to the villa where Hysni Kapo lived. Enver Hoxha’s regime confiscated from their father, Lame Karecos, not only the villa but also 365 quintals of goods it found in his house: items ranging from the piano to underwear and women’s clothes. They also confiscated another villa in the neighborhood of the former bloc of seaside villas in Durrës, as well as 1,300 gold napoleons, 45 gold USD coins, and many other coins. After that, they sentenced him to 15 years in prison, which he did not have the ‘good fortune’ to serve, as he died in prison in 1953. He was precisely the man who, in the west in 1940–42, was interned as an anti-fascist in Tirana prison, in Porto Romano, and later in Pannabilli (Italy). Today, high-ranking American military officials live and work in his former villa, in Tirana’s former bloc. “We agree that these villas should continue to be used by those foreigners Gjergj Pllaka (continued on page 2)

So it turns out that Evil brings people together more, while Good divides them somewhat. And those who were better off contributed most to this division. At least, this is what Albania’s post-dictatorship experience showed. If we all united and created the storm of real opposition against the sinister fortress of dictatorship, once it collapsed, that victory, so precious, beautiful, and moving, was struck—and is still being struck—by a new opposition (which includes stones from the old fortress and from the rubble of the storm that destroyed it). Why?! Why is it like this? How should it have been? I think today’s opposition members have chosen the easiest path. During the dictatorship it was extremely difficult, almost impossible, and altogether impossible to declare yourself part of the opposition. Either your head would be put in a cell, or you yourself would end up behind barbed wire, or you had to ... [text continues outside the frame] declare yourself part of the opposition. Either you put your head into the guillotine of dictatorship, or you remain silent, depersonalized to the utmost, conforming and turning into a miserable being, a red political hieroglyph. As is known, events took a different turn, and today it is more comfortable to be in opposition, I think. And easier. It is harder to be in government. At a time when the country needed—and still needs—energetic, powerful people with intellectual potential, but with a positive outlook, to build, the new opposition was declared very quickly and without much reason. It was those who lost power, and they are the ones who wanted it most, who did not let the government work freely, demonstrate its abilities, and produce results. Thus the government was attacked very quickly; from the very first day its overthrow was demanded; we were ... so much that it can be believed, since the opposition has no new way of solving things but has itself in power in mind—which, to me, is not simple. It does not matter so much who leads, which name, but who advances life. By unfairly denigrating the opposition, the government was forced to defend itself, thereby leaving both of them somewhat discredited. VISAR ZHITI (continued on page 3)

USA A citizen from Florida has been arrested and charged with attempting to kill President Clinton. The man was Ronald Gene Barbur, 45, who was confined on Thursday in the Lakeside psychiatric prison in Orlando. White House sources report that Barbur had chosen the typical route taken by Clinton in central Washington in mid-January, when Clinton was on a trip to Europe. After being informed of this man’s arrest, Clinton expressed confidence in the Secret Service’s ability to protect him. ATSH

Former USSR The December 12 vote in the electoral district of Shelokovo, where Vladimir Zhirinovski was elected, may be annulled if the court rules in favor of one of the ultranationalist leader’s opponents, the daily “Izvestia” notes. Independent candidate Oleg Novikov has in fact filed a complaint with the local court of this small town near Moscow, claiming that the vote was marked by numerous violations of electoral law and should therefore be annulled. ATSH

These lines were written very shortly before NATO’s ultimatum expired. During these almost ten weeks, there have been many statements, both from the parties interested in continuing this war and from those interested in stopping it. Naturally, if I were to try, by enumerating them, to determine which parties are for and against it, I would undoubtedly make huge mistakes, because, after all, despite the humanitarian sentiments and international humanism possessed by most of us, politics always remains a deaf-mute prostitute. Among today’s latest reports circulated by various agencies is also a Euronews report from UNPROFOR troops refuting information given by French television that ‘the unfortunate people who were at the market that day were shot at from Bosnian positions.’ All the better, then—there is still doubt. And yet, for more than ten days now, all the heavy artillery around Sarajevo has been silent, in a deathly silence, as if in memory of those thousands of people who are no longer here. For more than ten days, little children have continued to slide on the snow, unafraid of the Serbs’ whims, truly hoping that there will be spring in Sarajevo this year too. But, without speaking this time about the dead, the tears and the events that unfolded, I am trying to see whether the nightmare has become reality; perhaps the two-year mark has arrived, perhaps the long-awaited moment has finally come. This epilogue is, after all, necessary and plain, necessary and fluid. Let it be called the West’s revenge against the East, Europe’s against Russia’s, the USA’s once again against Russia’s. If this revenge does not succeed, then we will have to go straight back, precisely to the high point of the COLD WAR, where every action provokes a reaction, and that reaction could at any moment become a chain reaction, using highly effective means. Let us not speak of anything harsh this time. Let us not recall Kipling’s verse that East and West never meet. Let us think that he was writing about sunrise and sunset, which truly never coincide; and finally, let us hope—even if we have no certainty—that there will be no more war in Sarajevo. ELIDA BUÇPAPAJ

After the Serreqi–Crvenkovski press conference Papandreou’s closure of Thessaloniki to Macedonia could hardly fail to provoke a strong reaction in political circles in Albania. Even more so when the withdrawal of the Greek consulate from Skopje was announced. The questions outnumbered even the political figures in Albania: Fine for Greece, but what are we Albanians to do after this? Whose side should we take? Which side should we choose in this case—are we more interested in Macedonia or Greece? And further: Which alliance would support us more? The current holder of the rotating presidency of the EC, whose reception by the other members of the EC is well known, or the newly recognised former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia? If we judge simply by the Albanians living in each country, they are in Macedonia (as natives) and in Greece (as economic refugees). If the interests of one group were considered, the other would be left in silence. Was there an option that would satisfy both our unfortunate sides? If we were to proceed on the basis of supranational interests...? Greece, at any rate, is ‘Europe’s person’ in the Balkans. One could hardly remain silent about it when talk of a cooling-off is also heard in relations with Skopje. Italy, naturally, was not a pleasant prospect. At least not for Albanian public opinion, which apparently has declared as its objective, ‘Let’s make Albania like Europe!’ In the country’s present condition, any assistance from Greece, even if only general and made of wood, is welcome in Albania all the same. Even six months from now, Greece will remain a member of the EC. And at all times, regardless of priorities regarding the USA, Albania would be there too: hurrying toward Europe (as if it were to close Macedonia off), from Thessaloniki to Durrës? Macedonia would undoubtedly be shut off even more. Could this card be used to exert pressure for the urgent respect of the rights of Albanians in Macedonia? (In this case, it also extends a hand to Greece.) Amid these analytical relations and political circles and clubs, sensing this political climate, Berisha apparently declared, during a brief meeting with the British ambassador in Tirana, that they believed relations between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia could be settled through dialogue... Such a position was taken just a few hours before Macedonian Foreign Minister Crvenkovski arrived in Tirana. From the way the official information media reported and presented it, it became clear that Berisha and Albanian foreign policy had chosen a two-track course, perhaps the more advantageous one for their country: keeping Durrës open to the Macedonians, a policy that also makes that country’s government more accountable for the Albanians living there, while at the same time maintaining a position without an explicitly hostile tone toward the southern neighbour. This solution not only did not further aggravate the already tense Balkan climate, but also fully accorded with the European spirit of resolving Balkan problems. Nevertheless, the press conference of the two countries’ foreign ministers did not lose its edge. Journalists also demanded from the diplomats what they would not have wished to say. This was especially true of opposition journalists, those who do not feel comfortable when governments make mistake after mistake—though fewer mistakes! Serreqi and Crvenkovski seem to have escaped their hunters. Their press conference was described by analysts as a conference of mutual tolerance. But without any doubt, the Albanian minister had to do more of the tolerating. The Macedonian minister’s counterpart was said by analysts to have been ‘unaware’, or ‘to have known nothing’... or to have seen nothing... Yet, just a few hours later, Salidopoulos was tolerated, perhaps in keeping with the Albanian proverb that one does not take revenge on someone who is down. In the end, it was said that no kind of violence would be used and that the population census would be accurate and fair; if they accepted [unclear in source: “me ministrinë e Jashtme të s.phl.”], everyone would have the right to take part, including Albanians, when the contests were counted. Amen eti! [sic] FARUK MYRTAJ

“Rilindja” was always one step ahead of the others 1.3 Milosheviçi, who destroyed Yugoslavia, will destroy Serbia too 1.4

“Kiço Blushi, a member of Ramiz Alia’s regency, hasn’t been seen on former Stalin Boulevard for days; he’s been missing for days,” said the madwoman N. of the capital on Friday, in front of the former Central Committee of the PPSH. “In the coming days I will distribute to you several photographs of his secret-private activities. They will be enough to understand which caves this man, so vile and unyielding at all times, has emerged from. These caves are strange. The comings and goings through them begin the moment someone does something stupid: a boy with joined and long thighs, with an earring in his ear, a symbol of the movement promoted by a former member of the Helsinki Committee one autumn. This ‘gay’ wall has become widespread especially in the dictatorial prisons. European parliamentarians will exchange places with Albanian parliamentarians for a couple of weeks. To avoid problems with the Presidency, the President of the European Parliament will be the Greek Makaridhis. Fatos Nano will soon be released from Tirana Prison and transferred to Gjirokastra Prison. The acting editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper ‘Koha Jonë’ for next week will be Qirje Kiço Blushi. The acting chair of the PS for the third week of Ramadan will be Perikli Teta. THE CHRONICLER