I am delivering a prepared speech, because some newspapers are ready to sue you for having spoken one way in Shkodër, another way in Fier, and yet another in Tirana. The money one receives comes from having a consistent policy, and there is no reason for me to change it according to the city. And we are in Kavajë, where a speech takes on a special significance. I remember well that three years ago, on a day like today, when the university wanted to stir up several southern districts and send them to Tirana, Sali Berisha told me, “Don’t worry, even if they set off, Kavajë won’t let them pass.” None of you set off for Tirana; the university could not start a fratricidal civil war or send in tanks to reduce this city to dust and ashes, as they wanted. But from then on, a deep feeling of respect for Kavajë remained in my heart, just as a great friend who stands up for you in times of crisis and need remains in your heart. Another thing must also be acknowledged. Many cities became hotbeds of freedom, first and foremost Shkodër and Tirana, with the City of Students, but I say that nowhere was such complete solidarity seen as in Kavajë, where all the men, women, and children took to the streets. Here even the communists themselves were forced to join the people. Such events transcended the city and entered the history of the nation. These and other things were in my mind when I said that a speech in Kavajë takes on special significance. I came here at the invitation of three associations to discuss the topic “Property should be returned to its rightful owner,” as the invitation says. These words are the core of our economic program; this order is best represented by the Republican Party’s principal commitment. I will briefly explain how we see the progress of the return of property in Albania. At the same time, I knew that the question of creating a front, or the right wing, would be raised here. I will also express my opinion on this, but let us proceed in order. On the whole, the recognition and restitution of property are not going well. In one key area, things have gone backwards, namely the ownership of land, which affects the livelihood of more than 60% of the population. The law distributing land per capita was drafted, approved in his parliament, and signed by Ramiz Alia. This thoroughly Leninist law was later adopted by the Democratic Party, which led the struggle to defeat communism. This law, which disregards the dictatorship’s expropriations of land, has created a confused agrarian picture, with different implementation from one district to another; it has left some land fallow and blocked the village’s access to the free market, preventing other things as well. These and other things were in my mind when I said that a speech in Kavajë takes on special significance. I came here at the invitation of three associations to discuss the topic “Property should be returned to its rightful owner,” as the invitation says. These words are the core of our economic program; this order is best represented by the Republican Party’s principal commitment. I will briefly explain how we see the progress of the return of property in Albania. At the same time, I knew that the question of creating a front, or the right wing, would be raised here. I will also express my opinion on this, but let us proceed in order. On the whole, the recognition and restitution of property are not going well. In one key area, things have gone backwards, namely the ownership of land, which affects the livelihood of more than 60% of the population. The law distributing land per capita was drafted, approved in his parliament, and signed by Ramiz Alia. This thoroughly Leninist law was later adopted by the Democratic Party, which led the struggle to defeat communism. This law, which disregards the dictatorship’s expropriations of land, has created a confused agrarian picture, with different implementation from one district to another; it has left some land fallow and blocked the village’s access to the free market, also preventing foreign investment. According to European concepts and laws, owners are not made by parliaments and governments that may change in the next elections. Property is truly based on inheritance and what is added to it through lawful purchase. Therefore, a European owner cannot become a partner with the Albanian state on the basis of a document issued by the government. This law condemns the village to remain where it is for a long time, while if the sale of land is introduced, no one can guarantee peace and normal development. Parliament has washed its hands of this tangle by adopting the law, while the Government sits on top of it, believing in its own percentages, which are a vote on the land mandate and on the land distribution, on the progress of this village over a period of time, and on the right to belonging under the procedures of the bill, which declares that the owner may sell and the municipality may take the forests and pastures, including those pastures that were common property of the village. This means that the government is going even further with expropriations. We will continue our efforts against it, also seeking the help of associations and parties that declare themselves in favor of the return of property. (Continued on page 4)

Only 14 years in prison for Fatos Nano “We will defend ourselves until the end of our lives. Any correction of injustices will be made quickly, through a judicial process...” “We will defend ourselves until the end of our lives. Any correction of injustices will be made quickly, through a judicial process...,” Fatos Nano said yesterday, a few minutes after the Prosecution asked the court panel to sentence the defendant in question to only 14 years’ imprisonment. In fact, every biological and botanical species has the right to strive to live, or vegetate, until the end of its life. And, of course, the human being Fatos Nano cannot be deprived of this natural right either. So far, everything is in order. But what does Fatos Nano call injustices, and in whose name will he (very soon) bring these court cases? In whose name does Fatos Nano dare to judge? Perhaps Enver Hoxha judged in his own name (as he himself admitted), perhaps in the name of 50 years of crime... And because of Ramiz Alia’s “soft war,” Fatos Nano dares to talk about trials; also because of the tolerance shown by the imprisoned and politically persecuted, the tolerance of those trampled underfoot, the tolerance of an impoverished people... So Fatos Nano dares; because in Albania not a single head of the criminal gang of the PPSH was sentenced, the murderers and professional bosses were not brought down, the communist executioners were not hanged, the henchmen, servants, and jailers of evil were not buried. For these reasons Fatos Nano dares to speak of trials to come. That threatening voice was once Enver Hoxha’s, then Ramiz Alia’s, and now belongs to 50 years of crime. A crime that Fatos Nano intends to resurrect. But criminal thieves are judged; they can never judge. Nor “can they ever judge...” They themselves—this applies to Fatos Nano. Throughout the defendant’s statement, the Prosecution explained that Fatos Nano had fulfilled all the elements of the crime: a) the object—the state’s property—which, from the moment the Italian company granted Albania 30 million lire... such aid was considered the property of the Albanian state; b) the objective aspect—abuse of office; c) the subject—the crime of misappropriating state property; d) the subjective aspect—the acts were committed with full intent. In addition, the Prosecution stated that the element of forgery was also present, as proven in the trial proceedings, where it was established that former Prime Minister Nano had generally acted without consulting the government. At the same time requesting repayment of the sum of 70 million and 780 thousand lekë, the Prosecution concluded its work, asking for only 14 years’ imprisonment for former Prime Minister Fatos Nano. Lawyer Përparim Sanxhaku during yesterday’s hearing Photo: Armando Babani

At last, Turkey received the green light from the UN to send troops to Bosnia as part of the UN forces. Since the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey had sought to send its troops to these parts of the former Yugoslavia, but had encountered firm opposition from Greece and several other countries. During that period, the UN had also adopted a resolution categorically prohibiting neighboring countries from becoming involved in any way in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Moreover, the fact that Turkey had once been an occupying power in those territories was also held against it, and countries such as Serbia and Greece, the most determined opponents of the return of the Turkish army to the Bosnian conflict, justified their opposition by claiming that this could revive Turkey’s ambitions to restore the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, at that time, when the Bosnians were in a state of national expansion, when their arrogance and aggression did not constitute a world revolutionary or liberating action, and when UN troops were also present in Bosnia and Croatia, the deployment of Turkish troops could have been seen as a clash with the Serbs, which would undoubtedly have taken on dangerous proportions, spreading the conflict even further across the region. Now many of the conditions have changed, both politically and on the ground. The increasingly consistent analyses of American diplomacy, alongside its increasingly continuous and rigorous opposition to Greece’s pro-Yugoslav stance, combined with military action, which brought an end to independent dominance in the former Yugoslavia, have caused the consequences of Serbian aggression to turn back on them. At the same time, the Washington agreement between the Croats and Muslims in Bosnia has been reached, providing for equal participation in the situation in Bosnia. When the UN called on countries to send troops, various states responded negatively. This led the UN Security Council to decide to allow Italian and Turkish troops to join the UN forces in Bosnia. The Serbian members of the Security Council... At the same time, the Washington agreement between the Croats and Muslims in Bosnia has been reached, providing for equal participation in the situation in Bosnia. The Security Council, having reviewed the situation, granted full authority to UN Secretary-General Butros Gali to decide whether to allow Turkish troops to participate as part of the UN forces in Bosnia. Butros Gali responded positively, allowing Turkish soldiers to participate in operations in Bosnia. There is no doubt that Gali’s decision is another slap in the face for Greece, following the recognition of Macedonia by the US and its allies in the EC and the condemnation of the embargo Greece imposed on Macedonia. Greece had opposed such a move throughout, and Greek officials had even declared, “If Turkish soldiers go to Bosnia, then Greece will also send its soldiers there.” But so far they have not taken such a step and, apparently, do not intend to, remaining only at the level of statements and simple protests. Bulgaria has so far taken a similar position to Greece; together with Greece and Romania, it has formed a kind of network around the issue, issuing joint statements opposing the participation of troops from Balkan countries in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, as has, naturally, truncated Yugoslavia. In its statement on the matter, Belgrade warns that allowing Turkish soldiers into Bosnia will lead to an escalation of the conflict in the Balkans and that it was a grave mistake for the UN to violate the resolution adopted some time ago, which prohibited soldiers from neighboring countries from participating in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Perhaps the reasons given by the Bosnian Serbs’ leader, Radovan Karaxhiç, included, among other things, the statement that “if Turkish soldiers come to Bosnia”... (Continued on page 4) ARBEN POPOÇI

The threat ahead of the UN ultimatum to withdraw the Serbian heavy artillery was apparently countered by the decision to bring Russian troops to Bosnia as part of the UN peacekeeping forces. The deployment of Russian troops and NATO’s non-use of force were presented as a victory for Serbian policy. The Turkish forces will be, in any case, a peacekeeping force for the Muslims, while the fact that the Serbs are being condemned, despite all the threats, means that they are not bombing the Serbian positions; Russian forces are being deployed in Bosnia at the same time. In any case, the decision to engage the Turkish military not only reassures the Muslims in Bosnia; the Russian presence also poses a risk, as do the still-unclear plans of the reinforcement mission regarding Bosnia. The deployment of international troops according to the preferences of the warring parties indicates that the war in Bosnia is nearing its end, and with it the partition of the country seems definitive. The forces preferred by the parties (Russian, Turkish, etc.) will apparently be deployed in the territories that they do not dispute with one another. The Turkish forces will ultimately establish the presence and experience of a Muslim state in the heart of the Balkans. ARBEN POPOÇI

The Albanian Helsinki Committee raises its voice in protest against the arrest by Serbian police of the Kosovar publicist and writer Shuaib Be...ri, who is also editor-in-chief of the independent weekly “Forumi,” published in Prishtina. The Committee stresses that Beqiri’s arrest constitutes a violation by the Serbian repressive authorities of the rights of the Albanian intelligentsia in Kosovo, as well as an attempt to silence those who provide information in the Albanian language under conditions of complete darkness and secrecy. The Albanian Helsinki Committee appeals to international organizations to assess seriously the continuing violations of rights in Kosovo, since these violations foreshadow new tragedies that may occur in the Balkans and beyond. ALBANIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE

The madwoman N’ suddenly appeared at Rinas airport carrying a complete set of tape cassettes and a tape recorder. “I have to take these tapes to the court hearing of Pato Nano, for the political trial being held against him,” she said, showing the tapes to a group of foreigners whom she mistook for a delegation of people who had come to follow Nano’s trial. “There we’ll make copies and distribute them to all the true Marxist-Leninist groups around the world. We’ll also send a copy to the European Parliament, where we’ll include my explanations too, also recorded.” “When Fatos Nano gets out of prison, we’ll elect him President of the European Parliament, since he’ll be old enough to become President of the Republic,” she said as she climbed the airplane stairs. “Now I’m leaving, but later I’ll come back to present Fatos’s defense.” After finishing her speech, Commander N’ boarded the plane and sat in the seat beside the pilot. “So this is the plane’s black box,” she asked, looking around. “Put the tapes in the black box, so that if the plane crashes, these tapes will survive, because they are of great historical importance.” After making sure the tapes were safe, she called the flight attendant and asked for a glass of bilbilesal juice. “Give me some of those from Anetjeta,” she said, looking out the window at the… where she thought she saw Giupere Perandone Ronbalan signaling her not to take any of those that had been brought as aid. “Levante Co has brought them to Albania for half a hundred lire. Please, passengers, among them are several members of the Alliance, and they may hear, without too much fuss, the messages that the braggart will ask the pilot to play for the passengers, as they wish. Europe.” THE CHRONICLER