Grevisit passes 48 hours of hunger and awaits visitors. Arbnori: Berisha does not give harmful advice Musaku pulls a fast one on Xheka and Azemi; everyone wants Pollo’s pistol; Gjinushi finds a hook in Greece

After the PS’s “bluff,” now the PD’s bluff The PD has never treated the problem of Albanian emigrants seriously in its political and bilateral relations with neighboring countries. As if that were not enough to ruin its record, it bluffed again—and so did Mr. Pollo. The latter told reporters yesterday that “there is a secret agreement between the PS and the Italian government for the return of emigrants” (!) The truth is quite different. Albanian Prime Minister Nano has formally asked Prodi to repatriate the emi- [text unclear/cut off]—a decision expected to be implemented after August 30, 1997. Mr. Pollo, the PD’s co-chairman, so caught up in propaganda-driven revenge, either forgets or ignores the facts and puts on a show for the press. The issue of emigrants, so sensitive for Albanian public opinion, has greatly intrigued the PD leadership, which is convinced it has found a prominent argument with which to attack the socialist government and its diplomacy. But facts are facts, and in politics it is truth, not passion, that should lead. To exploit the emigrant issue is political immorality. PD politicians should at least inform themselves properly before announcing their opinions and positions. Pollo’s show demonstrates that the PD opposition is not honest, but an opposition habitually driven by the moment. Without doubt, this kind of opposition suits the Socialists, because apart from prolonging its life, it poses no other obstacle to their government. In the diplomatic sphere, both sides, the PD as well as the PS, have registered pronounced anti-national positions, which cannot be concealed behind demagoguery. Politicizing and using the emigrant issue for narrow party interests resembles the tactics employed by countries such as Greece, which have exploited the issue of Albanian emigrants in the interests of a chauvinist strategy. This is also the greatest misfortune that continues to haunt Albanians, who, precisely to escape what had befallen them in their own country, took to the roads of the world in the hope of finding at least a little dignity. The lack of a coherent line in foreign policy, too, has turned the drama of emigration in Albania into an incurable victim of politics. The name of the kurbetlinj [emigrants] is not a matter of “rotation” of power. The name of the kurbetlinj is no longer a wound that keeps Albanian politicians awake, but a number of votes conjured up with sentiment during election campaigns, and which can also be thrown in as “change” on the table of political gambling. The PD is ready to call the PS pro-Italian when the policy of the neighbor across the sea begins to radiate discontent among Albania’s neighbors, while the PS continues to peddle the demagoguery of legalization, postponed for years “to the Greek calends,” although it was among the first, during its opposition years, to sharply criticize the PD for this demagoguery. Meanwhile, emigrants, looking to their governments, nevertheless continue to believe in the hope that, whatever happens, they are not orphans, while also continuing to fill the squares of ... [text cut off]

DOCUMENTS

Page 7

— Page 2 “Silva” continues liquidation. 1,468 creditors owed under 200 thousand lekë — Pages 11–13

Page 8

Page 3