Episodes from a rare story INTERVIEW / After returning from Italy, Qazim Hoxha’s brother speaks EDMOND LACI TIRANE — “I would be happy if I could take just one photograph of Ana Oksa together with the other children of my brother Qazim. Then I want to show it to my children here in Tirana, so that the recognition of their bloodline will not seem unrealized.” He is only 57 years old and has just undergone a difficult operation. But more than his health, that wound of his, one might say, that has marked his whole life, does not let him die. His name is Subah Hoxha, he lives in Tirana, and in his hand he holds a family certificate showing that he is the brother of the Albanian Qazim Hoxha, the deceased father of the famous Italian singer Ana Oksa. He is the only one in Albania still alive out of the seven members of the Hoxha family. In his pocket he has a handful of lira left, which he had spent in Italy trying to find his brother’s grave. But for him everything has been compensated by a single photograph taken beside the place in Bari where his brother now rests. “I have fulfilled my greatest wish,” Sabah Hoxha tells Gazeta Shqiptare, “however, the children of my brother, all bearing the names of our old family, must know their father’s birthplace, his blood that remained in Albania.” Singer Ana Oksa Do you remember your brother, that is, Ana Oksa’s father? “I was only four years old then. We lived in Krujë, while Qazim had just left home. My father had escorted him to Perosdare — the old port — in Saranda. It was seven in the morning when he came and the gendarmes took him away?” “Yes...” “The next day my father learned that Qazim had been interned in Italy. In 1943, for the first time, Qazim wrote a letter to my father, in which, among other things, he asked permission to stay and marry in Italy. A reply from my father never reached him, but my older brother and I later wrote to him in his name. In 1947 — when we were still in the house in Krujë — Qazim sent us a photograph of himself with two children. Imeri and Xhemile, the real names of our father and mother.” When did you lose contact? “The last letter came to us from his wife — Piccinini Hoxha — in 1949. Since then we could no longer exchange letters either. Later we learned that at the trial, where he was sentenced to death, the possibility of ties with Albania was cut off. In 1973 we received news from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that Qazim had died in Italy.” How did you get to Bari, to your brother’s house and Ana Oksa’s father? “I have suffered twice through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And twice I lived in the train station. I found my brother’s grave by asking taxi drivers. My brother’s wife and Ana Oksa’s mother does not want to connect with her husband’s relatives and has answered me only by telephone.” So then... “A lawyer in Bari has promised me that he will do everything possible to make the meeting happen, at least with my brother’s children. If it still does not work, I will be forced — at any cost — to bring Qazim’s remains to Albania. My people here in Italy have forgotten, or do not want to remember, that Qazim is Albanian and, moreover, my brother.”

Illegal immigrants MELENDUNJO — Two serious attempts by Albanians to land on the Italian coast have been blocked by the Italian Financial Police. The people who had brought the illegal migrants have been arrested, after taking large sums of money. A patrol of the Gallipoli carabinieri caught a group of Albanians that was bringing a group with the skippers S. Foca (province of Lecce). They had just landed and the motorboat that had brought them was still at sea. Thus, the Financial Police patrol in Otranto began to chase the private motorboat, which was seized when it was two miles from the coast. The motorboat tried to ram the Financial Police vessel, and as a result the police were forced to fire several shots into the air, in order to make the crew return. Only in this way did the Financial Police manage to arrest the people on board the motorboat, for bringing illegal migrants into Italy for profit. Their names are Veli Bodo, 31, Jani Ondro, 42, and Pëllumb Runa, 39, from Vlora. That same night the Financial Police blocked a motorboat in the waters of Alimini (province of Lecce) and arrested the helmsman who was bringing another group of Albanians into Italy: he is Arben Roshi, 28, from Vlora. There were 37 people seized during the landing, among them women and a child. They were immediately repatriated.

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Tirana TIRANË — The Ministry of Culture has appointed a new director of the National Historical Museum. He is 45-year-old Vilson Kurti, until now a research fellow at the Institute of Pedagogical Studies. Kurti, who holds the scientific degree of “Doctor of Historical Sciences,” is a member of the National Council for the Protection of the History of the Albanian People and the author of many scientific and pedagogical articles. On Tuesday he is expected to temporarily take over the management of the country’s largest museum institution. The Historical Museum is currently in the stage of restructuring its contents.

The chairman is dismissed from office VLORE — Several serious violations identified in the implementation of the privatization process for facilities in the Vlora district have also led to the dismissal of Manol Bona from his post, chairman of the privatization branch in this district. It was the State Control Service, which, after an inspection carried out at the Privatization Agency, denounced illegal actions by the agency, actions that avoided transparency by creating disadvantages or privileges in relation to applicants for privatized facilities. The Privatization Agency in question did not meet the required number of advertisements in the local and national press; moreover, for the facilities privatized immediately, no posting was made. Auctions through the commission from the branch of the Agency have been almost completely eliminated, along with the 10 percent payment requirement, which has led to a reduction in clients. Among several other violations, there is also the sale of facilities without first qualifying them with the Privatization Board and without a decision by the Property Return and Compensation Commission. An. St.

They were separated FIER — It is believed they were drunk when a quarrel escalated between D. Dule from Fier, 39 years old, and his wife F. Esula, whom he killed by striking her with a shovel. Dule — who had not lived with Sula for some time, since they were divorced — had drunk before killing her. According to the initial investigations, the perpetrator of the crime is a drunk man. Police — it appears that Dule saw his former wife accompanied by another man. This is thought to have been the main reason that pushed Dule to chase and then kill his former wife in public. E. M.

IN SHKODËR 127 THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM — The urban water supply network of the city of Shkodër will be significantly improved with drinking water. 127 thousand dollars have been allocated by the Government for the implementation of this investment. The necessary project will be carried out on the basis of the design institute in Tirana, while the company that will implement it will be selected through a tender. IN BERAT AID FROM THE HUMANITARIAN ASSOCIATION “MJET PA KUF” — At present, a large number of foreign humanitarian groups are operating in the city of Berat. French specialists, in cooperation with local ones, have organized seminars to train the health personnel of the center. Meanwhile, they have undertaken to equip the health centers with modern apparatus. RAI REPEATERS TO BE RECONSTRUCTED AND STRENGTHENED — The Municipality of Tirana has prepared a fund that will be used to pay for part of the repeaters installed on Mount Dajti and which strengthen RAI television channels. Now, in order to successfully complete this undertaking, the municipality has also requested technical assistance from Radio and Television.

— The ruling socialist movement in Greece, PASOK, has replaced Interior Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who is the party’s general secretary, and has replaced the party’s Central Committee with 18 members. Andreas Papandreou, founder of PASOK, last month unanimously approved, as party president, a change he had set for the serial composition of the bureau. They had with that of the National Minister. For this Athens Tsochatzopoulos must resign as Interior Minister in the coming weeks, although a government source has said that this is the government’s goal. The recent deaths of the socialist ministers, Melina Mercouri of Culture and Giorgos Jenimatas of Economy, will lead to the reformation of the party bureau and this strengthening of the government as well. With a left-wing aim, Papandreou has approved for next week another meeting for yet another serial reshuffle of the central bureau, with Tsochatzopoulos in one of the sectors. “The elections for the new central committee of PASOK reserve many surprises.”

The link with the city of Bari is stronger Interview with Archbishop Rrok Mirdita From our editorial staff BARI — The Sunday at the Basilica of San Nicola ended in honoring in Durrës by the large church dedicated to the bishop of Myra. This was also made possible thanks to a ceremony organized by the Archbishop of Durrës and Tirana, Monsignor Rrok Mirdita, sent to Bari by grave. Monsignor Mirdita, 56 years old, originally from Montenegro (he was born in Kllizen), was appointed bishop by Pope John Paul II on 26 April last year. Monsignor Mirdita, three years after the political change in Albania, does religious conviction still exist among Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims? “So far I can say that there is great tolerance among the three faiths in Albania. A very understandable and rare tolerance. Especially among the Albanian people, it still continues. Is it unstoppable? “We still do not have as much work as there are young Albanians coming. In fact, in Albania, despite the many economic improvements needed, there is no structure to ease the crisis and solve the problem of unemployment. What has the local Church done to avoid the widespread phenomenon of drugs and prostitution? “Poverty is the cause of this situation and ... The Archbishop of the Durrës-Tirana diocese, Monsignor Rrok Mirdita Hope. Poverty is also the reason for preventing certain people from taking advantage and reaching Albania in order to influence vulnerable people, that is, the bad phenomenon in the world such as the spread of drugs and prostitution. However, this phenomenon is not yet so widespread as to worry the Church and the state.”

FIRE AT THE VLADIVOSTOK ARSENAL — There is no risk of an atomic catastrophe in the fire outbreak in Vladivostok. In the depots containing chemical ammunition, there were neither atomic warheads nor chemical weapons, the Russian military command told Russian television. The television showed apocalyptic images of huge and red flames from the training area. On Monday [...] soldiers were asked to completely clear an explosives site in Vladivostok, the military port, which was engulfed by flames for the first time. THREE INJURED — Another terrorist attack targeting tourism in Turkey. A bomb placed somewhere where many people gathered in the area of Adana, in southern Turkey, injured three passers-by and was found in a Turkish complex. All material damage. The hotel is frequented especially by foreign government officials and tourists. The attack has not yet been claimed, as reported last week by telephone; it is believed to involve a group of fighters who move around. That would not be them from the PKK. This constitutes a chapter of that zone. In the border province of Elazig, a hand grenade was thrown into the local club, injuring six soldiers and hundreds of others. In the last two nights the area has remained tense and the police have reinforced military forces. ART COLLECTION OF THE CLERGY CAUGHT FIRE — A bidder in Argentina is moving with 12 thousand dollars in Chicago to auction off most of the 40 paintings by Hungarian painter Luborczsa John Wayne Day, who was executed in an Illinois prison. “I will come as a man over life and I will send it to you,” said Joe Kohn, explaining that he has decided to give away those paintings from a dice game. Two-year-old President Gacy is considered the most schizophrenic criminal in American history, although in 1978, on the whole, they had hidden 33 enterprises of men, found them and buried them in the yard of the house in the Chicago suburbs. Sentenced in 1980, Gacy painted dead canvases, while he currently manages to extinguish, imprisoned in a death cell for almost fifteen years, in the window of dozens of cells.

Modern ballet on the Opera stage Choreographer Preljocaj in Tirana ON PAGE 2 Formula 1 Monte Carlo commemorates Ayrton Senna French Grand Prix won by Schumacher ON PAGE 7

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