“The monarchy is a non-partisan institution”
INTERVIEW / The Right-Wing League’s petition to the presidency: 100,000 signatures are being collected in favor
“Albania needs the monarchy because it is a form that does not deal directly with politics.” This is how Leka Zogu, the sole heir to the Albanian royal throne, formulated his reasoning yesterday for changing Albania’s form of government. Now that the idea of organizing a referendum has resurfaced, Leka I insists on his longstanding proposal and on his main aim: the importance of a constitutional monarchical state.
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Leka I during his visit to Tiranë
Leka in Tiranë only twice
History / In ’93 he stayed for 24 hours
After 54 years, it was the first time he had set foot in his homeland since 1939, when he had left for good just 48 hours after his birth. For years he had been unable to return because the decisions of the Përmet Congress prevented the royal family from returning.
After 54 years, he returned to Albania to stay for only 24 hours. On 19 November 1993, Leka Zogu had landed at Rinas airport and, together with representatives of his court, had gone straight to Hotel “Dajti”. It was the first time
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A woman burns in house fire
Cause: gas lamp
Berat, 2 children in hospital
Berisha to the Socialists: “Get rid of the Enverists”
TEPELENE - High praise for the Government and the DP program, and harsh accusations against the Socialists.
Berisha, at the Tepelena party meeting—just a few kilometers from the “house”-prison where Nano is staying—attacked the largest opposition party, once again returning to “its idols of boasting about Enverism.” Then he appealed to all members of the Socialist Party: “In the name of ... all Albanians, I call on members of the PS and the moderate left in this party to expel the Enverists from their ranks, because they have a party; their party is intolerance,” Berisha declared. In his speech, the President also harshly criticized several current Socialist leaders—Nano, Ruçi and Islami—for organizing the coup at the United School, the February massacre, and 2 April. Berisha took a firm position on the PS’s stance toward the dictator Hoxha. According to the President, nothing has changed from the PPSH to the PS, citing the class struggle led by Hoxha, hyper-collectivism, the isolation of the country, and the cult of personality established by the dictator. The Socialist leader “has only created one, but has not denounced the serious crimes that were committed.” Continuing along the line of the PS’s “Enverism,” Berisha called for “dialogue with people to explain this danger to them,” and for the electoral campaign to be a demonstration of democratic values, since this is also the path to victory in the coming elections.
Suspicions of undocumented migrants? “Iliria” is unblocked
DURRËS
On page 5
He planted dynamite: ends up
TROPOJE
Tunnel under prison: mass escape
18 Albanians escape from Corfu
After unrest that lasted several days, 44 prisoners escaped
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Protests at the Greek prison
“The candidates by March”
The Republicans are demanding the lists
Tirana, yesterday’s meeting of the Steering Committee
TIRANA – The Republicans are giving the “green light” to the election campaign. The establishment of election committees in all the districts where the PR has branches, as well as the mandatory arrival of the lists of parliamentary candidates, with all the executors, by March 25, were two of the main issues yesterday
Kalakula’s offices attacked
Party materials stolen
Yesterday at midnight, still-unidentified persons were the protagonists
Dispute over a grave: wounds the animal
BERAT – “You trampled on my grandfather’s grave.” This was the phrase of a [ftu?] from the Police, who then punished the lack of respect for the dead. He stabbed a villager and... his donkey. Last Tuesday, A. Ziu, 28, went to Posh[n]je to see the grave of his deceased grandfather. But right beside the grave, he saw a scene he would not forget, at the grave’s edge. Although the villager complied and moved the animal away, that was not enough, since it was accustomed to going to the same place. Angered by this, Ziu stabbed the disobedient donkey several times; it fell and began thrashing in a pool of blood. Then the villager sought revenge, but he met the same fate: he was stabbed and left bleeding. The attacker, Ziu, tried to disperse the crowd by explaining the real cause of the quarrel: “They trampled on my grandfather’s grave,” and then he too left. A travelling market has been set up right in the Poshneks cemetery for quite some time. It is located at the crossroads of the Berat, Lushnje and Fier roads, and this alone has once caused a quarrel over the choice of location. The cemetery is being encroached upon more and more each day, something chiefly inappropriate for a place of this kind. Beside it, people are setting up a typical Albanian market. Ha Ta.
TROPOJE
Used dynamite: ends up in handcuffs
On page 5
TIRANA
Electoral law: the Constitutional Court does not rule
On page 3
TIRANA
Polovina in court today: Journalists say “Free him”
On page 5
Kalakullla’s offices attacked
Yesterday at midnight, still-unidentified persons were responsible for forcibly breaking the doors and windows of the PDD offices
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Oil trucks brought to a halt
Drivers and conductors on strike
Patos, demand the director’s dismissal
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SPECTACLE
Elbasan gathers the sounds of cities
For three days, a festival. Nearly 20 musical groups gather
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Tirana
Lawyers are left without a home
The owners of the building where the College is located are no longer renewing the contracts
TIRANA – Tirana’s lawyers risk being left without a home. Soon, the building where they work will also physically pass into the hands of its owners.
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After the Cup, a storm over volleyball
Harsh measures against the organizers
COURT SPORTS / The women’s competition will resume on March 21
of the Albanian Women’s Volleyball Cup, the city of Durrës, where the event was held, and the managers of the “Teuta” club, the chief referee of the competition, the event observers, as well as the governing bodies of the Albanian Volleyball Federation itself. The ASVF held a long, expanded meeting in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth Culture and Sports. After reviewing the way the Cup was organized and the problems that arose during it, the meeting made its decision.
Italian Championship: Here are all the figures
On page 6
