Prime Minister: You are staging a coup against me. Meta: Then work 18 hours a day TIRANA - Yesterday, the leadership of the Socialist Party gave Nano a mandate to make changes to the Government during a marathon meeting. Nano accused some members of the SP’s leadership structures of plotting behind the scenes against him and the Government. Meta replied that Nano could have a full mandate from the party to decide everything himself for a period of up to three months. To defend Malaj, Nano yesterday set out the alternative: “I will not be Prime Minister if Malaj is not Minister of Finance,” a member of the leadership confirmed Nano as saying. Fino agreed yesterday to vacate the position of Teta[s?], but did not hesitate to warn Nano about possible comments concerning his departure. “I agree to leave so as not to disrupt the coalition arrangement. If it is suggested that I am leaving because I am corrupt, you will be the first to have to deal with me,” he threatened Nano. Meta proposed Lëgisi as head of the Interior Ministry. “There should be a minister from the North. There also needs to be an immediate impact on public order, and Legisi already knows the situation in this sector,” Meta explained.

CARLO BOLLINO For the umpteenth time, yesterday the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike” devoted another space on its front page to me. For the umpteenth time, it accused me of being a corrupt journalist, serving Prime Minister Fatos Nano (whom I know, but do not meet), the head of SHIK, Fatos Klosi (whom I do not know), and other mysterious secret services “from neighboring countries that pay me to publish their ideas” (I do not know where they come from). But beyond the political accusations, yesterday “RD” wrote that I had provided a murderous alibi for the killing of MP Azem Hajdari by publishing on the front page of “Gazeta Shqiptare” an interview with the mother of his bodyguard, who was caught in that barbaric ambush. In the article prepared by one of our journalists, the names of Besim Çerja were listed one by one, as if in a row, but without prejudging any document; it stated that I hated [?] and claimed that her son’s killers had arrived in Italy (Milan), and that she had also informed the Albanian police, asking for Interpol’s help. And Besim Cerjas’s son denied that their mother had made this statement. We accept the family’s denial and declare that perhaps another woman presented herself under a false name, serving the game of someone we do not know. On behalf of “Gazeta Shqiptare,” I apologize to the families of Azem Hajdari and Besim Cerjas if that article caused any misunderstanding. Neither I nor the journalists who work with me intended to defend the killers; on the contrary, we hope—as do all the Albanian people and the international community—that they will be identified as soon as possible, arrested as soon as possible, and dealt with harshly. The loss of Azem Hajdari and tragedies of this kind have shaken all of Albania, and we at “Gazeta Shqiptare” are deeply and sincerely saddened by this tragedy, which can be eased somewhat only by the arrest of the barbaric killers, who, sadly, will end their lives in prison. Albanian politics is going through very difficult days, and so is the whole country. At this moment, everyone, starting with us journalists, must submit to restraint, peace and dialogue. I personally, and on behalf of “Gazeta Shqiptare,” wish to personally, and on behalf of “Gazeta Shqiptare,” wish to

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Papandreou to colleagues: Enough hypocrisy, speak plainly about Albania TIRANA - “Put an end to violence and begin dialogue urgently.” The international community is moving away from the diplomatic language of suggestions, paving the way for an order to Albanian politicians. A joint statement by the OSCE, the European Union, the Council of Europe and BEP says that the recent events in Tirana were marked by escalating violence, paralysis of public order and serious attacks on state institutions, including the closure of state television. Meanwhile, Greece’s alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Papandreou, said at a meeting of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly that the international community should now abandon diplomatic language and criticize without hesitation those obstructing the establishment of a genuine democracy in Albania. Yesterday in Strasbourg, the joint resolution of the OSCE, Council of Europe, EU and BEP. Italy, Greece and Austria signed.

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SHPËTIM NAZARKO From today onward, the country called Albania is under the protectorate of the whole world. This country is sovereign and inviolable. Signed: Europe, America, China and Russia. Efforts to maintain dynamic balances using artificial methods by setting the sides against one another no longer have any value. This is the subtext of the UN resolution and, in particular, of the Friends of Albania Club. The old and new geopolitics For a hundred years in a row, Turkey attributed its survival to a very simple thesis. Its defeat—that is, the loss of the Bosphorus strait and, consequently, of the routes from Asia that opened into Europe—would entail the absolute defeat of the greatest naval power of the time, known as England. Super… Continued on page 2

The victims: “We thought they were robbers, so we ran away” “They used their weapons and did not stop at the roadblock” SHKODËR — Spouses and used injured two Kosovars during a pursuit lasting several hours in summer. The victims: “We thought they were robbers, so we ran away” Police shoot at 2 Kosovars “They used their weapons and did not stop at the roadblock” SHKODËR — Spouses and used injured two Kosovars during a pursuit lasting several hours in summer and resisted by fleeing from a roadblock. According to the police, the Kosovars had only fired several times into the air in an attempt in Shkodër, but after their car was pursued and bursts were fired in its direction, none of the weapons was damaged there. On page 6

“Wounded bodyguard should be treated abroad” On page 4 Bode: EC ignores Berisha and Hajdari On page 2 Mediu: Break with PD, Nano should resign On page 2 Reward for the national team increased On pages 11–12