AZEM HAJDARI LEAVES ALBANIA. GRAMOZ PASHKO REMOVED HIM FROM THE DP GROUP! WHO’S NEXT? In the previous issue of our newspaper, we announced that in the next issue you would read “Why Azem Hajdari left Albania,” but before anyone has yet answered that question, we learn of the expulsion or removal from the DP parliamentary group of one of the Democratic Party’s principal founders, one of the few lecturers who supported the student movement of ’90, one of Mr. Sali Berisha’s closest collaborators, the man who founded the DP’s economic program, one of the few founding members of the DP who have still not been eliminated from this party’s political scene—that is, Mr. GRAMOZ PASHKO. After the elimination of the first Editor-in-Chief, the founder of the newspaper “RD,” FROK ÇUPI, after for his interview given on TV, which they were not broadcasting for the “tele-believers.” “I’m surprised,” he said, “I never thought that in a democracy I wouldn’t have the right to openly express my opinion on some problems that are arising in the Ministry of Public Order, in the Ministry of Defense and in SHIK.” “Did you criticize a minister or something?” we did not ‘meet’ again because we had not set an exact day and time for when we would meet. Thus, no one can answer the question “Why did Azem Hajdari leave Albania?” accurately, except for two or three of his friends, who are not speaking today. It is known that he left for rea- sons. It is said that Mr. Pashko did not find the right time for that statement, because Kosovo was being discussed. But if Honolulu had been under discussion, would Mr. Pashko not have suffered the same fate? Without a doubt. I say without a doubt because other statements and other reasons were also given for his removal, such as sabotaging the local elections, etc., etc. They do not say why A. Hajdari left, or why G. Pashko made that announcement, but why he made it at a time when the Kosovo issue was being discussed. The same was said about N. Ceka: why he made the statement in President Alia’s office, and not whether that statement was right or not. And after the elimination comes the analysis, in the Party’s grassroots organization (Parliament), about how Pashko once did this... and at another time did that... and so on, etc.

Everyone who writes for the newspaper “Koha jonë” is a spy This fantastic statement was made by BLERIM ÇELA at a meeting of the DP Parliamentary Group to examine the “Pashko affair.” Thus, the science-fictional inspector Çela, after his “discovery” of the “great corruption” in the newspaper “Koha jonë,” has taken it upon himself to uncover and denounce spy rings in this newspaper. After Mr. Çela uncovered all the state corruption and all the Albanian gold, he now seeks to come to the assistance of and make his valuable contribution to the Ministry of Public Order and SHIK. HOW FORTUNATE ALBANIA IS TO HAVE SUCH A MINISTER.

not yet the newspaper “RD,” Mr. FROK ÇUPI; after the blow dealt to one of this party’s most distinguished intellectuals, Mr. NERITAN CEKA; after many founders were sidelined from the political scene, including EDMOND BUDINA, ARBEN DEMETI, EDMOND TRAKO, SHAHIN KADARE, ALBERT KAPRIQI, MITRO ÇELA, etc.; after the candidacies for parliament of the renowned figure of our diaspora, Mr. IDRIZ BASHA, and of one of the founders of the DP and its press organ “RD,” Mr. PREÇ ZOGAJ, were eliminated, we had written in our newspaper: “Who is next after him?” Immediately after this article, Mr. Preç Zogaj wrote in an article of his published in “Koha jonë”: “...that a day could come when Azem Hajdari and Arben Imami might be forgotten as founders of the DP.” But who would have thought that after Mr. Preç Zogaj, it would be Azem Hajdari who was next? Few could have accepted that at the time. WHY DID AZEM HAJDARI LEAVE ALBANIA? In the weeks before Azemi joined his wife and two children in the entourage traveling from Albania to the USA, rumors were heard and spread over many cups of coffee about him? [illegible section] ... “Defense and SHIK.” “Did you criticize a minister or something?” I asked him. “Why shouldn’t the ministers be criticized when they deserve criticism?” he said. “All right, I tell him, you criticize the ministers, but your interview isn’t shown on TV. What will you do?” For a moment he seemed taken aback, then lowered his head, lifted his cup to drink his coffee, and began thinking. “I’ll give an interview to the newspaper,” he told me, “because only you can publish it, but not now—after a week, in that report about Rinas.” “Why Rinas?” I asked. “I’m leaving Albania,” he told me. “WHY? WILL YOU COME BACK?” ... “At Rinas,” he answered me... Then he gave me something for the newspaper, which I recorded on a tape recorder and published two issues ago. Its essence is: “This kind of amateurism in calling on the agencies of the Ministry of Public Order and the agencies of SHIK is an imprudent act; it is an illogical act; at first it seems like a rush, but later it can lead to major institutional catastrophes and even a national catastrophe, when one day we may quite normally see a criminal, with millions of lek, being able to run the Albanian state. We must be people who resolve these matters through established tests, including within the former Ministry of Public Order.” That day we parted, thinking that we would meet for the last time in Rinas. But unfortunately... Nevertheless, Azemi has not yet been eliminated “de facto,” since he has still not publicly said anything about his departure. Indeed, I think he will return to Albania very soon and declare his political position. GRAMOZ PASHKO REMOVED FROM THE DP PARLIAMENTARY GROUP?! There is no point discussing why Mr. Pashko was eliminated, because this is known: IT WAS HIS TURN. In the DP’s statements... did that... and so on, etc. And who says these things to Pashko? Precisely those who, while Mr. Pashko was working on the party program together with the other founders, these “democrats” of today were doing “fields” for the Party of Labour. (!). In the end, GRAMOZ PASHKO had his “turn” and is out of the game. But... WHO’S NEXT? Of course, the process will continue. There are still a few founders of the DP within its ranks. The “democrats” of today accuse the DP’s founders of deviating from the program. I would ask these later-arriving “democrats” a question: Did Gramoz Pashko join your party, or did you join the party founded by Gramoz and his comrades?! It would not be surprising if, after a short time, the other founder SALI BERISHA were also on the lists of those to be eliminated, or of “enemies.” (!) The paradox: We create our party with our ideas. You (communists, today’s democrats) were in your party. We are eliminated from our party, You come and make the rules in the party created with our ideas! They, they; laugh, watch, are astonished, and find [it], understand. ALEKSANDËR FRANGAJ

of Labour. (!). of “enemies.” (!) are astonished, and find [it], understand. The first statement made by the new RTV Director, Mr. Skënder Buçpapaj, as soon as he sat down in his chair, was about Mr. Azem Hajdari’s interview. He declares that Azem Hajdari was not censored. (!) If he was not censored, why wasn’t the interview broadcast, Mr. Buçpapaj?! Further on, you add: “...Azem was asked for the interview to be broadcast only after the relevant ministers had also been interviewed about these issues.” First: why were the relevant ministers not interviewed?! Second: what does Azem’s interview have to do with the relevant ministers, since when Azem agreed to give the interview, he did not undertake to interview the “relevant ministers” as well. Following this logic, we have the right to ask: When the interview with the deputy chairman of the State Control Commission about the illegality and “abuses” of the newspaper “Koha jonë” was broadcast, why were the Ministry of Finance, the General Prosecutor’s Office, and the Supreme Court not also interviewed? That did not concern them, whereas for Azem the “relevant ministers” had to be interviewed. Further on, Mr. Buçpapaj adds: “Azem Hajdari accepted this solution. But he could not wait; he was not prepared to wait, and within those days ‘Zëri i popullit’ came to his defense on the front page under the headline ‘Television censors Azem Hajdari,’ revealing the substance of the interview and making it invalid.” Did you refuse to broadcast Azem’s interview out of spite because “Zëri i popullit” came to his defense? Besides, “Zëri i popullit” did not broadcast the interview; it said that television was not broadcasting Azem’s interview, so how could it make it invalid when the interview had not been broadcast, Mr. Buçpapaj! And finally, as if to put the seal on your justifications, you say: “The journalists who briefed us on the Azem Hajdari issue were dissatisfied with his behavior on television.” According to this statement, the interview was not broadcast because Azem is ill-mannered (!) and until Azem becomes a well-behaved boy (as the party wants), his interview will not be broadcast! Mr. Buçpapaj, not even an eighth-grade pupil would have made such a statement without a single argument. Nevertheless, you are new to this job and have not yet got the knack of making such deceptive and self-justifying statements on behalf of someone else. We even hope that you never get the knack of making such statements, because such actions are neither in keeping with the honor nor with the nature of your profession. HAVE SUCH A MINISTER.

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Read on page 3 DICTATORSHIP IS KNOCKING AT ALBANIA’S DOOR AGAIN GRAMOZ PASHKO

IN THE NEXT ISSUE YOU WILL READ: PREC ZOGAJ