The gang executes three police officers and four other people The police are awash in blood: revenge plus justice What happens in other countries when police officers are killed? Europe, we don’t need your advice! Minister of Public Order Petro Koç: “I hope nobody goes mad and turns this great sorrow into an opportunity to argue for the ‘Pact for Public Order’. On this occasion, I want to stress that there will never be a pact with crime and its representatives. Today’s event also shows that the Albanian police can enforce the law. Of course, better late than never.” The eight-month-old baby wounded by criminals yesterday in Berat, where they killed three police officers and four other innocent people photo REUTER The eight-month-old baby wounded by criminals yesterday in Berat, where they killed three police officers and four other innocent people. photo REUTER

EDITORIAL Andi Bejja Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko returned from Turkey with the Turkish authorities’ promise in his trouser pocket “that if Albania is touched, it is just as if Turkey were touched”. In his jacket pocket, meanwhile, the Albanian prime minister believes he has the message “Kosovo is not ownerless land”. Perhaps this is Majko’s most successful initiative on the eve of the second round of Rambouillet, when the Albanians are expected to put their final seal on it and when Albania’s borders are being systematically violated by the Serbs. But from the open window you cannot see only this picture. The other picture concerns the Serbs’ offensive in Kosovo, which aims to weaken the KLA and passively punish the European countries of the Contact Group—the continent to which, geographically and culturally, Albania belongs far more than Turkey. The pathetic tone and jubilant words of the Turkish authorities may seem normal to an Albanian or a Turk familiar with the history of the two countries: 500 years of occupation, marital ties, the adoption of words and customs by Albanians. On the other side of the coin, there is also an emotional picture: around 3 million people of Albanian origin in Turkey, who hold key positions in Turkish society; the man who wrote the words of the Turkish national anthem was Albanian. This is without even taking into account the 42 viziers of the former Ottoman Empire and the founder of the modern Turkish state, Ataturk, whom the Turks, despite knowing very well that he was half Albanian, are reluctant to acknowledge as such. Judging by these facts, Turkey should have been the first country in the world to recognize Kosovo’s independence and Albania’s first donor. But for a diplomat, whether Turkish or Albanian, diplomatic truth is not equivalent to human truth. For so long, Turkey has not only failed to raise its voice on Kosovo, but has not even followed the policy of the most progressive state on this issue, America, which it must be said, on the Kosovo question, viewed from the Albanian window, is one step

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After the massacre, Majko in Berat today: O life, O death P. 4 Nano: “Majko is not my pupil... The government has a lot to do” P. 5 He massacres his brother over 100,000 old lek; the father says “good riddance” ... P. 8 COMMENT By Fadil Paçrami: “Different, [pta] different” P. 9 The Serbs continue their provocations; more bullets fired at the Albanian border post P. 11