Yesterday the London Conference on the wounds inflicted on Yugoslavia began its proceedings. The problem of Kosovo—or, more accurately, the Albanian problem—will also be examined there. It is no coincidence that Albania has been called upon to chair the Staff, and that Lord Carrington is receiving the Kosovar, Albanian and Macedonian brothers, as well as those from Montenegro, coolly; they will have their say. Knowing that the Albanians were not invited as a negotiating party to the Hague Conference because Millosheviçi opposed it, this time, even though his objection was repeated, it was rightly rejected. The Yugoslav question cannot be discussed, nor decisions made about it, without the presence of the Albanians, the third-largest ethnic group and the population most massacred in the former Yugoslavia. A LITTLE HISTORY This conference naturally takes our minds back to 1913, when, at the Conference of Ambassadors in London, the Great Powers decided Albania’s borders without taking into account the principle of rights or the wishes of the Albanians. Russia defended the interests of Serbia, Montenegro and Greece, which, having failed in their efforts to prevent the creation of the Albanian state (that is, its recognition by the Great Powers), sought to shrink its borders as much as possible. Austria-Hungary supported our demands because it did not want Serbia, Russia’s satellite, to grow stronger. Italy, meanwhile, supported Vlora only in relation to the southern borders, so that Greece would be kept as far as possible from Vlora and the Strait of... Corfu. And after long talks and discussions, that shameful historical bargain was struck, leaving Albania within the borders we have today. More than half of its population, who lived in the ethnic Albanian lands, were left outside it. The part of Iluan and Serbia. Important cities such as Prizren, Peja, Dibra, Peja, Tetova and Gostivari remained outside the territory of the mother state. As if that were not enough, on April 26, 1915, again in London, the Entente Powers signed a secret treaty to partition Albania. Point 6 of the Italian annex gave Vlora, or Albania; point 5 left Shëngjin to Montenegro, while point 7 gave Serbia and Greece the right to annex entire areas in the North and South, respectively. What would have remained of Albania? A small territory, and even that under Italy’s protectorate? This shameful bargain was rejected by the resolve of the Albanian people, who rightly called the treaty “Albania’s shroud.” Clearly, through these actions the Great Powers were gratifying the greed of our neighboring states, which throughout history, from antiquity until recently—not to say to this day—have never taken their eyes off Albania. Some groups openly display their hostility, others do so with a smile; but even that cannot make us forget history. AND TODAY? The London Conference is meeting at a new stage, when Europe has taken important steps toward brotherly and democratic unity and cooperation. In Europe, in accordance with the principles of Helsinki and the CSCE, the principles of the stronger dispossessing and plundering the weaker have been set aside. The issue of state borders is also considered an anachronism, because all of Europe has such problems, and an undertaking to correct them would lead to massive bloodshed. And yet blood is once again being shed in parts of Europe, because historically the principle of ethnicity was not taken into account when borders were drawn. Not only that, but a former state, as the main force in a... mechanical union, is now seeking to realize its former dreams of territorial expansion. That is why Serbia, as the main instigator, began the bloodshed against its Slavic brothers, first against the Croats and now against Bosnia-Herzegovina, simply because they sought to be independent states within the borders recognized by the former Yugoslav Federation’s own constitution. Europe was alarmed by this bloodshed, but so far its actions have remained within the framework of talks and goodwill efforts to extinguish this source of war. Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of innocent people have been killed, and the population of many regions of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina has painfully taken the road into exile across Europe, mainly to Germany. And once again Europe did not intervene militarily to stop the aggressor, but is undertaking, within this framework, another “round” of talks between the interested parties and efforts at this conference. What is new in this conference? What is different? First, Serbia, with Millosheviçi as Europe’s last communist dictator, has been discredited all over the world as an aggressor; and second, something of first-rate importance to us: at last the Albanians have also been invited to be present in discussions on, or the resolution of, their national question. But if the Albanians themselves in Kosovo, by their free vote, decided to establish an independent state and did establish it, thereby fulfilling a requirement of the Helsinki Charter, Serbia opposes this not only with the absurd claims that Kosovo is a land of the Slavs, but also with the argument that it would mean changing borders. This idea is not opposed; indeed, it is supported by our southern neighbors, who see us as a danger if an ethnic Albania is created, at a time when no Albanian state has ever historically attacked a neighboring state. But what about the other European states, which have the power and ability to decide? They acknowledge the discrimination and genocide perpetrated against the Albanians by the Serbian and, more generally, Slavic oppressor. Although they do not oppose the Helsinki demands for self-determination, when it comes to Kosovo they defend, above all, the idea of advanced autonomy. Thus, once again, Kosovo and the ethnic Albanians who remain under Serbian rule are left to endure their well-known genocide in other forms. Since they have no other way out, because they sense their end and defeat, they may accept this, and the Serbs may accept it too, since they would lose nothing; it would merely turn back the course of history to 1984, when Kosovo’s autonomy as a distinct province within Serbia was abolished. The Albanians will oppose this.

— MR. ALEKSANDËR MEKSI, CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS — TIRANA We, several faculty lecturers, will support the government with all our strength so that our country, despite its internal difficulties and hardships, may overcome them and become a free country with a developed economic structure. We, several lecturers of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Tirana, are writing to you as a fellow civil engineer, with whom we jointly designed and built throughout Albania, from the Shkopet Hydroelectric Plant to the latest projects, and who today holds the office of Chairman of the Council of Ministers, to say that we support economic reform as well as the program of the first Democratic Government. We consider the government’s program fully democratic and realistic. In this transitional phase, moving from a socialist economy to a market economy, we are aware that great difficulties have arisen and will arise in people’s lives. Chronic unemployment, high prices, low wages, poverty hardship, economic formalization... and the full support of democratic developments in our country. Our trade-union organization, which is part of the BSPSH, is also using its democratic means to strive for the school to be a democratic institution where free debate of ideas can take place. We wish our democratic government success in implementing economic reform and assure it that, as democratic intellectuals, we will support it in every action it takes. On this occasion, we invite all intellectuals who are concerned about the fate of the Homeland to unite in support of the activities of Albania’s first democratic Government. Tirana, 24.8.1992 Doc. NIKOLLE VERDHI Doc. MUHARREM SESERI Doc. YLLI KOLONJA Doc. ISUF REÇI k. sh. ROBERT PLUMBI k. sh. VANGJO PASKO k. sh. GEZIM HAJDARI inh. VIOLETA ZEKA doc. ILIA PAPANIKOLLA doc. SKENDER LAMA doc. SPIRO BOÇI doc. FISNIK KADIU inh. PANDI THEODHORI doc. VLADIMIR JORGU.

(LEKA BUNGO AGAINST PELLUMB KULLA) I read with attention the article in the newspaper «Rilindja Demokratike» dated August 22, 1992, and, to tell you the truth, I was sorry when I saw your signature at the end of the piece. I was sorry because I was convinced that I knew you better than anyone else. Perhaps it is coincidental, but let me tell readers who do not know us well that we have been colleagues and close friends for a whole lifetime. In fact, this is also one of the reasons your article has angered me. How is it possible for you to pick up a pen and write without any sense of responsibility?! How is it possible that an intellectual, a distinguished writer and director like you, whom I would not trade even for all the journalists of «Zëri i popullit» and its people—including its correspondents in the districts—could make such mistakes?! I am convinced that after the reply to «A Tale for Mr. Pellumb Kulla» that you received in the fifty-year-old newspaper «Zëri i popullit» and its people—I beg your pardon, but I must say I have greater respect for that newspaper, if not for those who... were the secretaries of the Central Committee of the PPSH, members of the Political Bureau or secretaries of the grassroots organizations—the tale responding to your article was constructed with kings, princes and courtiers as its characters. If you do not want to understand even this, the newspaper bears no responsibility. Dear Mr. Kulla, In this piece I do not intend to analyze in detail the countless errors found in your article. For me and the ordinary reader, the title of the piece is enough: «THE SOCIAL-COMMUNIST OPPOSITION WOULD DO WELL TO KEEP QUIET!» Let us analyze it. According to you, the social communists have done well to speak up until now, but they would do even better if they kept quiet from now on. Here is the context of the headline in your article. No, dear sir, the title of your piece should have been: «WHERE DOES THE SOCIAL-COMMUNIST OPPOSITION GET THE COURAGE TO OPEN ITS MOUTH?!» Allow me to explain. The social communists and their press accuse the Democratic Party, its government and the President of the Republic of having made mistakes. On this matter I fully agree with them, especially regarding With everything? I am convinced that after the reply “A fairy fifty-year-old newspaper “The Voice of 23 Percent of the People”—a newspaper for which, forgive me, we should have more respect, if not for what it writes, then at least for its age, now on the eve of retirement—you must have understood your mistakes. I do not believe you have the absurd expectation that the newspaper should have presented arguments against your article. In a newspaper which, for fifty years in a row, has successfully cultivated the genre of the fairy tale in its pages, it cannot change the nature of your genre. To demand facts and arguments from a newspaper like “The Voice of 23 Percent of the People” is just like asking the Socialist Party to take a position on the figure of Enver Hoxha. In the end, just like its party, the newspaper has been renewed one hundred percent. If until yesterday the characters in the fairy tales—

Allow me to explain. fully agree with them, especially regarding the main mistake. By drafting and approving democratic laws, the government, parliament and the President of the Republic have not merely left a way open for the social communists; they have made it entirely convenient for them to rise from the defendants’ bench and sit at the prosecutor’s table. Imagine for a moment, Mr. Kulla, if the government, parliament and president had not “hurried” to introduce democratic laws and had for a while left in force the social communists’ laws, through which they ruled over these—

As soon as Pjetër Arbnori mentioned his former investigator in a television announcement—someone who has still not been held responsible for anything—the socialists began attacking him. In several consecutive articles, “ZP” has dipped its pen into a quarter-century of Pjetër Arbnori’s suffering. Naturally, the aim is even lower than an attack on an individual: it is an entire “class” of former political prisoners who must be taught to keep quiet, to go on keeping quiet, to remain shut away even now that they find themselves outside the walls of Albania’s special prisons. They demand silence, not those who once locked Arbnori away in prison, without imagining that their turn would come one day to be sentenced, too, and to live in the open air, where a person cannot remain excluded. They are the same people, on the investigator’s side, who are paid and now come down on Pjetër Arbnori, presenting him as having lived a life of leisure, but with 30 years in prison. What is this silence—a medal for whom? ... ... To change things, gentlemen, you must listen to where you live, and you will become clear about it. Of course, you have the right to speak, but you do not have the right to insult. Especially, you do not have the right to ... The fever and the possibility of remaining human. When prisoners were released, if they were ever released, they were not even allowed to speak about their families. Let alone claim power, as democracy opened the way. But even without having been in prison, Pjetër Arbnori would deserve all this. He is far more accomplished and intellectual than the former officeholders who today are agitated by the appearance of one of their ... Pjetër Arbnori was mentioned by the other side as its candidate for Speaker of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, and the People’s Assembly elected P. Arbnori as its number one. The former political prisoner, after 30 years of being scorned, insulted, tortured, and deprived of life (let alone of governing!), 30 years forgotten, suddenly… leads the People’s Assembly, where, fortunately, there are still a few “socialist” deputies. These deputies, compelled to do so, address P. Arbnori with the phrase: “Mr. Speaker...” And they cannot take the floor or continue speaking without permission from their former political prisoner! - Of ZP’s 50 years, 30 years read in prison! - You have no right to insult those whose lives you took until yesterday... It is well known what the prisons were like back then, a time for which you cannot hide your nostalgia from time to time. The most brutal, the most depraved, the most torturous, the most twisted—those who turned people into ghosts of their own script—Communism locked its disobedient citizens in prisons to break them, not to “educate” them. There they lacked everything, not just foo- Who is right?! Pjetri or the PS? Pjetri or “ZP”?! Pjetri or both of the others together?! A guard has no right to call himself a prisoner simply because he served as a guard! political prisoner. The depth and darkness of prison could not close off the horizon from which he looked out on life and the future. Just remember his achievements in literature, and Z’s ill-wishers would hesitate to tarnish Pjetër Arbnori’s name. At a time when they are pressuring P. Arbnori not to agree to the opening of the files (the paper files), they are threatening him to keep quiet (the living file). They seem to want to make him a scapegoat for having been in prison, as though Pjetri had gone in there by force. Now that he has come out, they would like him back in there again! Or: to keep silent as though he were still there. On its 50th anniversary, “ZP” is troubled by the fact that Pjetri spent 30 years in prison; on the 30th anniversary of “ZP,” he read the August 25 issue in prison. Perhaps “ZP” has its own reasons for not remembering its own life (because of the real culprits or its bosses), whereas Pjetër Arbnori has reason not to forget that 30th anniversary!

Whereas the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania is a national treasure, whose martyrs, history and tradition have created a living and necessary moment in the Albanian national consciousness; Whereas the Albanian Orthodox Church in America is privileged to have played a decisive role in strengthening the Albanian Orthodox Church, first in America and then in Albania; even today it continues to support and nourish the aspirations of the ORTHODOX faith in Albania; Whereas religious spirit and respect for freedom of conscience have been a worthy and well-recognized aspiration of our people, in opposition to oppression, suffering and persecution; Whereas the spiritual, ethnic and moral contribution of religious diversity in Albania, particularly among Roman Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox Christians, has been, is, and must be a force for national unity, of which we are all proud; Whereas we, the undersigned, affirm the tradition, future, history and status of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which clearly emphasizes that the principal duty of the Albanian nation and its citizens must be the continued, secure and peaceful propagation of our faith; We offer this expression of our feelings, duties, truth and appreciation of this fact as members of our delegation, with our spiritual prayer that God will continue to bless and guide our beloved Homeland, its leaders and its people. With love for the saving faith of Jesus Christ. This declaration was signed by: Father Arthur Llolini, Chancellor Anthony Athanas, Honorary Chairman Thomas Sotir, Chairman Michael Soter, Secretary of the delegation Sejti Protopapi, Chancellor Nikolla Kirka, Chancellor. Tirana, August 22, 1992