By Xhaferri Delislefa in the area of Vrinë and Shtot. The provisions of the Paris Charter on respect for the rights of minorities, which are an inseparable part of society, have generally been applied accurately. In our country, even before the Greco-Italian war, Greek settlements were officially designated by the Albanian government. On this basis, the democratic Albanian government has granted the maximum democratic rights, as never before. According to statistics from the Albanian Ministry of Education, 17,000 pupils attend the minority's eight-year schools in their mother tongue, in 105 schools with 734 teachers. In 34 kindergartens, 3,500 children are educated in the Greek language. In the Greek-populated areas, the democratic political association of fellow-countrymen “OMONIA” is active. There are more than 120 historical and cultural monuments in the Greek language. There are hundreds upon hundreds of publications, periodical press, as well as cultural and folkloric activities. There are places of worship and Orthodox bishoprics. The Greek community has never faced any restriction on emigrating to Greece, and there is none now. Everywhere in the world, in both West and East, free movement is the right of the individual and not of an ethnic group. Greek, Albanian and other foreign citizens are free to invest in Albania and to work and live according to the laws of the Albanian state. Mr. Prime Minister! Your claims that in the South Albanian lands are being imposed by decree and that 50,000 Greeks will never return to their homeland, and that measures are being taken to settle Albanians in the ethnic Albanian lands in order to alter ethnic relations, are false and petty speculations. And you, Mr. Prime Minister, know very well that in the villages of Delvina, Gjirokastra and Saranda there were and are no empty Greek-minority villages, left without people, since more than half of the Albanian population has emigrated for economic reasons. Likewise, Mr. Prime Minister, your speculation about the past of the Greek ethnicity in Albania—that under the former regime there were schools and teaching in the mother tongue, that there were administrative jobs and journalism in the Greek language, that there were cultural centers and activities—is unfounded. The Greek government has allowed publications and radio and television broadcasts. On the contrary, as everyone knows, in Albania there was an excessive narrowing of human rights and freedoms. There were internments and imprisonments for ideological purposes. But there was, by law, a restriction on free movement, a closure of the borders with barbed wire and mines. In general, fundamental rights and freedoms were denied. All of this belonged to the period of communist totalitarianism and in no way, neither by law nor in practice, were the rights of the Greek minority in Albania violated. 230 people of Greek nationality were elected deputies to the People's Assembly, 115 of them from the ranks of “OMONIA”. Ethnic Greeks work in important leadership positions in the central and local administration. There are officers and senior military men. 207 people of Greek nationality receive pensions from the Albanian state, taking into account also the years worked in Greece. It is widely known that the Greek government has often nourished chauvinist ambitions over the so-called “Northern Epirus”. For this reason, certain political and propaganda circles in Athens have manipulated the issue of the Greek minority in Albania. Many times this minority has been used as a means of political pressure on Tirana. These manipulations run counter to the legal and social reality of democratic Albania and to the norms of the Paris Charter. The Albanian government has shown full will to guarantee the freedoms and rights of its citizens regardless of nationality or religion. In our country, Greeks enjoy the right to education in their mother tongue, to practice their religion, to organize socially and culturally, and to participate in political life. The problem arises only when these rights are distorted by chauvinist propaganda and presented as a pretext for territorial claims. Albania cannot accept any kind of interference in its internal affairs in the name of a national minority that enjoys legally recognized rights. Albanian-Greek relations must be based on the principles of good neighbourliness, mutual respect and non-interference. Any statement that stirs up ethnic tensions or revives expansionist theses harms cooperation between the two peoples. The Greek minority in Albania is an integral part of Albanian society and should not be turned into a subject of Greek chauvinist manipulation.

The purpose of his visit to Hungary was to strengthen political relations and democratic cooperation. In the meetings held, discussions focused on reform processes, the role of political parties and the experience of transition in Central European countries. The visit was presented as an important step toward bringing the Albanian opposition closer to Western and regional partners. During his stay, Mr. Selami held talks with political leaders and representatives of Hungarian institutions. The need for functional pluralism, a market economy and respect for democratic standards was emphasized. In the end it was assessed that such contacts are useful for Albania’s integration into European structures.

With a situation of complications and inevitabilities now, or rather, in the swirl, of the “constitutional Greece” dazzled by the “coupists” in parliament, on the other hand, by the politics of the “darkest era”, the conservative government of Mr. Mitsotakis. How confused, divided and deeply unclear Greece is today is shown by its own voices, such as this one we are publishing today. These are the assessments of the Greek activist Vasilis Vasilikos regarding the latest events in his homeland. From the Greek daily “Ethnos” Vasilis Vasilikos Another crime was committed yesterday by the Greek government of “Mitsotakis”, sacrificing for the second time the expectation of the rule of law of the “black Friday” and violating the administrative court without any reservation. The court decided that legality includes the process of registration and handing over of mandates, but according to the government the forces and the unconstitutional premeditation acted. By starting decisions in this way, this government is certainly proving that it is consolidating a state without justice and without equality. 207 votes in parliament were enough for the moral overthrow of public order. For public opinion and for the political representatives of part of the electorate, this means that the arbitrariness of the parliamentary majority is replacing the constitutional norm. In today's Greece the conflict is not merely partisan, but institutional. A government that disregards court rulings and calls this a “victory” is opening the way to the degradation of political life. No modern state can stand for long on this basis. While propaganda tries to present the opponents as enemies of order, power itself is operating with a coupist logic. This is why many intellectuals and observers consider the current period to be a setback for Greek democracy. The crisis of representation, the disrespect for institutions and extreme polarization are driving the country toward permanent tension. Instead of dialogue, the language of exclusion prevails. Instead of the rule of law, numerical imposition. And precisely this is what makes the current situation in Greece so frightening.

It is said that with statements of this kind, he is not showing solidarity with the “companions of the ideal”, but is trying to buy time for himself, so as to come to the aid of others. These were the words of the deputy prime minister of the government of Thessaloniki, Panajotis Samaras, during a press conference in Athens. Answering journalists’ questions regarding the signatures for the return of Mr. Mitsotakis, he said that “no one can be saved with signatures”. According to him, “the crisis is political and moral, not a matter of petitions”. Samaras added that citizens are tired of the elite’s manoeuvres and that responsibility cannot be transferred to the crowd. He criticised attempts to present the conflict as a temporary misunderstanding, saying that the breakdown of trust is now deep. At the end he warned that any compromise invented only to preserve posts will fail. “Do you think you’ll save him with your signatures?” he concluded.

We will bring out with a chisel and a board how much this retreat has cost him and what value has brought it to him. Focusing on the case of the great writer Dritëro Agolli, for whom an undeserved cult has been built in Albania, the author disputes a series of his claims and calls them “untruths”. According to the article, Agolli has spoken about democracy, politics, pluralism, the past and relations with former communists, but in each case has hidden his own responsibilities. The author writes that “comrade Dritëro” now presents himself as a critic of the system that he himself nourished for years. He recalls Agolli’s public positions in support of the regime and accuses him of moral opportunism. The polemic also extends to his stance toward persecuted writers, censorship and the role of the League of Writers. The article uses harshly ironic tones and rhetorical questions to tear down Agolli’s public authority. In the end, the author implies that the “untruths” are not just lapses of memory, but a deliberate attempt to rewrite a political and cultural biography.