THE KEY TO ALBANIA’S STABILITY LIES WITH THE FREE CITIZEN
The speech of the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, at the sports palace in Korçë
THE KEY[?] TO ALBANIA’S STABILITY LIES WITH THE FREE CITIZEN
Speech by the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, at the sports palace in Korçë
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
If we cast our eyes back four or five months and compare today’s Albania with Albania of four or five months ago, we came from a harsh, difficult winter, from a true energy crisis. From all foreign chancellories and from the anti-Albanian press came merciless cries about the “death of Albania”, the “end of Albania”, the “Albanian bunker”, the “Korea of the Adriatic”, the “Cuba of the Adriatic”, and the “Africa of Europe”. After four months, sadly, even when it should have rejoiced at the changes and the victories, a certain press in Europe continued to condemn Albania, even to invent things about it when in fact it was on the road to salvation and recovery.
Only four months ago, before you, the country was heading toward a state of total destabilization. If today in Albania we have completely overturned the situation, we have done and are doing so first and foremost with our own forces, our own energy, our own work and sacrifices. I have come to you with the deepest conviction that Albanians are citizens of a free country, that the key to their success lies in the free person and in his energies.
The free citizen is the secret of Albania’s stability. The free citizen is the one who takes responsibility for himself, for the family, for the community and for the nation. If Albania is to move forward, it will move forward through its free citizens, through their free initiative, through their efforts and through their trust in the future.
We cannot build Albania with fear. We cannot build Albania with hatred. We cannot build Albania with nostalgia for the system that ruined the nation. Albania is built with work, with law, with freedom, with responsibility and with trust.
I am convinced that every Albanian family feels today that the country has entered a new path. This path is difficult, but it is the right one. It requires sacrifices, but these sacrifices will bear fruit. Albanians are no longer a defeated people. Albanians are a people who are standing up.
Korçë has been and remains a center of culture, citizenship and national dignity. Here more than anywhere else the link between tradition and modern citizenship is felt. Here it is better understood that the secret of stability lies not in violence, but in the free citizen, in private initiative, in the application of the law and in respect for human dignity.
We will continue our reforms. We will continue the fight against poverty, against corruption and against every form of arbitrariness. We will build a free economy and a rule-of-law state. And I believe that Albania will succeed, because Albanians have strength, dignity and will.
RA 040903
The photograph shows a rally with Sali Berisha and other participants.[?]