Meetings held by the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha. Meetings held by the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha. Greeted by the participants with a round of applause, the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, delivered a speech at the World Conference on Human Rights taking place in Vienna. He began his remarks with the greeting: “Ladies and gentlemen, throughout this century, Albania has been an isolated peninsula, a living museum of dictatorship. For 45 years Albanians have been the object of extreme contempt for the values of freedom. Human rights have been violated in the most barbaric and total manner. With internment as punishment, punishment of the family and clan, with the psychosis of totalitarian terror, with the denial of all political and economic freedoms, with the imprisonment, internment and execution of hundreds and thousands of dissidents; with the use of the mentally ill in psychiatry as political prisoners, with the denial of freedom of movement, with fabricated political trials, as well as with the extreme isolation of the citizens of this country from the civilized world, the communist regime of my country, through the brutal use of the dictatorship’s repressive and ideological apparatus, turned my nation into a concentration camp, into the largest political prison of modern times.” Speaking about the sufferings and sacrifices of Albanians, President Berisha particularly mentioned the suffering of Kosovo, where “as a result of ethnic cleansing, Kosovo’s economy has been driven into a devastating collapse.” Stressing that “the protection of human rights and individual freedom cannot be held hostage by claims and fundamental ideologies,” Mr. Berisha said: “In Kosovo and other regions of the former Yugoslavia, the lives of innocent people are becoming a daily nightmare. Thousands have been killed, hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes.” He said that Albania “will remain faithful to its commitment to defend fundamental freedoms, establish a functional democratic system and a market economy, and ensure that the country’s future is in the hands of free and responsible citizens.” Mr. Berisha called on the conference and the international community to use all its influence “to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, to press for the reopening of schools and closed institutions, to ensure the return to work of Albanians who were unjustly dismissed, and to recognize their national and political rights.” At the end of his speech, President Berisha underlined that “peace, stability and democracy in the region are inseparable from respect for human rights.” There were also contacts and talks with various counterparts. As part of his meetings, President Berisha held a conversation with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif. At this meeting the relations between the two countries and the possibilities for expanding them were discussed. Mr. Berisha expressed to Mr. Sharif the gratitude of the Albanian people for the help that Pakistan has given Albania in difficult times. Appreciating highly the ties of friendship between the two peoples, the two interlocutors expressed themselves in favor of expanding economic cooperation and increasing political contacts. President Berisha also met with the President of Slovenia, Mr. Milan Kučan. During this meeting, bilateral relations, the situation in the region, and economic cooperation were discussed. The President of Slovenia praised Albania’s stance regarding the crisis in the former Yugoslavia and the Kosovo issue. President Berisha also met with the Prime Minister of Turkey, Mrs. Tansu Çiller. The two interlocutors expressed satisfaction with the good level of Albanian-Turkish relations and spoke in favor of intensifying them in all fields. Mrs. Çiller said that Turkey is closely following the situation in Kosovo and supports a peaceful solution to the issue. In Vienna, President Berisha also held a meeting with the President of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr. Alija Izetbegoviç. During the meeting, they discussed the dramatic situation in Bosnia and the need for greater international involvement to stop the aggression. President Berisha reaffirmed Albania’s solidarity with the Bosnian people. President Berisha also met with the President of Croatia, Mr. Franjo Tugjman[?]. At this meeting, views were exchanged on developments in the region and on the possibilities of strengthening cooperation between the two countries. The President of the Republic also gave an interview to Austrian television ORF and held meetings with representatives of international human rights organizations.

The “Europa” restaurant has been sold illegally… The “Europa” restaurant has been sold illegally. At a press conference in the premises of the newspaper “Rilindja”, the chairman of the Economy Commission, Mr. Ylli Bufi, stressed that the time has come for massive and immediate privatization. In this context, according to him, factories must be restructured, the documentation for their privatization prepared, and strict management of the economy established. If until yesterday all non-economic matters, privatized properties and rents had been under the administration of local government bodies, now there must be stronger control. The economic transactions involved in implementing the privatization of property and agricultural land belong to the central government, he said. According to him, the privatization of commercial banks is being carried out below their real value, while the subject of share sales should not be limited to cash in hand. To illustrate his concern about the way privatization is being carried out, Ylli Bufi cited as an example the “Europa” restaurant, which was sold by a decision of the Council of Ministers in contradiction with the spirit and Law no. 7512 “On the sanctioning and protection of private property, free enterprise, independent private activities and privatization.” In this way, according to him, there are objects and other assets that have been privatized in contradiction with the privatization platform. Speaking on behalf of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party, Ylli Bufi asked Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the judicial authorities to take measures to annul the sales and to hold the authors of these actions responsible. (AKSH)

As conflicts among political forces in Kosovo have escalated, the leader and party with hegemonic ambitions, the coalition of the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Left of Yugoslavia, are fueling the fire of conflict, thus confirming their ideological-political pact with the nomenklatura in Tirana. At the height of the crisis, declared representatives of this pact, published in Supplement “ZP”, have launched a blind campaign against all those who oppose Tirana’s anti-national policy in Kosovo. One of the main targets of this campaign has been the Albanian journalist and writer Bilall Xhaferri, who has relentlessly denounced the idea of a “Balkan federation,” an idea first put forward by the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania and now revived by its successors. The article in “ZP” is devoted to denigrating his figure as a writer, publicist and human being. First he is called an “avowed enemy of socialist realism and committed literature,” and the value of his journalism as one of the most prominent publicists of the Albanian political emigration is completely denied, while his stance against Serbian and Greek chauvinism is also left in silence. This silence is telling. Instead of honoring a writer who rose up against every national injustice, “ZP” tries to smear his image. On the other hand, on the front page of “ZP” the leader of the Italian Socialist Party, Bettino Craxi, who in his own country has become the subject of serious investigations and accusations, is presented sympathetically. This choice speaks for itself about the political and moral orientation of this newspaper. This foul propaganda climate in no way helps solve the problems in Kosovo; on the contrary, it fuels division and conflict. (To be continued on page 4)

PRESIDENT BERISHA RECEIVED MRS. ÇAMAJ In the small hall of the presidency, the President of the Republic Sali Berisha met with Mrs. Erna Çamaj, the wife of the writer Vilson Blloshmi, who was killed by the communist regime and is today remembered as a “martyr of democracy,” to discuss the possibility of finding the remains of those who were executed by firing squad. The conversation also focused on the issue of finding and reburying, with due honors, several well-known writers who lost their lives under Enver Hoxha’s anti-Albanian regime. Mrs. Çamaj, for her part, asked the president to give priority to a group of writers and artists whose work has secured some of the brightest pages of Albanian culture, which was sacrificed by the dictatorship. (ON THE OTHER HAND) In a telephone connection with “KOHA”, Mr. Avni Delvina, spokesman for the President of the Republic, confirmed to “KOHA” that there is a possibility that President Berisha will grant Mrs. Çamaj a lifetime pension, but that he would do so only after the death of her husband, executed by the communist regime, had been verified. He also confirmed to our newspaper that President Berisha is personally dealing with the issue of finding the remains of the executed poet Vilson Blloshmi. Mr. A.D. further confirmed that serious consideration is being given to what can be done to honor the well-known poets who were executed by Enver Hoxha’s anti-culture, anti-modern, indeed anti-human regime, which, as he said, “is the most hated symbol of the last decade, responsible for the greatest tragedies of our nation in the 20th century.”

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