OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA, SALI BERISHA, ADDRESSED TO THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE ON THE OCCASION OF THE VICTORY OF DEMOCRACY
My dear compatriots, wherever you may be,
Brothers and sisters,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today the third spring of democracy has begun in Albania, and so today, from the bottom of my heart, I wish Albanian democracy an eternal spring, and wish you, my compatriots everywhere, the greatest success and joy on the path we chose two years ago, on 22 March, the path of democracy.
Today I also wish to warmly greet all the Albanians who, with their vote on 22 March, at the beginning of the spring of 1992, opened the era of a true renaissance for our entire nation—in Albania, in its territories in the former Yugoslavia, and in the Diaspora—as well as all those individuals, institutions and governments whose great political, economic, moral and technical assistance contributed to this victory.
The tradition of free elections is that of general elections, and Albania, on its path to democracy, will hold free elections regularly. But 22 March 1992 will always remain one of the great and most notable events in the history of Albanian democracy. The elections of 22 March were elections of history, of the decisive turning point for our nation, of hope for Albanians wherever they are in the world; they were the elections that determined the course and fate of Albania in the years 2000. On 22 March, with their free vote, Albanians brought an end to one of the longest dictatorships Europe had ever known. On that blessed day, in the fields, villages, residential centers, production enterprises, schools, hospitals, military units and prisons of Albania, the greatest peaceful democratic contest in our national history took place between two worlds and two systems: between the communist system and ideology and the system of democratic ideals, between dictatorship and a free society. For 50 years, communism created in Albania a model of Stalinist dictatorship, built against the thought of Barleti and the Frashëllis, of Fishta, Noli and Ismail Inga. It turned the country into a place of brutal oppression. People were imprisoned, tortured and martyred in the ordeal of communist dictatorship for the great democratic and national ideals that triumphed on 22 March 1992. Tonight we must bow our heads and pay tribute to the martyrs of all times who gave their lives for freedom, especially the young people—the martyrs of the 1990s, Arten Broci and his comrades, whom the dictatorship brutally killed on the eve of the days we are now experiencing. Today we must also remember the final acts of the dictatorship: the fires and destruction in Fushë-Arrëz, Laç, Lushnjë and Pogradec. The many victims of this barbarity proved that Albanian communism, mortally wounded, was seeking to prolong its life through destruction, human lives and suffering. All this, and much more, calls on us on 22 March to remember—not in order to take revenge, but so that it may never happen again. History has shown that collective guilt is a grave collective fault, for which even nations with powerful feelings have paid a very high price.
Ladies and gentlemen,
On 22 March Albania began its long and difficult journey toward democracy, the rule of law and a market economy, toward prosperity. It began the path of developing and consolidating the great values of its Western civilization, the path of integration with Europe.
But although the victory in the great peaceful and democratic contest between two systems and two philosophies held on 22 March was decisive and overwhelmingly in democracy’s favor, the difficulties we faced on our path were greater than those of any other country or nation. Extreme poverty, an economy in a coma, the severe consequences of deep isolation, and a country cut off from all historical ties made up our bitter inheritance. Our road was made even more complicated by the war in the region and by propaganda of gloom, deception and disillusionment, which certain anti-reform circles have used and continue to use as psychological terror against the Albanian people. The thousands of results achieved in these two years prove that the courage, bravery, wisdom and creative genius of the Albanians; the strength of Western ideals; and the will and determination of the government were far greater than these difficulties. The communist system had set out to replace the ideas of the great European and Albanian humanists with Lenin’s philosophy, the philosophy of social and political crime, and had devastated the economy. The nation of Skanderbeg was oppressed and mistreated as rarely before in its history.
Brothers and sisters,
22 March 1992 was the day that brought the first spring of democracy to Albania after the final winter of communist dictatorship. It replaced chaos, terror and murderous anarchy with order and calm, with the safety of the citizen and the country; it halted the continuing exodus of Albanians; it set the country on its steady, unstoppable ascent; it rescued national dignity from disfigurement, openness and integration from obstruction and hardship, and freedom from oppression. Therefore, today it is essential that we pause and remember in a moment of silence the hundreds and thousands of Albanians who were sent to camps and prisons, where they endured years of inhuman torture. The communist ideology and system, through its barbarity, sought to replace the ideas of the great European and Albanian humanists with Lenin’s philosophy, the philosophy of social and political crime, and turned the economy into a wasteland. The nation of Skanderbeg was oppressed and mistreated as rarely before in its history.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Speaking of Albania’s great achievements during these two years, a distinguished friend and director of the International Monetary Fund said some time ago: who could have imagined these changes two years earlier? I believe that in saying this he expressed a great truth.
There is no doubt that the assistance and great solidarity of the European Union and its member countries, the USA and other friendly European countries and institutions have been of primary importance in all our achievements. On your behalf, I wish once again to express our gratitude for their assistance. No one could have imagined two years ago what was voted for on 22 March. In two years, the Albanians managed to carry out reforms that enabled them to establish a market economy faster than anywhere else in Europe; they succeeded in transforming a totalitarian collectivist society into a country of free owners. Today, 350,000 Albanian families have accepted land, two hundred thousand urban families own their homes, and thousands more have their own private businesses.
Today Albania has one of the most stable currencies in Europe, which is practically convertible. The country where, until yesterday, the cult of Hoxha and Stalin reigned now has one of the most advanced charters of freedoms and human rights of our time. Albania has become an important factor for peace and stability in the region. It is now clearly, and with strong prospects, a different former communist country, economically aligned with the West. Albania’s achievements in integration are among its most important. In two years, our foreign policy succeeded in overcoming the consequences of 50 years of isolation and seeks the country’s dignified integration into the European Union, the avoidance of conflicts and the resolution of national issues. The commitment of the mother country has given an entirely new dimension to the Albanian question as a whole and to the issue of the freedoms and human and national rights of Albanians in their territories in the former Yugoslavia. The European Union and the international community are increasingly recognizing every day that Kosovo’s problems are, above all, an international problem and not simply a Serbian one, as the dictator in Belgrade absurdly claims, and that peace and security in the region depend on a just solution to this problem.
But what has changed more than anything else in Albania is people’s psychology and society’s philosophy. Until two or three years ago, the concepts of human rights, a market economy, marketing and private property were heretical, forbidden or forgotten. The country of total collectivization has courageously and successfully overcome the social syndromes of the first transition period and is now among the leading former communist countries of Europe in embracing the market economy and reforms in general. The society of fear, class warfare, imposed atheism, surveillance, suffering and persecution has been replaced by a society of free individuals, free speech and thought, freedom of religion, free ownership, and political, religious and economic pluralism. Individuals’ self-confidence, self-responsibility and self-control are growing every day, as they become masters of their own freedoms.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Speaking of Albania’s great achievements during these two years, a distinguished friend and director of the International Monetary Fund said some time ago: who could have imagined these changes two years earlier? I believe that in saying this he expressed a great truth.
There is no doubt that the assistance and great solidarity of the European Union and its member countries, the USA and other friendly European countries and institutions have been of primary importance in all our achievements. On your behalf, I wish once again to express our gratitude for their assistance. No one could have imagined two years ago what was voted for on 22 March. In two years, the Albanians managed to carry out reforms that enabled them to establish a market economy faster than anywhere else in Europe; they succeeded in transforming a totalitarian collectivist society into a country of free owners. Today, 350,000 Albanian families have accepted land, two hundred thousand urban families own their homes, and thousands more have their own private businesses.
Ladies and gentlemen,
But for all the achievements of these two years, which are founded on your free minds, sweat and labor, and on great international assistance and solidarity, I wish, on your behalf, to thank Parliament, the Government of Mr. Meksi and the new Albanian administration, which designed and implemented the great reforms through their efforts, honesty and foresight. The new Albanian institutions faced a great test. The Government of Albania took office while the country was in the process of collapse, but with courage and determination it set to work: establishing the rule of law, consolidating democratic institutions, implementing economic reform and the law, fighting corruption, addressing backwardness and development prospects, and overcoming the consequences of isolation. Today in Albania, extremist and nihilist propaganda often claims that the achievements are the work of individuals, not the government. We remind these critics that individuals and governments existed before, too, but the state had destroyed the individual, whereas you temporarily criticize the government for what this government and this administration should be credited with most. The greatest merit of Mr. Meksi’s Government and the Albanian Parliament is that, through its program, it managed in a short time to reverse the effects of state terror against the individual in favor of individual rights: changing a system in which the individual was dependent on and trampled by the state into a state that is dependent on and serves the free individual. The Government’s program and the Parliament’s improvements established free institutions serving the individual. This program achieved price liberalization, currency convertibility and control of inflation, as well as privatization, which this year will begin to be implemented in medium-sized and large enterprises through mass privatization and the sale of valuable assets. Let me remind you that in just the last seven months around 1,000 enterprises have been privatized. Over these two years, a large number of democratic institutions were established and are functioning successfully; their continued consolidation is our primary duty. Without this program, the upheavals of 1990–91 would have driven the country into the abyss; instead of a market economy, we would have had chaos, anarchy and a Marxist economy—in other words, the dictatorship of a neocommunist security service. In all its activity, the government, as it has done until now and will do in the future, will seek to expand individual freedoms, create legislative space for free activity, and continually widen the opportunities for people’s energies to be put to use, while caring for those who suffer and are harmed by poverty and protecting them—in other words, ensuring the social component of the market economy.
Today in Albania there are many Albanian families and individuals who are unemployed, receiving assistance or pensions, and facing very great difficulties in making ends meet. I wish to assure them that the government will make unceasing efforts to improve their lives and protect their employment opportunities, as well as provide them with economic and social support.
Finally, I wish to emphasize that although our achievements today are great, impressive and undeniable, they are not, and cannot be considered, an economic miracle. We are still the poorest country in Europe, and our journey toward prosperity and development has not ended with the flowers of this spring; we still face, and will continue to face, serious difficulties. And yet it is an undeniable fact that a true and great miracle exists in Albania. It is the driving force behind all our achievements, and this miracle is the momentum of freedom. God and Freedom have helped Albania and will help it in all times. God has loved Albania, loves it and always helps it. The momentum of freedom that has swept over all Albanians makes it possible for us to accomplish in two years what we have never achieved before in our history. This momentum is the force of free people’s energies, which has accelerated and continues to accelerate development beyond all expectations, and has opened and will open ever greater opportunities for our talent and creative genius. It is this momentum that has brought and will continue to bring Albania closer to the developed world, that has raised and will continue to raise ever higher the name of the Albanian and Albania, and that will bring Albanians closer together, wherever they are, and connect them in friendship with other peoples and countries that are allies and friends of freedom. Therefore, today, all together, let us give glory to God and honor freedom and the people ever more.
Tirana, 22 March 1994
