President Berisha and his wife take part The first to take the stage at the National Folk Festival, which began yesterday afternoon in Berat, were representatives from the Kruja district. The group, made up of 30 people and including the city's traditional group of elderly men, presented 10 songs and 2 dances for the competition. The songs are traditional and based on motifs characteristic of the district. Some of them are dedicated to Skanderbeg and his wars. The Kosovar songs stood out in the competition, especially those performed by the group of elderly men. The artists from the area of Great Myzeqe (from the district of Lushnja) presented five songs and six dances for the competition. One of the dances, a wedding dance, was applauded and especially appreciated by those present. Also notable in this competition was the old song performed for the first time on the stage of the folk festivals, "Fry moj ere kushuar kurbetit." Folk artist Rahman Kelmendi performed a melody on the pipez, a characteristic authentic wind instrument of the area. The Lushnja artists' program continued for 30 minutes. Two old, genuine dances brought to the festival by the folk group from Mirdita were warmly received by art lovers for their authenticity. Within the allowed time span, 12 songs were performed, most of them epic-lyric, wedding songs and lullabies. Of particular interest to those present was the valley of lirjit, an old humorous dance. The appearance on stage of the 30 folk artists of the ensemble of Albanians living abroad was met with applause. "We are proud to help our brothers, representatives from all Albanian lands," said the Kosovar artists before the competition. The melody with gaide, the song accompanied by spona (a type of flute), the melodies with kavall and çifteli that were presented on the festival stage by Myzeqeja, are far from the Albanian lands. The art lovers also applauded the characteristic wedding, the Kosovar lyric and epic songs. In the evening hours, the folk artists of the Elbasan and Vlora districts also competed. Photo: A. DHIMITRI ATSH

An announcement by the Constitutional Court states that on 21 September 1995, at 2:00 p.m., the Constitutional Court will announce its decision concerning the request of the Council of Ministers to declare unlawful and unconstitutional the acts of the President of the Court of Cassation at the stage of enforcing final civil court judgments. ATSH

Yesterday at the Court of Cassation in Tirana, they did not gather to examine the scheduled court hearings, but to read the decision of the Constitutional Court of Albania, the court's press spokesman told journalists. After becoming acquainted with this decision, the Court of Cassation will no longer convene the Plenum to examine various criminal cases. The files adjudicated in the country were all sent to the Tirana District Court, the above source concludes. D. KARAJ

As is known, Brozi eventually admitted that the Constitutional Court's decision was costly and not as he had said yesterday in his many recent interviews. Brozi saw that he was in deep trouble. Malicious tongues say that even yesterday, at the Cassation meeting together with Selenica, he tried desperately not to accept the Constitutional Court's decision, but they failed because the others could not follow the Brozi-Selenica duo. The balloon, say flight analysts, when it starts to deflate, comes down from the clouds headfirst. ERMAL DIBRA

From the interview of a former political prisoner I recorded this statement of his when the subject turned to the opening or closing of files: “A people who does not look at itself in the mirror will never become beautiful.” The cruel, inhuman communist dictatorship oppressed the Albanian people. a) The class struggle, according to Marxist-Leninist theory, caused incalculable damage to the moral, political and economic structure of our people and our country. In the moral structure, the proletarian dictatorship divided the people; it artificially created "the enemies of the people and the homeland," those people who were in fact patriots and friends of the people. It created enemies within the family, the clan and various social groups. The class struggle, which lasted for decades, terrorized the people. The slogan "Either with us or against us" turned son against son, daughter against mother, husband against wife, brother against brother. Faced with such an alternative, people, ordinary people, were forced to pretend they were not communists and were subjected to a criminal laboratory. To secure a job and housing, having become victims of their "biography," these layers of society went through the State Security laboratory and there, whether they wanted to or not, were forced to leave behind an important part of their personality. In other words, they collaborated with State Security, spying on brother, sister, father, mother, husband, wife, child, comrade, friend; in short, by doing these things, these people were depersonalized. Is this not a terrible moral genocide? And the greatest misfortune is that even to this day these ordinary people still live with the anguish of the "guilt" imposed by the pressure of the dictatorship. Precisely because the main perpetrators of this genocide have still not been punished, this large mass of people, "laboratory-treated" by the State Security, still lives under the threat of those perpetrators who forced them to make declarations, at the time, even against their dearest and closest loved ones... Shall we still allow this kind of moral genocide to continue against the simple, patriotic and democratic people, whom the criminal and anti-Albanian perpetrators depersonalized? It would be an honor for democracy and the progressive democratic forces if these people had the chance to spit on the perpetrators of their depersonalization. ESAT ÇOKU, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Yesterday in the People's Assembly The law on "genocide and crimes" was placed on the agenda NDREKE GJINI Yesterday the People's Assembly approved the inclusion on the agenda of the draft law "On genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Albania during communist rule for political, ideological and religious motives." The proposal to approve this law, said at the opening of the plenary session the chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly, Mr. Pjeter Arbnori, is made in order to condemn the communist genocide that was carried out against the Albanian people, to ensure the purity of democratic life and to stimulate the activity of the criminal prosecution bodies and the judiciary in order to strike with greater efficiency at the activity of those who, in blatant violation of the laws of the time, committed criminal acts. The inclusion of this draft law on the agenda was approved by an absolute majority of votes, without debate. Then the two remaining candidacies from the previous session for deputy members in the Albanian delegation to the Council of Europe were voted on and approved. In this delegation, Mr. E'them Ruka was elected as deputy in place of Namik Dokle, and Mr. Kosta Makaronaqi in place of Ruzhdi Pulake (if these may be missing). The People's Assembly then took up the draft law "On the interruption of pregnancy." During the discussion in principle of this draft law, two or three interventions were made that were different and in some cases even diametrically opposed regarding whether abortion should be allowed or not. At the same time, it became clear that the final decision needs to be treated as a very humane issue, understandable in these discussions and sensitive for part of the citizens. The Assembly considered a series of amendments on this matter, defining the procedures and institutions through which the interruption of pregnancy may be carried out. As a result, the non-approval in principle of this law meant that it was once again returned to the Council of Ministers for reconsideration. The plenary session of yesterday then continued with the ratification of a loan agreement between the Republic of Albania and "AB SVENSK EKSPORTKREDIT" Sweden for balance-of-payments support, which was approved by decree of the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha. For an amendment to the law "On the transformation of state enterprises into commercial companies." Also yesterday the deputies examined and approved the law "On the promotion of employment." With the approval of this law, the legal basis for promoting employment is created, as well as assistance through state bodies for the creation and development of employment offices. The law also defines state employment policies, which include active measures to promote employment through work and when active labor market programs and projects are included, through which job placement, job creation, public works, vocational counseling as well as training and retraining are carried out. At the end of yesterday's plenary session, the PBDNJ deputy Mr. Thoma Miço took the floor to make a statement, in which he claimed that the government supposedly had this school year several classes in the Greek language. At the end of his statement, Deputy Miço said that the PBDNJ deputies would not take part in the work of Parliament until the Government opened these classes for the teaching of Greek. Regarding this statement by Deputy Thoma Miço, the chairman of the PD parliamentary group, Mr. Ali Spahia, said that this statement is disinformative and contrary to the spirit of good relations between the two states. This, said Mr. Spahia, is done with the aim of damaging the good relations between Albania and Greece. Meanwhile, PD deputy Mr. Rudolf Marku made a statement in which he denounced the acts of the "guerrilla" who, encouraged by the far left, are distributing leaflets and carrying out anti-Mexican and anti-NATO propaganda.[?]

Reuters: Kurt Shork writes: Peace efforts in Bosnia were delicately balanced, while the Serbs faced the NATO deadline to lift the weapons cordon around Sarajevo, and the emboldened Bosnian government demanded a firm surrender of the area from the Serbs. The Serbs of Bosnia have until 22:00 (GMT) to complete the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the 20 km prohibited zone around the capital, or they will face a new wave of NATO bombing if they do not agree to move artillery and tanks out of Sarajevo by next Wednesday, 20 September. The commander of NATO's southern command, Admiral Leighton Smith, and the United Nations commander in Bosnia, General Bernard Janvier, must both give a final assessment today of the situation on the ground. United Nations spokesman Alexander Ivanko said the Serbian withdrawal from the area around Sarajevo was progressing, with 232 heavy weapons moved so far. The Bosnian government, under pressure from the United States and the United Nations to stop a military offensive that threatens the Serbian northern forces of Banja Luka, is effectively demanding, through a letter to the Security Council, the surrender of the Serbian forces in this area as the price for stopping the attack.

Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Çiller submitted her resignation yesterday in Ankara to President Suleyman Demirel, who accepted it, announced the press adviser to Ms. Çiller, Mr. Mehmet Biçan, as cited by AFP. Demirel asked Çiller to continue handling current affairs until a new government is formed, added Mr. Biçan without giving any further explanation. Ms. Çiller's resignation comes after the failure of talks held today with the chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), the social-democratic party and his coalition partner, Deniz Baykal, on ways to keep the coalition alive.

DRAFT LAW On Genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Albania during communist rule for political, ideological and religious motives PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA Pursuant to Article 16 of Law No. 7491, dated 29.04.1991, "On the main constitutional provisions", Articles 1, 3, 6, 18 of Law No. 7692, dated 31.03.1993, "On an amendment to the main constitutional provisions" and Articles 67 and 74 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Albania, wishing to accelerate the punishments related to genocide for political, ideological, class and religious motives as a crime against humanity organized and carried out by the communist state in violation of the legal provisions of the time and of the fundamental human rights and freedoms, through physical and psychological violence, fabrication, falsification or manipulation of data, resulting in murder, imprisonment, internment and expulsion as well as the mass destruction of institutions and places of worship; Decides: ARTICLE 1 The Prosecutor's Offices, in accordance with the penal and procedural provisions, are charged with immediately and as a priority beginning the investigation of this activity. ARTICLE 2 The perpetrators of the activity provided for in Article 1 of this Law shall be investigated and tried according to today's code of criminal procedure. ARTICLE 3 Those who until 31 March 1991 had been members of the Political Bureau, the apparatus of the Central Committee of the PPSH (and PKSH), ministers, deputies of the People's Assembly, members of the Presidential Council, presidents of the Supreme Court, Attorneys General, First Secretaries of the districts and employees of State Security, collaborators of State Security, denouncers and witnesses to the detriment of the defendants in political trials, except in cases where they acted against their will and were dismissed only publicly, may not thereafter be elected to the central and local bodies of power nor appointed to the higher administration of the State, the judicial system and the academy, until 31 December 2002. More detailed regulation will be made by special laws. ARTICLE 4 The Council of Ministers is charged with preparing the legal and sublegal acts for the implementation of this Law. ARTICLE 5 This law enters into force immediately.