Message from the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, on the occasion of February 20, the day the symbols of the dictatorship were toppled February 20 calls on us, Albanians, never again to accept any kind of ultranationalist, totalitarian or fundamentalist ideology, but always to remain united around our sacrifices, ideals and hopes for democracy, progress and integration into Europe Ladies and gentlemen, Brothers and sisters, On the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the toppling of the dictator’s bust in Tirana and other cities of Albania, I want to greet all those young men and women, men and women, students, workers and intellectuals of Tirana, Durres, Shkodra, Kavaja, Fier, Korça, Elbasan, Gjirokastra, Vlora and all of Albania who, in a mass revolt—one of the bravest in the history of the anti-communist struggle in Albania and Eastern Europe—amid tanks, bullets and rubber batons, toppled the symbols of [text unclear: “Laron”], who were killed for their convictions by the cruelty, as well as many other young men and women, martyrs of democracy, who were killed under the hail of fire in the dance of death that the criminal gang of the Albanian state, Alia, Nano and Ruci, organized. They roamed Albania like vampires to take revenge on the revolted people. It was the democrats who, guided by the high principles of their nation’s civilization, prevented the civil war that the criminal command had decided to organize through coups, massacres and the specter of the dictator, solely in order to preserve their power. Their defeat … they regarded as Albania’s defeat, their burning as Albania’s burning. On February 20, the Albanian people freed the country from the symbols of one of the most savage dictatorships known to history, the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. The mass revolt of February 1991 was a revolt against the genocide that the Albanian Pol Pot, this monster of our national history, inflicted on his own people. It was against the great tyrants, but at the same time it launched the battle against the small tyrants of the Hoxha dynasty, the offspring of crime, the fanatical Enverists and Enverologists who would always regard the monstrous dictator as their father. Just a few months earlier, they celebrated the country’s liberation by shouting and singing their hymns of shame, openly and definitively demonstrating [the source text ends here] The people of Tirana, Durrës, Shkodër, Kavajë, Fier, Korçë, Elbasan, Gjirokastër, Vlorë and all of Albania rose in a massive revolt, among Albania and Eastern Europe. Amid armored vehicles, bullets and rubber batons, they toppled the symbols of the most savage dictatorship, the most destructive one our nation has known in its history. The order was to shoot at the demonstrators. There were also those who disobeyed that order, while brave democrats made history. Their deed will always be honored. Tonight, too, let us together honor 15-year-old Spartak, 18-year-old Edvin, 20-year-old Artan, Pellumb Tahiri, Mikelin anti-ism, anti-Albanianism, anti-Albanian hostility. Let us make Albania the property of all Albanians and build a state governed by the rule of law. any kind of ultranationalist, totalitarian, fundamentalist ideology, so that we may always progress and integration into Europe. Once again, profound tribute to those who fell on that February day in 1991, to their families, and to all those who, in the nationwide revolt, fought the dictatorship with selflessness and courage and toppled its idols.

Yesterday, the PD National Council met at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. The meeting was held at the request of the PD chairman, Mr. Eduard Selami, and by decision of the leadership, to discuss Mr. Selami’s idea of having the Constitution passed by Parliament. Before the discussions, at the proposal of President Berisha, members of the PD National Council observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims of the communist terror of February ’91. The first to speak was the PD chairman, Mr. Selami, who presented his objection and the circumstances in which it had arisen. President of the Republic Mr. Sali Berisha then took the floor, rejected Selami’s proposal and criticized it as contradicting the National Council’s decisions concerning the manner in which the Constitution was to be adopted. As President Berisha set out the sequence of events, he called on the National Council to issue a decision convening an extraordinary conference to discuss these problems.

Maks Van Der Stoel, the High Commissioner of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for minority rights, called on Monday for “restraint and calm” following clashes between ethnic Albanians and the Macedonian police that left one person dead and 20 injured on Friday in Tetovo. Van Der Stoel emphasized the shared interest in ...

On February 18, 1995, at 8:00 p.m., near pyramid 48, close to the village of Vidohove in the Devoll district, 24-year-old Ilir Shima from Rrogozhina was shot by Greek military forces, according to a statement from the Albanian Ministry of the Interior. The operational team that went to the scene, led by the director of the border police, Brigadier General Beqir Pregja, found that a group of Albanian citizens, as they were approaching the state border line, about 10 m away, had been suddenly fired upon by Greek soldiers. After the shooting began, they retreated deeper into Albanian territory, while the Greek military patrol continued to pursue them into Albanian territory, continuing to fire in their direction; at a distance of about 57 meters, Ilir Shima was wounded. After this, the Greek soldiers dragged the wounded man away; we have received no information about him. The competent Albanian authorities immediately requested a meeting with their Greek counterparts to obtain an explanation of the serious border incident, but so far have received no reply, the statement from the Ministry of the Interior says. ATSH

Maks Van Der Shtoel, Europe for minority rights, on Monday called for “restraint and calm” after one Shtoel stressed the common interest of all the inhabitants of this country in living together in harmony, at the end of a meeting in Skopje with Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov. “All problems must be resolved within the framework of preparing a law on higher education,” he added, referring to the unrest caused by the opening in Tetovo of an Albanian university banned by the authorities. Ethnic Albanians, who make up 20 percent of Macedonia’s nearly two million inhabitants according to official figures, and 40 percent according to Albanian opposition parties, aspire to a greater degree of autonomy within this Yugoslav republic. AFP

Anjeli–Serreqi meeting Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi arrived in Rome from Tirana yesterday afternoon and met the same day with Italian Foreign Minister Suzana Anjeli. At the end of the meeting with her Albanian counterpart Alfred Serreqi at the Farnedina, Italian Foreign Minister Suzana Anjeli said, with regard to bilateral relations: “Italy will continue to support Albania during the difficult phase of transition from a centralized economy to a market economy, and will also facilitate its integration into Europe.” As for the state of bilateral relations, Minister Serreqi noted the “positive” progress of the work of the Italian-Albanian Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation. Asked what role Italian-Albanian cooperation plays within the complex framework of Balkan politics, Suzana Anjeli replied: “The fact that Albania is a country at peace and is situated between us and countries that are at war is a great source of reassurance for us. Relations between Rome and Tirana are particularly close, and Italy made a substantial contribution to the country’s democratization process during the initial emergency phase immediately after the fall of communism. By providing 218 billion lire for the 1993–95 period, Italy is today Albania’s principal aid donor and is involved in infrastructure and agriculture, as well as in industry, where around 200 joint ventures have now been established. Tomorrow afternoon, the Albanian foreign minister and the Italian ambassador in Tirana, Paolo Foresti, will speak in the Montecitorio chamber at the presentation of the new volume on international politics, “Dossier Albania,” prepared by the Italian institute Ipalmo. Minister Serreqi will return to Tirana on Wednesday morning. (ANSA)

On 23.02.1995, at 10:00 a.m., the Constitutional Court will announce its decision concerning the requests submitted by the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party and the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party, seeking a declaration that Law No. 7866, dated 6.10.1994, “On Referendums,” and Article 22 of that law, as well as Decision No. 262, dated 10.10.1994, “On the approval of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania by referendum,” are unconstitutional, in connection with the announcement concerning the holding of this court hearing.

While the Spanish socialists had governed for 10 consecutive years without having to contend with any truly threatening opposition, everything was increasingly being freed from Francoist remnants, and the leader was being replaced by a second-in-command, Zhoze Maria Aznar. The head of government nevertheless held on once again, though by a thread, in the 1993 elections. He nevertheless continues to enjoy the sympathy and support of rational nationalists, especially the Basques and Catalans; it is precisely these groups that prevent its outbreak in every instance. ATSH

Macedonian diplomats refuse to meet with the delegation of students who demonstrated for three hours straight in the streets of the capital Tirana, February 20 / Aida Sakaja ATSH — “For the University of Tetovo — against violence.” Under this slogan, several thousand students from various universities in Albania, joined by residents of the capital, marched through Tirana in a peaceful public protest. The message the demonstrators wanted to convey to the entire public went unanswered after the failure of the Embassy of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Tirana. For seven minutes, a delegation of young protesters waited for the Embassy door to be opened so they could submit their protest. They carried a symbolic bloodstained envelope containing a pencil, an eraser, and two sheets of paper, one white and the other bearing the word “violence.” Only after the young students had left, according to the duty officer, did the gentlemen at the Embassy collect the envelope, which the demonstration’s representatives had left outside the door that had not been opened to them. Student forums and Albanian minorities reiterated their unwavering support for the Albanian University of Tetovo. In their statements, they called on the government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to reconsider its hasty decision and legally sanction the opening of the Albanian-language University of Tetovo. Their protest against the violent intervention by Macedonian police forces at the university’s premises a few days earlier went further. They called on the Macedonian government to take urgent measures to rebuild the university building that had been destroyed and to punish those responsible for the crime, and even to encourage and financially subsidize the University from the state budget. Through this statement, the young people also called on the Albanian government to make its position on the matter clear. The students called on international organizations “to exert influence in favor of institutionalizing the University of Tetovo and advancing the status of the Albanian nation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in view of the possible consequences of its immediate action,” as well as “to use all existing institutional mechanisms to raise public awareness and inform international organizations about the state of education in the country in particular and, more generally, the discriminatory of Macedonia.” “University or struggle—no?” “Europe, I love you, where are you?” “Macedonia without Albanians, dust, you were dust, you are dust”—these were some of the slogans chanted by the protesting students. Although the Macedonian diplomats did not consider it appropriate to receive them, the protest organizers considered the goal of this peaceful public demonstration achieved and, thanking the Ministry of the Interior forces for enabling the event to take place under normal conditions, invited the demonstrators to disperse peacefully. Photo: A. Babani

“Macedonia is becoming the servants of the Serbs” With the slogans and chants “Open the Albanian University of Tetovo,” “Macedonia is becoming the servants of the Serbs,” “We don’t want blood, we want education,” “An end to the terror against Albanians in Macedonia,” etc., around 300 Albanians held a protest demonstration outside the mission of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia near the UN in New York. The organizers of the demonstration were the LDK Branch (Continued on page 2) Photo: A. Babani

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On 20. 2. ’95, a meeting of the PD National Council was held to discuss Mr. Eduard Selami’s proposal concerning the procedure for adopting the Constitution. The National Council discussed the issue extensively and responsibly, analyzing many factors. As a conclusion, the National Council, almost unanimously, remained faithful to its previous decision, rejecting Mr. Selami’s proposal. Having become aware of the importance of the issue and of the PD institutions’ role in engaging with this discussion, the National Council decided to convene an extraordinary party conference on 5.3.’95 to discuss this matter. President Berisha and PD deputy chairman Mr. Ali Spahia accused Mr. Selami of having disguised motives concerning the post of prime minister. The other speakers were almost all opposed to Mr. Selami’s idea of having the Constitution adopted by Parliament and criticized his statement, describing it as contrary to the National Council’s decision on this issue. The discussions made clear the PD National Council’s determination to complete the Constitution as soon as possible. It was emphasized that Albania does not currently have a constitutional vacuum; this view has also been expressed by analysts and rapporteurs of the Council of Europe. At the end, the National Council decided to convene an extraordinary conference on March 5, ’95, to analyze these problems. RD correspondent

On Sunday, “Gazeta Shqiptare” published a photograph of Hitler on its back page. The editor-in-chief of that newspaper, Mr Carlo Bolino, should know that Hitler has no place in Albania. Albanians hated him and hate him as the monster of human genocide. Commercialism does not always guarantee success, Mr Editor-in-Chief of “Gazeta Shqiptare.”