A coalition with you is an alliance with crime
“Democracy and crime cannot sleep together”
In recent weeks, the leaders of the PS, misled by the rhetoric surrounding the referendum—which, through their Marxist analysis, they interpret as a victory for democracy and euphoria in Albania—and by their leader in Brussels, whose meeting was organized not by representatives of the European Commission, as they claimed after returning to Albania, but by the staunch Greek communist, Member of the European Parliament Mr. Alavanos (whom, it is said, Greek democrats await with whistles), decided to seek a coalition with the DP, with its “reformers” (that is, infiltrators and careerists from within the party).
The DP will not enter into an alliance with you, gentlemen, because that would spell catastrophe and the end of true Albanian democracy, for several reasons. First, you are heirs, continuers, advocates and offspring of the PPSH, Enver Hoxha and the red nomenklatura, and of the state party that organized, proclaimed and implemented a policy of violence, terror, division, class warfare, isolation, hyper-collectivization and actual genocide. You offer only criticism of all this, and your criticism, which seeks to turn crimes into mistakes and culpable acts into carelessness, is the most malicious apologetics for the communist dictatorship and the most authentic evidence of your legacy.
Second, you yourselves—that is, Messrs. Alia, Nano, Ruci, Dokle and Islami, not E. Hoxha, M. Shehu or K. Hazbiu, your predecessors—are merciless killers of DP members, activists and founders, continuing the political crimes and deeds of your great teachers. In 1990–92, the years when you were in power, you unleashed a strategy of violence, terror and organized street crime in Albania. Through your state terrorism, you killed and massacred hundreds and hundreds of Albanians, young men and women, at the borders of Albania, which you had opened; your opening was a bloody opening, a trap to kill Albanian youth. You organized the mass massacres in July and December 1990 in Kavaje, Elbasan, Shkoder and other cities. The February massacre weighs on you: in Tirana alone there were 8 dead and 22 injured, and in Fier 9 injured, etc. You, red hoodlums, spent four years… The system of party rule, free speech, freedom of thought, freedom of belief, private property and free enterprise was established.
To form a coalition with you would mean assuming your legacy, the heinous crimes of your predecessors and your own crimes; it would mean criminalizing and besmirching, with this legacy, the values of democracy that the DP has proclaimed, defended and developed in Albania. This would be the certain death of Albanian democracy. History would never forgive it. hoodlums, for four years ... You massacred Shkoder, killed A. Broci and the other martyrs of this city, and wounded 90 innocent citizens. To form a coalition with you would mean clothing Albanian democracy in the garb of crime; it would mean trampling on the blood of the martyrs of democracy and betraying their ideals and your own as a democrat, taking upon yourself the curse of history. This would be the very apocalyptic end of democracy in Albania.
Third, forming a coalition with you would mean replacing the governance of the country, the institutions of the rule of law, market reform and economic growth with organized crime, corruption, theft, looting, mass arson and mafia figures such as Peronja, Sejdia and Arsidi. It would mean replacing law and order with chaos and anarchy and turning Albania once again into Europe’s Somalia. This would be the harshest punishment for Albania, the Albanian nation and its future.
Fourth, forming a coalition with you would mean replacing Albanian and European democratic thought, which is developing and consolidating every day in Albania, with the totalitarian ideology of Marxism, the red poison you have made the foundation of your infamous program. It would mean replacing the ideas of Sami, Naim, Noli, Fishta and Çabej with the inhuman principles of Marx, Enver and their offspring; invoking socialist patriotism would mean replacing democracy and the future with the past, openness and integration with isolation, and killing the hope of this country. The crime would be of Macbethian proportions; the clock of history cannot be turned back.
Fifth, a coalition with you would be a true catastrophe for Albania because it would distance Albania from Europe and its Euro-Atlantic orientation. This is not only because nobody in Europe trusts you, but also because you have openly and with the cold-bloodedness of your criminal legacy declared yourselves against Albania’s membership in the Council of Europe and NATO (the shameful and anti-Albanian statements by Nano, Dokle, Hajdaraga, etc.), demonstrating that you are anti-democratic and anti-European, just like your predecessors Hoxha, Shehu, Alia, etc. At the same time, you have held and continue to hold secret meetings with the Serbs in Albania and in Belgrade, Sofia and Corfu. In your view, the country should be oriented toward Serbia. A coalition with you is an evil omen for the national cause and a true betrayal of the nation’s interests.
For these and many, many other reasons, your invitation to form a coalition has met, and continues to meet, only contempt among the DP and true democrats. It may tempt some sick careerist within its ranks, but this does not ... constitute a loss; it is a victory, and only a victory, for Albanian democracy.
Vj is the one who has the authority to make changes to the Statute. The second proposal, to reopen discussion of how the Constitution should be approved, suggesting that it could be discussed in Parliament and then put to a referendum, had to be a necessary political move. Since no political force, either on the left or on our right, supported the idea of a referendum on the Constitution without first going through Parliament, we had two other possibilities: 1. Hold a new referendum without going through Parliament and without consensus. I disagree, and consider it a mistaken political step, after the defeat we suffered the first time, to hold another referendum without discussing it in Parliament and without the consensus of the other political forces. 2. Remain without a constitution until the next term, which is contrary to the DP’s program and to the National Council’s decision that Albania should have a constitution as soon as possible. Therefore, under these circumstances, I asked the DP National Council to reconsider the question of the Constitution in order to maintain its earlier decision.
QUESTION: Don’t you think that making your idea public at a local meeting without first discussing it with the National Council violated procedures within the DP?
ANSWER: I think not, because I did not act contrary to the National Council’s decision; I asked for the matter to be reconsidered by that Council. I raised the issue in the DP leadership and then at the Shkoder local meeting, so it was within the DP’s structures. At the leadership meeting, after I raised the issue, it was left for discussion at a future meeting, and none of the 17 DP leadership members present objected to my idea (President Berisha was not present when this point was discussed). Nor was my proposal opposed by any speaker at the Shkoder local meeting.
QUESTION: The left-wing opposition has shown on other occasions that it is not interested in adopting the Constitution but uses it for political purposes. Don’t you think that sending the Constitution to Parliament will serve as a tool for the opposition to achieve its goal of early elections?
ANSWER: Yes, I agree with your question that the opposition is not very concerned about adopting the Constitution but uses it for its political purposes. Since November 6, something has changed: it is easier for the opposition to conceal its aims. So submitting it to Parliament would deprive the opposition of its main argument, and if consensus were to break down in Parliament, the people would clearly see who was against the Constitution. Some think this is obvious, but the cost of such a political action is high because it is tantamount to early elections. I do not believe this is true, and it is not based on a factual analysis. Under the current laws, the only political force that can call for and bring about new elections is the DP, which has the President, who has the authority to call new elections, and more than 50% of Parliament. Since the DP is against new elections, that argument does not hold.
QUESTION: How do you explain the support the opposition press has given on this issue?
ANSWER: First, I want to clarify that for me the concept of the opposition press is broader than that of an opposition party, and in a democratic society the press is almost entirely oppositional. As for those who believe in my opinion, there are two groups. First are those who genuinely believe in my opinion and sincerely support me, and I would like to thank them for this; second are people who write in the press in my favor in order to fan division within the DP, and in these cases I regret that ...
QUESTION: At the National Council, you were also criticized for taking a harsh stance toward the government. What is your view?
ANSWER: I am not a nihilist, and I do not dismiss the work done by the government; it is understood that this cannot be separated from the work of the DP itself. But I oppose euphoric accounts of great successes that fail to address the shortcomings and weaknesses that need to be corrected. While recognizing the government’s work, I have asked, and will continue to ask, that it be closer to the hardships and concerns people face today, without claiming the luxury of ... providing housing, water and electricity, law and order, building and cleaning roads, fighting corruption, etc. As the DP, we presented a platform to the people and promised them many things; precisely in the name of these promises, and on behalf of those who supported and voted for us, I raised my voice to criticize the government.
QUESTION: The Extraordinary Conference of the PDSH will meet on March 5. If the Conference calls for your dismissal, what position will you take?
ANSWER: To be more direct, I want to say that the Extraordinary Conference is being convened precisely to dismiss me. My position will be perfectly clear. I will once again set out my arguments, in order for the DP to emerge from the crisis and win in ’96. As for my dismissal, if it happens—which is being worked on intensively—it will be a great surprise to me, because it is the very same people who made every effort to change my mind about resigning and applauded my return. In any case, I have not agreed and will not agree to abandon my views, and I will defend them until they are discussed through all democratic procedures, regardless of the pressure or how they dismiss me as chairman. Without claiming a monopoly on the truth, I am ready to pay any price for my ideas and opinions until I am convinced otherwise by arguments.