MUSTAFA BERATI Page 5

The disinformation “industry” of the PS’s black press misinterprets the results of Eurobarometer DUKAJIN HATA The disinformation “industry” of the left-wing press astonishes us every morning with a “show” according to the tabloid called “ZP,” which apparently draws its information from some extraterrestrial radar. It claims that if 66 percent of Albanians are dissatisfied with democratic development, this is connected, according to them, with November 6. Such a conclusion, beyond every limit of political analysis, is as unacceptable and illogical as it is a badly misused propaganda trick. In this way, the ZP people and their ambitious bosses are trying to politicize, through a disinformation technique, the results of EUROBAROMETER ’94, which were presented at his press conference by the EC representative in Tirana, Mr. Elio Germano. As “RD” rightly stated in yesterday’s issue, while almost all the countries of the East are more limited in their degree of rapprochement with the political systems of their states compared with last year’s survey, they nevertheless confirm that they feel better financially, and feel respected and secure in their freedom. And at the head of the list, top of the class—what German would say—not only in political aspects, but also in religious matters, in the matter of property, cursed and prohibited by communist laws, in a country where private property and the initiative of the free individual prevail. The Albanian bunkerized economy, which the adventurers of “victorious” socialism and their impotent successors of the Nano, Bufi, Pashko & Co. kind had sometimes plunged into a swamp, has turned into a free-market economy that achieved the highest rate of economic growth in Europe, liberalized prices, controlled inflation, cut budget expenditure, while having a government... [text continues beyond the edge of the image] with one of the least bloated administrations on our continent and even further afield; subsidies were removed and taxes introduced, and measures were established to favor exports. In three years, the currency has been liberalized, credit interest rates and the exchange rate have been liberalized, practical convertibility of the currency has been achieved, etc., etc. We must congratulate these and other facts, not for propaganda, but in the interests of truth—something “ZP” and the left-wing press have never liked. It is therefore no coincidence, gentlemen of the “attack in order to defend” contingent, neo-communists and crypto-communists of the black press, that EUROBAROMETER ’94, despite the fluctuations from the previous survey which Mr. Germano explained as random phenomena in the lives of the individuals surveyed, once again places Albania at the top of the list for many aspects related to the direction of the country, household finances, the market economy, integration into Europe, etc., on which Albanians express their confidence in the gains achieved. The fact that 59% of Albanians believe the country is being directed in the right way, … [continues outside the frame]. …of democratic development is connected with the technical aspects of democratic developments. Third, to connect this indicator with the results of November 6, as the ZP article writer does, means doing a disservice to the post-referendum political card, shamefully worn out from being held in one’s hands for so long. For anyone presenting such a grotesque argument would invite the question: Could it be that Italians or English people, who are also dissatisfied with developments in their countries, have also experienced a November 6? This is the first question the author of the “ZP” article in this leaflet, exhausted by its disinforming uniformity, should have asked himself. But he is not to blame, since the arguments in his article were commissioned in the offices of the socialist politburo; they are in exactly the same style and method as the lies with which all the activity of the three years of blackening, denigration and unprecedented falsification has been filled. These arguments, even if formulated with somewhat more moderate calculations, cannot obscure the truth of these years of democratic government; they cannot obscure the great political, economic and social achievements, the freedoms and human rights established on the foundations of respect for human beings; they cannot obscure Albanians’ hope and confidence in democracy, which the EUROBAROMETER ’94 polls once again expressed for Albania.

The Austrian Press Agency APA writes under the headline below in its news bulletin dated 08.03.1994: Albanians the most optimistic, Bulgarians skeptical, Hungarians disappointed with the market economy Albanians are the most optimistic, while inhabitants of the former Soviet Union are the most pessimistic. These figures emerged from a survey organized by the Council of Europe, in which more than 17,000 citizens from Eastern and Central Europe were asked about their hopes for the future. In the Eurobarometer ranking, Hungary is in eighth place, after Albania, Czechia, Estonia, Slovenia, Romania and Slovakia. Only 24 percent of the Hungarians surveyed think their country is developing in a positive direction. In Albania, more than 59 percent express a positive view. At the bottom are the Russians, with 16 percent, and the Ukrainians, with 13 percent. It is further noted that only eight percent of Hungarians have experienced an improvement in their financial situation. In Albania the figure is 50 percent, in Estonia 28 percent, and in Romania and Czechia around 22 percent. The Austrian Press Agency APA’s news bulletin also reports, under the Economy heading: Tirana expects growth for 1995

Reply to ZP-ist Jupe . Indoctrinated to the core in the vice of deception, slander and disinformation, the ZP-ist Jupe cannot under any circumstances stray from the lines and orders of his party’s leadership in carrying out his mission. Indeed, not even his presence at the press conference given by President Berisha was enough to free this communist scribbler from deception. Jupe, through an article published yesterday in “ZP” about President Berisha’s press conference, slandering and disinforming in the most unscrupulous manner, and in an evidently obsessive way, tries to call this press conference a lesson in Marxism, etc., also making allusions to the supposed reform of the SP. Rather than addressing the substance of the matters discussed, he tries, by stitching together words and sentences, to present everything in a distorted way, using typically communist deception. It is easy to understand that, in the eyes of the ZP-ist Jupe, the PD’s openness and transparency, reflected most recently in its Extraordinary Conference, amount to a crisis of the PD, because, according to him (and his spiritual leaders), the party must close ranks and be a “united steel fist.” Poor Jupe is not to blame: his universe of Marxist thought simply cannot conceive of free and alternative thought. He cannot tolerate the mechanism of free voting and majority rule. Jupe, by misrepresenting Berisha’s statement that “communism in the form it had will not return,” taking this phrase ... [text continues beyond the edge of the image] and, with the phrase torn out of context, maliciously seeks to divert attention from the imminent danger of neo-communism’s return, whose clearest expression of its criminal face was the killings, burnings, hunger and physical and psychological terror inflicted by the darkest mechanisms of their state during 1991. This fact alone is enough to show how cunningly this scribbler operates, deliberately sidestepping this answer from President Berisha, which was in itself an appeal… [text cut off]. …this year… [text cut off]… President Berisha for respect for the people’s verdict and for free will. (Which expresses the essence of his consistency in the development of democracy.) Through entirely illogical connections, he tries to present them as evidence of the SP’s growing reputation. Indeed, feeling not a shred of remorse for the burden of monstrous crimes planned and committed by the leading and zealous figures of this party, which changed only its name from PP to PS, he tries to present the return of the neo-communists to power as entirely natural, although it has no real basis. This is because people do not easily forget the criminal face of these dangerous figures who killed and massacred them, and who burned and robbed with unmatched brutality for more than four decades in Albania.

. Yesterday, a bilateral agreement was signed between the USA and Albania. This document was signed after two years of intensive talks between Albania, Germany, America and France concerning the quantity of gold looted from and held back from Albania and Germany during the Second World War. Following this document, signed on 10 March 1995 by US Ambassador Joseph Lake and Albanian Deputy Prime Minister Dylber Vrioni, another document is expected to be signed soon between France and Albania, thus providing a complete resolution to the 50-year-old gold issue, involving a value of more than 13 million US dollars. On the eve of Papulias’s visit to Tirana: Statement by the Greek Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Bikas. The spokesperson of Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kostandinos Bikas, made the following statement yesterday: “As you know, Greek-Albanian relations went through a period of crisis during which there was no dialogue between the two sides. The forthcoming visit to Tirana by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Karolos Papulias, marks the resumption of dialogue between the two countries at a high level. I would like to reiterate that our aim is friendly relations ... [text continues beyond the edge of the image] with neighboring Albania, within a framework of respect for the national independence and sovereignty of our countries. For us, respect for the rights of the Greek Minority there, as well as the advancement of bilateral relations in all areas in the interests of both peoples, are the fundamental pillars of our policy toward Albania. Finally, we believe that Greek-Albanian relations should and can contribute to the stability, security and development of the Balkans.”

Albania expects economic growth of five percent in the coming year. Inflation will fall by 13 percent. The budget deficit should reach seven percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The activity of experts has also been exceptionally successful; imports have increased, with their growth occurring within a year. More than 10 percent of the volume of goods has been handled by private firms. The interest of foreign investors has clearly increased, and the volume of investment for the past year has thus tripled. It exceeded 100 million [unclear] in 1991. A large part of it was allocated to oil extraction. [Text above the headline:] The Austrian News Agency’s APA news bulletin also reports, under the Economy section:

The PD, promoter of the democratic movement, The PD, promoter of the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law; the PD, a political force with a clear democratic vision for the future of Albania and the nation. The PD, determined to carry out political, economic, constitutional and legislative reforms, a promoter of the construction of capitalism, with the market economy as its sole alternative, without forgetting the social problems brought by the transition—all this and more that the PD has achieved and is achieving cannot possibly be readily accepted by a newspaper such as “Alternativa,” an observer of a party steeped in fanaticism like the PSD, which has sold its soul to the devil of social communism. The leaders of the PSD differ very little in substance and in the mission they have set themselves from the leadership of the PS. You are like Siamese twins, distinguishable from one another only by your suits. Otherwise, you would not write against the PD’s achievements, as was done in your newspaper on 10 March 1995, on the second page, in black letters, where the undeniable achievements of the PD and the democratic government are called “television spectacles.” The communist Nik Thika, of course, knows nothing other than that for 47 years ZP served the dictatorship and proclaimed its glorious successes and the happy life under Enverian “socialism.” Mr. Thika, you put on a television spectacle in your own esteemed newspaper. The PD today speaks the truth. The truth that blinds you and that you do not want to accept. You call the truth a television spectacle, even though it blinds you and you do not want to accept it. You call Albania’s opening to the civilized world a television spectacle. You call the arrival in Albania of German President Herzog and of so many other distinguished leaders a television spectacle. This irritates and enrages you, because you were accustomed to that isolated Albania where, once every 10 years, some Chuen Lai or Sihanouk would come, or to visits by Marxist-Leninists, Amazones, Fosko Di Nuçet. You call the movement… [illegible section]… the PD’s declarations and insistence that a memorial be erected for the victims of the communist terror of 20 February a television spectacle. You denounce them and catch the criminals. (Continued on page 2)

—Nano wants to pay off his debts with the money of PS members— 50 lek for Nano. That is what the night-time messengers are asking for as they go from house to house among the “faithful.” It is not known what the PS is asking for or whether it has made some decision, but in several districts of the country the “caps of the former secret police” have appeared again and are asking for 50 lek (new) for Nano. According to them, the reason is to provide financial help to Nano in prison, but this reason is very strange. If the claims of socialist leaders that the PS has 100,000 members were true, then 50 million old lek would be collected—a rather large sum to be considered alms. Thus Nano, after taking several million dollars from all Albanians, now intends to take money from PS members as well. It seems Nano plans to pay off the debts he owes the state by using the money of the underprivileged, without touching his own money. In any case, the “caps” continue knocking on the doors of PS members, asking for just 50 lek for Nano.

REPLY TO BAKALLI’S “ACCOUNTS” IN ZP After the victory of 22 March ’92, the PD worked at every moment to carry out its program, and today, three years later, we see that it has shaped an open Albanian society built on initiative and freedom of speech. The creation of such a society cannot be completed in such a short time, but what matters is Albania’s democratic character, both for us Albanians and for the developed world. The PD’s policy—an alternative for resolving the national question What has gained the most over these past three years is society and the pan-national cause. The policy of today’s Albanian state is one of protecting and supporting Albanians wherever they are. This achievement is not of the kind represented by five-year plans, but a cornerstone for the pan-Albanian spirit. “Rilindja,” which has been published in Albania for several years, has opened up space to fight the informational darkness prevailing in Kosovo. The influence on generations of Albanian students from the former Yugoslavia who are studying and graduating at our universities is another direction of Albanian policy in defense of the national cause. The problem, long buried and filed away so that it might never be reopened, is now present in all bilateral Albania-Greece meetings and has become known in the relevant international forums… [continues in the next column]… Recognition of and raising Europe’s awareness, and that of the wider world, of our national cause is the fruit of the policy pursued by the Democratic Government. The position of the USA and of various international forums on Kosovo and the Albanian regions in the former Yugoslavia is not simply goodwill, but a direct consequence of the prospects for the policy of the Albanian state. The resolution on Kosovo, the first of its kind, adopted by the United Nations, is a crowning achievement of the policy pursued so far by the PD and the Government it elected. Today’s policy has a pan-national character. Only ill-wishers would be capable of denying this. To attack the national pillar of our foreign policy does nothing but call into question your national values. If you do not want to contribute, at least do not obstruct, as you have done for 50 years in a row. “Heroes” of the Hoxha, Kapo, Peçi kind, etc. Are not the Anti-Fascist War After the national question, the ZP writer is concerned about the Anti-Fascist War. In truth, he is not concerned about those who fell in that war, but about removing Hoxha and his comrades from the Cemetery of the Nation’s Martyrs, as well as liberating and restoring to their rightful place the enlightened figures of Albanian nationalism, whose names were once anathematized but who strove so hard for Albania, whether by signing the Mukje agreement or by fighting fascists and their collaborators. Albanian historiography is working as never before, relying only on historical truth in order to give Albania a complete and truthful perspective, far from all the ideological distortions of that important period in our history. From the harshest dictatorship to the free-market economy Four years ago, Albania was the poorest country in Europe and had also experienced the harshest dictatorship of all the former communist countries. Today Albania remains the poorest country in Europe, but it is at the forefront of Eastern and Central European countries in terms of its real growth. It is now building a free-market economy (Albania—the surprise of Eastern Europe in economic reform), whose creation also carries with it the difficulties that accompany it until its full completion. The PD did not bring about these phenomena; they have been experienced everywhere, even in the most developed countries. The paradox is that the leaps from archaic, backward conditions have not been made even by the most developed countries, yet Albania of 1990–91 sees the Albania of 1995 as a true paradise. [Below the signature:] ILIRJANA A. AHAJO [The text begins cut off at the upper edge of the image.] The ‘ahe’ connection of the… [partly illegible]… limited… This, for… [partly illegible]… reports that in last year’s survey, they, for their part, confirm that they feel financially grateful, and that they feel respected and secure in their freedoms. And at the top of the list, top of the class, as German would say—not only in the aspects mentioned, but also in support for the market economy as the alpha of the reform of post-communist Albanian society, in support for the country’s leadership, and in willingness to participate in the mechanisms and structures of Western democracy, etc.—is Albania. What has happened in Albania over these three years of PD governance in the political, economic and social spheres, in people’s attitudes and in everyday practice, is an expression of the release of the energies suppressed within the individual and society; it is the realization of the opportunities of freedom. Albania has turned from a country of bunkers and institutional crime, from a country of extreme poverty and collectivist sheep, into a country of hope and free initiative; from a frozen outpost of the Cold War into the most open gateway to Europe and the civilized world. Albania, the country of cursed freedoms and rights, was transformed into the country with the highest number of private newspapers in Europe, the country where forbidden faith gave way to mutual understanding and tolerance of differences, respectively… [part cut off/unclear].

Defense Minister Safet Zhulali clears the way for justice to rule on the accusations directed at him and the department he heads. Page 2

The Constitution in Parliament: the PS’s only chance for a parliamentary crisis and early elections, says Pandeli Majko, PS deputy. Page 2

Discussions at the Extraordinary Conference by Ms. Qirko and Messrs. Kopliku and Zhulali. Pages 2 & 3

RIGHT WRONG ALBANIA 59 30 CZECHIA 57 32 ESTONIA 50 33 SLOVENIA 45 37 ROMANIA 42 48 LATVIA 37 46 PHARE 33 50 SLOVAKIA 25 64 HUNGARY 24 58 BULGARIA 24 63 POLAND 22 52 LITHUANIA 22 71