NEW VISION “We were overwhelmingly voted for a change that can only be compared with 1992” 2013 EDI RAMA STARTS HIS 1992 The new prime minister begins the project of transforming Albania. Architects and urban planners from several countries around the world to help the goals of the new government. What ideas there are for the urgent changes that must be undertaken in the country. Rama: We will treat the country’s situation as an emergency ▶ PAGES 2-3

Comment BY FLUTURA AÇKA The (lost) honor of the Church... Once, in early August, while accompanying a group of foreigners on a trip through Albania, I insisted that we also stop on the island of Zvërnec, and as a result also at the monastery “Dormition of the Theotokos”. Because of the brilliance and the heat at its peak, I had not noticed the sign with the rules at the bridge entrance, where among other things visitors were kindly asked to have “proper clothing”, something that was brought back to my mind as soon as I stepped onto the meadow in front of the church, when one of the supervisors there asked me to cover my bare shoulders, since my clothing did not “match the honor of the church”. I promised him that I would not go in and that I would preserve the church’s honor, and because I had also been there before, sometimes feeling hurt by their refusal to be welcoming in that place so beautifully blessed by God. But as for the Zvërnec matter, I want to return to it at greater length another time. This event came back to mind these days when the issue of the “church of Përmet” suddenly surfaced. And even more so after the liturgy of some improvised one on the main road... ▶ continues on page 5

The letter from the “Vatra” society addressed to the former communist prime minister is uncovered DOSSIER “Mehmet Shehu’s father, a fanatical Muslim, in 1914 against Albania” The letter from the “Vatra” society addressed to former communist prime minister Mehmet Shehu is uncovered TIRANA DALIP GRECA As September approaches, when the heads of state gather in the glass palace of the UN in New York, the Albanian diaspora in America also recalls the clash between Albanians and Greeks. Books have been written and articles published in newspapers about the history of the visit of former communist prime minister Mehmet Shehu to New York, translations from American newspapers have been brought, but... ▶ Pages 12-13 Mehmet Shehu

Comment BY ERION KRISTO Barbaric customs In our country we have many scholars and people who are paid as such, but we have very few people who observe the environment in which they live and grasp the parameters of the life we have created together. A genuine concern is the fact that certain barbaric customs are being created, and they are formed at a fantastic speed based on the unshaken principle of imitation (so widespread among us). Most of these customs come from a simple fact: the lack of seriousness of the relevant institutions or rather the lack... ▶ continues on page 11

▶ Page 4 “Edi Rama will not punish us, he will support us”

▶ Page 7 Ministers, auctions and tenders in the final days

▶ Page 10 Arvizu: We are concerned about the American owners

▶ Pages 8-9 Albania enters the Syrian “field,” calls for action

INTERVIEW ▶ Pages 16-17 Sherif Merdani: How I got revenge on the one who imprisoned me

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