Yesterday, the President of the Republic of Turkey, Turgut Ozal, received Fatos Nano, chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania, in a special meeting. At the meeting, which took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere, Fatos Nano expressed his thanks to President Ozal for the comprehensive and sincere assistance that the friendly Turkish government and people have given Albania during this period of transition. Friendship and solidarity with the Turkish people have been laid on fraternal foundations, Fatos Nano said, and they have also helped us greatly since the very beginning of the democratic processes in Albania. Turkey’s assistance and commitment to helping Albania were immediate and comprehensive in dealing with the difficult economic situation the country has experienced and continues to experience. We are therefore grateful and value this as a foundation of traditional friendship that will surely contribute to further strengthening friendship and cooperation between our two countries and peoples in the future. Fatos Nano then spoke to President Ozal about the political and economic situation in Albania. The Socialist Party, he said, supports economic reform and understands the difficulties of the transition, but it has asked and continues to ask the government to carry out this complex process of moving to a market economy with as little hardship as possible, providing social support for the masses while also respecting the alternatives proposed by other political forces. In this regard, we have criticized the government’s mistaken demands and actions, and we are satisfied and will continue to help the government govern better. We will fully justify, by democratic and legal means, the trust the people placed in us in the local elections. In this respect, Albania needs a clearer and more comprehensive framework and vision for democratization and for the role of a constructive opposition, such as the SPA. Turkish President Turgut Ozal, after thanking Fatos Nano for the clear and competent explanations he had presented, reaffirmed the support Turkey would give Albania in the future as a friendly country bound to it by traditional friendship. Turkey, Ozal said, has numerous economic and social cooperation projects with Albania, including projects with a 10–15-year horizon. They will surely help overcome the present crisis and put the country on the path to stability. But first and foremost, the Albanian people themselves must do a great deal of work: comprehensive privatization, the development of free enterprise, and the introduction of foreign investment are needed. I still have some objections about these, which I will raise later with the parliamentarians. Fatos Nano and Turgut Ozal also discussed the situation in the Balkans. Turkish parliamentarians accompanying President Turgut Ozal and Namik Dokle, chairman of the PS parliamentary group, took part in the meeting. SPA Spokesperson

— Where are those who declared: “If we govern, the world will help us...?” — Where are those who swore by the Beauty of the Earth?... Ten months have passed since the new leaders took their places at the head of the Albanian state, those who emerged from the flames of the democratic revolution. Ten months have passed with this country governed by the most unfortunate government team anyone can remember since the creation of the first Albanian state. Ten months have passed, and instead of moving forward in realizing their dream of true democracy, progress and development, Albanians can see that today they have been left far behind. Today’s government officials all know that everything I have expressed in the lines above is true, but they lack the conscience to accept the truth; they lack the desire to look the truth in the eye; they lack a sense of realism. Let us go back a little in time and recall the election campaign for the March 22 elections. Promises, promises, and nothing but promises. It was promised that America would come to Albania and that on the morning of March 23 the country would find itself in paradise. It was promised that the criminals would be stopped, that order and social peace would be restored, so that people could go out peacefully and our wives and sisters would not be afraid to walk in the streets at night. But nobody says how many people have been killed between March 22 and today, or how that number compares with the past. Banks and municipal offices are robbed; foreign investors and Albanian citizens are robbed; yet official reports speak of stabilized public order. It was promised that farmers would work the land for free, that they would be provided with tractors and other equipment, but in fact they were even charged more for fertilizer. Telephones were promised in every household, but even the lines connecting Albania’s villages and towns were put out of order, leaving the telephone network in a worse state than in ’45, so much so that people are now unable to get through and seek medical help. Motorways and other investments were promised, jobs were promised, organized emigration was promised, but reality says otherwise. There is no question of investment, while emigration exists only on paper and in the name of a ministry. Not only has the number of unemployed increased significantly, but the number of people admitted to hospitals has fallen too, supposedly because the food situation has improved, etc. But does anyone believe this? Don’t they know that the number of patients in hospitals has not fallen thanks to the paternal care of the party and doctors, but because there is nowhere to admit them, there are no bathrooms, no heating, no money, no rooms or beds for the sick?!... Mass education for everyone was promised, but in fact, with the policy of [text repeats the preceding passage about hospital admissions: the number has not fallen thanks to the party’s and doctors’ paternal care, but because there is nowhere to admit patients, no bathrooms, heating, money, rooms or beds for the sick?!...] Freedom, equality and justice for all citizens of the democratic state were promised, but they were only promised. Because people’s freedom is violated without compunction; homes are searched at night as on February 4; innocent people are arrested while criminals roam freely as they please. Because equality has been understood as equality for government officials alone; because justice has been turned into a bogeyman to frighten people; because justice has become a deception that will henceforth be in the hands of quarterly [unclear: “kursanat”], among whom, unsurprisingly, there may be some who feel like thieves, rapists and criminals. It was promised that we would make Albania like Europe, and when suddenly the beautiful light appeared, it became a connecting bridge between Islamic and European civilization?!... Above all, true democracy was promised, but some people in power stole it, turning all those promises into electoral deceptions—deceptions that resulted in mass disappointment and a lack of hope and faith in the future. Because people no longer trust the first government team. Because people no longer trust the people who claim to believe in democracy; because people no longer trust those who go around asking for votes, “...who, in 10 months, have forgotten what Albania is like.” And the crisis of trust, a crisis that is growing ever deeper, is far more serious and consequential than the economic and political crisis. They fought and won the election with the slogan “We govern—the world helps us.” And the people believed them. Where are those who govern with the world’s help, and where is the world’s help that allows them to govern?... Where are those who swore by the Beauty of the Earth? Where are those who promised the heavens of happiness? People want to meet them. Albania is not just at Rinas airport. It is in Tropojë and Sarandë, in Bulqizë, Ballsh and Poliçan. Have the courage, gentlemen in power, to look at the reality of the promises you made; look at the misery created as a result of your rule. LUAN M. RAMA

People, be vigilant! — Xhevahir Afia, head of the Kutalli commune in Berat, is stopped and taken away in a police car because he held a meeting with the commune’s councillors and village elders at a school — Yesterday, at around 14:00, in the presence of district council chairman Novruz Nafazi and many other people, while ordering a coffee at the Kutalli club, Xhevahir Afia, the commune chairman, was stopped and taken away in a police car. The reason: he had held a meeting in his commune with the village elders and councillors about issuing and distributing the Zomura, in a classroom at the school. At first, people were summoned at …; at 7 in the morning, together with the school director and guard, they appeared at the department before chairman Ali Shënepremë. But several hours later, while he was having coffee at the Kutalli club, in the presence of district council chairman Novruz Nafazi and many people, two police cars arrived and, insisting, saying, “That’s the order we have, an explicit one,” [they detained him] in an utterly illegal, extremely provocative and unconstitutional manner. We ourselves were eyewitnesses to this monstrous, anti-democratic act. What kind of actions are these? Whom do they serve? LUAN SHIMILI

In the labyrinths of the banking scandal The arrest of former Prime Minister Vilson Ahmeti casts new light on the banking scandal. The official news media made no comment, while the Democratic Party newspaper has written nothing about this case. WHY? READ ON PAGE 2

— Yesterday afternoon, Bardhyl Fasko, who had heard the French radio news saying that he had been caught stealing in Italy, called and said: — I’m alive and well, like ... […] — And tell those people on the radio: don’t lie so much, you idiots. [Unclear in the original: “E ngrënë në njerëz me Mes-kish.”] Bardhyl Fasko sends you his greetings.

Is the Socialist Party in favor of early elections? — Interview with Dr. Servet Pëllumbi, deputy chairman of the Socialist Party —

... The cooperative system turned the peasant into a hired laborer. But this is the last year of your suffering. The Ministry of Agriculture planned every misfortune for the village. But this is the end of your suffering. No infrastructure, no roads, no transport, no communications, no telephone... Telephones! I want to tell you that communism! Do you read the newspapers?! In your homes, in your villages, you will have telephones. We promise you this, and I will keep my word... Excerpt from Mr. Sali Berisha’s speech at the rally in the village of Synej (Kavajë), organized on the occasion of the second anniversary of the dropping of the first anti-communist leaflet, February 21, 1992. Published for the first time on the first anniversary of this speech.

Since recently your spokesperson has done nothing but comment on “Zëri i Popullit,” we thank you for your advertisement: the newspaper will be available at the kiosk every day, so you can see for yourselves that it is like every other newspaper. But since we have entered the market economy, we know [text missing: […]]. The Editorial Office READ ON PAGE 2 What foreign dignitaries think about the issue of former properties

To all distribution agencies and people selling the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit.” — Starting on the date the newspaper price rises from 3 to 5 lekë, sellers will receive 0.5 lekë for each copy sold. — Also, starting on the date the newspaper price rises, individuals or private agencies may ask the editorial office for a certain number of the copies left unsold. The rule will be as follows: — Those who collect 50 to 200 copies, and up to 700 copies, may collect from the editorial office 5 percent of the print run [word unclear in the original]. — Those who collect from 700 to 1,000 copies are entitled to collect 7 percent of the print run [word unclear in the original]. — Those who collect more than 1,000 copies are entitled to collect 10 percent of the print run [word unclear in the original] from the editorial office. — This measure is being taken to encourage sellers to collect larger quantities of newspapers. THE EDITORIAL OFFICE

The Trade Union Council of the General Confederation is organizing a peaceful rally on Monday, 22.2.1993, at 16:30 in “Fitorja” Square, in front of the [unclear in the original: “tu-cizrit”]. Trade unionists, employees of workplaces and production centers, institutions, private-sector workers, intellectuals, unemployed people, people receiving assistance, pensioners, etc., are invited. Trade Union Council of the Confederation, Fieri.