DECLARATION of the General Governing Committee of the SP After a paradoxical and deliberate obstruction of economic reform, and especially of the privatization process, the DP Government issued a decision to accelerate this process for nearly 500 small and medium-sized enterprises and is trying to implement it quickly. The Socialist Party has stated more than once, not only through its program, that this obstructed process should be accelerated—obstructed «deliberately» by the DP Government. Through its parliamentary group, it has repeatedly called for the approval of a program for economic reform as a whole and, in particular, for a privatization strategy, detailed with concrete deadlines and aimed at bringing the economy out of crisis and giving all Albanian citizens ownership at the outset of the market economy. The DP and its government have responded to legitimate requests with silence and endless delays. Therefore, from the very beginning of this process, the General Governing Committee of the SP denounces this action by the DP and its government, which seeks to ensure that the privatization process, the most important link in economic reform, is carried out not legally and transparently, but secretly, according to the interests of arbitrarily selected leaders. It is clear that through this process the DP intends to have state property, built up over nearly 50 years by the entire people, plundered by those in power and their associates, believing that this will perpetuate its political power. The total paralysis of the economy, bringing it down to zero, and throwing thousands of people onto the streets are merely functions of this sinister, antidemocratic aim. Only in this way can the hasty steps and confusion in the privatization of the economy be explained, as well as, most recently, the announcement of the government decision to speed up privatizations, ... ... the socialist majority on the boards has been designed so that they are left in the minority when voting. This logic reaches absurdity when one learns that the board also includes the head of SHIK and the head of the Public Order Department! The primary responsibility of such a board is to select people—members or supporters of the DP—to take part in auctions and to receive loans for privatization, benefits and other favors, turning the auction into a merely formal procedure with a predetermined outcome. The General Governing Committee of the SP publicly denounces such illegal and antidemocratic actions, which run counter not only to its program of making all Albanians owners, but also to the program of the DP and its government. Meksi, approved in parliament, states: «One of the ways of privatization will be the free distribution to the adult population, on a large scale, of securities which they will be entitled to exchange freely and as they wish for shares in enterprises to be privatized». The departure from such a position speaks of the demagoguery and arbitrariness of a unserious party that does not even abide by its own program on such fundamental issues. The Socialist Party, through its representatives at the local level and by every other legal means, will closely monitor and document the privatization process, exposing every irregular act that paves the way for corruption and political maneuvering. While supporting privatization and the acceleration of market reforms, it cannot allow—and even less become a partner to—the schemes and shady dealings that are leading to the plunder of national wealth, which legally, in reality and morally belongs to all Albanians in proportion to their contribution. Therefore, the SP representatives in local government must not allow the implementation of decisions and orders unsupported by parliamentary laws, and must denounce them in all democratic and legal forums, at home and abroad. Through this declaration we demand: 1. Privatization must be carried out under legal acts approved by parliament, through democratic procedures and methods that embody the sovereignty of the people. 2. Everyone who contributed to the creation of state-public property must benefit from privatization. 3. The privatization process must be conducted with complete transparency and publicity, to prevent any abuse or corruption. 4. Normal privatization, free from politicization, must pave the way for a modern market economy and avert severe social confrontations. Any arbitrary action taken today that runs counter to this must be corrected tomorrow without hesitation. General Governing Committee of the Socialist Party of Albania Nearly 50 years from all the peoples of ... the state-holders and its people, thinking that this would perpetuate their political power. The total paralysis of the economy, reducing it to zero and casting thousands of people out onto the streets, have been put in the service of this pernicious, antidemocratic purpose. Only in this way can the hasty steps and stagnation in the privatization of the economy, and finally the government’s announcement of its decision to speed up the privatization of small and medium-sized enterprises, be explained. The General Steering Committee of the PS notes with concern that this unlawful and unconstitutional act, which runs counter to the human right to be equal before the law and in matters of property, is an open and flagrant expression of the political corruption being experienced by our country today. In essence, the content of this decision is the ratification of the PD’s antidemocratic directive that “not a single brick should be given during privatization to those who are not its sympathizers”; dressed up in demagoguery, this is a professional lie of unprecedented proportions. Through this practice, the party in power seems to have decided to declare that the elite will be the propertyless, the “eternal proletarians,” while the owners will be the capitalist proprietors of the market economy. The privatization decision not only does not receive parliament’s approval, but openly calls on the lawful organs of local government. The privatization boards, appointed from above and deciding everything, have been turned into a political nucleus that relays the directives of the party in power. Even where they have begun

ENOUGH WITH THE SELF-DISGRACING SPECTACLES, GENTLEMEN IN POWER! THE PEOPLE WANT PEACE, SECURITY, BREAD AND WORK - Blerim Cela is trying to convince the DP that he is innocent. Those who want to put Fatos in prison should deal with the investigation, not with him. - It seems Blerim wasn’t there when the envelopes were handed out, but he thinks the envelopes must have been handed out, no matter what. Don’t forget: when Blerim thinks, the party decides... - How does Blerim Cela know that the president is not implicated in the Arsid scandal? Then who is implicated, Mr. Cela? - Blerim threatens to drop the bombshell. What is the bombshell?!... In today’s world, certain castes and clans seeking to seize power or remain in it at any cost have discovered a very effective tool. What they once did through coups and putsches, today they do by accusing others of corruption. The caste that has usurped power in Albania today is following this path. The more it senses its end approaching, the more demagogic and cynical it becomes. It is well known how «successful» Berisha’s foreign policy is, and how «magnificent» the DP’s artists are in domestic affairs. Precisely

- Reported by telephone by our correspondent in Greece, Vasiliaq Duka. Several days have passed since the start of the operation launched by the Greek police to deport Albanian refugees. On the 27th and 28th of this month alone, 24 and 25 buses respectively set off in the direction of Kakavijë. The number of refugees sent to Kakavijë amounts to 12 thousand Albanians. These figures were cited by Greek radio and television. Before the buses departed, journalists interviewed several Albanians. In front of the camera, many of them said they had come to Greece to work, not to do anything else. «We will come back again. We are leaving by bus and we will come back again on foot.» The statements of the Albanians make it clear that most of them see no prospects in their own country and do not go there for even a day’s work. Greece remains the only neighboring country where they have the opportunity to work and to travel back and forth, even on foot. Will this be the end of it, or will things remain as they are? The situation that has arisen shows that employment in Albania is the only solution, for developing the economy and creating the conditions for organized emigration. The failure of the economy to function and the high unemployment in Albania are creating complicated economic and social problems. All these accumulated problems place responsibility on the government and the parties in power. The work of the democratic government in the service of Albania’s development is now coming to light, as it leads the country toward an undesirable conflict. The Albanian government faces alternatives: to create the conditions for rapid employment in Albania. But until it makes this happen, it must ensure the cancellation of the operation launched by the Greek government to deport Albanians.

- Letter from six Albanian newspapers addressed to Mr. Andonis Kurtis, chairman of the Balkan Press Center based in Thessaloniki and chairman of the Union of Greek Journalists for Greek Macedonia and Thrace - Dear Sir, Our particular respect for you as a courageous inspector of the Balkan Federation of Journalists, and our sense of responsibility for advancing this European-style project—as demonstrated at the meetings in Thessaloniki and Sofia—have prompted us to write this letter. We would like you to make it known to the journalists, agencies and television stations of the association you head, as well as to similar associations in Greece. In recent days, relations between Albania and Greece have once again become more strained than one could have imagined in the times we live in. The episode of the expulsion from Albanian territory by the Albanian authorities of the Greek priest Kristos Stamos, as an unwanted element, was followed in retaliation by the mass expulsion by the Greek authorities of hundreds of thousands of Albanian emigrants working in Greece, as well as the immediate suspension of official contacts. In our view, this was a week in which passions triumphed over reason, and pernicious interests over the will for friendship. These episodes appear to be amplified to such an extent that they seriously damage the entirety of relations between the two countries—something that is inconsistent both with the tradition of coexistence between two peoples of the same Balkan roots and with their mutual aspirations for a peaceful and cooperative Balkans. We do not want to believe, and will not accept, that Greece and Albania are two countries closed to one another. While expressing our belief that moderate forces in both countries will take the fate of friendship into their hands without delay, we wish to express our concern about the negative role being played in this situation by part of the Greek press and mass media. We refer to certain appeals that are as passionate as they are uncivilized, directed against the dignity of Albanian emigrants and against Albania. These appeals, as well as the harsh labels applied to Albanian political figures, fuel the climate of tension and are completely at odds with the spirit of the documents we adopted in Thessaloniki and Sofia. Primitive zeal to set bridges ablaze can also be seen in the rush to invent or exaggerate facts, replacing information with disinformation. Albanian television reported last night that one of the Greek television stations had broadcast a story claiming that, in the Gjirokastër district, police had killed 15 members of the Greek minority on June 30 while dispersing one of their demonstrations. This story is untrue. The police intervened to disperse the demonstrators; force was used, but nobody was killed— ... and the special sections of the association you chair, as well as of other and Greece have become strained because of the recurrence of [unclear: “for the time we live in”]. The episode involving the expulsion of the Greek priest Kristos Stamos from Albanian territory by the Albanian authorities was met with a retaliatory response: pernicious interests over the will for friendship. These episodes seem to be escalating to such an extent that they are seriously damaging with a Balkans of peace and cooperation. that Greece and Albania should be two countries closed to one another. In striving here to set an example of professionalism and the will to overcome the crisis, which we wish to make concrete through the modest initiative of sending this letter, we are fully convinced that you and your other Greek colleagues will not turn back, but will exert all your considerable influence to bring about a reduction in tensions and to foster understanding. With the highest consideration, PREÇ ZOGAJ, THOMA GELLÇI, FILIP ÇAKULLI, TIMO LUTO, ALEKSANDËR FRANGAJ, AR- MAND SHKULLAKU. Tirana, 30.6.1993

In «the dawn of the new century, we leave the old man in his lair and raise our fists to fight... » — Migjeni «In the dawn of the new century, we leave the old man in his lair and raise our fists to fight... » — Migjeni July 2, 1990. Hundreds of Albanians from Tirana, Durrës, Kavajë, Vlora and Shkodër fill the city and the unpopulated area of Tirana, the streets around the embassies. Hundreds of men, women and children walk anxiously through the streets of Tirana. They turn their heads ... [?] right and left, ... [?] behind ... [?] This is a ... [?] of prisons and ... [?] with ... [?] Hundreds more ... [?] ... [?] and the «Meadow of Tears» ... [?] located in Tirana. And hundreds of mothers’ hearts experience what they had never experienced before: they are losing their children. And finally dozens of buses leave Tirana for Durrës... Hundreds of hands waving, pressing against the windows of the buses, lifeless [?]. Hundreds of tearful eyes searching for their mothers’ eyes. And Durrës is far away. Hundreds of bodies bending down to the ground. Hundreds of lips kissing Albanian soil, awaiting its blessing. The ships set sail, and for hundreds of kilometers, for tens of hours, the sea lets them go, speaking Albanian. And they left; they were leaving Albania. They were leaving Albania because none of them believed in change. They were leaving Albania because none of them thought that it could become a reality. They were leaving Albania because they loved freedom and saw divorce from it as impossible. They left Albania ... [?] Oh God, so many Albanians ... [?] there must be ... [?] ... [?] Albanian. How near and how far from this reality ... [?] of the Albanians. The first day passes. All of them. Tears, cries, farewells ... [?] A decrepit and sclerotic regime, led by incompetence and kept standing by violence, which had occupied their country in the name of the people, was no longer worth living under. And on July 2 that regime suffered its first crisis, which paved the way for the dictator’s great crisis of ’90. July 2, 1993. Three years have passed. What has happened?! Before my eyes I have a group of tearful politicians sitting around a table, all of [?] Albania, perched on the backs of hundreds of thousands of suffering Albanians, playing the «poker» of Albanian politics. They play, laugh, drink, make themselves comfortable on their backs and wait for the card of fortune to take them to the USA, Germany, Austria, Belgium. And the players wait, and the backs bear the weight. Until when?? The Albanian state has been gnawed to the bone by party rule, hidden corruption, profiteering and betrayal. A state not governed by the government but by clans that share one leader. A state governed not by law but by customary code. And consequently a state that has said goodbye—and good riddance—to «Justice». A state that has said goodbye ... [?] (Continued on page 3)

The veterans of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War, like Albanian public opinion, have been informed about the sudden political crisis in relations between the Greek and Albanian governments. The pretext for this upheaval was Albania’s expulsion, as an undesirable person, of the Greek citizen and priest Kristos Stamos, who, under the guise of religion, was conducting anti-Albanian propaganda in support of Greek chauvinism. In retaliation for this lawful action, Greek chauvinist circles, also encouraged by various levels of government, unleashed unprecedented anti-Albanian hysteria with propaganda and arrogance, carrying out barbaric acts against Albanian refugees working in Greece. Their violent abuse by the police, as well as other politically charged insinuations, constitute a flagrant violation of human rights, enshrined in the Helsinki and Paris Charters and in the UN documents, all of which have also been signed by the Greek Government. This incomprehensible and degrading step by Greek chauvinist circles has caused tension in relations between our two countries and, at the same time, upset the entire political balance of the Balkans. The anti-Albanian policy of Hellenizing southern Albania and the Greek chauvinists’ covetousness for Northern Epirus are a spent, extinguished dream. We, the veterans of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War, as worthy heirs of the generation massacred by Greek chauvinists for the national cause, hold our national ideals sacred. The veterans of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War fought and heroically defended Albania’s territorial integrity not only during the Second World War but also afterward. All those who have dared to take aggressive steps to Albania’s detriment have failed disgracefully. We, the veterans of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War, who during the Second World War fought against the same enemy alongside the partisans of the Greek people’s resistance and were educated in a spirit of great mutual assistance, not only overcame the good and bad things that brought us together, but also know all ... [?] as a people and that ... [?] helped our people generously and humanely; nevertheless, we cannot help but be indignant at the repressive acts of recent days, which are being echoed by the propaganda of certain European countries. It is shameful and inhuman treachery to exploit our country’s temporary economic poverty, all the more so on the part of a democratic European country such as Greece. Once again expressing our indignation, we firmly demand that our Government and President, through negotiations, put an end to this tension, which is undesirable for both sides, and restore normal relations between our two countries. National Committee of the Veterans of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War of the Albanian People