BASHKIM ZENELI Secretary for Foreign Relations of the Socialist Party, Member of Parliament For weeks, public opinion in Albania and Greece, and beyond, has been experiencing the open outbreak of the crisis in Albanian-Greek relations. Its constant and unresolved factors had remained latent despite the propaganda and demagoguery surrounding official contacts, but the accumulated tensions «suddenly» erupted with the expulsion of a Greek priest from Albania and were intensified by the Greek government using the worn-out card of expelling Albanian refugees (this time, around 30,000 people). Many comments and official statements have been made, including the most absurd ones, which blame the main opposition parties in both countries. But there has been no serious official work or effort between the Albanian and Greek governments to sit down and discuss how the problems are to be resolved. On the contrary, matters have reached Mr. Micotaqis’s outright belligerent positions, expressed on 14 July. Regarding this aggravation of Albanian-Greek relations, the Socialist Party of Albania published a statement by its presidium on 1 July 1993, setting out clear and well-known principled positions, clear and reiterated. Later, based on the same principled and constructive demands, an article entitled «What is happening in relations with Greece» was published in «Zëri i Popullit». The Socialist Party was the first to speak out openly and without any equivocation, in a realistic spirit, without prejudice, making clear political demands of officials and those in power, and taking an equally clear national position. Various newspapers in Albania also published articles with by now stale accusations, but these only fan the flames and offer no alternative for easing the crisis, nor any interest; therefore we have not dealt with them, and will not do so. Our positions have openly expressed the need and demand for the governments of both countries to sit down and talk, in order to put an end to the crisis in relations between the two countries, for the sake of reducing tensions and stabilizing the situation in the Balkans. We have also stressed that we have many things to clarify definitively with Greece, and to denounce the adventurist policies of both governments in resolving neighborhood issues. The easing of the crisis and resolution of problems cannot be achieved from the trenches of chauvinism and nationalism, nor through the logic of the «Cold War» being fueled by official or other megaphones in both countries. Bunker­ing in towers when one should be sitting at dialogue tables escalates the dangers of war in the Balkans; it is no expression of wisdom or courage in normalizing relations between sovereign European neighbors. We stress from the outset that Mr. Micotaqis’s statement of 14 July 1993 is permeated with tones of megalomaniac panic and arrogance, with a now-official chauvinist spirit—not coming from a Sebastianos or the well-known circles of «megalideshos», but from the Greek prime minister himself. We have the right to ask, with national and European concern: is this the partner and ally who welcomed Mr. Meksi, who was received by Mr. Berisha over the telephone? Our President replied, but now the words of dialogue seem to have been cut off. These problems and «positions» that have been fortified have certainly been made known to each other by the parties in official talks, so why have they been concealed until now, allowing them to grow more entrenched? Mr. Micotaqis, wherever he is and whoever he is, addresses the Albanians as if from Mount Olympus. The Greek prime minister speaks as if it were the time of the state of war with Albania. We have wanted, and continue to want, good neighborly relations with the friendly Greek people, now and always, and this truly begins to be demonstrated in relations with the Greek minority in Albania. I ha- (Continued on page 4)

WHERE DOES THE STATE END AND THE MAFIA BEGIN? - It is nearly two years that the state has been opening and closing scandals for its own purposes. The list is already quite long, but we remind the public of only a few. - 1.6 million dollars disappear without a trace - The «Arsidi» affair is now old news. Two senior employees of the Commercial Bank were arrested in connection with this unprecedented scandal, in which even the President of the Republic was implicated by means of a decoration. It is said that the dollars were used in the election campaign. No official explanation is given, and meanwhile no information is provided about the investigation into the matter. Silence for reasons of state. - 10,000 dollars appear and disappear at the bank - Ten thousand dollars go missing, and later the same amount is handed over to the Bank, supposedly by mistake. There is talk of arms trading, while NATO’s fleet in the Adriatic intercepts ships carrying military materiel loaded in Durrës. A Deputy Minister of Defense reads out a prepared text without knowing what he is saying. Some time later, this deputy minister is dismissed. Why? Silence for reasons of state. - Diplomatic scandals - In America, Albanian diplomats become embroiled in a shameful prostitution scandal. Whether it is true or not matters little. Meanwhile, other matters from the field of diplomacy— - Archival documents stolen in broad daylight - Police operations are organized and secret documents are uncovered. Azem Hajdari, who holds a fairly senior position, speaks of links with foreign intelligence agencies, especially the UDB. The people implicated leave Albania because they had a seminar. This time the state does not remain silent, but responds to the news, for reasons of state. - Leaders of political parties are convicted - The Prosecutor’s Office takes steps to defend the slighted President of the Republic. The leader of a party is targeted on the grounds that he insulted the President in a newspaper article. The President has connections and power, and acts. But he remains silent and accepts someone’s conviction simply because that person disagrees with him. - Acts of terror are organized - Members of Parliament cannot hold regular meetings with the people because the state is protecting the organizers of the terrorist acts that took place in Shkodër. As soon as a Deputy Minister of Public Order admits that the Shkodër anti-terror operation was illegal and that those responsible will be punished, he is dismissed from his post. Why? Silence for reasons of state. - How many spies are there in parliament-

The statements of this now-official spokesman for Greek megalomaniac chauvinism feed the appetites of 1913 and of the period when Greece was in a state of war with Albania On 14 July 1993, the Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Micotaqis, held a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens. Below we publish a summary of it: Everyone knows that Greece was the first country in the region to help Albania when the communist dictatorship fell in that country, bringing to light the great poverty of

On 14 July 1993, the Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Mitsotakis, held a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens. Mitsotakis, in Athens. Below we publish a summary of it: I invited you here today to present our Government’s policy regarding our northern neighbor, Albania. More specifically, I will explain why the treatment of the Greek Minority of Vorio-Epir caused the recent tension between our two countries, and clarify precisely what must be done to put an end to this tension and set Greece’s relations with Albania on the path of positive development. that country, bringing to light the great poverty to which the Albanian people had been subjected for almost 50 years. We did what we could, out of friendly goodwill, for the Albanian people… Albania was welcomed in the spring of 1992, when Albania completely broke with its communist past and elected a Democratic Government. But the optimism given by Greece’s … relations with Albania to set them on the path of positive development. … were extinguished. The new Government, following the old practice, continued to treat the Greek Minority living in Albania in a suspicious manner and, in most cases, with open hostility. It refused to recognize the rights due to them not only under Albania’s own commitments, dating from 1913, the period when the state was created and Northern Epirus was annexed to it, but also under the obligations arising from Albania’s membership in international organizations, such as

Reasoning about the figure As reported in a previous article, the brick factory in Kuçovë was bought by a person using a loan obtained from the Savings Bank. The loan received amounts to about 11.4 million new lek. According to the Bank, the loan was granted on the basis of its assessments, drawn up by the Bank’s Board of Directors in accordance with the laws governing the banking system. Legally, therefore, the Savings Bank is in the clear. But considering the loan amount and the purpose for which it was taken out, we have the right to reflect on today’s method of privatizing enterprises. Is the state in a position to… has it gone so far as for Albanians to provide loans to buy state property that Albanians themselves created, as has been done with the Albanians. … Are the banks … (Continued on page 4)

A source who declined to be identified reported that on July 14, the workers on the next shift at the Vau i Dejës hydroelectric power plant, who had worked for 24 hours, refused to hand over the shift at 7 o’clock that day. This was because the strike committee of the workers’ union of the Albanian Electricity Corporation had decided that the government must meet the demands they had been making for some time. The hydroelectric plant’s director, Fatlum Nurja, asked for the shifts to be changed, but was told that any change to this decision could only be made by the strike committee. Throughout that day, the power supply was not interrupted for a moment, and operations continued normally. From 9 p.m., the source continued, a minibus carrying police officers, one carrying rapid-response forces, and two vehicles arrived at the hydroelectric plant, one belonging to the director and the other to the public order director of Shkodër. At that point, the director asked the workers to hand over the shift at any cost. According to sources, they objected, but later, at first … … faced with threats and pressure from the police, they stopped work, handing the hydroelectric plant over to the chief engineer and other engineers—two people in all. During this time, the workers who had been due to take over the shift arrived, but they too, despite the director’s insistence and pressure from the public order officials, refused to start work, even though they had been called by their … . Thus, around 23 workers from both shifts, under police supervision, got on a bus and, escorted by the police minibus and the rapid-response forces, were brought to the courtyard of the Public Order Department. After a police officer tried to line them up, one of the senior officials of the Public Order Department spoke to them. According to information from this source, the official went on to tell them that they were workers and that the other sector was asking them to take on the duty of … (Continued on page 4)

The great Japanese! Everyone knows that for two centuries they have been trying to imitate everything that comes from the West. Recently, indulging their innate taste for challenges and records, they have just made it miniature: they brought together, so to speak, the whole world, then placed it in a spot in central Japan, in a small garden measuring eight hectares. What is it? Tobou World Square, a beautiful park located northeast of Tokyo, near Nikko. This “world camp” consists of models of 102 of the world’s most famous monuments or landmarks (55 of them Japanese), reproduced at a scale of 1:25 with astonishing fidelity and realism. This is nothing surprising to anyone familiar with Japanese skill, and especially with the dexterity and delicacy of their fingers. Thus, thanks to technological and artistic ingenuity, visitors to Tobou’s “world camp” can travel around the world in eight hours. They can wander from the Parthenon on the Acropolis to St. Peter’s in Rome, from the Great Wall of China, passing in front of the Summer Palace in Beijing and the temple of Angora, to Tokyo Tower, which rivals the Eiffel Tower, and also past the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center in New York. Then there are the pyramids and the Sphinx of Egypt, the Statue of Liberty (remarkably) in cobalt blue. The Taj Mahal, the Arch of Triumph, the Sacred Heart Church, the mosque of Isaphan, and Moscow’s St. Basil’s Cathedral, with its spiral domes. Not forgetting Venice’s St. Mark’s Cathedral (with all its frescoes) and the surrealist Sagrada Familia by Gaudi, in Barcelona. Wherever you turn, modern Japan can also be seen here, with its skyscrapers, (Continued on page 3)

It is now nearly three months since the mayor of the municipality of Rrasë, in the district of Elbasan (PD’s electorate), resigned. The main reason for the resignation, as explained by the organization department of the district council, was a disagreement between the former mayor and the district authorities, specifically the dismissal of a local police officer by the Public Order Department. The reason for the resignation, although it does not seem very convincing, does not justify the fact that nearly three months have passed; moreover, the municipality continues to be without a mayor. So why have elections not been held? Apart from the fact that a special decree is required, the district council’s answer to this question is that the former mayor of the municipality has still not responded positively to the invitation to appear before the presidium of the district council for a face-to-face meeting. Why? We believe that the former mayor’s failure to appear for a face-to-face meeting (and perhaps he has no intention of ever doing so) is not sufficient reason for elections for a new municipal mayor not to be held after 45 days, let alone after 90 days. If this wait-and-see practice continues, or if the view is that a face-to-face meeting must first be held at the district council or the presidency and elections held afterward, even though the resignation was submitted some time ago and is a fait accompli, then the municipality of Rrasë will remain without a mayor. Why? The municipality will continue to be run by an appointed mayor rather than one elected by popular vote—in any case, by a completely illegitimate mayor. SEDIN CEKANI

little. Meanwhile, other strange matters from the field of diplomacy reach our ears: diplomats who disappear and seek political asylum, diplomats dismissed for illegal trading, diplomats who vegetate and sleep. The state remains silent for reasons of state. Mysterious disappearance - Around thirteen people die from methyl alcohol. The culprits are caught and handed over to justice. It is unclear how the case is so easily wrapped up and then reopened, and the Prosecutor General’s Office releases the detainees. Someone leaves for an unknown destination. Four prosecutors are replaced in Tirana. Others are dismissed and leave. The state remains silent again. For reasons of state.

- Members of Parliament accuse one another of being State Security spies. Indeed, members of the same party make this accusation against one another. Even the Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly is accused. People ask and want to know how many spies there are in the Albanian Parliament. But once again, silence. Surely for reasons of state. How many others are there? What is going on? People are astonished; they have heard a lot, and now nothing surprises them anymore. Or rather, it does, but... it’s not... it’s not... there is assistance, but there is also the policeman’s baton. And you don’t know where it’s coming from. From the state, or?!