From Nafi Çegrani
Part One
Memorie.al / The history of Albanians is filled with figures who lived between shadow and light, between injustice and the effort to save at least some of the dignity of a nation exiled for centuries. In this long labyrinth, where borders have been drawn with violence and injustice by the hands of great powers, there have been people who, although silent, left an indelible mark on the protection of national interest. One of these is Colonel Sali Dani, who was not only an intelligence officer but, above all, a well-formed Albanian with a clear vision and a heart burning for his homeland.
He was a man who faced danger with a silent courage, becoming a symbol of those who, even when living in the dark world of espionage, never forgot that loyalty to the nation must stand above all. In his eyes, contemporaries say, there was the light of an eagle: a gaze that penetrated deeply, that foresaw danger and uncovered the intrigues of adversaries.
His figure, as well as that of his silent companions – Marko Laçka, Galip Sojli, Ramazan Domi, and others – is living proof that Albanians, despite the wounds of history, gave birth to and raised men who knew how to keep secrets, protect the truth, and serve with devotion to the sacred cause: the Homeland.
The Labyrinth of Espionage in the Balkans
The Balkans of the 20th century, more than any other region in Europe, became a field of invisible battles. Its borders were not just lines on maps but wounds that never stopped bleeding. After World War II, Albanians were once again left divided, scattered across five Balkan states, with a truncated mother state surrounded by sworn enemies.
In this painful reality, the secret services of the neighbors – the Yugoslav UDBA and KOS, the Greek Asfalia, the Serbian services, and even foreign ones who used Albanians as pawns for their own interests – exercised a permanent terror. They recruited, blackmailed, infiltrated saboteurs, set up fabricated trials, and did not hesitate to use the most barbaric violence against any Albanian who dared to maintain the ideal of freedom.
In this labyrinth of spies, where every wrong step could lead to death or eternal imprisonment, was Colonel Sali Dani. He was no ordinary man in this field: he was a master at reading situations, a sharp mind that understood not only the tactics of the opponent but also their psychology.
In the face of an entire repressive machine, he managed to preserve not only valuable information for the Albanian state but also the dignity of his profession as an intelligence officer. The UDBA and KOS had built a vast network of agents, stretching from the borders of Kosovo to the heart of Albania, to provoke, create division, and break the morale of Albanians.
Likewise, the Greek Asfalia followed every movement in Çamëria, burning towers and destroying graves, as if history could be erased with fire. In the midst of this, colonels like Sali Dani, Marko Laçka, Galip Sojli, and Ramazan Domi were the invisible shield, returning the blows to these dark apparatuses.
Colonel Sali Dani – The Man and the Professional
Great men are distinguished not only by what they do but by how they bear the weight of their burden. Colonel Sali Dani was a personality who combined three rare pillars into one: pure morality, broad culture, and unquestionable professionalism in the field of intelligence.
On a human level, he was simple and approachable to everyone. He did not lack a smile, but it was the smile of someone who knows the weight of responsibility. His collaborators remember him for his noble stance, for his few and measured words, for his advice that always centered on preserving honor and the Homeland. At a time when fear and doubt had become the daily air, he knew how to inspire trust.
On a professional level, he was a master at reading “invisible traces.” He had outstanding abilities to penetrate the enemy’s mindset, to understand the logic of foreign services, and to prevent their actions. It is no coincidence that his colleagues called him an “eagle”: his gaze was sharp, like one who spots the smallest movement on the horizon before danger occurs. He was a strategist who understood that espionage was not just a clash of information but, above all, a clash of values.
While the opponent relied on deception, fear, and blackmail, Sali Dani strove to preserve truth, loyalty, and responsibility. He was aware that any misinformation could cost human lives, burn villages, and bury dreams. Therefore, he was careful, precise, and measured down to the last detail. He was not just an officer who executed orders; he was a thinker who understood the national dimension of his mission. In every action, he looked beyond the day’s horizon, trying to read time like an open book. And in this reading, he knew well that the fate of Albanians did not depend only on the rifle or on the decisions of the great powers, but also on the ability to protect secrets, to preserve dignity, and to not allow the next generation to grow up in the shadow of deception.
Clashes with Yugoslav Agencies
The UDBA and KOS had built a sophisticated machine for the time, which extended to every cell of Albanian life. They tried to penetrate not only the ranks of the military but also daily life, education, culture, and families. Everyone could become a suspect, every conversation could be interpreted as “agitation and propaganda,” every simple friendship could be summarized in a file.
In this reality, Colonel Sali Dani’s clashes with the Yugoslav agencies were not just professional actions but battles for national survival. He knew how to discover the saboteurs infiltrated from the border, foil their plans, and expose them to the public. He was able to understand the blackmail method used by the UDBA: recruitment through violence, threats against families, or false promises of freedom and wealth.
In many cases, according to testimonies, he managed to discover infiltrated agents and dismantle networks that aimed to destabilize the Albanian state. What made him special was that he never saw the opponent as an abstract figure but as an entire system that had to be dismantled with care and wisdom. In this secret war, he was not alone. Alongside him walked other respected figures, such as Marko Laçka, a wise and courageous officer, Galip Sojli, known for his determination, and Ramazan Domi, who always remained dedicated to the cause. These men, each with his own story, formed a strong circle, a shield that returned the blows of the repressive apparatuses of the neighbors. Often, the conflict was not only external. Foreign services tried to infiltrate even within the Albanian structures themselves, fostering doubts and divisions.
The National Dimension of His Mission
If we look at the activity of Colonel Sali Dani only as part of his state duty, we would greatly narrow what he truly represented. He was not merely an officer who fulfilled the orders of his superiors and kept files in secret drawers. He was, above all, an Albanian with a national vision, who in every step of his life felt that his mission transcended the boundaries of an official obligation. Post-World War II Albania remained a small state, surrounded by hostile neighbors and the injustices of history. Kosovo was in the clutches of Belgrade, Çamëria was bloodied by the Greek ethnic cleansing, the Albanians of Macedonia were oppressed by the UDBA apparatus, while in Montenegro and Presheva, the policy of assimilation and denial continued.
In the face of this reality, every action of Albanian intelligence officers had a national dimension: protecting the truth, preserving dignity, and preparing generations for a different future. Colonel Sali Dani was clear that espionage was not just a war between states but a large part of the centuries-old battle for the survival of the Albanian nation. Every piece of information saved, every agent exposed, every enemy plan dismantled was a small stone in the great wall of the nation’s defense. For him, the border was not just a line of land; it was a wound that separated Albanians from Albanians, it was a bitter memory of the unjust treaties and agreements of the Great Powers.
In this sense, his work takes on another dimension: it was part of an effort to keep the hope of unification alive. He knew well that the fragmentation of the lands was not a random act but a deliberate project of European diplomacies, which at the Conference of London (1913) gave Albanian lands to the neighbors to secure their false peace. Those injustices continued to bear their consequences in the 20th century, leaving Albanians scattered across five states, with a nation crushed by artificial borders.
Such figures, like Colonel Sali Dani, Marko Laçka, Galip Sojli, Ramazan Domi, and others who walked alongside him, were also aware of this great mission. They were not just officers of a state service; they were sons of the people, who carried the pain of division in their souls and who in every action sought to preserve a part of that wholeness that had been denied to the nation. These men, in their own way, represented an “invisible army” that did not measure victory by the number of battles won but by every small step that preserved nationality, protected dignity, and kept the flame of hope alive. They were a kind of “silent guardians” of the dream for national unification, something I have described with so much passion in my book The Strategic Platform of the Albanian Nation.
Historical Injustices and the Responsibility of the Great Powers
The history of Albanians is filled with wounds that were not only caused by predatory neighbors but also by the great diplomacies, which on their secret tables decided the fate of nations without ever asking the people. In this panorama of injustice, the Albanian nation became a centuries-old victim of foreign compromise. / Memorie.al
