– On the occasion of the 97th anniversary of the proclamation of the Albanian Kingdom –
Memorie.al / September 1, 1928, the day when the Kingdom was proclaimed in Albania, is not the day of an individual, family or a specific group, but an obligation and seriousness towards the history of the state, as one of the most special dates for Albanians and the Albanian state, since its establishment. Like today 97 years ago, on September 1, 1928, at 9.12, the Constituent Assembly declared Albania – “Democratic Parliamentary and Hereditary Kingdom”.
The Kingdom is not simply a political regime, but a stage that homogenizes society, a common national shield, which almost all modern states have passed through.
About two decades after the establishment of the Albanian state, Albania was the only country in the Balkans and the Albanians were the only nation that did not have this shield, while all other states and nations in this region had formed the respective political unit precisely from their kingdoms.
For the first time in its state-building history, with the Kingdom of Albania, it was consolidated as a stable state and functioned as such for 11 years, in contrast to the previous 16 years during which it either experienced a power vacuum or weak governments, which did not even fill the weather.
The institution of the Albanian Monarchy, sanctioned by law the completeness and common belonging of the Albanian nation. The Albanian Monarchy governed the country through a democratically elected parliament, putting an end to the fragmentary policies that had threatened it quite a bit during the time after the establishment of the Albanian state.
For the first time under the Monarchy, the Albanian state was recognized by all Western countries, primarily by the USA and the United Kingdom. Previous governments were generally not recognized, because they did not even manage to institutionalize themselves at a sufficient level to benefit from international recognition. A country whose governance has not been internationally recognized for 16 years is absolutely a country in danger.
If Albania had continued to remain in this state, almost an institutional vacuum, it would have attracted not only the greed of the surrounding kingdoms, but also indifference, disregard and even questioning from the great powers.
It cannot be ignored that, on quite a few previous occasions, the state of Albania itself had been in danger of being discussed as a state entity.
With the proclamation of the Kingdom, King Zog oriented the entire structure and institutions of government towards the best Western models. Rarely in the history of Albania, was the best legal, economic, military and diplomatic expertise of Western states called upon.
The Fundamental Statute, the civil code, the commercial code, the criminal code, the civil procedure code, etc., drafted under this expertise, marked the complete break with the legislation of the Ottoman period and oriented Albania towards the construction and functioning of a modern state, with a clear Western European orientation.
That state lasted only 11 years, but left Albania a wealth of concepts, practices and institutions, the standard of which, in many respects, has hardly been achieved by subsequent governments.
Therefore, the Albanian state should proclaim and celebrate September 1 as one of the marked state days. September 1, 1928, the day when the Kingdom was proclaimed in Albania, is not the day of an individual, family or a specific group, but an obligation and seriousness towards the history of the state, as one of the most special dates for Albanians and the Albanian state, since its founding./ Memorie.al
