Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from a voluminous file of the Central State Archive (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), with the logo “Top secret” and long declassified, where there is a record of the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ALP held in January 1989, where the extraordinary event that took place on January 6 of that year was analyzed, where the trawler “DukatI”, while going out to sea to openly in the Adriatic waters, was taken hostage by its captain, Enver Meta, who after holding hostage seven members of her crew, arrived at the port of Brindisi in Italy, along with eight of his comrades who had hidden them in the barns of ship from the Port of Durres. All the heated debates between the members of the Politburo in that marathon meeting that took place under the leadership of Ramiz Alia, where the “comrades of the leadership” made mutual accusations, about their internal family problems, which caused a storm. indeed, drastic measures were taken with the arrests and dismissals of about 30 officials and senior officials, starting with the non-commissioned officer who had not properly exercised control over the ship, the director of the Seaport, the Chairman of the Department of Internal Affairs Agron Tafa, the first secretary of the Durrës Party Committee, Qirjako Mihali, the Director of State Security, Zylyftar Ramizi, and the Minister of Interior, Hekuran Isai.
“I have information that your children Qirjako, even your driver, enter the port freely, take boats and go hunting at sea? Anyone can enter the port, Qirjako? Why should your children and others enter from the port to go out to sea for fish or for a walk? The port is a border area ”?! This is what Ramiz Alia said, addressing, among others, Qirjako Mihali, the first secretary of the Durrës District Party committee, at a meeting of the Politburo held in January 1989, after the extraordinary event that took place in on January 6 of that year, when the fisherman “Dukati”, while hunting in the waters of the Adriatic Sea, was taken hostage by its captain, Enver Meta, and eight of his friends who had hidden in the barns of the ship, arrived at the port of Brindisi, with seven members of its crew held hostage. Regarding this serious event that not only caused great problems between official Tirana and the Italian state, but also shook the communist regime by making drastic measures with arrests, dismissals, and convictions of about 30 officials and senior officials, starting with the non-commissioned officer who had not properly exercised control over the ship, the director of the Seaport, the Chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch Agron Tafa, the first secretary of the Durrës Party Committee, Qirjako Mihali, the Director of State Security, Zylyftar Ramiz, up to the Minister of Interior, Hekuran Isai, etc., are known in five consecutive issues published by Memorie.al. While from this article and in some following issues, we are publishing the minutes of the meeting of the Politburo, which was held and analyzed that serious event, (even from the most unusual to that time for the communist regime of Tirana), where the “comrades of the leadership” not only discussed “with partisanship and a high sense of responsibility” for the problem they had gathered, but also made mutual accusations about their family problems.
Meeting of the Politburo for the event of the ship “Dukati”
FOURTH ISSUE: “DIFFERENT” (DURRËS EVENT)
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: For the ugly event that happened in Durrës, the materials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from the Party Committee of the Durrës district and from the apparatus of the Party Committee, comrade Simon Stefani were presented to us. Friends have read the materials. Now what questions or remarks do you have about these materials? Just speak as briefly as possible.
COMRADE RITA MARKO: I have some questions for Comrade Qirjako. In the report presented by the Party Committee of the Durrës District, no serious and in-depth analysis has been made of this problem.
These negative phenomena that have occurred show that in Durrës there is an element of enemies that operate and organize and the party in the district is not in charge of the situation. What is your responsibility for this event, Comrade Qirjako? Another question: on what criteria are sailors employed, both in fishing and in the merchant fleet?
I have this question for Comrade Hekuran. How is it possible that your collaborator enters the port, does not provide data for two years and is kept as such in your organs? This is not the first case, there have been other cases. This is how the two brothers, Jakup Vogli and Bardhyl Vogli worked in the port, one crane and the other in the motorboat, when it is known that their mother was a fugitive. Why is this allowed?
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: In the following I would add: is there no opinion among the friends of the Ministry that the Security collaborator is the most loyal person, whom can be trusted unconditionally?
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: I have another question for Zylyftari, following this. When an associate for two years in a row does not provide any data, is it held on the basis of the Platform? Or how do you measure the effectiveness of the activity of associates?
COMRADE RITA MARKO: I have this question for Comrade Hekuran and the President of the Durrës Branch of Internal Affairs. Does the Department of Internal Affairs have data that people enter the port and get in touch with foreigners, even port employees? If you have data, why not take action? You personally, comrade Agron, have learned lessons about the escape in Han i Hotit of the enemy Minella Andoni, who came to the Directorate of Tirana, got what he wanted and left causing us a lot of worries?
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: I have a question for Comrade Ferit. Customs did not check, because apparently it crossed the line, but the Border Checkpoint did checks at the time the boats were launched? Did you, Ferit, go to the Port of Durrës and make surprise checks to see how the border checkpoints perform their duties?
COMRADE MANYSH MYFTIU: I also have questions, Comrade Ramiz. From the reports I read I did not understand how border protection is guaranteed. There is an organized system for border control. According to the regulation, who should control this part of the border? Here it was said that omissions have been made in the implementation of regulations. Who made these concessions? These phenomena speak of a general and serious violation of border protection regulations.
Secondly, some serious things have happened in Durrës. Do the Party and Security organs know the real political situation and the activity of the enemy elements? The negative phenomena that have occurred in Durrës show that the situation there is not good.
To you, comrade Agron, it is the second time that organized escapes happen to you, the first time Minella Andoni’s gang escaped from Tirana by car, this time 9 people escaped from Durrës by fishing boat. What Security work do you do there?
We also have data that our fishermen have relationships with Italian fishermen when fishing. They talk to each other in the middle of the sea. Are boats checked by the Security during fishing? These I had.
COMRADE LENKA ÇUKO: In the material of the Ministry of Interior, it is said that in the Fishing Enterprise there are workers with bad habits. Why didn’t the Internal Branch and the Party Committee of the Durrës district take measures to remove them from the port? Are these people known only on paper or are they not removed from there because there is any sentimentality?
I have a question for Comrade Qirjako. How is the work of the party built in Durrës and what is the difference from the past after the unpleasant things that happened in the port of Durrës?
How did the district Party committee and Comrade Qirjako himself work to intensify the work of the Party-based organizations? These were my questions.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Next, who has questions?
COMRADE HAJREDIN ÇELIKU: I have too, Comrade Ramiz. If the fishing boats did not signal, out of 15, the company had to sound the alarm. Or should ships signal at all costs?
How was it possible for 9 people to organize themselves to carry out this hostile act and for neither the Security organs nor the Party in the district to find out anything?
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Security, I still do not know how it happened.
COMRADE HAJREDIN ÇELIKU: Why is the study that was done to strengthen the border at the port not implemented?
COMRADE LLAMBI GEGPRIFTI: I also have a couple of questions, Comrade Ramiz. An order has been issued signed by four ministers to discipline the Port of Durres. The material states that no lessons have been given for the implementation of this order signed by the four ministers. Why is this allowed and how is the control of the implementation of this order organized? It is said that the port was not fenced and lighted. We seek to make the encirclement and lighting of simple enterprises and no longer the port. Why is this situation allowed?
COMRADE MANUSH MYFTIU: We do not know how these 9 people got on the boat.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: I know they entered the day. Do I have any more questions? There is no. Friends answer questions, yes briefly and accurately. General things we do not want. Comrade Hekuran has the floor.
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: Comrade Rita, asked the question why the internal affairs bodies kept this collaborator in the port, when he has not given any information for two years. This collaborator retired in 1984, in secret collaboration, and was chosen from the elements of a rogue, a vagabond, with a tendency to escape. So this one was chosen from the sludge, so to speak, to discover the sludge. Worked… .. in the port and was introduced by us to discover these contingents. As he provided information about…., But which was not verified, this put the State Security authorities to sleep. Here is our responsibility. This is a decrease in vigilance and lack of responsibility.
COMRADE RITA MARKO: It has happened several times that… .., have escaped.
COMRADE HEKUARN ISAI: The remark is right. Comrade Ramiz says, there is no opinion in the Security organs that…. are the most trusted people? This opinion does not exist, I say this absolutely.
COMRADE RAMZI ALIA: What is the opinion that Security employees are the most trusted, honest, and just people?
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: I do not have this opinion for myself, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: I am talking about the State Security organs. Then why is it allowed, Comrade Ferit, for the Security Officer to go to the border? Then it happens that he escapes, as Minella Andoni escaped. Doesn’t this speak to a very big trust of the Security staff ?!
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: In general, this opinion does not exist, Comrade Ramiz. If we process spies, these can not be honest people, because they will process with close people who have faith. If we want to detect thieves,. We have the most “chosen” among thieves. There have been cases where we have condemned i when they have given us untrue information. However there were also…. who have provided true information, on the basis of which the wrongdoing elements have been imprisoned with legal facts. This has created in the operative worker, the idea that… is an honest man. This kap catches. and starts disinformation, so we are forced to use other tools. In such cases, we have excluded…. as liars or we have arrested them. Of course I can not claim that among the thousands of… we have, we have achieved the goal. We need to delve deeper into finding…. Here is our responsibility.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: Why did you not pursue this…., When you knew that…. had he escaped? Did he himself attempt to escape?
SHOKU HEKURAN ISAI: N…. had escaped since 1960.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: This…. did not provide any data. What does the platform say about these?
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: Here, Comrade Adil, our minds must work, because the platform does not define these things in such detail. This person is drawn to…., Having…. fugitives.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: He also, being…. there was a tendency to escape.
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: I do not know that he, had a tendency to escape being…. We have cases that dhe betray us. We try to select, but apparently, we are not able to do that. Here is our poor work. The data that citizens relate to foreigners in the port, we had dozens. Some of these have been seized by the Security. Through guilt, some we put in jail, and some we advised. We also removed dozens of soldiers we suspected of having relations with foreigners. And smugglers. One week ago a citizen gave the soldier four gold coins to help him connect with foreigners. The gold coins were seized, but we could not capture the citizen.
COMRADE RITA MARKO: This happened on January 6th.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Were the gold coins found on the street?
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: The soldier gave the gold coins to a citizen to allow him to communicate with foreigners. The citizen had said this to the soldier before. The soldier immediately notifies the command. As a measure of command, he sent another soldier to that ship, when he was giving the gold to the soldier, the citizen saw and the other soldier. He got on the bike and ran away quickly.
COMRADE FOTO ÇAMI: Does the soldier know the citizen who gave him the gold coins?
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: I do not know Comrade Photo.
COMRADE LENKA ÇUKO: When there was information, Comrade Hekuran, that the citizen would come to meet the soldier, why did the Security not work?
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: A good part of these elements we have captured. The day before yesterday a soldier was caught boarding the Korean ship.
COMRADE MANUSH MYFTIU: When the citizen gave gold to the soldier, it means that they have met other times.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: He fled as soon as he saw the other soldier.
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: There have been cases where citizens are associated with foreign smugglers and sailors.
COMRADE RAMZI ALIA: What did you, Agron, have to add to this?
COMRADE AGRON TAFA: The gold issue is as follows: A citizen went to the Romanian ship and told the soldier, that I have some things to do with foreign sailors, will you let me? The soldier said, it’s not the time now, come on at 9pm. At the same time the soldier, notifies the command. For this measures were taken, but the citizen did not come that night, he came the next day. The soldier the next day was on duty on another ship. So the next day the citizen went and gave the gold to the soldier. The soldier tells him to stop, but the citizen gets on his bicycle and leaves the port.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Did the Security Command take any measures at the port before the citizen arrived the next day?
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: In this very serious case, the chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch, Comrade Agron, and even comrades from the ministry had to go.
COMRADE MANUSH MYFTIU: The citizen has met the soldier twice.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: The soldier announced in advance the command for the citizen who would meet him. She sent another soldier for reinforcements. Security forces fell asleep. This is dilettante work and not Insurance work! For this flagrant case, you have to go to Hekuran or your assistant, but stay in the center!
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: A question was asked, why were not the negative elements with bad habits removed from the port? During these two years, 100 or so such elements have been removed from the port, systematizing them in other works. But are there others to remove? Among the 12,000 workers working in the port, there may still be a negative element. These were questions that belonged to me.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Now Comrade Qirjako Mihali has the floor.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Comrade Rita, asks the question what responsibility do I feel for what happened in Durrës.
I, as the first secretary of the district, have a very big responsibility for this serious event that happened in Durrës. We have done analysis in the district Party bureau for these problems and we have issued our responsibility. The analysis showed that the work of the basic organizations of the Party is not at the right level, the problems do not arise in this sense that we are discussing today. Our responsibility lies in that in the bureau of the District Party, we have beaten and discussed economic problems, rather than the problems of preserving the moral image of our people. The Party’s grassroots organizations in the port had to pay special attention to the problem of education, given that employees there are in daily contact with foreigners and under their pressure can commit illegal and anti-socialist actions. .
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: I have information that your children Qirjako, enter the port freely, take boats and go hunting in the sea? Anyone can enter the port, Qirjako?
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: My children enter the port with permission Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: What about your driver entering with a permit?
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Comrade Ramiz enters with permission.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Why do your children and others have to enter from the port to go out to sea for fish or for a walk? Is the port a border area?
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: No one entered from the port, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE AGRON TAFA: I say responsibly that no one has entered the port without permission.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Did they enter with permission?
COMRADE AGRON TAFA: With permission yes.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Which of the comrades of the Executive Committee and the District Party Committee enter from the port to hunt at sea and by what right?
COMRADE AGRON TAFA: No comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: I entered, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Why do you say Agron, that no one has entered?
COMRADE AGRON TAFA: With the exception of Comrade Qirjako, no one entered the port, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: While I do not exclude anyone for enforcing border rules. But I know that not only Comrade Qirjako, but also others enter the port. The driver goes behind Qirjako to get something he needs. There are designated places to go fishing at sea, not to enter from the port which is the border point. It is not good like that Qirjako. Any of the Bureau mates and other mates can go out to sea fishing without breaking the rules. The rules are the same for everyone, and we must all follow them.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Here a question was asked, what criteria are used to hire workers and sailors. Those working in the border area, such as the port, must have a good biography, so the basic criterion is biography. In some cases, it saved us, because there are not as many documents for the workers as there are for the staff. As Comrade Hekuran said, this year a general study was done on the economic enterprises that are in the border area and in this context, we removed some employees with bad biographies from the port. Comrade Lenka says: why aren’t they all removed? Out of 20 employees, which were expected to be removed from the fishing enterprise, with the study that was done, 13 were removed, so there are 7 people left, so we can not remove them all at once, not for sentimentality, but for do not create disturbances and alarms in the family.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: The report states that after the event that took place, a boy had boarded the ship “February 16” and was to escape to Ravenna, Italy, and none of the organizations – based of the Shipping Party, had gathered to draw conclusions about this issue. So party organizations await guidance.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: In the basic organization of the Party of the ship “February 16” a special analysis has been made of what happened. The secretary of the district Party Committee also attended that meeting. The conclusions of the meeting of the organization – the base of the Party of the ship “February 16” have been given to the organizations of the Party of other ships, so that they too can make analyzes of their work. To date, 12 organizations – Party-based – have analyzed this problem, while the other ships are out.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: The report also states that: out of 16 Party-based organizations owned by the port company, only two of them have analyzed this problem.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: The ship “February 16” is of the Merchant Fleet. However, in the basic organization of the Port Party, no analysis has been made on this problem.
COMRADE SIMON STEFANI: The incident took place inside the port.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: It happened in the port, but the ship belonged to the Merchant Navy. Therefore, the analysis, in the first place, had to be done in the organizations of the Merchant Navy Party, that the person who tried to escape entered the merchant ship.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: For the event that happened on the ship “February 16”, Comrade Qirjako, was satisfied with the analysis made by the organization – the base of the Party and left the work with that. This was a loud alarm bell. Therefore, for this, comrade Ferit Zeneli, you should have drawn conclusions for the entire border in the port. The Party Committee of the Durrës district, the Branch of Internal Affairs, as well as the Ministry of Internal Affairs should have drawn conclusions and not act like firefighters who put out the fire where it falls and flee. But you did not do that, so it happened again on the ship “Dukati”, even worse.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Comrade Manush said that our fishermen talk to Italian fishermen at sea and this does not impress us. This is not true. Those fishermen who have done such actions we have removed from the fishing enterprise and made them a problem on all fishing boats. I have dealt with this work myself.
COMRADE SIMON STEFANI: From the contacts we had with the secretaries of the basic organization of the Party with the communists, and from the study of the meeting protocols, it results that this problem has not been addressed by you to the extent necessary.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: This problem, Comrade Simon, has been addressed. Yes, the working group that was assigned by the Central Committee of the Party to study the documents and minutes of the meetings of the Party organization, did not meet me at all as the first secretary of the district and tell me that we have issued these and these problem. That does not seem right to me.
COMRADE SIMON STEFANI: The working group was in charge of giving me the data and not you.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Do not worry too much, Qirjako. Here is the material. If you disagree with any of the issues raised in it, you have the right to argue.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: I am also saying this because, by meeting with me, something could be clarified from there and we would not have debates here. In this sense, I, Comrade Ramiz, have a remark. Mrs. Lenka asks why the workers with bad habits have not been removed from the port. Some of these workers we have removed and will continue to remove others, so we could not remove them all at once.
COMRADE LENKA ÇUKO: These elements could have been removed sooner, Comrade Qirjako, so that what happened now would not happen. But that is not the problem. The fact that all these negative phenomena are happening in the port, speaks for the fact that in Durrës there is no intensive ideo-political work for educating people, for increasing the revolutionary vigilance at work and everywhere, from the first secretary and the five secretaries of the Committee of the District Party, not to mention other cadres. There have been several such cases in Durrës. In the first days of January, one of them hid in a foreign ship to escape, then it turned out that he was “drunk, sick”./Memorie.al
Continues tomorrow
