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, was taken hostage by its captain, Enver Meta, who, after holding seven of its crew hostage, arrived at the port of Brindisi in Italy, along with eight of his comrades who had hidden them in the barns. of the ship since 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” have made mutual accusations, up to their internal family problems, which caused a a real storm, with drastic measures being 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 Branch of the Interior Agron Tafa, the first secretary of the Durrës Party Committee, Qirjako Mihali, the Director of State Security, Zylyftar Ramizi, and even 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 Ramizi, up to the Minister of Interior, Hekuran Isai, etc., are known in five consecutive issues published by Memorie.al. While in some of the following issues, we are publishing the minutes of the meeting of the Politburo, which was held and analyzed that serious event (even the most unusual until then for the communist regime of Tirana), where the comrades of leadership ”, not only have they discussed“ with partisanship and a high sense of responsibility ”for the problem they had gathered, but they have also made mutual accusations about their family problems.
Followed by the last number
Meeting of the Politburo for the event of the escape of the ship “Dukati”
FOURTH ISSUE: “DIFFERENT” (DURRËS EVENT)
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: We went to the port from time to time, friend Lenka.
COMRADE LENKA ÇUKO: Why is not the work you do effective, comrade Qirjako ?!
COMRADE RITA MARKO: Why did you not take measures to implement the rules and decisions that have been taken for the construction of the port?
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: We have stood by this problem, Comrade Rita, even towards the cadres who have not done their duty, an attitude has been maintained. The director of the NN Port for procrastination of problems two months ago was fired and we put another one.
COMRADE PROKOP MURRA: The Directorate of Fisheries still violates the rules with both feet, Comrade Qirjako. Ja me dt. 16 BUD stopped the ship “Shkodra” that had entered Himara without notifying at all and we will stop them, if they violate the border rules.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: In a report sent to me by Jovan Bardhi, it is said that the fish is given without being unloaded from the boats. Jovan himself has a responsibility for this.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: I do not know about selling fish before being unloaded at the port, but we have had cases where fish are given to people. Police have caught people with fish bags outside the Fishing Enterprise. We have made this a problem.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: Such phenomena occur not only in fishing boats, but in the whole port. The port has become like an inn, where people come and go as they please. Why is the port not surrounded, Qirjako? Were investments lacking?
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Investments for the siege of the port have been given. The work has started and will continue in 1989. We have our responsibility here, but to start the construction of a facility, such as the expansion of the port, without the siege, this does not seem right to me. We build a simple enterprise and the fencing is done, then the facility is built.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Do not look at the detached phenomena, Qirjako, do not reduce the problem to the escape of 9 people. Let these 9 people go to the asphalt and 90 like them! Albania is not supported by vagabonds. But this shows another thing that the rules, laws and norms we have do not apply. According to the regulation approved by the four ministers, the fishing vessel must announce its location every two hours. And I say the ship must announce at every hour. Why did the radars not signal that the warships would come out to catch him? What is being done like this? Why aren’t laws and rules enforced?
COMRADE PROKOP MURRA: You are very right, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Then put order in your department, Prokop. The problem needs to be looked deeper. The causes that led to this event must be found. No one knows how these 9 people got into the boat during the sunny day and fled to Italy without being dictated at all. These people have been in a working relationship, but no party-based organization has bothered why ixi or ypsyloni did not go to work, only when it was given by Italian television, he even declared that the captain has returned to take the vagabonds, which we do not has been said by ours. This clearly shows that everyone has slept, from the State Security, the Army, the border forces, the Party organizations, the border guards and even the sailors. This speaks of great weaknesses of the Party’s work in the district of Durrës, of the Security organs, of the border and of the Army. There are rules for border protection, but they are broken and none of these bodies are responsible.
The key is to enforce the laws and rules you have adopted. The Ministry of Internal Affairs to implement its own rules, its own border and its own army, no concessions should be made. The Party for the Army has put you, Prokop, so put order there, do not ask for anyone. I am ordering you to take out the quadrupeds and seize the ships that violate the rules, whether civilian or military. Qirjako says the port is not fenced. Why do we keep people with barbed wire, comrade Qirjako. This is not the way to prevent negative phenomena. This is fundamentally wrong. The main thing is the ideological education of employees, the implementation of laws and rules, increasing vigilance at work and everywhere.
Continue Qirjako!
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Comrade Manush asks how the 7 sailors on the ship were locked up. We know nothing but the explanations given to us by the fishermen.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Nobody knows the exact thing about this. The report says that at 5:40 pm the ship went out to sea and got on the radio, after that it was not felt, but still no one was worried about it, although everyone knows that, according to the regulations, the ship every two hours we had to connect the radio to the fishing directorate.
COMRADE QIRJAKO MIHALI: Here is the mistake, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: This is not a mistake. This shows that when the rules are violated no alarm is made. In this case, the enemy took advantage of this and organized the escape. So breaking the rules is one of the problems that worries us the most.
Now Comrade Ferit Zeneli has the floor.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: This event, from what we have analyzed and judged, in the first place has its source in the non-implementation of norms, in the liberalization of cadres that is then associated with the lack of control on our part to the required depth and breadth.
I am briefly answering the question of how they got on the ship. On the day of the incident, the soldier returned three civilians with irregular documents and two others who did not have documents, precisely because they were against the rules. But with the intervention of the chief engineer, as the soldier says, the non-commissioned officer tells him to allow these people to enter the port. This fact shows that the message I gave you a year ago at the meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party, which was made for the escape of the enemy Minella Andoni, was not understood by our subordinates.
The responsibility for the event, in the first place, lies with me, the commissioner of the border forces and our subordinates. This ugly event happened precisely because our subordinates were not educated to follow the rules.
Have we done checks? became a question. The command of the border forces has made many checks at the border checkpoints, even at 2 o’clock at night and for the shortcomings that have been noticed, in the last 3-4 years we have fired two commanders of this checkpoint, we have moved with dozens of soldiers. Measures have been taken against the non-commissioned officer who flagrantly violated the rules. Likewise, to avoid outside interference and influence on the effective, we have duplicated the border guards. But the bad thing is right here that rules and norms are violated and orders are not enforced. Here is our responsibility.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Why did you not work out in detail the regulation signed by the four ministers in each department, ship there?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: We have broken down the order of the four ministers in detail with the cadres and commandos of the border posts. In the Ministry of People’s Defense, together with Comrade Kiço, we have met and discussed this problem several times.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: But why is its implementation not controlled?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Are you talking about this case, Comrade Ramiz?
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: I do not have it only for the concrete case, but in general the order signed by the four ministers has not been implemented.
COMRADE MANUSH MYFTIU: The ship was not connected by radio with the Internal Affairs Branch?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: The Department of Internal Affairs is not related to vessels.
COMRADE PROKOP MURRA: The boat had to be radioed to the Directorate of Fisheries and informed where it was.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: According to the regulation approved by the four ministers, if the ship does not report every two hours by radio, the Fisheries Directorate should immediately notify the BUD and not the Internal Affairs Branch.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: So you, as the Commander of the Border, can not know what is happening at sea, if the Directorate of Fisheries does not inform you? Then the mistake is that in the regulation signed by the four ministers. The ship must notify the checkpoint and the BUD every two hours, otherwise the border guard cannot be checked.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Excuse me, Comrade Ramiz, let me explain this. With the Ministry of People’s Defense, we have established a regulation that within three miles in inland waters, the border command will respond and all notifications it receives.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: You said that the Fisheries Enterprise does not notify the Internal Affairs Branch! How does the command of the border checkpoint find out that the ships have not left the territorial waters? Who notifies him?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: We have data on all fishing gear that are in the areas where we have placed radars. Outside of this range, we do not find out except when the BUD notifies us.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: The BUD has no way of notifying, that the fishery does not notify the BUD.
COMRADE KIÇO MUSTAQI: Excuse me to clarify a little, Comrade Ramiz. The regulation states that the fishing enterprise notifies the border checkpoint. This then notifies the BUD. The BUD must notify the Ministry, the fleet and so on. When the army had the border, it notified it and the BUD. So here there are violations of the rules by us as well. We have done analysis for this problem.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: It is as Comrade Kiço says. So every time the vessels leave and return they notify the border checkpoint and the BUD.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Who should the ship notify every two hours?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Every two hours the boat must notify the Fisheries Enterprise.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: This is a strange regulation! Why does the ship have to notify the Fisheries Company every two hours to tell it that it has caught fish ?!
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: She must inform her so that she knows where the ship is.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Yes, the ship did not notify the Fisheries Enterprise at all and the border checkpoint did not find out when it came out of the territorial waters.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: That is what happened, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: You are in charge of protecting the border, Ferit, but you have not organized the work in such a way that you are informed every two hours about the ships that are at sea. The regulation is wrong about this.
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: It is not our job to follow the rules, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Exactly the regulations should be caught, so do not underestimate these things, Comrade Hekuran.
COMRADE HEKURAN ISAI: We do not have a lack of regulations, but there have been violations. According to the regulation, every two hours the ship must notify where it is located. But there were those who did not notify and no action was taken to return the ships that broke the rule. This has not been done and has become commonplace now.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: But how do you know that the other ships have not announced where they are?
HEKURAN ISAI COMRADE: The recordings show that they did not announce.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: But who controls those registrations?
HEKURAN ISAI COMRADE: From a check that was made, for one day, 11 boats were found that had not announced where they were during the fishing.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: The regulation, I repeat, says that an offshore vessel notifies the Fisheries Enterprise every two hours of its location, but in fact the vessels do not. This is where the error of regulation comes in, Comrade Hekuran. Ships should be checked every hour from the border checkpoint, to be aware of the border, which ship enters the port and which leaves and where each is located. It does not cost the Fisheries Enterprise radio operator to notify the crossing checkpoint. If it says X ship is not, then the checkpoint will notify the BUD that X ship in this quad is missing, so check with radar. Yes this should be in the regulations. Border regulations therefore have to be very strict.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Yes, we can not control the ships with the radars we have.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: The ships should be inspected by BUD radar. Did the port checkpoint inform the BUD that this ship is not in the quad?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: The ship did not notify either the crossing checkpoint or the BUD.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: This is exactly what I am saying that this is a major defect in the regulation. Say that there are no rules, only familiarity and “society” and this has become commonplace now. What else did you have, Ferit?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: After the event that happened last year and the messages you gave us…
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Leave last year’s event. Tell us about the event of the ship “Dukati” and the ship “February 16” that happened now.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: That of the ship “16 February” happened in December. At that time I was in Kukës and Dibër.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: It does not matter where you were. Does it matter what measures the Border Directorate has taken to strengthen border control?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Comrade Hekuran sent a comrade from the ministry in the analysis made by the Durrës Branch of Internal Affairs for the event that took place on the ship “February 16”. But with the event that happened on the ship “Dukati”, we judge that the analysis has not been in-depth.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Specifically, what measures were taken? This is what we want to know.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Comrade Ramiz took a stand against the cadres.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: This event does not speak that the control at the border is so weak that people can enter and leave as they want and when they want in the port !! You did not draw this conclusion? So I told them not to be like firefighters who put out a fire and run away. General conclusions must be drawn about the events that take place.
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: We tried to get as deep as possible into the problem for this event. The non-commissioned officer violated the rule for the ship “16 Shkurti”. He was a communist and secretary of the Party’s grassroots organization.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: What did you find?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: We found that there is no meticulous control on boats that go to sea. Attitudes were taken against the cadres who had violated the rules.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: What should be done to protect the border?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: We had thought that within the first 10 days of January, an analysis would be made in the Internal Affairs Branches and other border units for the event that took place on the ship “February 16”. Yes some shortcomings the friends corrected on the spot.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: For the event of the ship “February 16” you should have drawn conclusions for all border units, Ferit!
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: The small control on the ship “16 Shkurti” was neglected by the non-commissioned officer.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: So the non-commissioned officer is to blame ?!
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: It is our fault, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: It is not so, Ferit. If it was a man’s fault, you removed it, was the problem solved?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: No, it is not resolved.
COMRADE MANUSH MYFTIU: No alarm is set when the border is violated?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: It is put, Comrade Manush.
COMRADE ADIL ÇARÇANI: We have the clone on the ground and a man trying to cross is given the alarm by the border post. But at sea what means are there to signal that ships are leaving territorial waters?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: We have no means for the sea. Alarm, in the sense that comrade Ramiz said, is not made, so the warning stands completely.
COMRADE MANUSH MYFTIU: When the ship does not announce its location every two hours, then how does the checkpoint at the port control it?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: The ship notifies the Fishing Enterprise every two hours and not the checkpoint at the port. Now we will put it in regulation to notify the checkpoint at the port, just like comrade Ramiz.
Comrade Hajredin asked why the study that was done to strengthen the border at the port was not implemented. After the event that took place in Hani i Hotit, to tell the Politburo openly, we focused our attention on the Port of Durrës. The first measures taken were the siege of the port, where work continues, and some other measures to strengthen the border. Comrade Qirjako also helped us with the siege of the port with a decision taken by the Party Committee of the district. We proposed to make some additions to the staff for the eastern quay of the port that is being built, thinking that with this we would better secure the port.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Are the non-commissioned officers of the checkpoint paid or unpaid?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: They are on salary, Comrade Ramiz.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Are they from Durrës?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: Only one is from Durrës. One is from Tepelena.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: Only two non-commissioned officers are at the checkpoint?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: There are three non-commissioned officers for the control of the internal means of the ships.
COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA: What is the duty of the officers?
COMRADE FERIT ZENELI: The officers have the duty to check the foreign ships and our merchant ships coming and going from abroad.
The study for the port was completed in December last year, but other ministries had debates about the siege of the port, some agreed and some refused to close the port. There was also a debate about the appointment of guards. In conclusion, they all agreed, but we have not yet submitted the study to the government. We have a very big responsibility for this very serious event. I express to the Politburo that, without being afraid of the pressure exerted by our enemies, both external and internal, we will lack neither deviation, nor loyalty, nor conscience to carry out the task. The party, the Politburo has the political right not only to hold me accountable for this, but also to dismiss me./Memorie.al
Continues tomorrow
