Memorie.al/ Publishes some rare photos belonging to the founders of the Democratic Party that announced its creation on the evening of December 12, 1990 in a magnificent rally in the Student City, which was attended by thousands of citizens of Tirana and others. coming from different districts of the country. Just a few days after the announcement of the PD’s awakening, on the evening of December 17, 1990, as the main leaders of that party had gathered in one of the halls of the “Student” City Cinema Club to give a press conference, where on behalf of the Commission The initiators, Preç Zogaj and Genc Pollo, who covered the press sector, would make public the first two demands of the Democratic Party, such as the release of all political prisoners and the postponement of the election date, came the announcement that the Ministry of Justice had legalized the Party Democrats and everyone present erupted in applause embracing each other. All these photos that Memorie.al is making public for the first time, were fixed by the journalist Nikola Miletic, AFP correspondent for the Balkan region, and belong to that historic moment that marked the creation of the first opposition party in Albania, after almost half a century of communist rule. All the rare images of that evening of December 17, 1990, where some of the founders of the Democratic Party and its Initiating Commission appear, such as: Berisha, Meksi, Pashko, Hajdari, Zogaj, Ruli, Pollo and Eduard Selami, up to some of the main protagonists of those events such as: Mond Budina, Ben Lika, Zenel Hoxha, Ilir Dizdari, Tefalin Malshyti, Lazër Stani, etc.
Only two or three days after the beginning of the student protests that started in the “Student” City, first with economic demands and then with political ones against the communist regime, on December 11, 1990, a group of intellectuals who had supported the demands of those students, gathered at the house of Gramoz Pashko on Rruga e Elbasanit, where they discussed and debated at length about the establishment of a political party that would be in opposition to the Labor Party that had led and ruled Albania for almost 45 years. In this group of intellectuals, in addition to the owner of the house (Pashkos), Sali Berisha also belonged. Aleksandër Meksi, Azem Hajdari, Preç Zogaj, Arben Imami, Eduart Selami, Genc Pollo, Genc Ruli, etc., who would also be the initiator group for the establishment of the Democratic Party, in the late hours of that evening, (December 11) , agreed on the establishment of a large opposition party, where the minimum program and its statute were prepared the next day at Pashko’s house.
And on the evening of December 12, at a magnificent rally in the city “Student”, on behalf of the initiative group for the creation of the Democratic Party, Arben Imami, announced its creation, which was greeted with applause and cheers from thousands of thousands of participants in that rally. Things that are already known for a long time from the television chronicles realized by the Albanian Radio Television under the direction of Virgjil Kules, or numerous photos that have been published for years and continue to be published. The next day, on December 13, the Initiating Commission was established, which divided the tasks for each member, where the main point was the meeting of 400 signatures that would have to appear before the Ministry of Justice, attached to the request for recognition and legalization of the Democratic Party. of Albania. Which should be said that it was not very easy, as there were many hesitations from many intellectuals who were asked to sign for it. Based on this already known fact, a major role in completing the list of 400 companies that were needed, played Dashamir Shehi, through acquaintances and his social circle in Tirana.
A few days later, on the evening of December 17, 1990, the Initiating Commission, followed by a large group of supporters and sympathizers of the Democratic Party, such as students, intellectuals, trade unionists, etc., gathered at the Palace of Culture of the Student City. , where a press conference would be given and the two main demands that were and the first that were being made by that newly created political force would be announced.
That were:
- Release of all political prisoners in Albania
- Postponement of the election date, which was announced to be held on February 10, 1991.
These two requests were previously approved at a meeting of the Initiating Commission and for their clarification and final compilation, were appointed Preç Zogaj (poet, writer, well-known journalist, editor of the newspaper “Drita” in the League of Writers and Artists of Albania) in charge of the press sector in the Democratic Party and Genc Pollo, (historian and scholar of the best of the younger generation in the Academy of Sciences), also in charge of the press, who in the morning of that date, went to the Palace of of Culture in the center of Tirana where they prepared the text of the communiqué that would be read at that press conference.
At the time when the press conference had started and on the podium of the packed hall, Preç Zogaj and Genc Pollo were reading the demands of the Democratic Party, someone from the hall approached their podium and gave Zogaj a bullet, saying aloud lower than that given to him by Alfons Gurashi. While Zogaj opened the folded letter, he immediately interrupted the press conference (which should be said that it was the first conference in the modern sense of the word given by the DP), and gave the great news that the Democratic Party had been legalized. Meanwhile, all those present bursts into cheers, applause and embracing each other, where many of them as seen in the photos in question, are in tears. According to Preç Zogaj, contacted by Memorie.al, the applause and cheers for the news that the Democratic Party was legalized lasted so long that it turned into a celebration that eclipsed the two requests of the Initiating Commission, for which all had gathered in that hall.
This whole scene is already known as it was filmed by the cameraman Agim Buxheli, who must be said to be the first to have recorded with his camera his camera almost all meetings, activities, rallies, all other activities of the Party Democratic, giving us very rare images of the main events, from the meeting of the Initiating Commission in the basement of the villa of Pashkove, and then in the Student City on the evening of December 12, 1990, where the creation of the Democratic Party of Albania was announced.
Apart from the film images of Buxhel that were recorded by that press conference held at the Palace of Culture of the City “Student” on the evening of December 17, 1990, where some sequences were also broadcast by the show OPINION on TV Klan, etc., what happened there is also fixed in some photos taken by the journalist Nikola Miletic, who was the AFP correspondent for the Balkan region, (a short time later he was appointed director of AFP in Paris), photos which Memorie.al is taking public for the first time in this December 12, which has already entered the history of Albania, as the day of the founding of the Democratic Party of Albania, which was the first opposition party since the communists came to power in November 1944.
What happened that evening of December 17, 1990 in the hall of the Palace of Culture of the City “Student”, the news of the legalization of the newest opposition party in Albania, which de jure marked the end of the rule and hegemony of the ALP, was immediately spread to all major news agencies in the world, as present in that room were also two foreign journalists (one French and one German) as well as two or three journalists from Radio Television of Prishtina or the newspaper “Rilindja”.
While these things are already quite popular from various writings, interviews or memoirs written by some of the main exponents of the Democratic Party, etc., such as: Aleksandër Meksi, Mujë Buçpapaj, Afrim Krasniqi, Shenasi Rama, Bardhyl Ukcama, etc., the photos taken by the AFP journalist, Nikola Miletic, who has captured that historic moment, where rare images of some of the founders of the Democratic Party are given, such as: Sali Berisha, Aleksandër Meksi, Azem, are also of great interest. Hajdari, Gramoz Pashko, Eduard Selami, Preç Zogaj, Genc Pollo, Genc Ruli, etc., who were then charged with leading positions in the DP and the first government that came out of it after the elections of March 22, 1992, until Arben Lika, Edmond Budina, Zenel Hoxha, Napolon Rroshi, Lazër Stani, Tefalin Malshyti, etc., characters with great contribution in the establishment of that political force and then in various functions and tasks./Memorie.al
