Dashnor Kaloçi
The fourth part
Memorie.al publishes some unknown documents extracted from the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, which belong to 1990, where there is a correspondence of the Albanian embassy in Rome, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, where the Albanian ambassador , Dashnor Dervishi, informs Minister Reiz Malile and his other superiors in Tirana, regarding the letter sent to that diplomatic mission by the Vatican Secretary of State, Archbishop, Angelo Sodano, who expressed the desire to come to Albania himself , in order to meet the former Catholic priest, Monsignor Nikola Troshani, who after spending years in the prisons of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, at that time was working in agriculture in the villages of the district of Lezha. Full correspondence between the Albanian embassy in Rome and the top officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, where in addition to the great interest shown by the Vatican for the former Bishop, Nikola Troshani with whom they had lost all contact since time of his imprisonment and did not know if he was still alive, as well as the congratulations to the Albanian government for the reception he gave to Mother Teresa, Ambassador Dervish informs his superiors that the two professors of Theology at the University of Rome, Andrea Ricardo and Damako at the University of Bari, had been told that: The Vatican was showing great interest in developments in Albania and its activity in the international arena, where in particular the Holy See was expressing interest in Albania’s integration into the CSCE and was intervening closely Western European governments to support its accession to the CSCE before the Helsinki Conference, etc., and to the efforts of the Vatican’s ambassador Eastern European countries, Colossuo, who had confirmed that the Vatican had prepared forty Albanian bishops from Kosovo in schools in Rome and was preparing to establish a diocese based in Pristina, which would depend directly on Rome.
Starting from the long ordeal of almost 45 years of the Catholic Clergy in Albania under the dictatorial regime of Enver Hoxha, where dozens of clergymen were shot (with and without trial), imprisoned and interned, as well as the change of political climate in most of former communist countries of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, where as a result official Tirana in May 1990 enacted the law on freedom of religion, the Holy See of the Vatican headed by Pope John Paul II, through the Secretary of the Vatican City State, Archbishop Angelo Sodano, as well as its diplomats accredited in various countries of the world, immediately began to “move the stones” to enter into talks with the government of Tirana, which initially asked for information about the former the Catholic priest, Monsignor Nikola Troshani, as they had lost all contact with him since the time of his imprisonment and did not know if he was still alive! Among other things, this is made known by a series of archival documents extracted from the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where there is a voluminous file with the correspondence of the Albanian Embassy in Rome with his superiors in Tirana, which Memorie.al e publishes for the first time to its readers, in several issues of the historical dossier section.
Continued from the previous issue
Correspondence of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sokrat Plaka, with the Albanian embassies in Athens, Geneva, Mexico, Tanzania and Argentina, regarding the invitations made by the Vatican embassy
FIRST DIRECTORY
I n f o r m a t i o n
Our Embassy in Athens announces that the Vatican nuncio who has just presented his credentials has sent an invitation to our incumbent to attend the national holiday on December 5th. The Embassy is waiting for our opinion. Given today’s international processes, especially the decisions of the CSCE summit in Paris and the decisions of the 12th Plenum on the issue of fees, we think that he can also take part in the national celebration of the Vatican.
Tirana, November 24, 1990
Coding
No. 4105 Date: 2.12.1990
Address: Embassy of Athens (Comrade Izedin)
Concept: Yours 1792
Attends the reception given by the Vatican nuncio on December 5th. Likewise, reply to his notification letter. To your knowledge, our embassies in other countries will not attend the reception of Vatican nuns.
Socrates
Decoding
No. 31131 By: Athens
No. 1863 Date: 8.12.1990
FOREIGN MINISTRY
According to the instruction, I went to the Vatican reception where I stayed about 30 minutes. Pronuncio openly expressed his joy for participating and asked us to take a picture together. I also thanked him for the invitation. Today from the Vatican embassy, it was announced that pronuncio wants to pay me a visit on 13 or 14 December.
(continued)
Coding
No. 4107 Date: 2.12.1990
Address: Embassies of Mexico, Argentina, Tanzania and the mission in Geneva.
Concept: In case you will have invitations from Vatican nuns, do not go to their receptions. For your information, our ambassador in Athens will attend the reception of the Vatican nuncio there.
Sokrati
Coding
No. 4106 Date: 2.12.1990
Address: All embassies and headlines (Athens not)
Concept: In case you will have invitations from Vatican nuns to attend their receptions, do not go leaving it in silence. To your knowledge, we have authorized our ambassador in Athens to go to the reception of Vatican nuns in Greece.
Sokrati
Decoding
No. 31131 By: Athens
No. 1863 Date: 8.12.1990
FOREIGN MINISTRY
According to the instruction, I went to the Vatican reception where I stayed about 30 minutes. Pronuncio openly expressed his joy for participating and asked us to take a picture together. I also thanked him for the invitation. Today from the Vatican embassy, it was announced that pronuncio wants to pay me a visit on 13 or 14 December.
(continued)
Decoding
No.31132 By: Athens
No.1865 Date: Finished
We ask for approval and messages on where to focus the conversation if I will wait for it. To your knowledge, nuncio has not had any credentials submitted in months and is now making acquaintance visits.
Izedini
Coding
No. 41624163
Date: 9.12.1990
Address: Embassy Athens, Comrade Izedin
Concept: yours
Prite pronuncion. Listen to what it means. If, proposes the establishment of diplomatic relations keep note. For your part, he spoke about the process of democratization in Albania, including our attitude towards religion and religious institutions, based on the speech of Comrade Ramiz and the proceedings of the People’s Assembly. He also spoke about Mother Teresa’s visit to Albania.
Decoding
No. 31667 By: Athens
No. 1904 Date: 15.12.1990
FOREIGN MINISTRY
The nuncio of the Vatican visited me. I told him about the democratization process in Albania, that it is working through diversity of thoughts and ideas. In this regard, there are obstacles such as lack of adequate structures, experience, etc.
(continued)
Decoding
No. 31668 By: Athens
No. 1906 Date: second
Here I pointed out that some forces, as in the case of Shkodra, are hindering this process, destroying public property and arousing a sense of hatred within the nation. The possibility of foreign influences is not excluded. Then I talked to her about religion, about Mother Teresa’s visit, etc.
(continued)
Decoding
No. 31674 By: Athens
No. 1906 Date: third
In the end I wished that our meeting would serve however to better understand each other. Pronuncio thanked me with warm terms that I attended their national reception, and that I gave them the opportunity to talk. He said: “We have had old ties with Albania and we would like to establish diplomatic ties.”
(continued)
Decoding
No. 31675 By: Athens
No. 1907 Date: fourth
We established relations with Bulgaria a few days ago and now there is only Albania with which we have no relations. The actions of young people in Shkodra are reprehensible. They need to realize that they are destroying their sweaty property.
(continued)
Decoding
No. 31676 By: Athens
No. 1906 Date: fifth
The Vatican has welcomed Mother Teresa’s visit to Albania. I have known him personally since I served in India. She has a lot of influence in the Vatican, especially in the Pope. He has so much influence that he forced the Pope to accept and set up a congregation house in the Vatican.
(continued)
Decoding
No. 31677 By: Athina
No. 1909 Date: sixth
So now there, all sorts of people gather to eat and sleep. And that has ruined the look of the headquarters, but the Pope cannot resist the request of Mother Teresa. Then pronuncio asks me how the problem of the Albanian royal family is.
(continued)
Decoding
No. 31678 By: Athens
No. 1910 Date: finished
After hearing my explanations, he said that the time of kings has passed and that they cannot come back and replace the republican system. In the end pronuncio said that he was impressed by the civilized way of exchanging opinions they did, and expressed the desire to continue to maintain contacts.
Izedini
Decoding
No. 31132 By: Athens
No. 1865 Date: finished
We ask for approval and messages on where to focus the conversation. To your knowledge, nuncio has not submitted any credentials for a month and is now making acquaintance visits./Memorie.al
Izedini
