Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of the sensational event that took place on September 26, 1982. Sometime around noon, on the national road Rrogozhinë-Lushnje, after he had taken by force a ‘Taxi’ car, Xhevdet Mustafa , stopped near the village of Zhamë. After climbing a hill, he entered one of the houses of the Sula family, where he would be surrounded by Police and Army forces. These forces were under the orders of the Chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch of Lushnja district and under the supervision of the Minister of National Defense, Kadri Hazbiu, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hekuran Isai, the secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP, Lenka Çuko, etc., who immediately arrived there. Rare testimonies of Kurt Sulë, former teacher and well-known agronomist of that area, who tells the story of that event. Starting from the moment when Xhevdet Mustafa entered the house of his brother, Mersin, armed, where he and his children and brothers were watching a movie on TV. How did Xhevdeti kill the Traffic Police non-commissioned officer, Tomor Zyla and Mersin Sula? The siege of the house by the Police and Army forces, which were under the orders of the Chairman of the Lushnja Branch of Internal Affairs? The arrival of ministers Kadri Hazbiu, Hekuran Isai and Lenka Çuko, their calls for Xhevdet to surrender and his answers, the introduction of Kurti in the house where Xhevdet? He was holding women and children hostage, the conversations between them, the moment when Kurti with his “Belgian” shot and killed Xhevdet, the entrance of the Army armored car, which destroyed the house? The taking of the corpses and their burial the next day with a ceremony, where the keynote speech was given by the highest authorities of the Party Committee and the Executive Committee, of the Lushnja district, Gjergj Velaj and Filip Ndoci. The proclamation of their “Martyr of the Fatherland” in 1986, as well as Kurti’s meeting with the family of Xhevdet Mustafa, in 1993, who did not allow them to erect a monument there, etc.
“I killed Xhevdet Mustafa.” The sensational statement made for the first time since September 26, 1982, 39 years after that extraordinary event that shook the top leaders of the Albanian communist state, comes from the mouth of Kurt Sulë , a former teacher and senior agronomist from the village of Zhamë, Lushnja. Killed the famous smuggler Xhevdet Mustafa “, forced us to take the road to that village, with the intention of shedding some light on that event, and perhaps to” curb “the borders of a legend. The village of Zhamë, to which we traveled, is located on the left side of the national road, right next to it, somewhere between Rrogozhina and Lushnja.
“Sulaj’s houses are here, they are there on the road, but you do not have Mersin’s family. They all went to Greece and put the key to the house. But there you have his brother Kurtin, he can tell you a lot, about what you are looking for. “Kurti was inside the house that day and had a fight with Xhevdet.”
Tells Qemal Hekurani, a local who sold seasonal vegetables, by the roadside. Although Kurt Sulë’s house was not more than 500 meters away from there, Qemali, as a sign of respect, took us with his two sons to show us the way.
“I was there that day, I went first, as soon as I heard the gunshots,” he told us as we walked, and as if to “curious” us, that perhaps we seemed to ignore his words, he added: “I was there when Kadri Hazbiu and Hekuran Isa came. Hekuran got on the armored car and did tests on that mountain there.”
We found Kurt Sulë in his house, which is located on a small hill, symmetrically, at an equal distance, on both sides of it, from east to west (close to 70-80 meters), there are national roads and that railway. He came out as soon as they informed him, together with his wife and children, who were all in the yard, after our presentation of who we were, where we came from and what was the purpose of our visit there.
“Kurti, I have always been excited to talk to a journalist about this job oj nan, but he could not”, addressed us Mrs. Kurti, a smart woman, who had her very tactful intervention more for her her husband Kurtin, after noticing in him, some hesitation, hesitation or disbelief!
“You have come far away or nan, and Kurti is not going to turn you back, without speaking a word. , Kurti’s wife, as if she wanted to put the stamp on what she said before, inviting us to enter the house, at a time when her husband was showing us the place where he had been killed by Xhevdet, Mersin (Kurt’s brother).
With a noble appearance, but also somewhat tired of life, where he had run as chief agronomist, large agricultural enterprises, such as that of Çermë, to later return to the Institute of Lushnja, as a research associate and teacher at the school secondary, of the Dushk sector. Kurt Sula, decides to tell the story of the distant event of September 26, 1982, which seriously shocked the communist regime of Tirana and personally Enver Hoxha.
“I’ve shown it so many times, that I’ve become just like a guide,” Kurt Sula tells us, as if to assure us that it is very accurate, after our first questions: “What can you remember, where were you that day and how? Did you find out about the event”?
“Yes, that day, do not be mistaken, it was September 26 and it was Sunday. My old woman (she shakes her hand), we left the house, at about 10 o’clock in the morning, and we went down to her the road of the car, after we were going to Berat, where we had our son in the music school, we were in a little hurry, because at 12.00, we had to be in Berat, walking on the sidewalk, towards the center sector, to find faster a car, in our direction from the road coming from Rrogozhina, was speeding a “Fiat” taxi, milk color, with Durrës license plates. There were two people inside: the driver and another in the back. I once remembered that he was not an acquaintance of mine, but I still changed my mind that his action was d irregular uk “.
Do you then know the person who raised his head to look?
The person who raised his head was Xhevdet Mustafa himself, the man I would see a few minutes later. As far as we know, he had left a restaurant at the train station in Rrogozhina, as they were following him, and on the national road, he had stopped that “Fiat” taxi from Durrës, pulling out his pistol. After the groom got off with the bride and groom, he forced the driver, a boy from Durrës, to go where he told him.
What did you do next?
After that car left, my wife and I continued on our way to the sector. After a while, a villager named Idriz Sula came in front of us and another one whose name I do not remember, as he has been away from our village for years.
What were they told?
Idrizi, very shocked, came forward and told us that they had killed Riza Sula, who was the guard of the facility, at the center of the brigade, where the sector warehouses were. After that, I left the woman at the Çermë shops and went back to see what had happened. Idrizi said that Riza Sula had been killed by a man who had escaped from prison, doing it by hand, indicating that that person had left in the direction of the road from the vineyards. That road, which is parallel to the railway, brings you here behind our houses. Because people were pointing to our houses (some Sulaj families live there), I went back to see what had happened there. At this time, as I entered the road by the vineyards, I saw the “Fiat” with the license plates of Durrës, by a canal and only the driver standing inside, with a very shocked look, with disheveled hair.
Did you communicate with him?
As soon as he saw me, he said to me, “Aman, catch the man there who escaped from prison.” I continued to climb and when I came out on the road, looking out of our houses, I saw a man walking backwards, with his back to our houses and with a pistol in his hand. From his walk, it seemed that he was guarded by someone who was following him.
From what distance were you following that scene?
I was at a distance of no more than 50 meters from him and he was just as far from the house where my two brothers, Ramadani and Mersini, lived with their families. I first remembered that he was not one of the Internal Affairs Branch, who was following what Idrizi was saying to the taxi driver: “the prison escapee”.
How did Xhevdet Mustafa get there without knowing that place?
I later learned that Xhevdeti came to our house in a military vehicle. After going by taxi to Durrës, to a certain place, he could not go further and approached on foot to the military unit, which was located near us, where he took a “ZIS” car, and returned again from there by the road where he had come, abandoning even the military vehicle.
How could he enter a military unit, hijack a car, and flee again without being chased?
About the hijacking of the military car, I have heard about it. It was also said in those days that he wanted to enter that military unit to get weapons, as he had only a pistol with him.
Going back to the moment you were watching Xhevdet with a gun in his hand near the houses of the Sula family?
At that moment, which I was seeing, I did not even know that the man was Xhevdet Mustafa. He was tall and fat. He was wearing a black striped T-shirt and a pair of jeans, with a pair of white sneakers, which when I looked at him closely, (after his murder), had the USA stamp. I was left standing, not moving and just following his movements. He pulled all the time with a pistol in his hand and very close to the house; it seemed to me that he put another barrel in the pistol, which he was holding in his hand, ready to shoot.
In those moments, was anyone following Xhevdet?
It was there that I saw him being followed by Tomorr Zyla, an Army Traffic Police checkpoint, who was wearing a uniform.
What happened next?
Xhevdet, when he approached the house, entered the partition corridor, where the families of my two brothers, Ramadan and Mersin, lived. After entering the house, without being seen by anyone, he approached the second room, as he heard the voices of children watching TV and kicked the door and entered.
How many people were in the room that Xhevdet entered?
At that moment there were many children, as it was Sunday and they gathered there to watch the Albanian film given by Tirana on Sundays. Thus were Mersin’s seven children, four sons and three daughters, and the eldest 14 years old, together with their mother, Shehjen. They were also my son and daughter, the children of the other brother, Ramadan, along with their mother Shefikon.
What did Xhevdet do when he entered the room where your children and sisters-in-law were?
I was out at the time and was approaching the house. From my sisters-in-law and children, I later learned that he, after pushing the door with a kick, addressed them, telling them: “Do not move, because they killed Enver Hoxha and we are pursuing the criminals.”
How did the women and children react to what he said?
Shy they shouted, but did not move at all. From the other room was Mersin, my brother, who had just returned home and was sitting down to eat. He understood from the screams of the children that someone had entered the house, and maybe he also saw Tomorr Zylën, who was approaching from outside with a pistol.
What did Mersin do after this situation where it happened?
At this time Mersin took a kosher, one of the ones we use to cut wood, and approached near the door of the TV room, where Xhevdeti had entered. Mersini at first shouted: “Get out, dog, because he is scaring our children.”, as the door from below was close to 5 cm gap on the floor.So, he remembering from the shoes that it was not Tomorr Zyla, who was following him, shot him three times with a pistol from inside the closed door, in the direction of the chest and Mersini fell dead on the floor.
What did you do at that moment, when you saw your brother killed?
When I approached, I found my dead brother there and, enraged by that scene, I went straight into the house, inside the corridor. I did not go to the first room, where Xhevdet had entered, but to protect myself from him, I went to the other room next to her. From there I heard the children shouting: Dad, Dad. In the room I was in, I approached near the window, and I saw that outside it, three or four meters Tomorr Zylën, who was collapsed on the ground, was struggling.
Had Xhevdet killed him too?
Yes, that too. He was bleeding from his mouth and eyes, where he had received the bullets that Xhevdet had hit him with a pistol. I did not hear the shots, neither when my brother, Mersin, was killed, nor when Tomorr Zyla was killed. Apparently Xhevdet had his pistol silent, with silencer. After that Xhevdet left the room where he was and came to the room where I was staying, as frozen and stunned after the murder of Mersin and Tomorri. He with a pistol in his hand, came towards me, putting the pistol in my throat and said: “What about you”?! I gathered myself and said, “I have nothing to do with you, my brother was killed.” He at that moment lowered his pistol and replied, “Brother, the communists have killed him, the devil’s filth.” I said to him, “You killed my brother, because he was killed at your door. There is no other shooter here.” After that he angrily replied to me: “Get out quickly if I tell you, that I am getting rid of you”.
How did you react to his threat to kill you?
I immediately went out through the hallway, to get out of the east entrance of the house.
When you left the house, did you see people around her?
As soon as I got out, I saw around the house, at a distance of approximately 50-60 meters, with dozens of people: armed civilians of volunteer detachments, soldiers, police and curious villagers, who had apparently come after hearing the gunshots. Nearby was an armored car, which as I later learned, had come from the military unit of Kolonja (Lushnje). As soon as I left the house, I remember going to the main courtyard gate, where the main people of the Home Affairs Branch were hiding, shouting at him for a gun, because my brother had been killed. /Memorie.al
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