By DALIP GRECA
Part Two
Memorie.al /A cold evening in March 2014, together with Dr. Skënder Murtezanin, we traveled from the Bronx to Baldwin, a town located in the southern part of Long Island – the most populated island in all of America – which in terms of population density, ranks 17th in the World. If Long Island were a state, it would rank 13th in America, in the USA – after Virginia. The population density is 5402 inhabitants per square mile (2,086 per km2.). The island has a population of 7,740,208 (According to 2013 statistics), while the town of Baldwin, according to the April 2010 Census, registered a population of 23,455 inhabitants. Baldwin is a residential unit that is classified as affluent; the average income for each family is $72,456.
Continued from the previous issue
IN HELP OF DEMOCRATIC ALBANIA
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the events that followed after 1990, raised hopes also in Dr. Agim Leka. The beginning of changes in Albania found him ready for concrete contributions. He felt good when his son, Donald Leka, mediated for a connection between Albania and the state of Oklahoma.
Donald Leka, in the position of the president of the American Association ‘Sirius Systems Inc’, initiated the affiliation between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tirana, the first in the history of the two nations. Dr. Leka together with Donald visited the University of Oklahoma, together with a delegation from the University of Tirana, realizing the connection. The agreement was signed by Rolanda Dhimitri, Vice-Rector of the State University of Tirana and the other party.
In 1992, Dr. Leka together with Joan Fultz Kontos, daughter of the distinguished American professor, Harry Fultz, (former director of the Technical School of Tirana opened in 1922), Donald Leka and a group of well-wishers of Albania, among them Ambassador William Kontos, husband of Joana Fultz, created the Albanian-American Educational Foundation ‘Harry Fultz’. The Foundation was financially supported by the US Department of State and the SOROS Foundation. The purpose of the foundation was to reopen the Technical School ‘Harry Fultz’ in Tirana. Thousands of students have attended this school.
Dr. Leka was the vice president of the Foundation until March 31, 2006. Donald Leka, one of the founders of the foundation, was appointed executive director, a position he held for seven years, during which time he moved with his wife, Claire Leka, to New York. However, Dr. Leka feels good that his son, Donald, has not left Albania to this day. A few days ago he was back in Albania, where the Albanian media had him in the spotlight.
ALL HIS LIFE HEALING THE NATION’S WOUNDS
Since his youth, Agim Leka was clear in his nationalist stance. His reactions are part of the national consciousness. He was only 18 years old, when on May 5, 1942, he translated and published the book; “The Cordignano Scandal and the Defense of the Albanian Nation”, in Italian, with the title; “Risposta a Cordignano su suoi giudizi nei riguardi degli Albanesi”. It was a long adventure to publish this book, which Dr. Leka tells me in detail.
It was not easy, many obstacles had to be overcome, because there were Italians in Albania, but he managed to publish the book in 2 thousand copies, through the “Kastrioti” Printing House. The book was accompanied by a preface written by the young Agim Leka; “Prefazione e traduzione di Agim Leka (Borshi)”. He explained there the need to publish the book in Italian, during the fascist occupation. The work was originally written under the pseudonym “Nike Barcolla”. The real author was the patriotic cleric, Don Nikollë Mazrreku, who at that time was assistant parish priest in the Catholic Parish of Tirana.
The book defended the Albanian Nation against a denigrating article against the Albanian Nation, written by the Italian Catholic priest, Fulvio Cordignano, who had published an anti-Albanian work in the “Rivista d’Albania”, entitled; “L’Albania nella storia e nella vita ossia visione panoramica di un piccolo mondo primitive”. The publication of the fascist priest caused indignation, while the Shkodra students submitted a petition to the rector of the Jesuits in Shkodra, demanding that Father Fulvio Cordignano publicly withdraw the article, while the group of professors of the Shkodra Lyceum published a brochure entitled; “Cordignano on trial before the world”!
Don Nikollë Mazrrek’s work “The Kordignano Scandal and the Defense of the Albanian Nation”, was a deserved response. After publication, Don Mazrreku was exiled to the highland villages, to eliminate his influence in the capital, while the book written in Albanian, was seized by order of the Viceroy of King Victor Emmanuel, Jacomoni.
Dr. Leka has always been attentive to developments related to Albania. Here is an example: The American newspaper ‘The New York Times’ of September 7, 1957, published the article by Dr. Agim Leka (under the pseudonym “Illyricus”) with the title; “For the Freedom of Albania, a Positive American Policy is Required, to Promote Liberation from the Soviets”.
In the article, Dr. Leka wrote: “The declaration of the Secretary of State of America, Mr. Dulles, that; ‘The American Government will not cease its efforts to see Albania free, is undoubtedly welcomed by the vast majority of the Albanian Nation, which sees American democracy as the spiritual direction of the world. What the Albanians want to see as an appendix to this declaration is a guarantee from Mr. Dulles that the US will not allow another division of the Albanian Nation, which is half-dismembered”!
In 1961, Dr. Leka protested to the editorial office of the Encyclopedia Britannica about the incorrect biography of the Albanian National Hero, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, which presented him as of Serbian origin. Dr. Leka was concerned and asked Metropolitan Fan S. Noli for help in documenting Gjergj Kastrioti’s Albanian origin. The answer came from Bishop Noli on August 21, 1961.
The letter was accompanied by documents published in Noli’s book; “George Kastrioti Scanderbeg”. Dr. Leka sent the documents and the error was corrected. In the 1967 reprint, the Encyclopedia Britannica published no longer the article with Serbian sources, but the biographical article of Tajar Zavalani, about the National Hero of the Albanians.
In the conversation, I reminded Dr. Leka that; in the archive of the Federation ‘Vatra’ I found a chronicle of the activities organized on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the newspaper ‘Dielli’, where the Arbëresh of Italy also participated. The chronicle wrote that at the scientific conference, a lecture of yours was also described, for a television documentary on NBC. Can you remember the details, what the documentary described and what the reaction was?
Dr. Leka’s explanation was as follows: – “On December 29, 1968, a year before the Arbëresh came to the grand ceremonies of the 60th anniversary of the ‘Dielli’, the documentary ‘Rosselin’s Sicily’ was shown on the NBC channel. In the documentary Rossellini said: ‘The Greek presence is still felt in Sicily. This village is ‘Piana Dei grecci’, literally; ‘Plain of the Greeks’. The influence of Christian Greece is clearly visible here: ‘Mussolini ordered the name to be changed to Piana degli albanesi’ (“plain of the Albanians”), but this did not do the trick. Yet Piana is still Greek in appearance and the old customs are kept intact”!
After this explanation, when I asked Mr. Leka what his reaction was, he told us: “I sent an open letter to the Italian director, Roberto Rosellini, through the NBC Television Channel, documenting the Albanianness of the Arbëresh and I asked the television channel that this documentary should no longer be shown due to inaccuracies. I also sent the Arbëresh correspondence with the NBC television channel, asking them to defend their origin. The reaction was immediate; the television channel replied that the documentary would no longer be shown. And so it happened”.
Dr. Leka has always been sensitive to his Nation. He experienced the events in Kosovo in the late 1960s with pain. On January 18, 1969, The New York Times published a long letter by Dr. Leka, entitled; “The Albanians of Yugoslavia”. This letter was inspired by an article that the newspaper itself had published about the murder of an Albanian boy in the demonstration of November 28, 1968 in Pristina.
We extract a fragment from the letter in question: “The Yugoslav government can win the goodwill of the civilized world and of the Kosovars themselves, if it treats the demonstrators in a humane manner. Also, the Yugoslav government can learn from the American experience that demonstrations held peacefully can point out to the authorities and the whole world injustices, which if corrected in time, can help strengthen the state…! Tito must give Kosovo the political position that it today seeks…”!
Dr. Leka’s attention has also been drawn to the movements of the Greek state in the South of Albania. The beginning of the thaw in relations between Albania and Greece, after 31 years of freezing, brought Dr. Leka’s reaction.
In a letter entitled; “Albania’s Relations with Greece”, which ‘The New York Times’ published on 17 July 1971, on the editorial page, Dr Agim Leka, after denouncing the absurd policy and equally absurd demands of Greece on Southern Albania, its division, and the occupation of Chameria, wrote: “The Paris Peace Conference of 1919-20 ended with the division of the Albanian Nation among its neighbors, allowing large parts of Albanian territories to be appropriated by the Yugoslav state and the Greek state”.
Rarely do we find an intellectual who has reacted so lucidly as Dr. Leka. On 12 February 1971, he made an appeal to the dissident Yugoslav writer, Milovan Gjilas, who had been a close associate of Broz Tito, asking him to raise his voice for the release of his fellow writer, Adem Demaçi.
The patriot’s duty did not end there; Dr. Leka contacted the Human Rights Committee in New York, to help the Albanian community in NY, to collect and send aid packages to Albanian prisoners in Yugoslav prisons. This Committee contacted the American Embassy in Belgrade, to mediate in the delivery of the packages to the Albanian prisoners.
Several times Dr. Leka reacted to the anti-Albanian actions of the Greek-American lobby. On January 28, 1971, he wrote to the Greek-American congressman Gus Yatron, regarding the sessions of the American Congress that he chaired, and called on him to stop promoting Greek chauvinist demands in Albania. No Albanian was called to the sessions, to defend the thesis contrary to the Greek one, that the Greek minority was being abused in Albania.
The anti-Albanian attacks of the Greek-American writer and former journalist, Nicholas Gage, against Southern Albania are well known. In an article published in the Washington Post on April 11, 1983, Gage titled; “Kosovo, a Powder Keg”, comparing Kosovo to the Greek minority in Albania and demanding equal treatment from the international community.
Dr. Agim Leka replied in May 1983 and with facts refuted Gage’s unfounded comparison. His reactions in defense of Ramush Haradinaj and the issue of justice in the war for the liberation of Kosovo are also well known. Dr. Leka’s concerns about the national issue have also been reflected in the Albanian press, here in the USA and in Kosovo. Thus, Dr. Leka, in addition to his human duty as a doctor, has also “treated” the wounds of the Nation…@
CONSIDERATIONS
Dr. Agim Leka feels appreciated for what he has done in life. What about the appreciation of others for him? He felt very honored when, on March 19, 2011, the Albanian-American Medical Association organized a grand evening, dedicated to his dedication for half a century, in the service of the health of citizens. The values of this honor were also added by the participation and presentation of the award that was granted to him by the association, by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Ferid Murat, honorary president of the association. The dinner was served at the prestigious club of Harvard University.In this appreciation event, the President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Peter Karmel, and the regional director of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Jamie R. Torres, also came to honor Dr. Leka, who also greeted and congratulated Dr. Agim Leka. Likewise, Dr. Agim Leka was honored in the American Congress on May 26, 1994, for the opening of the Albanian Medical Center.
In this appreciation event, Dr. Leka was honored by the President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Peter Karmel, and the regional director of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Jamie R. Torres, who also greeted and congratulated Dr. Agim Leka. Likewise, Dr. Agim Leka was honored in the American Congress on May 26, 1994, for the opening of the Albanian Medical Center.
A special appreciation was given to Dr. Leka by ‘Mercy Medical Center’ in Rockville, honoring him with the motivation; “In sincere gratitude and appreciation for distinguished service, dedication and commitment over 40 years”. In April 2013, the New York State Medical Association awarded Dr. Leka a plaque of appreciation, with the inscription; “In appreciation for 50 years of dedication, service to the public, in the practice of the medical profession”.
An emotional appreciation was given to Dr. Leka in December 2006 by “Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center”, which hosted a magnificent dinner and gave him a motivational appreciation; “In appreciation, best wishes for a long and happy life on the occasion of the end of his professional career, – from friends and colleagues”. Memorie.al
