By Silva Turdiu
Second part
Memorie.al publishes an open letter written by Bashkim Shehu, the son of the former Albanian Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu, which he sent publicly to Nexhmije Hoxha, the widow of the communist dictator Enver Hoxha, on April 2, 2004. , where through the newspaper “Korrieri”, he reacted to the book “Friendship Betrayed”, which Nexhmija had just published at that time, and parts of that book were published for 15 days, by the newspaper “Sekulli”.
Only two days after Bashkim Shehu’s letter addressed publicly to Nexhmije Hoxha, on April 4, 2004, the USA reacted for the first time, where Mrs. Silva Turdiu, the famous former volleyball player of the “Dinamo” team of Tirana and also of the Albanian representative, (former fiancee of the second son of Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, Skenderit), who with facts and arguments, answers the accusations that she had written in her book, Nexhmije Hoxha.
On April 5, 2004, Mr. Bashkim Shehu has responded to the interest of the press by giving an interview to the daily “Koha Jonë”, where the well-known writer, publicist and translator reacted again against the book with accusations of the widow of the former communist dictator Enver Hoxha, Nexhmija. ,
Continues from last issue
AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF ENVER’S WIDOW’S MEMORIES
Silva Turdiu: Nexhmija is lying
The ex-fiancée of Mehmet Shehu’s son speaks
A few days after Nexhmije Hoxha started publishing the memoirs of her third book, in one of the Albanian dailies, comes the response from the United States of America and Silva Turdiu. The ex-fiancée of the son of Mehmet Shehu, the strong hand of the communist regime, at the same time one of the most talked about characters of the events that followed the suicide of the prime minister, reacts strongly. The little daughter of the well-known mathematics professor, the talented volleyball player of the “Dinamo” and the national team, daughter of one of the most famous and respected families in Tirana, breaks her silence after a long time, to confess her truths.
The reaction of Silva Turdi from the USA, against Nexhmije Hoxha’s memoir, “Friendship Betrayed”
“Shekulli” newspaper is publishing the memoirs of Nexhmije Hoxha and unpublished discussions of Enver Hoxha, regarding the events of 81, where my name and that of my family are often mentioned. In the heads of Enver and Nexhmije, fantasy and reality are mixed made into a tangle, so much so that even they themselves do not know how to separate them.
This is understandable, not only because they acted according to the Machiavellian principle that; the goal justifies the means, but also that they have been surrounded by “yes-men” and sycophants.
I would prefer that Nexhmije Hoxha and their ilk no longer write about me and my family. Unable to verify this fact, I have no choice but to refute it.
I would have remained silent if only I was being talked about, but I am sorry to tarnish the reputation of others, most of who are dead and cannot answer.
- Nexhmije’s memoirs contain, among other things, tendentious rumors about the private lives of my family members, sixty years ago, which are so ordinary that they do not deserve an answer. I will focus only on statements of “political” significance.
Even today, Nexhmija continues to repeat the Enverian tale of 6-7 war criminals in my family circle. It is not true that the Turdiu and Pipa families had war criminals, but democratic, anti-communist intellectuals who only used words and pen.
- So Nexhmije Hoxha, for the sake of the truth, erases the expression “war criminals” from the notebooks where my family is mentioned and replaces it with “warriors of word and pen”.
It is not true that my father, Prof. Qazim Turdiu, has been with ‘Balli’. The simple truth is that he never got into politics because he didn’t like politics.
- Arshi Pipa, my mother had both uncle’s son and aunt’s son. It is not true that Prof. Arshi Pipa was “the leader of the reaction and enemy of the people”, but, on the contrary, a symbol of the people’s resistance against the dictatorship.
The brothers Myzafer and Arshi Pipa were innocent victims of the communist regime. During the war, they were known anti-fascists and democrats (let Nexhmija ask Ramiz). After the war, the 29-year-old lawyer Myzafer Pipa was tortured to death because he believed in the independence of the judicial system from the political power.
Philosophy professor Arshi Pipa rotted in prison for anti-Yugoslav sentiments, at the time when Enver Hoxha was Tito’s tool. In 1958, Arshi Pipa crossed the border (together with one of his brave sisters) and immigrated to the United States, where he was affirmed as an outstanding scholar and a hero of the fight for human rights.
- It is not true that my father, prof. Qazim Turdiu, has been “processed” by Sigurimi. The malicious word “processed”, in the text of Enver’s discussion the day after Mehmet Shehu’s death, is deliberately tepid and implies ugly things.
While the truth is that in 1972, Qazim Turdiu was called to the Ministry of Internal Affairs where a senior official told him that he had to write to his brother in America, Dr. Ramazan Turdiut, to stop the activity against the communist regime in Albania.
Otherwise, there would be devastating family consequences. Qazim Turdiu consulted with his brothers and decided to write a letter to Ramadan, which was signed by his grandmother, with the belief that Ramadan would understand that they were under pressure.
Mehmet Shehu tried to use this fact in the debates with Enver to prove that Qazim Turdiu was not an enemy. Enveri replied that he was “processed” and did not do it sincerely.
Therefore, Nexhmije Hoxha, for the sake of truth, does well to scribble the word “processed” from Enver’s notebooks and replace it with “threatened”.
However, it is quite obvious that Enver’s notebooks are not authentic, but sanitized, in order for Enver to make a better image and Mehmet to look like a wretch.
In reality, the content and tone of Enver’s clash with Mehmet was quite different.
- It is not true that my engagement with Skender Shehu was imposed.
- It is not true that we had pressure from the Shehu family or their emissaries to accept the engagement.
- According to the tradition of our people, every engagement has a personal side that belongs to the couple, and a family side that the parents deal with.
It is true that Qazim Turdiu was reluctant to get engaged, not because he “didn’t want to betray his class”, as Nexhmija writes anachronistically, because he was a humanist and did not believe in dividing the people into classes, but because he did not approve of the side brutal regime, where Mehmet Shehu was one of the protagonists.
But, on the other hand, he also believed that every ram depends on his own feet and that the son is not responsible for the sins of the father.
- It is not true that the moral figure of Skënder Shehu was as described by Nexhmija. Let her ask Skender’s close friend, Ilir Hoxha.
- It is not true that Enver Hoxha “knew nothing” about Qazim Turdiu, when he visited to congratulate the engagement. I was present. He told me himself that he knew Qazim Turdiu well and expressed high regard. Why did he change the sheet later?!
- In the discussion at the Bureau, Enveri expressed great concern about the engagement photos with Enveri in charge, that they have not fallen into the hands of the international reaction, concocting the fantasy that; the photographs will have gone to Turdinj, then to Greece and then to the hands of Arshi Pipa in America.
The truth is that no one even remembered the photos with Enver (Enver liked the camera and never left an opportunity without being photographed), and they will have remained on the camera of one of the “Blok” photographers.
The picture “plot” fantasy is a miniature mock-up of the fantastical plot constructions unrealized in the Enverian diabetic brain.
What Enver and Nexhmija have written about the facts I know and the people I know are almost all lies.
If we use the method of reasoning by induction, most of the things that have been said about others must also be lies.
However, it is not difficult “to read between the lines” in Nexhmije’s memoirs: The situation in the leadership of the Party was suffocating.
The “comrades” (already old and drained), hated each other, kept “compromising” documents in the safes, for the friend and couldn’t wait for someone to make a mistake and attack them as if they were hungry.
Enveri followed the “divide and rule” tactic, Kadriu wanted to take Mehmet’s place, while Ramizi was aiming for Enveri’s chair.
The “friends” used the tactics of the envious old women, to make fun of the old men: “Do you know, Enver, what is the biography of Skenderi’s fiancee?
“Did you notice Fiqret’s new armchairs? They have better ones than ours. By the way, Turdiu gave Pranvera a bad grade in mathematics”!
And the height of absurdity, as much as it is included in the category of funny, is the Enverian trick that; the police agent Mehmet Shehu received a clear order from the foreign services to kill Enver Hoxha in order to overthrow the regime in Albania.
This he could not do, because it was too “difficult” (although with ten people, you could conquer the whole Block). Then, as a second option, to overthrow the regime, he engaged the boy!
(It is much more plausible that an intelligent individual, such as Mehmet Shehu, under the modernizing influence of his sons, would have finally understood the fratricidal futility of class warfare and viewed this engagement as a means of improve the regime, not overthrow it.)
Let’s go back to the present time:
It’s good that Enveri was crazy and died, but to you, Nexhmije Hoxha, I’m talking to you as a woman and a mother, why aren’t you ashamed that you didn’t save your close friend from school and the war and her children, who grew up together with your children. Memorie.al
Silva Turdiu
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