Dashnor Kaloçi
Part twenty-eight
Memorie.al/ publishes some archival documents issued by the institution of the Authority for Information of Former State Security Files, where is the voluminous file (forms, investigative and court), of Myrteza Bajraktari originating from Gostivar, who after finishing school high school in the city of Tetovo, in 1952, began his higher studies at the University of Skopje, in the branch of Philosophy, where in addition to teaching he was employed as a journalist in the newspaper “Flaka e Vllaznimit” published in Skopje, from where he was fired soon after, he published an article where he was openly against the displacement of Yugoslav Albanians to Turkey and as a result, he was appointed as a teacher in the 7-year school “Shaban Zeneli” in Kumanovo. Myrtezai was arrested by the UDB in 1952, after he was part of a secret organization called the ‘Albanian National-Democratic Organization’, and he was sentenced to seven years in political prison, which he served in the Nis prison and Idrizovo. Escape from Yugoslavia and coming to Albania, where after staying for some time in the internment camp in Seman of Fier, he was given the right to high school, graduating from the University of Tirana in Language and Literature, but after refusing the appointment in the city of Berat, in 1971, he was arrested and sentenced to seven years in political prison, on charges of “agitation and propaganda”. His release from prison left him without a job until the fall of the communist regime and his appointment as Consul General of Albania in Switzerland, until 1993, as well as his election as Honorary President of the Albanian League in the World, for the countries of Benelux, where he worked for the cause of Kosovo, until he passed away on December 11, 2020. The entire complete file of Myrteza Bajraktari, with the names of officials and officers of the State Security, the nicknames of collaborators, “colleagues” and The “compatriots” who followed and monitored him, the provocateurs in the investigation cells, the witnesses who appeared in court, the letters sent to Enver Hoxha and the high official instances where he demanded his innocence, etc., etc., are published for the first time by Memorie .al
Continued from the previous issue
The secret document with the report-information compiled by the Operational Worker Shefqet Metaj, with the data of the Security collaborator with the nickname “Ylli”, regarding the pursuit and surveillance of Myrteza Bajraktari
Received from P.Op. Shefqet Metaj
Given by B.p. “Ylli”
On 25.3.1977
R E P O R T
The source informs that on 21.3.1977 around 17.00, he met again with Myrteza Bajraktari and had a conversation. Part of the conversation took place at Myrteza’s house, and the rest at the “Fish” restaurant. When he entered his house he saw a woman whom he knew and whose name was Lumturi Dhremi. He told me this, I have a wife’s cousin and this has helped me materially.
After leaving, Myrteza’s wife and Lumturia invited him to see pictures of his family in Skopje. When they were looking at the photos Myrtezai told him that your family looks like he is an aristocrat. From this word Myrtezai, began to praise life in Yugoslavia, saying that there did not live like here, but they have all the good. Not only that, but there are not many political prisoners.
Later in a photo of a highly decorated naval officer, Myrtezai said, “This is the revisionist deputy admiral I have as a brother.” When we got out of the house, it was about the prison, and he said: in these times, it is foolish to go to jail because these, to get inside only when you gossip a lot with each other. Myrtezai said: I agree with you. He instructed me not to talk to anyone, because I do not know the job.
Myrtezai told me: “I have a very sharp intuition and I have known you from this intuition. You are a friend of Qani Çollaku whom I had in prison, but I did not have much company”. He went on to say: “People in prison are weakened and not considered brave. For example, someone who had spent 15 years in prison became a security spy. He had worked on a friend in Lushnja and then in Spaç. Myrtezai said: I discovered this spy in her intuition and for this; I ended up a month in prison.
When we sat down in a fish restaurant, Myrtezai told me: “Only two or three days after the salary, the premises are like this, because then, there is no one to eat and drink.” We ordered two glasses of wine, but he did not drink, telling me that he had hospitalized the woman, as she was ill with jaundice, and he was therefore on a diet. Myrtezait got the first glass in his head and started talking boldly. He said: “They put my arm here, imprisoning me, but the day will come for me, because I will respond to you. I have prepared the request to leave the Albanian citizenship. And I sent another letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Inside, where I explained the reasons why I wanted to leave my citizenship and my hand shook when I posted it”!
As he asked: “What will you do if they do not approve the departure”?! Then Myrtezai told me: “I will try to escape because, if I came back illegally, I will reward those who worked for me.” Then I said to him: “Myrteza, you see that we have the same thoughts and when you do this, please tell me too, because as far as he knows, I will not stay here all my working life.” Myrteza told him “I agree because I have the means and the financial means to support you.”
They left him the next day to meet at Myrteza’s house to clarify the matter, but when he went home he did not find her. Myrtezai told him that: he always meets me at home in the evenings because he has the opportunity to eavesdrop on me.
“Ylli”
Report evaluation: The report has operational value as it shows that Myrtezai has decided to escape. B.p. did not act well as, he showed some haste, in his opinion. For this I drew your attention.
Task: Go to Myrtezai again and handle these conversations. Ask if they answered your prayer for escape. Tell us to think about this well and that I have a friend, etc. You told me you have a retired deputy admiral brother. Yes where the Yugoslav government asks about your brother and we can be hired as Security agents. Why didn’t you talk about this job with the loot driver and coordinate with him. We are assuming that we will leave, where will we leave, who will help us, if they catch us what will we do?!
Operational Measures: Myrteza Bajraktari is in operational control 2 / B by Operational Worker Selim Skrevani and to be raised to 2 / A. Organize the interception of their conversations with T. O. Notify the Ministry and the Party Kom to put him to work as soon as possible.
Operational Workshop
Shefqet Metaj
The secret document with the report-information compiled by the Operational Worker Shefqet Metaj, with the data of the Security collaborator with the nickname “Ylli”, regarding the pursuit and surveillance of Myrteza Bajraktari
Received from P.Op. Shefqet Metaj
Given by B.p. “Ylli”
On 4.4.1977
R A P O R T
The source informs that on March 28, 1977, he met again with Myrteza Bajraktari, but this time Myrtezaj was more reserved. According to the assigned task, he, talking about the belongings that came to him from Skopje as an inheritance, asked Myrtezai about the driver he had brought. Myrtezaj told him that I did not know the driver who brought the belongings, but, “according to the announcement, together with a friend of his, in order not to be compromised alone, he went to the foreign park in Lapraka and there his friend ( Dimçe Haxhihalili), talked to the driver ”and there after taking a taxi and the two showed him the way to Myrtezaj’s house.
There the driver told me that: tonight I will sleep with the brothers, you can meet me there, but Myrtezaj, and to some extent I do not hear him. When asked who the driver’s brothers were, Myrtezaj said: one or two communist brothers and I go there with a bang. His allusions regarding the use of the driver for his own purposes, Myrtezaj told him: the words I said to you that night to escape, were under the influence of alcohol and what they have treated me very badly here, because I was the leader of Kosovar youth, but they put me in prison in vain and for that I am very revolted.
I – said Myrtezaj – I have decided to wait for an answer from the President and the Minister of Internal Affairs and in my opinion, the answer will be positive, it is a peaceful solution to the issue, because I think about my family, children and my head, because with these it is not a joke, to move the tail a little, to cut off the head, especially when I do not have any acquaintances across the border.
In addition, Myrtezaj said about the prison. I was put in prison for stubbornness and for the authority I enjoyed among Kosovars, who took me by the neck since the removal of Servet Backa from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the one who took his place, Haki Keta, has been very mean to me, right after I got into a fight with him, he conspired with me.
An adult came to the prison and told me a few words about Kapllan Resuli and I would release him, but I told him no. You had said – he said – because you yourself told me that Kapllan Resuli was a donkey and the donkey, why does it hit him, nothing is done to him. Myrtezaj said: That’s right, but I am not the type to be a witness, even though I knew that Kapllan Resuli was nothing.
Myrtezaj said that he had talked on the phone with his sister, regarding his requests to leave, and she told him that now he leaves this matter to us to solve from here, she would talk from Skopje with his brother who is in Belgrade on this issue. In addition, Myrtezaj told him that one of his first cousins, who lives in Lushnje and he calls him uncle, would go to Turkey for residence and from there help Myrtezaj.
“Ylli”
Evaluation of the report: The report is valuable because it shows the reactions of Myrteza, it shows that the driver Fuat Fishta who brought the luggage, had no acquaintance and that the tendency to escape, showed only when he was drunk and will leave only through of demand.
Task: Stay close to Myrtezain and enter into conversations with him, ask if he has received any news from his people and or if they help him to return, lest they accept you and that you once fled from there and that you been against their line.
Operational Measures: Report to the Operational Officer, Selim Skrevani, who is following this work.
Operational Workshop
Shefqet Metaj
V.O. Follow the reactions of Myrteza Bajraktari, he clarified these issues, it is true that he applied for citizenship, that he sent a letter, etc.
5.4.1977 ZEF LOKA d.v.
Note: It is true that he wrote a letter to the Minister requesting to leave for Yugoslavia and also wrote a letter to the leader and his wife Nexhmije.
26.4.1977
The secret document with the report-information compiled by the Operational Worker Shefqet Metaj, with the data of the Security collaborator with the nickname “Ylli”, regarding the pursuit and surveillance of Myrteza Bajraktari
SECRET
Received from P.Op. Shefqet Metaj
Given by B.p. “Ylli”
On 23.4.1977
R E P O R T
The source informs that according to the tasks assigned during these days, he met in two or three cases Myrteza Bajraktari, with whom he mainly had these conversations: Myrtezaj told him that he has not received the answer to the request yet, but I said he – I am convinced that, they will allow me to leave, as my brother will also appear in Yugoslavia for this and they have no reason and no interest to break this relationship with the Yugoslavs.
My brother also sent me a postcard with a picture of an Istanbul bridge, the bridge was meaningful so that I would not be upset, and those bridges are being tied to the issue of my escape as soon as possible from here. When I go to Yugoslavia, I will not stay there, but I will go to live in Turkey, because there, I have some of my own people, with great wealth and loans in government. They will take care of me and from there I intend to send this to my family, things to live on.
Continuing the conversation, Myrtezaj said: I have a loyal friend to you, which is rare in our time, so when I leave here, I am leaving you as a worthy representative of mine, where I will send you correspondence as well as other items and you will link them here, with my two friends and my wife. He said: “I will do my best for you and where my son eats, I will eat your son, but these are dumb things, I do not know what friends they are, so keep me aside.”
Myrtezai told him that his friends are loyal, one is called Idriz Lleshi, and the other is called Abdurrahman Haxhihalili, but nevertheless you will remember an address: Rruga “Budi 25”, there lives a loyal friend of mine, a Kosovar, who was in prison, (whose name, he did not reveal), you will go to him and act with him. He promised that he would faithfully carry out all his orders. I will not leave him without rewarding him, said Myrtezaj. He was offended by these words and said: I do this only for the sake of society.
In another conversation, referring to the Turkish embassy, Myrtezai said that: Turkish intelligence carries out a great activity in Albania, but very secret. He told him: “I have not heard that any group has been arrested on behalf of the Turkish Intelligence, on the contrary, arrests have been made for Yugoslavs, Greeks, Americans, but not for the Turks”! Myrtezai told him that: The Turkish intelligence is very secret, he opposed you, saying: “Turku has no interests for Albania and I do not care”, Myrtezaji continued again, saying that: Turku also works for the account of the Americans, so it is not surprising, but the point is in case you, or I, meet with a representative of the Turkish embassy, and ask us to help him, as they have interests, to have capable people here and smart like us.
He said: What interest do you have in working with them? Myrtezai said: To work simply for the sake of increasing well-being thanks to the rewards they give. He told her: “These are dumb things and not only do you lose your head, but you also take the family by the neck.” Myrtezai told him: “The Turks guarantee the family completely, they even intervene to take them there, but to me and to you, this will not happen, because we are smart and they cannot detect us.” He told her: “These jobs need to be well thought out and I cannot give an answer right now.” Myrtezaj said: “No more a, I also say in vain, if such things happen, what can be done”. “He shrugged and let them know that they could talk about it, better next time.”
“Ylli”
Evaluation of the report: The report has operational values, shows the reactions of Myrteza Bajraktari, for his departure from Albania. The part of the report about the connection with the Turkish embassy is doubtful. Maybe he wants to do it, for the sake of what he wants to go to Turkey and he wants to guarantee them, by giving them candidacies, maybe Myrtezai will have connections with them directly. It should be said that one of his cousins, who lives in Lushnje, a Kosovar, has made a request to go to Turkey and has gone to the Turkish embassy, and maybe he can get these messages from him as well.
Task: Stay close to Myrteza and talk to him. If he comes to the connection with the Turkish embassy himself, tell him again, that: these jobs are tedious, especially now in the beginning, you know my work at the airport, there I see many foreigners and diplomats and those of the Turkish embassy i see, this job, gives me some opportunity to see them, but not to talk, so to say that the relationship with them, at first is difficult, I have no way, and to be honest, he does not hold me.
You told me about your cousin who went to the Turkish embassy and now I will leave, what did he tell you about these things, did you talk to him? As for the guarantee for the families to take care of them, I do not believe it at all, where they ask about their guarantee; they put this inside and do not ask about their people and not about me and you.
Operational Measures: For B.p. “Ylli” to prepare a line of conduct and after consuming it, and to give us something of interest, for the connection with the Turkish embassy, or for anything else, then to organize their interception.
To verify Idriz Lleshi and who he is and what we have for him. To verify who lives at the address “Budi 25”. Myrteza Bajraktari should be immediately processed.
Operational Workshop
Shefqet Metaj
Chairman’s note:
The information is very important, to connect the suspicion that Myrtezai is an agent of the Turkish embassy and he does this for the interests of the Yugoslavs, but in a foreign flag so as not to stand out, and they say to recruit B.p. ours. The second option seems more likely to me, although the first option is based on the fact that his uncle went to the Turkish embassy and will be repatriated, and the possibility that he was recruited is not ruled out.
- Get up immediately to 2 / A and be followed by you.
- Make a line of conduct for B.p. and hear it with T.O. where the tendency of espionage and escape emerges.
- Send a copy to Branch I.
- Take measures to ensure that he does not escape.
- Myrtezai was summoned by us on the orders of the fellow minister, but he still stands by what he has been convicted of. We left an appointment with him to think about telling us if, he has something to say.
Kiço Petro d.v.
Note from Comrade Zef:
Agree with the thoughts of Comrade Kiço. Verification to be done quickly. Compile the line of conduct for B.p., the combination we hear with T.O., tell the director as well. Memorie.al
ZEF LOKA d.v.
The next issue follows
