Dashnor Kaloçi
Second part
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), where Enver Hoxha’s political diary is in the period March-April 1981, when mass demonstrations and protests began of the people of Kosovo, who rose up to demand their legitimate rights and freedoms, just as the other nationalities and nations that made up the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had and enjoyed. The entire political diary of the main leader of communist Albania, where he and the official Tirana of that time, closely followed the events of Kosovo and spoke openly in public, coming out openly in defense of our Kosovar brothers across the border who lived for centuries in the lands their ethnic groups, who rose up to demand their legitimate rights and freedoms as they had and enjoyed the other nationalities and nations of Yugoslavia at the time, and accusing official Belgrade of the discriminatory policies pursued by the Titoist regime until at the time against Kosovo and the entire Albanian population living under Yugoslavia, and also accusing the Kosovo leadership of being “pro-Tito”, and “sold to the Belgrade leadership”. But different from that attitude, the communist regime of Enver Hoxha since 1949 when official Tirana
“According to news agencies, in Pristina and Podujeva, yesterday and today, students, who were joined by workers, erupted in demonstrations and other clashes, more furious than the first. The situation has become very honorable. Yugoslav authorities surrounded Pristina with tanks. Large Serbian police and militia forces have arrived in Kosovo from Belgrade. The state of siege was declared, the circulation in groups was stopped and the lakes of the Titoite Lacanians began, from Fadil Hoxha, Xhavit Nimani, Asllan Fazllija and others. What they did not say against the demonstrators, they used all the words contained in the Titoist dictionary, made the dirtiest accusations: “Albanian nationalists”, “irredentists”, “informbureaux”, “agents of imperialism”, “ballists”, etc. After swearing and accusations against Albanian students, hosanara for Tito, for Titoism, for self-government and for “Kosovo’s victories”. After the hosanars for titism, deceptive promises “we will do this”, “we will do it”, “there are difficulties, but the world crisis is to blame” etc. Finally, numerous arrests and threats of even greater retaliation. “It is clear that Kosovars are oppressed, miserable, bloodied by Serbs and Titoism.”
This is what the former main leader of communist Albania, Enver Hoxha, wrote in his diary of April 3, 1981, focusing on the events in Kosovo, which at that time was the Autonomous Province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. , where only a few months after the death of Marshal Josof Broz Tito (May 4, 1980), who ruled the country for almost 35 years since the end of World War II, in the Yugoslavia he left behind, the riots would begin. such as the mass demonstrations and protests of the people of Kosovo, who rose up to demand their legitimate rights and freedoms, just as the other nationalities and nations that made up the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had and enjoyed passed until the calls “Kosovo Republic”.
As it is already known, which we will see from these archival documents where the political diary of Enver Hoxha, the main leader of communist Albania and official Tirana, is, followed the events of Kosovo and spoke publicly, coming out openly in defense of our Kosovar brothers across the border who have lived for centuries in their ethnic lands and accusing official Belgrade of the discriminatory policy it had pursued up to that time against Kosovo and the entire Albanian population living under Yugoslavia, and also accusing the leadership of Kosovo as “pro-Tito”, and “sold to the leadership of Belgrade”.
But contrary to what he said in words, he never did it with deeds and the attitude that official Tirana held towards the events of Kosovo in the spring of ’81, seems to have been just enough for the facade and only for public consumption in the international arena, as the regime Enver Hoxha’s communist regime from 1949, when official Tirana broke off relations with Marshal Tito’s Yugoslavia, until the end of the 1980s, pursued a policy towards Kosovars who came to Albania to escape the persecution of the Titoist regime. even more cruel to them, imprisoning, torturing and interning them, with the accusations of “UDB agents”! Likewise, although in the events of the spring of 1981 and onwards, official Tirana ostensibly supported the demonstrations of the people of Kosovo and their demands for a “Kosovo Republic”, Enver Hoxha would never want that to become a reality. because in a way, two Albanian states would be created, where Kosovo would become a factor and Albania under his leadership, would be defactorized in the international arena. In this context, immediately after those events, official Tirana intensified the persecution and violence against Kosovars who were in Albania, arresting and sentencing to prison some Kosovar intellectuals, such as: Selim Kelmendi, Estref Kelmendi, Shefqet Kelmendi, Naim Lucin, etc., who were arrested in 1983, accused of “attempting to assassinate the main leader, Enver Hoxha, during his visit to the Museum” Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu “in Kruja in 1980”.
And all this was done to lower the reputation of Kosovars and Kosovo in the eyes of the Albanians of the homeland. However, these remain the object of analysis that are not the object of this article, where we are publishing only the political diary of Enver Hoxha, which he kept in that period of time, which Memorie.al publishes for the first time and in full, starting from the number yesterday.
Continues from the last number
Enver Hoxha’s political diary on the events of demonstrations and protests of the people of Kosovo in the spring of 1981
SATURDAY
11 APRIL 1981
ALBANIANS HAVE NEVER TOLERATED ROBERIA
The hostility of the Serbs is viserales against the Albanians in general and, in particular, against the Albanians living on their own lands in Yugoslavia of the former Serbian kings, King Tito and other chauvinists who rule there after him. Albanians living in Yugoslavia created by the anti-Albanian treaties of London and Versailles, have been and are constantly persecuted, have no freedom. They have never decided on their own destiny, not even after the National Liberation War, despite what the Titoites claim. The borders of the “new” Yugoslavia were established in Bihac, if I am not mistaken, in the first or second meeting of AVNOJ, and no Albanian participated in this so-called constitutional meeting. These “new frontiers” were the same old ones that Clemenceau set at will in Versailles. So, the “self-determination” of the peoples of Yugoslavia is a lie, why after the liberation no referendum was held, no one was asked. Everything was decided especially to the detriment of the interests of the Albanians by the Titoist pseudo-Marxists, who were nothing but chauvinists and rabid nationalists. Kosovo was even designated a simple province of Serbia and was called Kosmet. Later, with an amendment to the constitution of the SFRY, it was renamed the “Autonomous Province of the RS of Serbia”. Albanian lands and ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia became, in the full sense of the word, market plunder: part was called the “Autonomous Province of Kosovo”, part was annexed to Macedonia, which otherwise would not even make sense to be called “RS e” Macedonia », to which the Bulgarians have claims, where Turks and Greeks also live, the so-called Macedonians of the Aegean, and a third of the Albanian lands joined the Republic of Montenegro, which without the Albanians there are not even 400 thousand people. This is how the Yugoslav Titoites decorated their Federation. Stane Dolanci in an interview given to foreign and Yugoslav journalists in Belgrade about the events in Kosovo, condemned, as a rabid chauvinist dog, Kosovo Albanians, attacked the rightful demands of Kosovars that their province become a republic by said, among other things, that “Kosovo will never become a republic”, why such a thing is not in the interest of Serbia, that, if that republic is proclaimed, “the Federation is destroyed”, etc. There is no better proof than this that the Yugoslav Federation stands on the basis of the use as “market currency” of Albanian lands and Albanians. In other words, the fragmentation of the Albanians keeps the Federation “on its feet”, while the proclamation of Kosovo as a republic “injures Serbia”, makes the RS of Macedonia non-existent and impoverishes Montenegro. According to Dolanc, therefore, Serbia has invaded Kosovo. Dolanci thinks that if Kosovo becomes a republic, the desires of Croats, with “Muslim nationality”, etc., for hegemony in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be revived. Therefore, according to him, let the bad continue to fall on the backs of Albanians. Dolanci lied in this interview when, to hide the truth, he said that 11 people were killed in Kosovo. According to other data, 150-200 people have been killed so far: in Prishtina, 13 in Ferizaj, 3 in Prizren. There are many killed in Lipjan, Obiliq (high school students), Podujeva, etc. There are plenty of injured, hospitals are full. Prisons too. Massacre, a real genocide against Albanians by the Serbian police and army. But this will not pass easily, as the Yugoslav enemies, the killers of our Kosovar brothers, think. We will study this vital problem in depth and draw the consequences. Although we have no hand in these demonstrations, we will defend our Kosovar brothers to the end, in their rights and our common. The Albanian does not tolerate slavery, he knows and has proven that freedom is gained through blood and war. Glory to the students, workers, youth and all the Albanian people living on their lands in Tito’s Yugoslavia, who showed the iron fist to the enemy. Let the Titoists tremble, the Albanians also have “two hands for one head”. They have been very patient, very kind. We shed our blood for the liberation of the peoples of Yugoslavia, and they put their guns on us!? Jo. This is the culmination of hostility, savagery, Serbo-Titoist chauvinism.
FRIDAY
17 APRIL 1981
THE REAL REASONS FOR THE SITUATION AND EVENTS OF LATEST TIMES IN TITISTIC YUGOSLAVIA
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Stane Dolanci with Slovenian nationality, where the standard of living is among the highest in Yugoslavia, in the interview he gave to foreign and Yugoslav journalists in Belgrade about the events in Kosovo, we can say that he did not mention the difficult economic situation at all of this province. He should not only have mentioned this, but also should have analyzed why Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia have such a high level, while Kosovo so low. Is the land of Slovenia, Croatia or Serbia more fertile than that of Kosovo? Isn’t the underground of Kosovo richer than any other underground that loves a Yugoslav republic? Does not Mr. Dolanci know that economic issues play a crucial role in the existence of states and peoples? Do not these issues determine the good or bad domestic and foreign policy of a country? Why not take the trouble to explain these capital problems? It is easy to explain these primordial issues with political and ideological insults, that “Albanians proved to be counter-revolutionaries, chauvinists, irredentists”.
The latter do not explain the former, while the former may cause the latter. How can in a country like Yugoslavia, where “equality in political and economic rights”, “unity-fraternity” is preached, in reality there be discrimination and inequality in these basic rights? How can one republic or province be treated as the “son of the mother” and the other province as the “stepmother”, to have one brother eating with a golden spoon and the other with a small wooden spoon? This shows neither “union” nor “brotherhood”. “In the good and in the difficult to be the same.” This was and is the slogan of the Yugoslav revisionists. But this is not the case in Tito’s Yugoslavia, nor in post-Tito Yugoslavia. Who is to blame for this real situation? The article of “Voice of the People”, which expressed its opinion as the whole world press, which condemned the Yugoslav leadership for the barbaric repression exercised against Kosovo Albanians?! Socialist Albania and the newspaper “Zeri i Popullit”, even before the others, have the right to have their say on the brutal killings and tortures committed by the UDB and the Serbian army against Kosovo Albanians. And this is not the first time such a thing has been done.
History is not forgotten, it is written. ‘Scripta manent’. Screams, shouts, epithets, hiding the truth from “great” personalities of the Federation and the republics, the hysteria of the Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian press, etc., which reach to monstrous accusations, according to which “Socialist Albania has a finger in the demonstrations of Kosovo ”, that“ Socialist Albania joined the Croatian-Slovenian-Albanian reaction to emigration ”, that“ Albania joins those countries that want the overthrow of the Yugoslav Federation ”. etc., etc., are slanders of thugs. The more numerous and loud these shouts are, the better humanity realizes that desperate efforts are being made to cover up the truth. Verba volant. Nothing will remain of these, that nothing is true. Mr. Dolanci, in the interview in question, said that “11 people were killed in demonstrations in Kosovo.” One of his Albanian servants from the Kosovo leadership said nine. Apparently on this issue they did not have time to agree and agree. However, everyone lied to the world and the Yugoslav public.
The foreign press talks about hundreds killed, hundreds missing, injured and arrested in Kosovo. Only the people of Kosovo know this well, why their blood was shed – why it was shed and who caused this tragedy. They, therefore, were neither 9 nor 11 people, but hundreds killed and, telling foreign journalists that what happened was the work of a handful of “chauvinists”, it was thought that the reasons were given and hands were washed. But the truth will break down the walls of the Yugoslav siege and censorship, which has been established in Kosovo, and the world will see what mass massacres were committed there by the Serbian army and police, will see the frauds that took place and will recognize the face of true of that “self-governing socialism” with a supposedly human face and that “is solving the external world problems with such acrobatic skill and the internal ones with such exemplary justice and supremacy – with tanks”. The tin is coming out of this lie. Dolanci also said that “we know who the organizers are. “They are in Stuttgart, Brussels and the United States.” He also said that allegedly a small number of people lied during the demonstration.
When Mr. Dolanci knew the organizers were in Stuttgart and elsewhere in Europe, why did he not neutralize them? If a small number of people took part in the demonstration, then why were the army, the Belgrade militia, the tanks and the planes sent there? Is the “wedding spoiled for a grain of olive”, that “wedding”, for which now from the four corners of Yugoslavia flood like the river Danube, Sava and Drava telegrams full of indignation and anger against “Albanian chauvinists and irredentists”, and full ditirambic anthems for the “unity of the nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia”? Who incites and strengthens enmity between the peoples of Yugoslavia? This furious campaign launched by the Yugoslav leadership, or the natural, fair and prudent article of the “Voice of the People”, which Dolanci himself during his press conference, when a foreign journalist asked him: “Does he have a finger? Albania “, he answered:” no “and added that” no protest has come from Albania “. This proves that the “culprit” was expecting a protest. But the Albanian government did not make an official protest.
Did the Yugoslav leadership want the Albanian press to be silent about this tragedy that it caused in Kosovo, when the whole world press has been talking for weeks and condemning the savagery shown? No, Yugoslav leaders. Be realistic, keep your cool! What are you doing for the demonstrators and strikers of “Solidarnost” in Poland, where so far not a single rifle has been fired at them by the Polish government? You are talking, you are writing. You only have the right to speak and write and, when we published a fair article on the great problem of Kosovo, you jumped up, but what a throw, so much so that Radio Zagreb managed to threaten the existence of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania! Zagreb forgets that Albania knows how to defend itself even without Zagreb. He should know that Yugoslavia, even that of Tito, has never helped the liberation of Albania. Whereas the Albanian National Liberation Army has helped with bloodshed the liberation of the peoples of Yugoslavia and we will again do this sublime act when Yugoslavia is endangered! We do not have these words, but deeds, and you talk nonsense and make threats to thugs!
Did you forget, Yugoslav leaders, how you fought at the Paris Conference on Trieste, Pula, Fiumen, etc.? You were right. We did not call you “chauvinists or irredentists”. But when you were not like that, why did it not occur to you that there was an Albanian population, the third largest in Yugoslavia, which had to join Albania, your socialist ally in the National Liberation War? You are silent. Why are you silent, when you are so principled with us? You did not even give the status of an autonomous province to Kosovo until 1968. Why did President Tito not realize what he told me in the official talks we had in 1946 that “Kosovo and other areas inhabited by Albanians belong to Albania and will let us return to you, but not now, that the great Serb reaction would not accept such a thing “. Mr. Dolanci more openly expressed his opinion “Kosovo will never become a republic … why does Serbia not allow this”. “If Kosovo becomes a republic within the Federation”, said Dolanci, then the Federation was destroyed “. In other words, this means that the areas of Albania have become market loot and at the same time are the “key of the wall” that keeps the Federation afloat. Strange thought! We do not say that, said Dolanci.
“The Republic of Kosovo” within the Yugoslav Federation, we did not ask, the people of Kosovo asked. No territorial claims were made by the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania. You cannot find such a request in any document, but documents to protect the rights of Kosovar brothers and Albanians living on their lands in other republics of Yugoslavia, rights that are recognized by the constitution and that have been violated and are being trampled, you will find plenty, in the past and in the present. And it depends on the policy of the Yugoslav government towards the Albanians whether there will be or not in the future. Yugoslavs have also protested against shop signs, “why not write in Serbian”, when it comes to a place where there is a minority of them! This is what Mr. uuranovi bëri did recently in Austria, among other things, in relation to the small Slovenian minority in Carinthia. We did not accuse him of being “counter-revolutionary, irredentist or chauvinist.” How can the Albanian people not be interested not in the shop signs in Kosovo, but in the Albanian language itself, in schools, their freedoms and rights, how can they not be interested in mass killings, imprisonments and tortures of Albanians in Yugoslavia? /Memorie.al
Continues in the next issue
