Members, sympathizers, friends and guests of Democratic Party present tonight in this 32nd anniversary of its founding.
Honorable Mr. Meta!
Distinguished leaders of the allied parties present here among us.
Please permit me first bow with the greatest respect in front of the deeds and the courage of the tribune of freedom, Azem Hajdari, and the students whom we called in unison: the liberating students or the angels of democracy who with their epic courage made possible the end of the era of monism in Albania, and marked the beginning of the era of political pluralism, enabling all this with their movement, with their democratic revolution the founding of the first opposition force, that of the Democratic Party of Albania.
May we pay an eternal tribute to all those who have been and will remain my most admired heroes throughout all my life!
Today I must humbly pay an immense respect, and thank with boundless gratitude those hundreds and thousands of boys, girls, young men and women, who invested and committed their minds, energies, dedication and knowledge in these decades for the transformation of Albania, and which still faces a really dramatic situation. But compared to Albania of 32 years ago, I can assure you that it finds itself 32 times further, from it desired transformation, without any comparison.
The Democratic Party was founded 32 years ago, first of all as a party of fundamental freedoms and rights of Albanian citizens, of the most oppressed people of Europe at that time and among the most oppressed ones on the planet. It was founded as a party of democratic values and market economy in the country of the energyless hyper-collectivism. It was founded as the party of the western vocation of the Albanian nation in a society which lived in the most complete separation and the deepest isolation from its righteous trunk belonging to the civilized European countries.
Democratic Party was founded as a party of traditional values, of the conservative nation and of the Albanian nation. It was formed as a patriotic, patriotic, guardian party and an invincible advocate of the national interest and the national issue.
Under these principles, this Party achieved through its governance great results in many extraordinary aspects. It managed to serve and prove itself as a locomotive leading the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes. In a span of four years, it was able to replace the total hyper-collectivism in a span of 4 years with putting the free market at the foundations of the economy, and managing that 80% of the production to come from the private sector.
In the year 2008, Albania, which started on this path in the 1992, being the third poorest country on the planet, and Albanians receiving a total salary of US 204 per capita, marked a quantum leap, moved to the group of countries characterized by a middle-high income.
It managed to multiply its foreign investments and transform the infrastructure. It made possible for this country, with previously had salaries similar to Angola and Uganda, to come out on top regarding average salary compared to all the Balkan countries.
It managed to play the role of the protagonist in major projects of exceptional European importance such as TAP, etc.
It also committed historic mistakes by tolerating the pyramid schemes, by surrendering its ruling power through elections in front of a real rebellion. It drove out the same, with the free elections those who came into power with the rebellion. Then in 2013 in accordance to the deepest code of democracy, it accepted the political rotation, handed over the power and became the opposition.
In this context, this story depicts the most democratic history of a political force. It is the strongest proof of its democratic character.
The seven years spent in the opposition were years of a real disaster. It is never a shame being in the opposition. On the contrary, being a real oppositionist is an honor and you are the true moral power of the country. You are a moral power, because you are the guardian of the citizens’ interests, because you are not lured by anything else rather than the real opposition, nothing but their interest, because you use your time to prepare and put forth a new alternative that will lead society and the opposition people who believe you towards victory.
But, unfortunately, this did not happen with the Democratic Party because of secret meetings and hidden agreements. Due to the former chairman’s mixed and not mixed businesses and deals with the government, for different reasons that had nothing to do with the Democratic Party members, it turned into a decoration, a façade of a government that jumped from a scandal into another one. From a stealing to theft, from a corruption act to further corruption. From anti-democratic acts, to other more alarming anti-democratic acts.
During the elections of April 25th, the extraordinary trust of the Albanian citizens, of the opposition people, was utterly betrayed. It was violated to serve lower interests, just so that the Democratic Party could become an ally of the Socialist Party and of Edi Rama, at a time when the democrats, perhaps even sobbed and shed bitter tears due to the voting result they received.
Plans were made at the leadership of the opposition aiming to share ruling posts and co-governing with Edi Rama. To give a colpo di grazia (the final blow) to the Democratic Party as a political force in itself, was chosen the corrupt lobbying of Edi Rama with George Soros and another act, among the major ones in the history of world corruption took place: Anthony Blinken sanctioned Sali Berisha, who had no role except one: He would never accept the turning of the Democratic Party into a façade, a makeover, to become the lever of the Socialist Party and Edi Rama as well.
If Secretary Blinken, or any other citizen and statesman on earth will ever be able to present, one fact, one proof, one single document to demonstrate and prove not only what he wrote dictated by the corruption of George Soros, but also the smallest and most miniscule fact, Sali Berisha would finally be out of politics.
On the contrary, my story is quite different. I’m telling it here, to everyone.
50 years ago, when I was a young doctor under a total dictatorship. I meet a French friend of mine while I was studying. The only thing that connected me to him was Camus. He loved Camus, and I loved the writer as well, and at that time the writers we were reading and liking underwent our preferred seasons. “Mr. Berisha – my French friend told me. – Camus wrote: Between my mother and the truth, I choose my mother. And I replied: – Jean, I choose the truth and not my mother. – He looked at me, looked at me with a great deal of surprise, because after all he was living and breathing in a free country, meanwhile it was me who was living under a dictatorship. And by definition, the truth was very close to him and very far from me. But I still told him the truth, because that’s the way I was raised and breed.
Later on I served as a doctor, a very passionate one about my profession, but simply for the sake of dignity, I choose to defy the duplicity imposed by the dictatorship. I went out there and joined the students, I had written my articles, published them but to tell you the truth, when they followed and spied on me, I laughed, I laughed with the medical students, quite a bit, because I whispered the epithet in my mind alone. I wasn’t saying the epithet that I bestowed upon my surveyors, they didn’t know that I made my decision by then and nothing else impressed me any longer.
Now, 32 years later, please try to imagine that I have to face the world’s main diplomat, the State Secretary of the friendliest country to Albania and Albanians, for reasons of my dignity and in order to preserve it, but once again I choose the truth between my mother and the veracity.
They searched up and tried to dig up, they check every day, every week, but I don’t laugh any longer at the digging this time, on the contrary, I thank them to dig up as much as possible and in the end they will realize that they have committed the greatest corrupt act among the biggest one that has taken place in history.
Today, the Democratic Party, like us, who were born in a dictatorship, not the others, marks two birthdays. We have a biological birthday, God enabled us to have been born free and equal, but the dictatorship turned us into slaves. Therefore, thanks to the students and their movement, we earn a new birthday, our birthday under freedom.
Surprisingly and ironically, our Party also has and celebrates two birthdays. Today we also celebrate December 11th, 2021, in which tens of thousands of Democratic Party members signed the re-foundation of this political force, at moments when it was faced with the alternative: “To be, or not to be.”
On September 16th, I came to this very hotel hall, I started the journey with several hundred democrats, and along the way we became tens of thousands, even today we count hundreds of thousands. I absolutely assure you once again, that my journey had nothing to do with my personal interest! No! It had to do with that simple fact that again and again I would choose the truth between my mother and veracity. That was connected because the request for the expulsion of Sali Berisha from the Parliament was no longer related to Sali Berisha.
In all the constitutional codes of the free world, the mandate belongs to the parliament and not to the individual, it belongs to the people who have voted and not to the individual who is elected by and represents them.
No one could treat my country as a colony, to dictate who will and who will represent the people in the parliament, even more so in the most paradoxical way from the country that had done so much for the freedom of Albanians, this would never be accepted.
This was the main motive that led me to address you.
I turn to the Albanians, having no idea whether they would support me. I spent eight years without having physical contact with the people. Eight years passed by without any direct political meetings. However, dozens of times, and I am sorry that I am paraphrasing it without connecting myself to it at all, but I would like to quote Skanderbeg: I found freedom among you, Sali Berisha found the spirit, love and affection, determination for sovereignty and dignity among you and then we were united once again.
I am aware that your support for a man who had been branded by the world’s top diplomat as corrupt and in a way, opposing the one who had decided, who had made that act, was a difficult decision. On the other hand, the governor, in an act of shame, was calling and processing the parliamentary members of my political force one by one in her office, as if they were part of a section of her embassy.
History will be written and I am convinced that the day will come when the United States will condemn these acts as unworthy, not only for a diplomat, but for any official of any given country.
We re-founded the Democratic Party as a political force representing and containing the values we believe in. As a political party of international interest, as a party cherishing the western vocation of the Albanian nation. We would never accept Vućić to dictate here, we would never accept the Sultan to decide in Albania, nor that Turkey has a defining role to play in Albania. If Turkey wants to enjoy true friendly relations with Albania, than it should forget trying to play a determining role. The 500 years of Turkey’s defining role have come to an end: Now we are a NATO member country. Let it take Edi Rama and appoint him there to serve as a governor in one of its own provinces, but Albania will never become one of them.
NATO and European Union can play a determining role in this country and undoubtedly the United States has and will have an important role to play in this space.
So we stand by and obey to those principles. In our endeavor to re-found our political party we do nothing else, alone and by ourselves.
We reaffirmed the principles upon which we were founded. We are a political party of patriots. Patriotism is our inexhaustible power, our affection for Albania is our greatest love. Vis vitalis and the Democratic Party!
Today is a very special time period. We were born as a political party of revolution. We were founded again as a political party of revolution. The founding revolution was a revolution, it was an anti-communist democratic revolution. The re-founding revolution is a democratic anti-monist revolution.
We face an enemy in front of us, who perhaps after Enver Hoxha, is the fiercest one that our history has had.
I would like to remind you here about something.
When the Democratic Party was founded, two weeks later the Albanian Labor Party held a national meeting. That national gathering proclaimed that the Marxist-Leninist ideology would remain the leading ideology of the then Albanian Labor Party.
What did that mean?
It meant that the opposition had to disappear, because, by definition, the Marxist-Leninist ideology does not accept the existence of the opposition in its ideology, since the opposition is the domestic enemy that must be annihilated. I don’t practice this!
Regardless of stands, regardless of dislikes. The efforts made by Edi Rama at the present days to disintegrate the Democratic Party were not made even during those years. They received the convictions, they were punished and they went the way they deserved.
Today the difficulties are great, but our potential is many times greater. Today we, as a political and re-established force, managed to blow the breeze of freedom in every cell of this political party. We managed to make every member and supporter feel and be worthier, freer and more powerful by the use of the free vote. We managed to make the Democratic Party more modern, stronger, truer and safer than ever!
We didn’t know much back then, I can tell you right here. Tonight there were speakers who talked previously about economic and political processes, etc., but I assure you that in our minds, if they asked us back then to sit down and write two pages about the democratic order that were going to build, we probably could not have written more than one and a half pages, because our knowledge was limited. We all came out of dictatorship, but with the help of friends, with our iron willingness we were able to make it.
Today we are many times more powerful than we were in 1990. The basic mission of the Democratic Party today is first and foremost to bring back the free vote to the Albanian citizens the same way it managed to restore the free vote for its members.
Our revolution will never stop. Our motto will be: We might give up our life, but we do not hand over our vote!
Democratic ladies and gentlemen!
Every one of us should think every day, how will we fulfill and meet our obligation to the Albanians, when we have in front of us a fierce enemy appropriating their vote? When we are facing such a man who has transformed the state into an electoral machine. We have before us a man who has established the system of patronizers aiming to kill the vote. We are faced with a man who has hundreds of millions of Narco-Euros available to buy the vote. We have in front of us a man who distributed hundreds of millions of Euros around the world to buy positions and statements.
Are we aware of all this?
We are more than aware.
Can we capitulate and give up in front of this situation?
Never and ever!
Rather than that, we will topple this rot. He is a rot! This is a rotten regime! This is a regime based on crime, drugs and theft.
This is a regime frightened and terrorized from morning to night for the crimes it carries out and the thefts it commits. We will not spare anything in order to return the vote to the Albanians! Albanians want to vote free!
Reaching the conclusion of my remarks, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the democrats who founded the Democratic Party. To the intellectuals, students, young people, employees, farmers and to all wherever they might be, for that historic decision we took.
I would like to also express my limitless gratitude to all those who re-founded the Democratic Party.
I invite them to unite their contributions and continue with the unbreakable faith upon our righteous cause.
Nothing can defeat this cause, because our victory is certain.
Long live the Democratic Party!
You are alive, Azem!
Long live the democrats wherever they are!
God bless Albanians, our flag and our country!
Thank you very much!k
