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BILL IS IN TOWN... President Clinton, Albanians, Tirana and Pristina

2023-07-04 10:36:51Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA FATOS TARIFA
BILL IS IN TOWN... President Clinton, Albanians, Tirana and Pristina
Bill Clinton in Tirana

Finally, it came. He, Bill Clinton.

He also came to Tirana, the capital of the first Albanian republic. As it was, under completely different conditions and circumstances, three times also in Pristina, today the capital of the second Albanian republic.

We had expected it to come a long time ago. We have been waiting for it to come for more than two decades. We would have liked him to come when he was president of his country, then when he was the most powerful man in the world, when his America and NATO won the War for Kosovo.

At that time, in 1999, as president of the United States, President Clinton went to the newly liberated Kosovo to greet the people he helped liberate from the Serbian yoke and to speak to the Kosovo Albanians those words that will be remembered for a long time: We won the war; you must earn peace.

He visited Kosovo ten years later, in 2009, after Albania's twin country had become a sovereign and independent state, even in 2019, when Kosovo was trying to build—and win—its own peace.

Yesterday, Bill Clinton came to Tirana at a time when Albania, without the slightest doubt, has made and is moving forward decisively, while Kosovo, led by a government headed by Albin Kurti, seems to have a hard time winning it. peace. Kurt's failure best legitimizes the concern expressed by President Clinton 24 years ago and lends his words the weight of proverbial wisdom.

In our media, this visit of Clinton to Tirana was evaluated as a historic visit. Some called it an "official" visit. It wasn't a state visit of course; it wasn't even an official visit. It was not, of course, a business visit either. It was just a private visit. But such a private visit, even though it did not have the protocol of a state or official visit, is and will remain a historic visit.

Before his arrival and, therefore, without hearing his words yet, I would not have called this private visit of a former American president a historic visit. Such would have been the case if Clinton had come to Tirana while he was in charge of the White House, as President George W. Bush did—under conditions and for completely different reasons—in June 2007.

But the speech he delivered last night before the citizens of Tirana, with the weight of his moral and political authority, as one of the most prominent presidents in the history of the United States and as the savior of the Albanians of Kosovo, made this visit to Tirana a visit truly historical. That will be remembered in Tirana and Prishtina for a long time. Almost the same as President Reagan's speech to the German nation in West Berlin in 1987.

The very visit of President Clinton, the friendly atmosphere in which he was received by the citizens of Tirana, the scenario and, especially, the very beautiful decor in which he was received and in which he was given the floor, made last night's event a celebration of really. The whole thing was a perfect "symphony", as a friend of mine put it.

I mentioned this element because, if there is one thing, for which the Prime Minister of the country "doesn't like the stick", it is his skill to give an aesthetically spectacular shine to relations with the public.

Yesterday evening in front of the prime minister's building was really a spectacle. An American style spectacle to honor yesterday the great friend of the Albanians and today, the independence day of the United States.

That spectacle brought a meaningful element—and very nicely found—with that group of children and young people from Kosovo, born after 1999, to whom their parents have given the names Clinton and Hillary. These children and young people will forever carry these names dear to them, as they are and will remain The Clintons valued in the historical memory and in the political history of all Albanians.

There is a boulevard in Pristina called "Klinton Boulevard". There is also a statue of President Clinton in that city, and a school named after him. The late Madeleine Albright is also remembered in Pristina, among others, with a beautiful bust of her. The Clintons and America have already become the ontology of the life of Albanians in Kosovo.

In Albania, we have erected statues to presidents Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush. Wilson (president of the United States in the years 1913-1921) is remembered and revered in Albania as if he were still today (not a century ago), president of the United States. We are grateful to him for the guarantees he gave to the independent Albanian state, newly formed and completely destroyed by the First World War, that its territorial integrity would not be violated by the greed of its neighbors.

George W. Bush visited Tirana to give the Albanians—on both sides of the border that separates our two countries—two big siharikas. He assured the Albanian citizens that their country would soon become a member of NATO and, likewise, from Tirana, he assured the Albanians of Kosovo that they would, very soon, finally have their own independent state.

That visit by President Bush put Albania on the map of countries that have been visited by an American president. President Clinton's visit this time proves, among other things, that the relationship that already exists between Albanians and the United States is not conjunctural, but a stable and good-willed relationship.

This relationship is not affected by the political parties that change at the head of the American administration, but it can be affected by unwanted developments that have as authors Albanian individuals, who with their actions and rhetoric endanger the national interests of Albanians and, together with them, American interests in the Balkans—Sali ​​Berisha yesterday in Tirana and Albin Kurti today in Pristina—provoking indignation among our most important allies across the Atlantic.

In his speech last night, President Clinton called "stupidity" (he did not try to choose another word or a more diplomatic language) what, due to the attitudes of the Kurti government, is happening in Kosovo these days.

Instinctively these words come to me: Albin! Open your ears! But, above all, open your little mind for the benefit of the great interests of the Kosovar Albanians! When Bill Clinton speaks, America speaks. It is her voice, the voice of the largest and most powerful democracy in the world. If you have not ears to hear and ability to understand, depart, do not drag your fellow citizens into a path in which, because of your short-sightedness, they will be friendless and supportless.

And Edi Rama? Two words about him, this time as the prime minister-artist, or as the artist-prime minister who hosted President Clinton. I don't want to speculate about the reasons why Clinton came to Tirana, who brought her and how. I have an idea, but these are not important.

Bill Clinton could have come to Tirana even before. He always had the opportunities. He did not come this time either to celebrate July 4, the Independence Day of the United States, in Tirana, nor to wish Prime Minister Rama his birthday on July 4, even though Rama himself had warned in time that he would have a gift nice for the Albanians on July 4.

While the time of President Clinton's visit to Tirana does not in itself have any importance for us Albanians from this side of the border; it is very important for the Albanians across the border, in Kosovo, where peace has not yet been fully won and the war seems to continue in other forms and ways.

On the other hand, even though Clinton might have visited Tirana earlier, no other prime minister who might have been in office at the time would have offered him—and no other prominent foreign figure—a celebratory reception both aesthetically and substantively. as beautiful as the one organized and directed by Edi Rama.

Say what you want about him, but don't deny him credit./ Published in DITA

 


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