None of the 6,000 disappeared of communism have been exhumed or identified by the state in Albania!

While a Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the failed coup d’état in Turkey, only 3 years after July 15, 2016 is built in the park of the lake of Tirana, no memorial is ever built in Albania for 6000 executed victims of communism.

Klara Buda
Matthew Holliday, Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans Program 30 Août, 2021, Tirana.  

Paris, 30 August, 2021 – International Day of the Disappeared

“None of the 6,000 missing persons from communism have been exhumed or identified by the state in Albania, and no memorial bearing the names of the missing is yet built in the country 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and still no memorial with the names of the victims of communism in Albania! On August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared and 30 years after the fall of the wall of Berlin only a cardboard exhibition on the executed prisonniers in Spaç prison.

During his speech at the opening of the exhibition « Sigurimi in its own words” in the garden near the government building, PM stressed that the Democratic Party had resisted the adoption of the law on the opening of the files of communism, while it should be “their battle horse” for a more just Albania and ready to face the past.

One sentence is to be highlighted from the  mediocre speech of the eloquent Albanian PM: ” taking sides on the issue of the disappeared is emotionally understandable!”

Why should we show understanding for the emotions of those who take sides against the victims and defend this period of communist crimes?

While a Memorial is dedicated to the victims of the failed coup d’état in Turkey, only 3 years after  it happened, in July 15, 2016 is built in the park of the lake of Tirana, no memorial is ever built in Albania for 6000 Disappeared victims of communism.

If this is not a paradox, is it madness? I leave open the question? What is it?

30 years after the fall of communism there are 6,000 executed victims under the communist regime still not decently buried in Albania! They have no grave. Don’t they deserve at least a memorial in the park of the lake of Tirana?

A memorial aims to honor the victims and to transmit the massage to the younger generation on the crimes committed in his country so that they are visible, to remember them and not to forget. This is the only way to avoid the history to be repeated.

What is the value of a memorial of the victims of the failed “coup d’état” in Turkey, July 15, 2016, for the young Albanian walking in the parc?  Help this to education the Albanian children with the history of their country. This is the legacy of Turkey, a country that is not even a close neighbor of Albania. Is this the nostalgie of Ottoman Empire?

Exhibition en carton on the executed prisonniers in Spaç

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Marble memorial for the victims of the failed “coup d’état” in Turkey

 

Qui vadis Albania ? 30 years after the fall of the Berlin wall and 3 years after the failed “coup d’état” in Turkey.

 

On the left, exhibition on the executed prisonniers in Spaç, Albania, 30 Août, 2021, Tirana.

 

On the right, memorial dedicated to the victims of the failed “coup d’état” in Turkey, 2016. Only 3 years after July 15, 2016 the failed “coup d’état” in Turkey.

 

Memorial dedicated to the victims of the failed “coup d’état” in Turkey, 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Unfortunately, in the 30 years since the end of the dictatorship, none of the 6,000 disappeared [ of communism]* have been exhumed or identified by the state” said Matthew Holliday, Head of ICMP’s Western Balkans Program, in the opening of the exhibition on the executed prisonniers in Spaç, Albania, 30 Août, 2021, Tirana.

*(executed without trial and buried in clandestine places)