When one meets Sali Berisha up close, one understands why he has such a full political – and not only – resume. The man who was Hoxha's doctor (although he denies it), who served as president and prime minister in his country, was expelled from the Democratic Party he founded, was declared persona non grata in the US , was accused of corruption and placed under house arrest, regained the reins of his party and, now, at the age of 81, is claiming victory in the upcoming Albanian elections and his return to the prime ministership after 12 years. Why?

"The battle continues. I have the great privilege of having fought two dictatorships in my life. I feel full of energy and motivation. And I continue," Mr. Berisha told the "Manifesto" with dynamism and confidence. Last Sunday, the leader of the Albanian opposition was in Athens, where he gave a campaign speech to his compatriots.

During his visit, the Albanian politician spoke to our newspaper on a wide range of topics: about the most important aspects of Athens-Tirana relations , the upcoming elections, and political developments in the neighboring country. And if he displayed a rather condescending attitude towards the Greek-Albanian issue, he used harsh language towards the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama , calling him a "dictator," founder and director of Europe's only "narcostate," and harshly denouncing the corruption that plagues his country.

The Beleris case

The illegal arrest and dismissal of the elected mayor of Himare and current MEP for New Democracy, Fredy Beleris , was the crowning glory of the violations of the rights of the Greek National Minority and reminded us of the need for protection and respect (property, self-determination, use of language, etc.) of the people of Northern Epirus . Will Berisha be better than Rama on this issue if elected?

"It is known (ed.: in the area), for years there have been no problems. The mayor of Himara, Vasilis Bolanos, was a very honest man and strictly protected the interests of the community. And there were no complaints. The development or not of the properties is at the will of the owners. But no one threatened them, nor tried to take their land. Now, it is Edi Rama himself with his mafia and he does everything there ," he noted.

And he continued with the case of Freddy Beleris: "If you saw, Beleris was arrested with completely false and fabricated evidence, because he did not allow Rama to have the Gipea (or Gipista) Gorge." The gorge in question, which starts from Drymades and ends in a magnificent bay in the Ionian Sea, is one of the most famous in the world. "Eddy Rama had his mother "settle" the gorge for herself and her cousins ??without a single land registry document, without a single piece of paper that it belongs to her. They went through the court and took it without documents," stressed Mr. Berisha.

And he added: "When it comes to his personal interests, Edi Rama is ready to sacrifice everything . And he put him in prison (ed.: Beleris), in violation of the rule of law, and did not let him take the oath, while every Albanian imprisoned in the last 34 years, who had not been convicted, had taken the oath as mayor, MP because the Constitution does not prohibit it, and he deposed him."

The maritime zones

Regarding the delimitation of the multiple-border maritime zones agreed upon in 2009 by the Karamanlis-Berisha governments, the Albanian politician blamed Mr. Rama, who “for the sake of third parties and himself, exerted pressure and demolished the agreement ,” which he described as “the best agreement.” “It was a win-win agreement. Of course, there was no reason for either Greece or Albania to lose.”

According to him, after the agreement was rejected by the Albanian Constitutional Court, his government agreed with two successive Greek governments to refer it to and review it in The Hague.

"Rama told the Tsipras government 'we have a better deal' and started very stupid renegotiations. Because after two or more years, after several rounds of negotiations, when they were ready to sign, he apologized and said that 'the court's decision does not allow us to do this'. Of course Kotzias got very angry, and I also denounced it. You can't behave like that. You know the court's decision. You have to be serious," he added.

"Certainly this issue will be resolved through dialogue in a good spirit, as we did (ed.: in 2009) with the will to solve the problem. That is our intention," he stressed, while in his speech at SEF he underlined that, if the Democratic Party wins the elections, the agreement will be completed and Greece-Albania relations will be excellent.

Albanians of Greece

About half a million Albanians live and work in our country. What will Mr. Berisha do for them if elected? Initially, he said, he will attempt to find a solution to the pension issues.

However, as he argued, the main pillar of his policy will be to pave the way for the return of Albanians to their homeland. "We will create the best possible conditions to bring them back and their investments, but also their Greek friends, to come and invest in our country. In 2009-2010, many came and invested in Albania. Greek-Albanian economic relations were developing rapidly and there were very significant investments in our country, most of which have now left."

He also emphasized that he will seek to cooperate with the Greek government on the issue of the Albanian language in order to "find possibilities that we as a state will pay for teachers or whatever is necessary to help them (ed.: his compatriots) save their language and culture in certain aspects."

Relations with New Democracy

Asked about his contacts in Greece, Sali Berisha replied that in recent years they were of a symbolic nature, given that he was (almost) out of politics. "We have contacts with New Democracy , which is our old ally. Konstantinos Mitsotakis was the first foreign prime minister I met in my life. He came to Albania three weeks after the Democratic Party was founded and he came and met me as the leader of the opposition. Since then, our relations with ND have never stopped, we have very good relations and they will become excellent," he pointed out.

Drug dictatorship and Rama mafia

He was clear about how he intends to use his party's membership in the European People's Party (EPP) – the largest European political organization – to change his country's image:

" Albania must first dismantle its drug dictatorship . Albania must not export criminality to its neighbors and to Europe. If it does not do this, Albania has no chance of improving its image. So zero tolerance for organized crime ! The rule of law, law enforcement will be our top priority and certainly, once Albania manages to get rid of the drug dictatorship and becomes a state of law, its reputation will change quickly and we will be a truly respected country. Albania should never become a hub for traffickers and drugs. The state should not be a partner with criminal organizations, as is the case in Albania today ," he clarified.

And, then, he fiercely attacked Edi Rama. "The three leaders of the main opposition parties are under arrest or in criminal proceedings. If you have time, come to Albania, you will find such incredible, unimaginable developments with Edi Rama and his government, which is a real criminal organization. Absolutely! Edi Rama runs the first and only drug state in Europe ," stressed Mr. Berisha.

And he described an incident: "Ask some of Rama's ministers in 2015, when Rama planted Albania from south to north with cannabis. The ministers told him, 'Mr. Prime Minister, this is bad for the country.' He replied, 'No! Drugs are money .' In fact, the then deputy prime minister told him that if that were the case, Colombia would be the most developed country in the world. But it is not. He planted millions of cannabis using the Police. And the senior Police officials are ignoring the cannabinization of the country."

Furthermore, he accused Edi Rama of being fully involved in every aspect of corruption in his country, while claiming that the Albanian prime minister has a coordinator in his office for “every mafia activity.” “The Albanian state and organized crime were entirely a joint operation. A joint criminal operation,” he added.

Make Albania Great Again

Finally, he commented on the takeover of his election campaign by Chris Latsivita, co-chair of the campaign of US President Donald Trump . “In Tirana,” Berisha says of Latsivita, “he mentioned two top reasons: ‘The Prime Minister of Albania is a puppet of George Soros. Second, between Trump and Berisha, in the report of the persecutions, there are many similarities in how they were persecuted . I am working to Make Albania Great Again.’ And I am very happy.”

(Source: To Manifesto)