.: May 2012

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Sali Berisha: "I Support Tuzi Municipality"

BUDVA, MONTENEGRO, May 26, 2012 -- Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisha said today that he supports the request of Albanian minorities for a Tuzi Municipality, stating that decentralization is a good solution. He further stated that the government of Montenegro feels its minority rights very well – “We have a great relationship with Montenegro and a well-developed dialog, that is always a friendly one “, said Berisha to the press during the meeting of the leaders of South East Europe in Budva.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Montenegro Protests Over US Magazine’s Article

The Montenergin ambassador to the US is sending a letter to the American magazine Foreign Affairs to protest against the article which describes Montenegro as a mafia state.

Srdjan Darmanovic, the Montenegrin ambassador to Washington, was instructed to send a letter to the editor-in-chief of the magazine, to express dismay and present the real face of Montenegro, Milan Rocen, Montenegro’s foreign minister, said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Foreign Affairs published an article, written by Moises Naim, which describes Montenegro as a “mafia state“, alongside Bulgaria, Venezuela, Guinea-Bissau, Ukraine and Myanmar.

“In mafia states, government officials enrich themselves and their families and friends while exploiting the money, muscle, political influence, and global connections of criminal syndicates to cement and expand their own power,” reads the article’s summary.

Naim's piece caused intense reaction in the local media, and the debate over it even reached the parliament.

“Montenegro is mentioned only once in seven pages, when the states are listed, and for all other states there are broad explanations as to why they are on the list”, Rocen said, answering the remarks of an opposition MP, claiming that it is inaccurate to call Montenegro a “mafia state”.

The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, has frequently accused the opposition, certain NGOs and domestic media of projecting a bad image of Montenegro abroad.

“If Montenegro was a criminal state, it would not be at the threshold of EU and NATOmembership,“ Caslav Vesovic, a spokesman for the DPS, stated earlier this month, following the publication of the article.

Vesovic said that by using each and every opportunity to characterize Montenegro as a criminal state, the opposition and some parts of civil society “can sometimes influence the objectivity of certain international non-governmental associations, with regard to the progress of our country in comprehensive social reform“.

New York Times article published May 21, 1911

"ALBANIAN JOAN OF ARC: Handsome Heroine Takes Father's Place and Vanquishes Turks" – Cetinja, May 21, 1911 - A young girl, whose first name corresponds to that of the given name of the Maid of Orleans, is now being sung in the songs of the Montenegrin bards in the inns and coffee houses in Podgorica. When at the battle of Vranje last week, her father, the hereditary commander of his clan, fell, she immediately stepped to his place and led the Martinajs to victory against the Turks. Aside from the romantic phase of the affair, for Janitza Martinaj (Tringa e Grudes) is very beautiful, the battle is important as showing that the Montenegrins on the frontier had joined with the Albanians. According to a person who is well acquainted with her, this new Joan of Arc is “a tall, handsome, well-developed young woman. All the Albanian women are brave, and are trained from their girlhood to the use of firearms, and in times of war, as there are no mules, they carry the provisions and ammunition for their soldiers and go into the firing line to distribute them.” “And are sometimes killed?” “Yes, often that happens.” Janitza would probably have carried a Martini rifle; or, as many of the Marininis were collected last year by the Turks, her weapon may perhaps have been one of the old-fashioned Albanian rifles, which are handsomely decorated with silver and have very long, narrow barrels. Shooting is almost the only amusement of the young men and women in Albania. Both boys and girls learn to shoot when they are 12 years old. At weddings the parties amuse themselves by dancing and shooting: at christenings shootings is again the principal amusement – firing at large targets for some little prize – and at festivals there is shooting all day long. It’s one of the great difficulties that Turks have to contend with, for it is part of the national life; the people use their rifles by day and sleep with them by their side by night. The custom has grown up with the prevailing insecurity from vendettas at home and border troubles abroad. Physically, the Albanians are the finest race in Europe. Their women are handsome, with dark hair, though their eyes are sometimes gray. To see them walk is a delight. We like to see the ballet in Servia. The first time I saw the Albanians walk it gave me just the same pleasure. Their movements are so graceful, elegance and strength together. Yes, they are a very fine and very gifted race. They are like the Scots in the 17th century, and they will be by and by the finest race, intellectually as well as physically, in the Balkans. If you go to Constantinople you will find that many of the finest men, not only soldiers but also statesmen are Albanians. Their fault, due to their present degree of civilization, is that they cannot grasp the idea of State. The clan is their highest organization; they are unable to see the importance of combining the clan with the higher organization of making a state. But that will come.

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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Sali Berisha: "I Support Tuzi Municipality"

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Montenegro Protests Over US Magazine’s Article

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