Edi Rama’s justification for the migration agreement with Rome – that Albanians owe a historical “debt” to Italy – is based on a misreading of history.
Written by Fabio Bego
The protocol signed by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni last November, which allows the government of Tirana to allow Italy to build migrant camps on Albanian territory, has provoked a range of negative reactions. . This case contains several noteworthy features that are politically dangerous and morally low. One is the rationale provided by Rama to justify the agreement. He said the main reason for ceding the territory was the “debt” Albanians allegedly owed to Italy for how welcoming they were in the early 1990s. Archival documents show that Italy’s “welcome” was a short-lived policy that served contingent national interests.
Migration to Italy begins in the 1980s
After ending relations with China in the late 1970s, communist Albania opened up to Western European countries such as Italy. Both countries were urged to cooperate for contradictory reasons. For Albanians, it was an economic necessity. For Italy, it was a way to expand its influence in the Balkans. According to archival data, more than 2,000 Italians visited Albania in 1983 as tourists, journalists, businessmen, professionals and diplomats. Italians and other Western Europeans were spotted in Tirana, Durres and other tourist destinations. As now, the mobility regime was asymmetric then. It was easier for Italians to go to Albania than the other way around.
The first Albanians to reach Italy in large numbers came from Kosovo. In April 1984, right-wing newspapers Il tempo Italian authorities reported that they had granted asylum to many migrants from Eastern Europe, the majority of whom, 444, were from Albania. Albanian Foreign Minister Reis Marile falsified this information, asserting that they did not come from Albania but from persecuted Kosovo. They declared themselves born in Albania, fearing deportation given the good relations between Rome and Belgrade. A similar incident was recorded in November 1988, when 43 Kosovars hosted in a refugee camp in Capua declared themselves to be of Albanian descent.
Unlike Yugoslav nationals, Albanians could not obtain visas unless they had strong family or professional reasons. Crossing the border illegally was dangerous, as the state reacted furiously. However, after the death of Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha in April 1985, people became bolder. On December 12, 1985, six members of the Popa family (four women and two men) escaped regulations and entered the Italian embassy to seek political asylum. This event caused a diplomatic crisis. Albanian authorities declared the Popa tribe to be former fascists and Nazi collaborators and demanded that Italy abandon them. The Italians refused. Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti cited the protection of “human rights” as the main reason for the refusal.
The situation remained tense for several months as Albanian authorities did not allow Poppa to travel to Italy. The Italian diplomat’s car was searched and he was followed, fearing that Poppa might escape. Some Italian politicians wanted the government to take a firmer stance. Supporters of the neo-fascist movement “Italian Social Movement”, now branded “Fratelli d’Italia”, want to sever diplomatic relations with Albania because Albania did not allow the Pope to move to Italy. was. Popa lived at the embassy for nearly five years. They were finally allowed to leave the country in May 1990. This inspired many Albanians to enter foreign embassies in his July 1990.
The Popa family has put Albania’s human rights issues in the spotlight in Italy. In 1987, Italian organizations sent a petition to Tirana calling for the release of political prisoners and the introduction of other freedoms. This political atmosphere may have encouraged others to flee to neighboring states. In August 1988, the lyric singer, who studied at the Turin Conservatory, decided to remain in Italy because she wanted to marry an Italian, she reported to the embassy. At the end of September 1988, Elvira Jesi, who later became known by the pseudonym Elvira Dones, disappeared from a hotel in Milan. She was there to attend her film fair with colleagues from her film production company, Kino Studios.
Migration trends in the Adriatic Sea were rarely a one-way process, with people attempting to enter Albania from a variety of locations. For example, in August 1982, a 15-year-old boy from Morocco hid in an Albanian ship in the port of Nador and landed in Durres. In the late 1980s, several Italians wanted to immigrate to Albania for political reasons. Albanian authorities considered these requests onerous and rejected them.
In the late 1980s, workers at the port of Durres paved the way for boat migration in the 1990s. In February and March 1987, her two sailors on the ship Teuta and Corabi They landed in the port of Ravenna and fled. The Tirana government asked the Italians to send them back. The Italians ignored the request. They then informed the Albanian government that the sailors had immigrated to the United States. On December 20, 1988, workers at the port of Ravenna discovered a man hiding on board an Albanian ship. 6 shkruti. He had a passport. The workers accused the crew of forcing the men to return to the ship after they went ashore. Police asked the man what happened. The man appeared to have been threatened by a crew member and said he was drunk and accidentally fell below deck. Italian authorities allowed the ship carrying the men to return home.
On January 6, 1989, nine people hijacked a boat. ducati Then we headed to the Italian coast. The plan was carried out by Captain Enver Meta and crew member Baldir Vogry. The hijackers isolated the seven crew members who did not want to emigrate and held them captive for the duration of the trip. After arriving in Brindisi, they applied for political asylum. The Albanian government painted the fugitives as terrorists, drug traffickers and insurgents and tried to persuade Italian authorities to extradite them. However, only one of them had a criminal record, and it had nothing to do with terrorism or drugs. Italian authorities arrested the captain and crew on suspicion of boat isolation and kidnapping. The remaining six were hosted at Caritas.
Captain Enver Meta exposed Albania’s poor social conditions and lack of political freedom to local media. On January 20, 1989, Meta and Vogli were exempted by the Brindisi court and transferred to a refugee camp. The judges argued that it was a well-known fact that Albania lacked political freedom and that Albania did not abide by international conventions for the protection of human rights. The court found that Mr. Mehta and Mr. Voguri had escaped a situation that violated their individual rights, including freedom of migration, freedom of thought, and freedom of religion. A lawyer hired by the Albanian state suspected the verdict was a “political decision.”
After the fall of the dictatorship, policies towards Albanian immigration strengthened.
In July 1990, over 800 Albanians entered the Italian embassy in Tirana. They were all transferred to Italy. In December 1990, the Albanian dictatorship officially collapsed. In 1991 he arrived on Italian shores in February-March, with more than 20,000 people on boats anchored in the port of Durres. By that time, Rome’s attitude towards Albanian immigrants had begun to change.
In March 1991, more than 18,000 Albanians applied for asylum, but only 672 were accepted. In June 1991, a spokesperson for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged that Albania had taken an important step towards democratization and respect for human rights. Changing political circumstances justified more restrictive policies towards Albanian immigration. However, this evaluation did not take into account the actual situation on the ground. Albania then faced its worst political and economic crisis since World War II. The state was unable to protect “human rights.” For most Albanians, legal immigration was nearly impossible as they did not meet the necessary visa requirements.
The “welcoming” of Albanians began in the late 1980s, with sporadic cases of people migrating to Italy, often emigrating to countries such as the United States. This phase lasted from February 1991 until March 1991, after which a large number of Albanians left for Italy by boat.Albanians who attempted to emigrate in the following months, such as those who traveled by boat. Vlora, was not welcome. Most of the passengers were taken to the old Bari stadium and held without water, food or toilets. Some sources said the police tried to trap them inside the stadium, but the public organized a “hunting” campaign.Katcha Albanese) To catch those who escaped. The Italian state has taken the “difficult” decision to repatriate everyone who arrived by plane. Vlora.
Opposition groups criticized the government for its treatment of Albanian immigrants. The Communist Party’s Bianca Gelli sent a report to the United Nations to expose their “inhuman treatment”. MSI’s Pino Rauti was upset after seeing footage of Albanians in the stadium. He said it was because it reminded him of his own experiences as a prisoner in a concentration camp. In the first years of the transition, Albanians were seen as victims of communism, which resonated with nostalgic far-right politicians like Rauti. Mirco Tremaglia, another MSI supporter, proposed a proposal with neo-colonial overtones. He mentioned the party’s plans to invest in North Africa and Albania to prevent immigration. This goal of the plan seems similar to Prime Minister Meloni’s recent efforts. piano mattei. Tremaglia recalled Rome’s colonial past and asserted that Italy had strong ties with Albania even before communism. He suggested that Italy should have won a mandate to administer aid to Albania because events in Somalia, another former Italian colony, showed that the local government could not be trusted.
The events in Bari set the tone for the treatment of Albanians in Italy in the 1990s. The emergence of corruption scandals in 1992 wiped out many Italian politicians who had been involved in Albania during the first years of the transition. However, the situation for Albanian immigrants did not improve. The new government, whether left or right, continued to apply harsh immigration policies, forcing Albanians to cross the sea by illegal means, putting their lives at extreme risk. The media and police increased their surveillance and used Albanians as scapegoats. Albanians worked and still work for low wages, often without contributions. In many cases, the state refused to give them documentation and therefore did not protect them from greedy employers and traffickers.
A myth created to present Italy as a “savior”
The “welcome” narrative aims to enhance the old myth of Italy as the “savior” of the Albanians. This myth serves to make Albanians feel guilty and indebted to the Italian state, while at the same time concealing and forgetting the exploitation suffered by the majority of Albanians.
No one should feel beholden to Italy or listen to what demagogue leaders like Rama and Meloni have to say about Albanian-Italian relations. Considering the human and material sacrifices Italy made in Albania due to its imperialist politics and war, it is Italy that should feel indebted to the Albanian people. The camp and the expansionist framework of Italian foreign policy risk worsening relations between Albanians and Italians. Not only does it reflect the racist attitudes of the Italian far right towards Albanians and other immigrants, but it also recalls the concentration camps that Italy built in Albania during World War II. I think Albanians and Italians should oppose its construction.
- Fabio Bego is a scholar of nationalism, socialism, and colonial ideology.
- The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.