"Due to technical problems..." - Stuart Pinfold's Blog

It’s ten o’clock!

[You’re listening to the BBC in Albanian. You can listen our programme on the radio on FM 103.9 in Tirana, 98.6 in Pristina, or online at bbcalbanian.com]

Greetings from London, it’s the 28th of February 2011, I am Seladin Xhezairi.
Greetings from Tirana, I am Alexander Furrxhi.
Greetings from Pristina, I am Muharrem Ikaj.
I am Nazim Jashiti, greetings from Skopje.

“London calling. This is the first BBC programme in Albanian on 4931 and 25 meters. This is the news from London in Albanian. The invasions of the ally forces from the north…” – Seladin Velani broadcasting in 1945.

“Good evening. We hope you enjoy our new programme from London. I am Frako Ego and along with my colleague in the studio Julia Goga we present the first BBC broadcast in Albanian for 25 years.”

This is the last programme from the BBC. Hello I am Majlinda Zeqiri. During the next two hours we will talk about the BBC’s contribution to Albania over the past two decades. But first of all, as always, Irena Ludo has the latest world news.

Foreign Ministers from all over the world have gathered in Geneva to discuss the violent situation Lybia. The US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton said she would discuss coordinating the human and political reaction with her colleagues in Europe, the Far East and Africa.

In Libya groups opposing Muammar Gaddafi say they are coordinating the rebellion all over the country. Meanwhile the exodus of people trying to escape from the violence in the country continues. A BBC correspondent at the border says that about 1,000 people an hour are crossing the border. He said the situation was chaos, but the UNHCR says they are building a transit camp.

About 40 planes and ships will help to progress the evacuation of thousands of people who are stuck in the border. The largest group of people are emigrant workers who have no money or resources to get back home.

A spokeswoman for UNHCR, Melissa Fleming, praised the Tunisian people who are helping the refugees and showed the BBC how the agency could help.

“We are organisation action via telephone in order to record the events in the region and are making efforts to establish connections with partners and NGOs in the area. UNHCR is also making its own plans to cross the border and give help. For the moment we are not there, we are just helping people coming across the border.”

That was a UNHCR spokeswoman speaking to the BBC.

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, re-enters court today accused of tax evasion. This process is just one of the cases he will be facing in the coming weeks. Two cases are related to corruption, while the other accuses him of relations with a prostitute. Mr. Berlusconi denies the accusations against him. The court sentence for fiscal evasion was dropped over a year ago but restarted because the Constitutional Court decided to remove his immunity from the process.

In Ireland, negotiations are starting to form a coalition government after the governing party lost last week’s elections. The centre-right opposition party Fene Gael won the majority of votes but not a majority to rule on its own. Possible partners for the coalition are the centre-left Labour. It’s almost certain that the Fene Gael leader Enda Kenny will be the next prime minister.

“Listen to me…”
“Listen to you by what right?”
“By the divine right you must, I am your king”
“No, you’re not, you told me so yourself, you said you didn’t want it. Why should I waste my time listening..”
“Because I have a right….”

The Oscars were a great success for the British movie “The King’s Speech“, which won 4 awards including best male actor and best movie. Colin Firth won for playing King George the Sixth, while Tom Hooper was awarded best director. Natalie Portman was also awarded best female actor for her performance in “The Black Swan”, while David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg were awarded best supporting actors for “The Fighter”. The Danish movie “In a Better World” was awarded best foreign language film.

Irena Ludo with the news.

Here in London, 18 years ago, the BBC World Service restarted broadcasting in Albanian, continuing the broken tradition in 1967 when 27 years of broadcasting stopped for Albanian listeners. But as we said at the start, this is our last broadcast. How and why did broadcasting in Albanian restart? Douglas Hough was UK Foreign Secretary at the time . The permission to broadcast in Albanian was given by the Foreign Office that August. The UK Foreign Office Minister accepted gladly our request for an exclusive interview.

“We break the 25 years of silence during which relations with Albania were frozen. We are restarting the broadcast due to the recent changes. We have reopened our embassy in Tirana; the UK Council is active there. And now we’re starting BBC broadcasts.”

This is how the UK Secretary re-launched the service. The return of Albanian language in the World Service broadcasts was of course welcomed by the Albanian people.

Mr. Sali Berisha was the President of Albania in 1993.

“I consider this an important event which will contribute to the understanding and collaboration of Albania with Western Europe in general and especially with the United Kingdom. London’s broadcast has been a call for freedom for Albanians in their most difficult years. These programmes will undoubtedly give a special contribution in promoting a democratic society and clear information, information which will help the development of democracy in Albania.”

The restart of broadcasting in Albanian was also greeted in Kosovo by their leader Dr. Ibrahim Rugova.

“It is a special joy for Kosovan people as we have no media, and now we have informative programmes from the most respected broadcaster in the world and we expect great collaboration. In this difficult situation we hope that special attention will be given to the situation in Kosovo, because it is of utmost importance that this prestigious broadcaster will inform others about our standing and situation.”

This was Dr. Ibrahim Rugova speaking on the first BBC Albanian broadcast on the 28th of February 1993.

Later on in the programme you will have the opportunity to hear statements from other personalities of politics, sports and culture.

But first we explore why the BBC decided to end broadcasts in Albanian.

The head of languages for the World Service, Liliane Landor, said announcing the closure of the Albanian service was not an easy decision. She explained that it was not just the language services that were changing, it was the whole BBC. I asked Liliane if the BBC couldn’t find other ways to save the money rather than closing 5 language departments and other radio platforms.

“It’s a question we have made ourselves for more than one year and have tried different possibilities. What we did not want to do was save 20% of each language section or department because that would make no sense and it wouldn’t be a wise thing to do. If we would had taken 20% of your section it would remain too little, if we would have token 20% of Burmese service there would be nothing left there. We had to find a wiser way. We have very restricted funds and the foreign office has been very clear – this is the budget, you won’t get more. How can you react under these circumstances? There are three criteria for the closure – the need, the impact of BBC in these areas, the possibility to survive without further investments. Portuguese for Africa wouldn’t survive without further investments. We had to invest money there, we couldn’t so this is how we arrived at this decision.”

You mentioned criteria and one of them was the need. Considering the latest developments in Albania and the situation in Kosovo, don’t you think there is a need there for media like the BBC? Was this the right decision for the Albanian section?

“It is never the right decision to close. If, for instance, you would ask me if I would have closed the Albanian service if I had another choice I would say no. If you asked me if I would stop broadcasting in China on Short Wave instead I would say no. On the other hand we have to consider that Albania is facing its road to the European Union. It is a country where the media is blooming. Maybe a part of it is not impartial enough, but another part is. So according to this point of view of the BBC World Service, Albania is in a much better position than other countries.”

This time there are 5 language departments closing. Does this mean that BBC is seeking the closure of all languages and will broadcast only in English?

“No, it doesn’t mean that. English services will also have reductions. The English service is also in its first studies to increase savings. The BBC World Service means serving in different languages, but if you ask me if there will be further reductions I would say I do not know. It depends on many things. In the future we are going to be financed by the domestic television licence. Will there be enough money for the entire BBC? The BBC for the moment is seeking to save not only on its international department. For now it’s the domestic BBC looking for more reductions. So the BBC is changing, but not only on its international department, it is the whole of the BBC as we are finding out.”

That was Lillian Landor speaking, head of Languages at the BBC world service.

After a while, my friends, we will talk with BBC offices in the region, including our guest in Pristina, the well-known publisher Veton Surroi.

Our audience is at the heart of everything we produce – this is one of the priorities of the BBC. All these years we have tried to communicate through the microphone and the Internet with a public which stayed loyal to us. Irena Ludo talked to some of our listeners over the world who had this reaction regarding the closure of the Albanian service:

“Hi, I am Erjona Bolli from Berati. The BBC has been accompanying my day, and the closure of this website means less information for me. I followed it only over the net since I stay connected through the whole day.”

“I am Beni living in Athens, from Pristina. I am a regular follower of your radio. I did not react well to the closure notice since it was for me a main window to information in this difficult days, it brought joy to my day.”

“I am Agron Kelmendi; I work in Trento in Italy. I have been listening to you mostly from Pristina, but even here I follow you from the net.“

“I am Kal Brozi from Puka, here in Albania. I have been listening to you for years, since 1993 when I was a student. I learnt from the Internet that the Albanian service was going to be closed and it doesn’t feel right to me.”

You’re listening to the BBC. After 18 wonderful years this is a difficult moment, but we will all warmly remember this, just as we recall the very first program which lasted for 30 minutes, and thousand of further programmes which broke the ice of information and became an information point for the region.

The BBC during all the years of broadcasting had its own studio in Pristina. From the war in Kosovo to the declaration of independence these are the key moments covered by the BBC and our correspondents there. The colleagues Muharrem Nika, Arber Vakiu, Violeta Hyseni have been broadcasting live every morning and today are doing the same. Muharrem Nika reports.

There were thousands of moments which made the 18 years of BBC in Albanian from the historical president of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova, to the Serbian daily terror towards Albanian people, to the latest war, to showing the Kosovo Liberation Army, to Rambuje discussions, to NATO bombarding and at last to the fragile independence of Kosovo and it becoming a state. Since 1993 when BBC Albanian started to broadcast, the daily events were made of violence, murders and terrorism towards the citizen and even their protests.

[Kosovan people singing “For Kosovo we give our lives, we will give our lives but we won’t give Kosovo, we will give our lives but we won’t give Kosovo”]

The requests of people became also political requests. Ibrahim Rugova was turned into a national political symbol for Albanian in the former Yugoslavia, here and in Kosovo. Meanwhile the BBC was the most loyal reporter, being one of very little media in Albanian at the time. “We ask for an independent and neutral Kosovo. Neutral means open towards Albania and Serbia, warranting the rights of Serbians who live in Kosovo. This stays inside the frame of an independent Kosovo; it is a project which starts resolving the conflicts between Albanians and Serbians.”

However Milosevic and his regiment had decided to pour blood over Albanian requests because, according to him and his regiment, they were terrorist and separatist demands. This led to the gathering of the Albanian guerrilla which was later called the liberty army of Kosovo. There are three important moments of the BBC, which made it a part of this history. The first was the public presentation of the Kosovo Liberation Army and later on the massacre in Vercak which had drawn international opinion and NATO’s bombardment which occurred after the failure of two difficult discussions in Rambuje. The discussions were brought to you by our colleague Rakip Pluta.

“Kosovo is a symbol for the national and state existence of Serbia and this is the reason why Serbia can lose Kosovo only with a military victory over our army which is more powerful than theirs and there is no way for face-to-face negotiations”

The leader of the Serbian delegation during the discussions with Rakmo Markovic, refusing the agreement. After the failure of discussions in Rambuje the first to leave Kosovo was the observation mission of the Organisation for Safety and European Collaboration with its two-thousand observers. Some days later the most powerful military ally had decided to act in Kosovo. The air assaults begun in Kosovo in 24 March 1999 and during the same time thousands of people had lost their lives in Kosovo and about one million citizens were injured.

“They threw grenades at us and we were obliged to hide in basements. The Serbians took us out and divided men from women. They said they just wanted to kill us, to take us apart, to take off our heads. When we reached the border they took our men and released us.”

“They took our girls and they were raped by the young men under Milosevic. I don’t understand how the world can’t execute him.”

“During the night people who tried to leave the caravan were shot and murdered right away. It is very difficult to live in Kosovo; there is nothing left there other than “exodus” road”

“We left our homes burning”

“I saw there was war, so we left and slept in a truck and left my schoolbag burning”

Three months later I came back to Kosovo with some other people. They tied again the knot of hope, the hope to rebuild our lives in our burnt land. In this last programme our thanks and gratitude goes from Tirana, Pristina to you there in London. Thank you from me, Jonuz Hallaci and thanks to all of you who are listening to us.

The 12th June 1999 marked the beginning of freedom for Kosovo, followed by several developments which brought the declaration of independence on 17 February 2008. Arber Raxhiu has exposed some of the main events after the entrance in Kosovo of NATO’s troops till the declaration of independence.

For about 10 years Kosovo was to be administered by OKB mission and the presence of a large group from the peace bearers of KFOR. Several events during these years marked the beginning of the discussion process between Belgrade and Pristina regarding the status issue. The most important development arrived for Kosovo in 17 February 2008, one of the most important days for this country, coming after decades of terrifying events, in a cold February day 3 years ago, when the parliament of Kosovo would declare the independence after difficult discussions with Serbia’s leaders.

“We, the leaders of Kosovo people, elected by a democratic process with this declaration, declare Kosovo an independent democratic country.”

Kosovan independence was celebrated by the Albanian citizens but not from the Serbians who declared they wouldn’t recognise the new country. The youngest country in the world was soon recognised by many states which were part of the European Union but also by the USA. The architect of independence, the ex-President Mahti Ahtisar, would mark this important event in the history of Kosovo. I met with him in his office in Helsinki some weeks after the independence declaration. He, as others, had a clear view and advised Belgrade and Pristina about Kosovo becoming independent. “When I first visited Belgrade as the General Secretary in November 2005, I told the authorities that I interpreted the paragraph saying that Kosovo couldn’t get back to 1999 as meaning that Serbia had lost Kosovo. The Serbian Prime Minister did not agree with me.”

However, Kosovan independence was to be contested after two years in the International Court of Justice by the Serbian request to OKB. But the court concluded in July 2010 that Kosovo did not violate any international or local law. “The court has concluded that the adoption of the declaration of independence that Kosovo did not violate the general interest of law…‘’. After this decision both Foreign Ministers would view the world with different eyes.

“Serbia asked for justice and must respect the justice decided by the highest institution of international justice, the International Court”
“Serbia retains its position that the only future status of Kosovo is long-lasting and sustainable only when both parties will agree for such solution.”

BBC Albanian has reported several important moments throughout its history, among which is the difficult discussion which lasted for 15 months in Vienna between Kosovo and Serbia, and some frequent meetings of OKB in New York. I am proud I have reported such important developments for Kosovo, and even more honoured to report for the BBC.

One of the most contradictory elements of history from the last ten years was faced in Mitrovica. Violeta Hyseni, one of the newest BBC correspondents to report from there, has prepared a review of these developments.

I was among those who were living through violence in peacetime, since I lived in the northern part of the city, from which people were displaced as a result of Serbian uprising. Gathered in the north of Mitrovica from different parts of Kosovo, they were expressing their anger towards what was called the Serbian capitulation and the international administration of Kosovo. Mitrovica, which was once the generator of economic developments thanks to its mineral richness, was facing difficult days. The ethnic violence was escalating; there were dead people not only among the parts in conflict, Albanians and Serbians, but even among the police of OKB, the peace bearer of NATO. As I used to report frequently regarding the weapon shots, it was quite difficult for me to penetrate the northern part of the city and report from inside there.

There was a short period of calm in Mitrovica which was again interrupted by the Albanians protest in March 2004 coming after the death of three Albanian children drowned in the river, after being chased with dogs by some young Serbians. The protest escalated in violence. From Mitrovica the protest spread across the whole of Kosovo, resulting in the loss of many lives and material damages. When the authorities broke up the crowd and achieved control over the city, there was nothing left except tanks, barbed wire placed in the bridge which divided the city, KFOR police forces and reporters which followed the events. The events of 2004 quickened the political agenda for chasing Kosovo’s independent status.

On 17 February 2008, Kosovo declared its independence over Serbia while Mitrovica was again involved into violence. In the north of the city, people revolted against Kosovo’s’ independence and a Serbian group set on fire the border post with Serbia and took control of the courts in the northern part of Mitrovica. As a result of the fight between the Serbian protesters and KFOR, a police officer was shot to death. In a declaration I took from a Serbian representative in the north he would describe the situation as an effort of the Albanians to impose the Serbians the independence of Kosovo.

“The implementation through violence of Kosovo independence by the Albanians in the north of Mitrovica can be a destabilisation factor and in no way a legitimate democratic acting of Serbians”

The Major of Mitrovica at the time, Barjam Rexhepi, declared that Serbians living in the north of Mitrovica were for years manipulated from Belgrade and the reaction to Kosovan independence was expected. “They feel confused, as they thought that Kosovo could never be independent, and this is the result.”

These were only some of the events of the problematic city of Kosovo, since the end of the war in 1999. All those events were reported though the prestigious BBC. I can say I was lucky to be a part of this story, even though it was painful it was also exciting and challenging for any reporter.

As I previously said the events reported by BBC numbered thousands. And I feel it was an honour to say during these 18 years of reporting : “Muharrem Nikaj reporting from Pristine for the BBC.”

We will get back to Muharrem Nikaj in a little while. Let’s get back for the moment to the prospective for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. This time we will connect to our correspondent based there for years, Fahri Muslliu.

“Well it may sound unreachable and an illusion but I think there is a good chance to improve relations, even if it will take at least 10 years to have stable, close and friendly relations. After all, such relations after long conflicts have been testified in the history of many states. Let’s not forget for instance Germany and France. We should consider that Albanians and Serbians are a decisive factor for the stability in the Balkans and the improvement of these relations are a must in this respect. We have to be positive about that, especially now that Belgrade is constantly talking about a historical reconciliation agreement with Albanians.”

That was Fahri Muslliu, BBC correspondent in Belgrade. And now we’ll going in Pristina. This morning Veton Surroi, my ex-colleague is my guest. Muharrem Nikaj, over to you.

Thankyou Majlinda. On this last broadcast for BBC in Pristina, many important guests have come to greet us. I am in the studio with the person who said for the first time “London calling” Veton Surroi. Veton, it is a pleasure to have you here. Do you feel emotional on this last programme?

“Yes it sure is not an easy thing to face. During all these years I made efforts discussing with UK officials telling them that BBC Albanian must continue as it has created a professional standard which is needed by the Albanian media.”

Vetorn, you were a reporter when it was not easy to be a journalist and especially to work for a company like the BBC. Then you came back to Kosovo and continued to report for the BBC, reporting many crucial developments. How did you feel?

“Well there are two things I have to say. First off for creating standards I collaborated with the BBC and some of the staff were also reporting for BBC when I was, so they were trained by the BBC and we had the chance to implement those standards in our local media. Then life did what it had to do. The BBC has been a point of reference not only for Kosovo but for the whole Albanian society. In times of crisis it was an anchor for professionalism.”

You started publishing “Koha” newspaper, the only daily newspaper in Albania, at just the right time. The BBC has been contacted by many people this 28th of February, do you really believe that media in Kosovo has reached the level to be able to survive without the BBC?

“I think yes, especially because the population has been educated with BBC standards so it will demand those standards of the local media. Of course the situation is fragile. We have not reached that level in which every media is involved in this standards, but most of them, like “Koha” for instance, are. So I am optimistic about Kosovo but not as much about media in Albania and Macedonia.”

Veton Surroi, I have one last question for you, a personal one. When, on 28 February 1993, you said for the first time “London is calling, this is BBC Albanian” what did you think, did you ever think we would stop saying this?

“At the time we were all sure that the long period of silence had ended. We thought we were the generation which would restart it and we thought it would never close. Many of us had entered the archives and listened to the reports by Erza Valani and we thought ‘what a history’. Now, after 18 years of broadcasting BBC Albanian, we have created a historical archive and everyone who has worked here has lots to be proud of.”

We are live in Pristina with Veton Surroi and you’ll hear from us again before the end of this last broadcast. Back to you in London.

Thank you Muharrem, and also thank you to Veton Surroi who was with us in Pristina. Here with us in Studio 7 at the BBC World Service is an ex colleague, or more precisely the ex chief of the Albanian session, Juliana Goga – welcome!

“Good morning.”

You directed this service for almost 10 years and if I am not wrong you were present during the most crucial moments for Albania and Macedonia?

“Yes, you’re right. Our reporters have been very lucky, because there were many events to cover. But while we’re in the Oscar mood in this last broadcast I wanted to thank some people. I have been lucky to lead a team which will leave behind a standard not only here in the BBC but in every Albanian region. As Muharrem and Veton said, we contributed through the implementation of these standards. I would also say that the Albanian service contributed to the wider BBC even a small service with restricted resources during the war in Kosovo and the crisis in Albania and Macedonia. We were supplying news which our colleagues in the other parts of the organisation found difficult to find. I would also like to thank all our listeners and I am also very proud of the staff who, even after the closure, will be requested for their professional services.”

Julia Goga in the last broadcast by BBC Albanian this 28 February 2011. Just like Pristina, BBC Albanian has another studio in Tirana. Every day, Alexander Furrxhi, a reporter hired in 1993 and still with us to this day, has reported from there. He has covered events like the developments in the 1990s, the conflicts in 1997 and the debates moderating Albania and Kosovo. Let’s listen to some of his thoughts and memories.

In February 1997 I stayed in Vlora on the same night that the population assault towards the weapons warehouse started. The state’s affairs had begun to go wrong but in February I still wasn’t able to predict the catastrophe that was to begin in March of the same year. In February it was first noticed that Gjallica, one of the most important companies which had gathered savings of thousands of people had gone bankrupt. The anger of people in the city of Vlora was out of control when they realised there were no money and not even any people in the offices of Gjallica. The people of Vlora started to protest daily, marching on Skela boulevard complaining about the government and the president of the time, Mr. Sali Berisha.

The final effort the state made to take control of the situation resulted in a violent protest against the special police forces, who were injured by the protestors who threw stones at them. I will never forget the desperate faces of those who complained about the government who had lost their houses and savings in the pyramid schemes. People had begun to understand that big profits without working were a mirage, a false sparkle of a wellbeing they envied. I personally knew most of the people who started to march from Flamuri square to the university. There were people among them who had lost control and threw stones at everyone who seemed to them suspicious or as a state secret agent. The government had lost its connection to the southern city. The city hall did not function and its officials were forced to hide themselves.

During these days I got different calls from government ministers who wanted to know what was happening, who the protestors were angry with, did they complain more about the president or the prime minister. I didn’t make the effort at that time to understand the importance of these questions. What I felt and thought during those times in Vlora was that everything was going wrong and it was happening just a few years after the fail of communism.

After 14 years I know that time will not be enough on the radio to tell the beginning of the bad year of 1997. I must also say that it was my most important period as a correspondent for BBC Albanian. I would have liked to tell many events and memories from my work at the BBC and especially the passion of our teams in Tirana, London and Pristina to make radio broadcasts.

Finally I have to mention that even though two decades after communism Albania has developed greatly, I feel disappointed that BBC is closing before finishing its mission. The BBC’s professionalism even though it has been evaluated by many colleagues, unfortunately has not been integrated in the local media in Albania. I began working 18 years ago when communism fell and there was no stability. But I am ending the broadcast focusing on the unclear stability of Albania in this endless road of transition.

Alexander Furrxhi, BBC Tirana.

This is the last broadcast of the BBC World Services in Albanian. It’s 10:40 and we’re connecting again with the studio in Tirana – reporting, as always, Alexander Furrxhi.

Hello Seladin. So this is the last broadcast in Albanian and besides our natural compassion we have also a special pleasure. We have here some colleagues and well-known friends and associates of BBC. I’m starting with the journalist Remzi Lani, our colleague Adi Krasta who spent 3 years working for BBC in London, Lufti Dervishi a permanent associate who was the first journalist from Tirana to be trained in London in the early 90s, Rudina Xhunga – a popular journalist from Top Channel who has never lost connections with colleagues from London, and ex correspondent from Gjirokastra in the 90’s and especially in 1997 Alex Cipa. Welcome in this special day for us and our listeners. Remzi Lani you are really experienced in the media reformation in Albania and in the region. How would you evaluate the BBC’s services?

“I would most of all evaluate the BBC’s role as an important public information tool especially in the last decade. The BBC was an important information source for the public for what was happening in the Albanian regions, but I have also to emphasise another role of the BBC which has been also previously mentioned. The BBC set high standards, real professional standards. Journalism in Albania has at times imitated BBC and others have followed the example seriously but the BBC served not only as an information source for the public but also as a model constructor, as a school for the digital media, not only for the radio.”

Thank you Remzi Lani. Adi Krasti. You’re a journalist and popular radio and television presenter who left Tirana for 3 years to work as a BBC team member in London before returning to Albania. What was and is your experience with the BBC?

“The BBC has not only set standards as Ramzi said but has set a mark, a stamp. A seal that registered in the minds of those who worked for the BBC – that incredible element of conflictual thinking who oppose each other to create balance. So this is really important, especially for me. Of course I am who I am, and besides the changes we have made during these 20 years but after working for the BBC all the colleagues who were seen with more suspicion had the luck to obtain the diploma of working for the BBC, an honour which gave evaluation and respect which luckily continues today and will continue in the future.”

Thank you Adi Krasta. Rudina Xhunga you did not work for BBC but had appreciated collaboration, you have been in our newsroom in London. Was it worth for you the collaboration and the contacts with BBC in your job as the programme director of “Shqip”?

“Thank you Alexander. Actually my contacts were not too much with the BBC. If they were more I would have a better image because I learnt and understood more during my collaboration. The first was the auditorium programme moderated by you, I like the relationship you created with the public and visitors, more authoritarian relation than we can create that self-esteem gives you. Another important moment for me when colleagues from the BBC helped me in London to be a part and to listen to the programmes of BBC and two hours were enough for me to replace a missed three years of experience. I am sorry this will not happen again as much as I feel pleased that I am sharing with you the last moments, I hope all closures will be as beautiful as this is.”

Thank you Rudina Xhunga. Lufti Dervishi you are an observer and a well known commentator of political developments in the region, and you are also one of the first journalists who spent 6 months with BBC in London in 1994 if I recall correctly. Do you think the BBC’s mission has been completed in Albania?

“No, to cut a long story short! I started journalism in the 90s because I thought I knew everything. There was no-one better than me in that restricted group and when I went to the BBC I understood I knew nothing in the professional area, and it also gave me a hand because it was radio and I have a good face for radio, so it was interesting! BBC is a case of the past being the future. It’s a unique case. You expressed in your last thoughts that unfortunately the BBC did not find a good terrain to be placed in Albania but we can be comforted by the fact that it did not find a good terrain in any eastern counties. The BBC is irreplaceable. We have changed in last 20 years but the BBC has taught us that by setting professional principles, you can even report life and death events like in Vlore when the country was almost facing anarchy. It taught us the concept of objectivity, impartiality and dividing information from news. Those are the BBC’s slogans which will be concrete even after 100 years of journalism.”

Thank you Lufti Dervishi. Alexander Cipa, you were a correspondent from 1990 in Gjirokastra, especially in 1997. Today you are a media director in Tirana. Today the BBC is closing, what are your thoughts?

“I am starting this last day with a word I said for the first time. Thankyou BBC. In my personal experience, the period I was collaborating with the BBC as a correspondent in the south of Albania was the best of my life. I know today that the closure of a big school leaves behind a valuable certificate, because fortunately BBC is a school that will be no good time to shut down for the world journalism level.”

Thank you Alexander Cipa. After thanking you all I want to say a last opinion and I think you would also share with me when I say that BBC is closing but the programme is not. I say this considering the range of radio and television in the country, a big bloom in numbers but still has to be careful of the quality from a country which aims to be part of the European Union. In my last broadcast for the BBC this 28 February 2011 I have the pleasure to thank my colleagues, Remzi Lani, Lufti Dervishi, Adi Krasta, Alexander Cipa and Rudina Xhunga. I bid you farewell and turn the line back to London.

Thank you Alexander and thank you to all the guests in Tirana.

As you know the BBC has also covered the developments in Macedonia with its reports from Skopje. Seladin you have been reporting for 9 years from Macedonia. How do you recall those times?

I recall them with pleasure. I recall that Macedonia had its independence and constitution from the moment is split from Yugoslavia, but the potential to be involved in conflicts was great. In this respect the credit goes to the first president of the republic, Kiro Klygorovj. This can’t be said for his role in planning the ethnic relations. Albanians asked for their part in the new country but with the new constitution they were left out. The Albanian deputy there Abdurrahem Aliti considered the decline of Albanian requests as the highest judicial act which brought the crises and served as a generator for the crises which came to its peak in 2001 after ignoring Albanian requests for equality which meant representation in the state institution for Albanians was weak.

Both myself and my colleague Harun Ibrahimi have tried to report these developments with loyalty. The ethnic tensions in Macedonia exploded in armed conflicts between the ex- National Freedom Army and Macedonian government forces in spring 2001. Small incidents involved the border between Macedonia and Kosovo which affected the north-western part which is manly habituated by Albanians. This was a journey started by state authorities which deny that behind those incidents there was any organised military force. But the National Freedom Army was taking control of many territories inhabited mostly by Albanians.

Within a couple of months the NFA was stationed in Haracin, just a few miles from the capital Skopje. The Macedonian military force tried to use all military equipment to take control of this village, but they couldn’t. International diplomacy obliged the two parties in the conflict to sit in discussions on 13 august 1991 where an agreement was made to make constitutional changes which guaranteed to Albanians many rights including schooling, the culture and the usage of Albanian national symbols, representation in state administration, police forces etc. The agreement was signed by the 34 biggest parties and the leader of Albanians of the time.

The agreement would have never been made if it wasn’t for Ali Ahmeti giving his support. “Ali Ahmeti will demobilise the army and peace will return. But is Ali…” This is what Ymer Ymeri and Arber Xhaferri said a few days before the agreement while the political leader of the NFA noticed in September that the army was dismissed. “Yesterday at 12 o’clock the National Freedom Army was dismissed and the soldiers that are citizens of this country…” Ohri agreement was reached though the care of high US and EU authorities and also officials of NATO.

The conflict of 2001 left behind 200 Albanians and Macedonians dead, hundreds of destroyed houses and thousands of missing citizens – but also left behind the hope that Macedonia would unite Macedonians and Albanians.

That was my colleague Harun Ibrahimi. Another colleague is Nazim Rashiti which in 13 years of work for the BBC has been the Balkans correspondent. He is today in Skopje among our guests. Good morning Nazim!

Good morning Majlinda. Here in our studio in Skopje we have plenty of friends and followers of the BBC’s programmes. We have vice Prime Minister Adbulaqim Ademi, representative of the Democratic Party of Tirana Mr. Luan Tresi, the analyst Ibrahim Mehemei and our colleague Harun. What does this closure represent for you Harun, considering that BBC has always reported stories from Macedonia and the whole region?

“I can’t say I have no emotions of that and it is a fact I am emotional now and I feel sorry for the closure of the BBC but it will however remain the voice and the only window of information. I recall 2001 when there was the crisis in Macedonia when the BBC was the only window of objective information, and broadcasting from the area itself. It is a fact that I and Seladin reported objectively and impartially for BBC in Macedonia at the time, and this is why listeners trust the BBC.”

I said earlier that the BBC, especially here in Macedonia, has been seen as a window for many subjects, such as politicians, social and culture personalities to present themselves to Albania. Mr. Ademi what does the closure of this window mean to you?

“First of all I would like to express the most positive evaluation for the service that the BBC produces with which we had the chance to forward our opinions and to be informed on what happens in the region and in the world. I also want to emphasise that the closure is not a result of bad functioning but a result of a financial issues and I hope that one day after the financial consolidation of BBC, its services in Albania will restart, because it will be missed by the listeners and the whole of political and social life here in Macedonia.”

Your presence here testifies that many people presenting different viewpoints that we don’t normally see in political life is here on the BBC. One of them is Mr. Tesi of the Democratic Party of Albanian. How do you comment this development of BBC?

“Allow me to first say that BBC Albanian has been a trusted information source and will be missed, and it also presents an incorrect conclusion that the journey to democracy in the Balkans is complete, when we know that the Balkans is not entirely integrated into the European membership processes.”

And one of the people who perhaps has commented more about developments of the BBC is Ibrahim Mehmeti. What does this represent for the opinion here in Macedonia?

“I feel good that we have had the BBC here and also that I am in this studio for your last programme. I think the BBC in the period since the 1990s has been an irreplaceable element in the transition process of Macedonia following the democratic processes and more like a guide to the development of digital media. I also think it has been a valuable example for the local media.”

That was the analyst Ibrahim Mehmeti, a few moments ago Mr. Tresi and the Vice Prime Minister Abdyl Arminaqdemi. That’s all for now from the BBC studio in Skopje. Back to you in London, Majlinda.

Thank you Nazim Rashiri live from BBC studios in Skopje. Here in the studio with us is the Albanian Ambassador to London, Mr. Zef Mazi who has often participated in our programmes. Mr. Mazi, good morning. You have often been a part of our programmes, what are your last words for BBC Albanian?

Good morning. It is a pleasure for me to be invited here for the occasion of the BBC closure and some other languages. It is in fact a date which reminds me the restart of BBC Albanian 18 years ago after a long silence since 1967. I would say that BBC seems to have finished its mission in the countries where it aims to broadcast according to the languages it speaks, because these countries and especially Albania have a different stage of development; Albania is a member of NATO, Kosovo is an independent county, Macedonia where many Albanians live is a candidate for the EU. I think the BBC has had an important role for two reasons. The first for reporting impartial and clear information without political colours and second for giving, in an elegant way, the message of what’s the best to be made and what is expected.

Thank you Mr. Mazi. Ambassador Mazi giving his last impression in this last programme of BBC Albanian. You’re with BBC; today is the last broadcast after 18 years of the World Services in Albanian. I am Seladin Xhezairi and with me in the studio is my colleague Majlinda Zeqiri. As we said, 18 years ago the BBC World Service restarted broadcasting in Albanian continuing the way the tradition broke in 1967 when the broadcast for Albanian listeners stopped for 27 years. The voice of Tajar Velani is known by many, who broadcast for BBC Albanian with his objectivity and impartiality who delivered the first broadcast from London – but there are few who heard the program as a result of its age. The veteran speaker Mr. Duma recalls the day BBC Albanian started.

The Albanian service was opened in 1947. The Information Ministry informed me that I was recommended to open the programme. That day my friend and schoolmate Andon Llogoreci was at my home and because I already had a job I recommended to the ministry that Andon Llogoreci was the most suitable person but they refused! We started with just a five-minute news summary, growing to a 30 minute programme. The Albanian listeners remember with respect the names of Erzan Valani, Andon Llogoreci, Qazim Kastrati, Valia Vrioni and Gani Hamiti who are no longer with us. Mr. Victor Cami broadcast the last news bulletin after the decision of the service closure.

“It was of course a very emotional moment for all BBC Albanian staff. The service was closed in the 1967 by a decision of the Foreign office and not by the BBC. We were quite sad and shocked by the decision and that is why I was happy when the service reopened.”

Now we turn to Serhibi Rihati who is a younger team member, but also with different standards and requests. I asked one of the ex-members of the Albanian section Isan Toptani how they were different in this aspect.

“Our job then was easier because the stature to the regime was clear and the problems were few but with lots of intensity – broadcasting had taken a new road”

The optimism to compete with dignity with the other radio and television was clear to all the team members. The chief of the Albanian section was Tim Chouk.

“The first point I think is we are able to provide impartial, accurate and fast news. A reliable news service analysing the situation, almost unique in the Albanian regions. Using the endless sources of the BBC and its correspondents all over the world I think we offer news not only from the Balkans but also for the role of Albania in the world, offering a full view of international news. Among news and analysis there will also be documentaries, music, sport, art and English learning. We hope that whoever is willing to listen to us hears what they want to hear from us.”

The material you just heard was prepared by my colleague Gezim Guri. You’re with the last broadcast of BBC Albanian, today is 28 February 2001. The head of the Albanian service when the broadcasts restarted is with us in the studio. How much have those objectives he mentioned in the first broadcast in 1993 been reached? With him is our colleagues Ilit Nishku. In your interview in the first broadcast in the 1993 you said that your aim was to assure impartial, fast and accurate news. Has the Albanian service achieved this goal?

“I think we did. I am very proud of the five years that I worked in the Albanian service. I think we entered territories unreached before in the Albanian world, we had a big impact. I still remember when we got our first listener’s report and we had 48% of the Albanian population listening to us and at the time we had just 30 minutes a day. Of course in Albania we made waves, entered in our listener’s skin which is what I think good impartial journalism should do. We tried a lot, as you know being impartial is a daily struggle. It is very easy to say that we will be impartial, we will give all sides of a story, but you should sit and think about it every day, you should argue it and try to find the right path. But I think the amount of listeners we used to get showed that we did this right and we could also see our impact on journalism in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia and we can see our impact today as well.”

The BBC was in a unique position as some foreign media were. It had different objectives in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and more widely. Was it difficult to manage all those different objectives in one programme only?

“It is quite difficult and we had a hard job. I sounded very young there. We did not cover only Albanians in the Albanian world – we also tried to explain the rest of the world to Albanians. We reported about sport, art – starting with 30 minutes a day. There is a limit in what you can include in a programme and we tried hard to cover everything to keep the programmes interesting and fresh in order for them to be more impressive. We had some magnificent correspondents on the ground and I am sure that all of them will be present in this last broadcast. It is a very sad day this, to say goodbye to everyone but they did an impressive job and brought change to journalism and that’s all I can see.”

And this is our last broadcast. Do you think we accomplished our mission or do we have more to say?

“I think if you ever say ‘mission accomplished’ in broadcasting then you are fooling yourself. The mission is never accomplished – it goes on and on. I know some who worked for this service now work in the region in high positions in journalism, their influence is there and that’s great. Maybe some of those who work now will do the same and bring BBC principles further, those principles in which we all believe with a passion and want to keep alive. And I think we had this impact there and have our heritage. The mission is not accomplished, of course it isn’t, anywhere in the world not only in the young democracies like Albanians but also in democracies like the UK’s you have to fight as a journalist to pester the politicians, the leaders and businessmen and try keep them honest and try to warranty the growth of democracy. This continues and always will continue.”

That was Tim Couk, the ex-head of the Albanian services section. Part of our programmes is the voice and the analysis of Gabriel Partesh, the ex-analyst for South-eastern Europe. What does he think about BBC’s role over these years?

“More than just emails and comments by individuals of course there are periods when governments in Albanian have been very critical about the coverage of BBC. What I can say is this: first of all in a way being criticised by different parts is equal to being awarded with a medallion. This of course does not mean that everything you do is perfect, people make mistakes and we apologise for those. What I would say now and I will refer to the 1990s when everything was dramatic especially in the 1996-97 chaos, the period before and after them was this: I think the BBC, and the Albanian service in particular, in some way contributed to that and we can all be proud. I think the coverage was extraordinary, it offered an impartial voice which seeks to be independent and with the trust it gained it had no competition inside Albania or even outside it. As I said if you see the role of the BBC throughout history it is a beacon for the information it offered, for the balanced comments and the variety of opinions. I think this is a great achievement.”

Gabriel Partosh speaking. You’re with the BBC.

“The BBC has been a big school for me. I will always remember it for its objectivity and impartiality” says Viktor Cami, one of the last voices left from the original radio service. Mr. Cami was the speaker of the closure programme in 1967. Mr. Cami spoke to Soko Gruda about the closure – again – of BBC Albanian.

“What can I say, history repeats itself. In 1967 they said it was a lack of funds that was closing BBC Albanian. Of course no-one believed that at the time because if I recall correctly only the Albanian section was closed, and it might have been because we had no more relations with Russia and the Soviet Union, and about 6-7 years previously English tourists had started to go to Albania.”

44 years ago you presented the last radio broadcast of the Albanian service. We have taken out of the archive the opening of that programme:

“This is radio London. We announce that this is the last day of broadcasts in Albanian from the BBC. The content of this last broadcast is this: daily news bulletin, two speeches about the UK government’s decision for closing the Albanian section…”

Since the 20th of January 1967 you had worked for BBC for 15 years. What was BBC for you?

“BBC for me was a big school. We had more than 40 language services, people from all over the world with whom we were in touch with every day and I learned a lot because the BBC was known for its objectivity and impartiality.”

In your 15 years with the BBC there were many interesting events since the fall of communism in Albania.

“The ending of relations with the Soviet Union was the main event I remember. We could not talk about this case, even in the British press there was nothing about it.”

When BBC Albanian was closed in 1967 the only media that were broadcasting to Albania were controlled by the communist regime. Today in the Albanian world there are many alternative media, however do you think the BBC will be missed?

“That can be judged better by you than by me, however BBC is still known for its objectivity and impartiality.”

That was Viktor Cami, one of the journalists who worked for BBC until the service was closed in 1967 for the first time. Into the BBC microphone hundreds of politicians have spoken to give their evaluations, comments and analysis of different events. The President of Albania Bamir Topi has been a frequent guest and in this last broadcast he gave this evaluation of us:

“The announcement of closure is of course accompanied with compassion because we are used our entire life, and I mean not only the democratic period but since the childhood, to listening to BBC radio from London. Despite the financial politics I don’t think there are other motives, to accompany our lives as a referring station for media all over the world. It is a prestigious organisation, very realistic, balanced and objective which gave an incredible helping hand especially during the important political and social developments in Albania so I express my greatest gratitude personally and as an institution to the Albanian service of the BBC. As you said, I have had different reasons for speaking into your microphone but also many general interviews. I remember ‘The Auditorium’ but also many interviews when we had the chance to express our political and institutional feelings. I think the BBC will always remain in the memory of Albanians and will also its incredible role when the history of how the professional media influenced the development of Albania which is now a member of NATO is written. I wish to thank the work of all correspondents, the role of those interviewing me in this reformation process of the Albanian media but also of Albanian politics because it was a big responsibility to talk into the BBC microphone and it still is.”

That was the President of Albania, Bamir Topi. The president of Kosovo Jakup Krasniqi also says he respects the BBC Albanian service and has compassion for its closure. Muharrem Nitaj spoke to him.

“The BBC has been a window of hope for democratic prosperity and this is why it was important in the route to democracy not only in Kosovo but in all the countries of the eastern bloc of former totalitarian societies. Considering this I think that for countries like Kosovo and other countries which are in transition, the BBC is a missing voice for strengthening the democracy in these countries.”

Mr. Jakup Krasniqi, the leader of Kosovo Parliament. Part of our programmes here on the BBC have been other politicians, among them was the ex-Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano who spoke with my colleague Sokol Gruda in 1995.

“When I heard the ghastly news [of my mother’s death] I was crouching in pain and heard from the next cell the well-known voice of the author of “Opinion” speaking about me being held in prison. The president of the republic made in the most painful day of my life a decision based on daily political needs and allowed me to attend my mother’s funeral.”

That was a human act, allowing you to attend your mother’s funeral. Wasn’t it?

“It was a human act. And I hope with all my heart that such a practice for all the prisoners and the Albanian citizen that their state will expand this compassion over all the further subjects of catastrophes not only prisoners but a wider humanitarian relation of the state with all its citizens.”

We heard Mr. Fatos Nano speaking to the BBC after being released for some hours to attend his mother’s funeral in 1995. We will continue with a message from Macedonia regarding the closure of BBC in Albanian. Mr. Adbylarrman Aliti, ex-leader of the Democratic Prosperity Party, expresses his evaluation.

“The information space will be poorer after the closure of a well-known and trusted service in Albanian. It is a great loss for all the regular listeners to BBC Albanian. It is left only for me to wish the staff good health and the best of success in their professional life.”

International events have been key stories for listeners. Wherever these events take place, in the USA, Australia, Asia, Africa or Europe, the BBC has always been present and willing to cover the developments giving us the chance to be the first to broadcast the latest news. Majlinda Zeqiri reports.

The large number of BBC correspondents in every part of the world has given us the opportunity to cover international events with incredible accuracy and full information. We have covered events which will remain in our memories for years. Let’s start with September 11, which led to many changes across the whole world. On the 11th of September a series of coordinated attacks from Al Qaida happened in New York. That morning 9 terrorists kidnapped 4 passenger planes and flew them into the Twin Towers at the heart of New York’s financial district. About 3000 innocent people and the 9 kidnapers died in the attacks. The Mayor at that time was Mr. Rudi Giuliani.

“On September 11th, New York City suffered the darkest day in our history. It is now up to us to make it our finest hour. The twin towers that dominated our centre are no longer there, but our blue sky will always be there.”

The USA responded with attacks, starting wars by invading Iraq and Afghanistan. And it was the first one which sparked more debate in the world that still continues today. President Bush and the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Saddam Hussein was hiding nuclear weapons that were a risk to the world. The occupation of Iraq encountered some resistance but not as much as was expected and Saddam Hussein was at last caught by US forces. Paul Bremer, the US ambassador in Iraq announced the news to journalists gathered in Baghdad:

“Dear gentleman – we got him”

Saddam Hussein was found in a basement of a farm about 15 kilometres from his birth town. But the occupation of Iraq and the capture of Hussein did not end the suicide attacks nor the war which continued for years. Even today, although Iraq is governed by the Iraqi Government, there are still suicide attacks. What proves to be a difficult situation for international troops is the situation of Afghanistan. The loss of NATO’s forces led by the US continues, British troops killed since 2001 amounts to 360, without calculating how many of them have been injured. The suicide terrorist attacks continue throughout the whole world. I want to mention 2005 when London had its own 9/11, today known as the 7th July. Four terrorists attacked central London killing 52 people and injuring 770. Three bombs exploded in the Underground railway system, with another explosion an hour later on a bus. Here’s a witness:

“I heard a massive explosion. I was driving down the same road. I saw smoke and the bus was blown to pieces. I thought at first that some building might have collapsed but then it was obvious what had happened. A bomb had exploded.”

BBC Albanian team members were witnesses to the events in London, to the Underground closure, the harsh police controls on the trains and the difficult religious situation and the pain that the whole United Kingdom was experiencing.

In other international developments in December 2004 countries in Asia were hit by the tsunami that marked history as the Asian Tsunami. According to official figures a total of 247,098 people lost their lives. Indonesia was affected the most with 170,000 victims and the Assistance Agencies said that one-third were children. Over the years that we covered international events I can’t miss the election of Barack Obama as president in USA. Here is the moment where he was gaining state after state:

“Today the change we seek”

The whole world followed with interest the election of Obama. A dream that no-one had thought about. But his election was affected by the economic crisis which is still felt today and made business news more important. The crisis begun with the housing market in the USA, followed by the global financial crisis, with heavy economies which feel the weight even today like Spain, Greece, and Ireland. The crisis seems to have also changed the political relations across the world giving more power to countries like China, India and Brazil. This crisis also affected the BBC and this is the reason why we are broadcasting today for the last time. And to close this short report: the revolution that has engulfed the Arab world, especially Tunisia, Egypt and Libya calling for their leaders’ removal. And it is sad that we won’t have the chance to cover these events as we have done with all other news stories.

You’re with the BBC; Ilir Dija has been our correspondent in Tirana since we re-started broadcasting in Albanian. What are his memories of the past 18 years?

Thousands of memories fill my brain at the same and won’t let me believe that today, BBC Albanian is closing. There are 18 years of memories from the 28th February 1993. They seem a lot. But they are nothing but a dream. I now see the expression of my face while I was dreaming. I see myself laugh like a baby when at the end of my first report in the first evening programme I said ‘Ilir Kadia, BBC, Tirane’. At Radio Tirana on the fifth floor my mother and father were proud and my eyes twinkled with pride while I ran from one news source to another following Tim Couch’s advice: ‘not less than two sources, attention to balance, don’t rush, better second and accurate than first with mistakes…’. I see my face shrivel from the hunger as I forget to eat while I’m in pursuit of my job. I see my face exploding in joy in this BBC dream when after 2 years it was estimated that Tirana has broken the BBC listener’s record; one out of two interviewed listened to us.

I see my face moist there in the mines where the miners in a hunger strike considered the colleagues of BBC, I see it scared though the nights hidden behind an unknown back who acted as bodyguard and took me to the old SMT building in Tirana, and when women and men let me pass in front to ask how did the boys and girls go through the sea with an airboat. I see my serious face watching Papavojtiren kiss the hand of Mother Teresa and bless all my townsman at Skanderbeg square where Blair, dressed in red and black, appeared giving hope to Kosovo refugees and be frightened by a snake which crossed his way while he talked with Rugova as an old friend without knowing it would have been the last time.

I see my face astonished from the craziness of March 1997 when neighbours took guns and killed each other. When they made plans to make you vanish and came to your door at 3am with two other men when a little before he already wrote your death sentence on your house wall: buried alive. I see my face stubbornly refusing to carry out the Samite order because I was in danger in my country and then smile when Julia Goga asked to come three months later: “You did a good job not coming, you made us all proud”. I see my face terrified when the murderer used my dead friend’s body to open the Prime Minister office which God had abandoned long time ago. When the roads and the President’s office was washed in blood, people were anxious and when the neighbour asked me to knot the tie his mother made him for his wedding.

And then my face turns to joy when I see the quick building with houses and mansions, the beauty of a youth that sees the future only in Europe, the respect for our flag as for every other flag in NATO, the rush of many foreign friends to our coasts, to our national anthem and to the life that gets better every day. Today Albanian is being closed by the BBC I am not desperate but sad. I was lucky to begin working for the BBC – but having it mine for 18 years, I worked for luck. Ilir Kadia, BBC, Tirane.

BBC Albanian also has correspondents in Greece, Italy and the USA. The voices of Robert Gora, Aliba Berisha, and Shkelqim Cani have given us a different view of events. In Athens, as every day, here is Robert Gora.

These three years of service for the BBC have been a great professional experience but I also have had the chance to witness many important events especially in the capital city of a country which had more problematic relations than others did with Albania, and also the country which accommodates the biggest number of emigrants. I recall 1993 when, a few months after the BBC broadcast started, relations between Athens and Tirana were sharpened as a result of a Greek priest. Greece responded by massive expulsions of Albanian immigrants. Within two months their number reached 70,000 people. I felt really bad during that period as I watched police vans full of Albanians taken to the border and I sincerely felt shame from myself because of my accreditation I could walk free on Athens roads while my townsmen went to work in the morning without knowing if they would return home in the evening or end up at the border like others.

Another hard event shocked relations when the Greek commandos which would then be a part of national circuits, entered and murdered two troops. It was 10th April 1994. The biggest crisis in the history of both countries started. Athens and Tirana raised their tones to a dangerous level and this harsh communication continued for almost one year until March 1995 when relations entered softened and have been friendly ever since.

Meanwhile other events that will long remain in my memory that I had the chance to cover for the BBC are the chaos in 1997 when Greek politics were influenced by the crisis across the border, meeting Milosevic in Crete which opened debates in all the Albanian lands, the start of the legalisation process for Albanians, the Athens earthquake, the decision that Balkans countries would be considered for membership of the EU in 2003, the Olympic Games in the 2004 and many other events.

[Robert, Athens was very important since there was a large number of Albanian emigrants in Greece, am I right?]

Yes that’s right Seladin. Half of the Albanian emigrants in the world live here and the expression ‘Little Albania’ is a daily realism with various problems. For a BBC correspondent this was an advantage but also a great responsibility because I was in a daily confrontation in my reports from Greece and most of the audience had knowledge of the events. It was also a great stimulation since it always kept me working and allowed me to report with intimacy. It was my townsmen that gave me strength in 1997 to withstand an attack that took place in my house in Athens where armed and masked people entered my house. The authorities caught them and said they belonged to extremist groups and they wanted to “shut my mouth up”. The worst part was that I wasn’t home and my wife suffered the pressure. They hit and terrified her by shooting into the air.

So Seladin I was under great pressure and Tim Couch suggested that I come and stay some months in London. At first I agreed but then I changed my mind at the last moment. At the time I thought I stayed for love of my profession but now, remembering thousands of sequences of this 18-year serial named BBC Albanian, I understand now that more than the love of my profession were the thousands of Albanians most of whom I knew who encouraged me to stay.

That was our correspondent in Athens, Roberto Goro. Zenel Katana, Fadil Bytyci, Enida Cami and Ilir Gurakuqi have been our reporters over the years stationed in Rome.

“What’s your name?”
“Alexander Greko”
“How old are you?”
“22”
“With who were you in the ship?”
“With my wife and my son.”
“What about…”

Ilir Gurakuqi died in 2000 at a young age but we have often remembered his voice, passion, accuracy of work and humour.

You’re still with BBC Today. The guest of the moment in Studio 7 of the BBC World Service here in London is Mr. Muharem Hamiti, the first Kosovan Ambassador to the UK. Welcome Mr. Hamiri.

“Good morning”

I am not wrong when I say that you would be one of the most competent people to evaluate the presence and role of the BBC in the region and especially in Kosovo on the 18th anniversary of BBC programmes in Albanian.

“I am of course a witness of the work that the BBC has done during these 18 years and especially in the 1990s and especially in Kosovo. They were difficult years when Kosovo had no public Albanian media due to the closure that Serbian occupiers did to all those media outlets and while we made efforts in alternative ways to keep the population informed and reflect foreign opinion, the BBC gave the missing information and offered professional journalism which is valuable for that part of the Albanian world since you know that Kosovo and Albania had overcome a system which was not friendly to the media.”

Thank you for these evaluations Mr. Muharrem Hamiti, the first Kosovan Ambassador to the UK. And we will continue with an unusual edition of BBC Albanian broadcast on 6th December 2006…

“Hello. Me and my friends from “Frang Bardhi” high school are here to talk with our Serbian peers in the north of Mitrovica and will, through this telephone call, get to know each other since we haven’t had this chance before today.”

High school students from the northern and southern parts of Kosovo and Mitrovica are here to talk. They have been separated for 7 years. Today they consider themselves as ‘Generation X’. This was the school day of BBC Albanian realised by Albana Kasapi in collaboration with Dejan Caloskin of the Serbian service that travelled through the ethnically-divided city of Mitrovica in Kosovo to join the two high schools of the city. The programme won the second prize in the BBC World Service’s Awards and part of the World Service that arrived to the finals for the One Media Awards, one of the most prestigious prizes that are given to the media in the UK for covering events in under-developed countries.

You’re still with BBC Today. In our programmes during the past years we have had many special guests in a feature listened to with attention called “The Interview”. Fatos Ahmati has prepared the material we’re going to hear now.

Hello dear listeners from me Fatos Ahmati in this last meeting with BBC Albanian. The music you’re hearing is well-known and it takes me back to the year when I made interviews that were pearls for the BBC Albanian pendant. For many years we tried to bring prominent characters from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and even the wider world and we learnt more about their lives and activities but also different events. So we learnt that one of the most successful Albanian classic music composers, Agim Krajka, is self-educated.

“…since 1944 we had come through a classic poverty. We were many children with an intellectual father. It was luck that my father was one of the first to bring an accordion in Albanian, and sat there he played music and I just stayed on my knees and watched”

While the poet, journalist and screenwriter Pandi Laco has explained to us his efforts for the well-known programme ‘Stories with noise’:

“What pushed me was an occasional hint working with the state film central archive. Watching the images and reports from the journals I thought that the public must be very curious.”

From the interview in one of the most successful programmes in Albania “Auditorium” an achievement in collaboration with Top Channel television. It started in 2003; a programme in the form of question-answer session between the public, mostly students, and a panel who dealt with the integration into Europe and its challenges. Arben Manaj says he’s proud that he worked for this project that was nominated in the top 3 best programmes in a BBC competition.

“It was something like the middle of the 2003 when, along with Julia Goga, the chief of the Albanian section at the time, I had the idea of making a radio-television program regarding the integration of Albania into the European Union and the challenges which would then be known as ‘Auditorium’. We were only concerned about the funds to finance such a big and ambitious enterprise, the first of this kind for BBC World Service in more than 40 languages. Through her brilliant and high levels of management knowing what buttons to press and then with the idea of finding funds from the European Union or the UK Embassy in Tirana, three months later started the concrete preparation to structure what was further to be known in the whole Albanian lands, as BBC Auditorium. First we decided with Julia that it was me who was going to moderate the program but to tell you the truth I was not comfortable because I had no TV experience. Two weeks before everything was decided I went to her office and told her that this work would be done better by our correspondent in Tirana, Alexander Furrxhi. Me and Julaina were going to handle the editorial execution and montage aspects with a brilliant collaboration with Top Channel. I had found in the BBC archives some possible music and at last I managed to choose the music that accompanied The Auditorium, which was an instrumental part that was liked and suited television.

“Hello and welcome to Durres for the BBC debate ‘Auditorium’”.

This is how Auditorium started and continued with many episodes in Tirana, Korca, Vlora, Durres, Shkoder, Berat and even in Pristina. In the first round I had the chance to do many montages and television interviews to be a part of BBC programmes for different topics and for this I travelled to Brussels, Slovenia, and even in Gibraltar where we discussed the speedboat moratorium in Albania and the experience of this island.

“This is Gibraltar airport and it is unique since it passes the highway – so here airplanes land and cars pass as well.”

The biggest pleasure was the ‘The Auditorium’ came 3rd among all the programmes which competed in a BBC internal competition. It was a great achievement for a small section like Albanian in a giant like the BBC. ‘The Auditorium’ remains one of the most beautiful things that I have done over these 18 years with the BBC, which helped me pass from radio to television and I also want to thank for this the chief of the editorial office Julia Goga for her support and encouragement in such successful project of BBC in Albanian.

You’re with BBC Today; this is the last programme of BBC Albanian after 18 years of broadcasting. After all these years with the BBC it is not easy of course to single out our favourite event among all those historical events that have happened during two decades. My colleague Rakip Pluta is one of those people who have been with the Albanian service since the first day of broadcasting in 1993:

For this last programme of BBC Albanian I thought I should prepare something regarding the peace discussion which took place in Rambuje, Paris which we covered along with Faik since the first day as a part of the large team of BBC news. Or the day when the Russians entered Pristina and from the studio window a Polish colleague told me they did so also with Berlin in the 1945.Then I thought it is worth more if I prepare something regarding the meetings between Ahtisar and Jackson generals in their offices when I was interviewing for the first anniversary of Kosovo membership to NATO or the funeral of Arafat when I stayed in Cairo less than 48 hours. Searching the archives I found the interview I made with an old man from Llausha. I listened to it several times and it brought me back to March 1998 in Drenice which was surrounded by the Serbian police and military forces. Two weeks after the war in Pregraz where Jashari family was attacked and more than 50 people were killed. After passing some control points along with the journalist Chris Renner we stopped by the house of Rrahim Geci.

“For how many days has this situation continued?”
“This situation has continued for 28 days, so we’ve been here a month now”
“How are you handling it?”
“Doing everything we can. We are stuck here; they come by day and go by night, tens of armour-plates and tanks in the villages. Many have left wherever they could, some in the mountains…”
“Do you have food?”
“We haven’t had food. They did not let it pass. We hope they will let food pass here because we have no people to go. The entire neighbourhood consists of 80 houses. There are only three young women, most of them are old ladies, a women is sick”
“Are they shooting?”
“All last night”
“Who is shooting?”
“The military is shooting. We stay here in the court because we don’t dare go in the street because they shoot. We don’t know if this is ever going to be stopped or not. In Prekaz my mother was a guest in a house. She died there and I couldn’t attend her funeral.”
“Was there anyone from Llapusha?
“There were 4-5”
“How many remained?”
“They killed 6 or 7. Three were killed in the garden, one escaped and they beat him up and so on and so on. They killed 7-8 in Llapush.”
“Do they enter the village?”
“No, they don’t go within 2 km of the village”
“You can’t go out either?”
“No, absolutely, you absolutely can’t”

Rrahim Geci with who we talked in 22 March 1998 in Llaushe. During all this years I have often thought for all the people we met that day in the surrounded Drenica. Did they survive the war that started? As a journalist you go to do your job and cover an event but some of them remain with you forever.

That was Rakip Pluta. Part of this last programme of BBC Albanian is the cultural and music programmes which we can’t help mentioning since they have been a part of BBC Albanian for 18 years – as Faik Luta explains.

We don’t use the song of the UK star ‘Sex, Drug and Rock’n’Roll’ to describe the lifestyle of BBC journalists but the variety of topics we have treated during this 18 years of BBC. “Welcome to the first part of the programme regarding sexual identity…” The sexual programme cycle was a project treated in many languages of BBC world service while in our programmes was presented under the name of “The Sexual Identity”. Other topics that we treated in our programme were drugs, counselling and teaching young Albanians about the problems which the use and abuse of narcotics caused. We also made them aware of the help they could get though organisations, special phone lines, hospitals, clinics or even their relatives.

Music and culture was not a priority for the BBC but the Albanian service found a creative way and the time to offer the listeners cultural programmes. Through our project in London we have tried to keep in touch with the activities of the Albanian artists in UK or in the west.

“Welcome to BBC project in London. We will bring curiosities and events regarding the UK’s capital city. In this programme the Albanian soprano Mojena Jaho, New York saving the triviata in artist house…”
“And at the end when I exit and see the public raised to their feet I cried. I can’t find the words; I hope I was the greatest poet to explain that joy…”
“This was Rita Ora singing a duet with Craig David. Rita is a young girl from Kosovo, the talent of whom astonished even Craig who is working on her album…”

A considerable achievement of the programme was organising two music contests in Tirana and Pristina in the beginning of the new century, which was won by two rockers: Bojken Lako from Tirana and Derust Mexhejokna from Pristina who then gave concerts in London and recorded mini-albums in BBC studios where Beatles and Rolling Stones sang. The impressions of these concerts of the youth programme and the children’s one have been great for our listeners and the journalist of the Albanian art section, Blerina Goga:

“Hey Hey Hey HELLO. It’s been a long time since I last said this and I missed that. Hello from Blerina Goga. I started working with BBC in 1998 when the Albanian service decided to launch a youth programme. I was a student at the time and my dream came true. Music and entertainment were not only my passion but did take most of my income. Music started my days, took the stress away and irritated my parents. We wanted to be original and make young Albanians listen to us and not the 24-hour commercial radio. I think we achieved by not only doing a beautiful programme in which we presented many talented musicians who were still not known, but also created a phenomenal platform for young Albanians. I remember being very afraid and anxious when the green light was on, and I had to write everything I said, and it seemed I didn’t believe that I could be fluent even if I wrote everything myself. Even today I feel that talking into the microphone tickles me and I will miss this feeling.”

While the programme started with fans in 1999 the war in Kosovo started. We all had families and knew people there. With all our hearts we wanted to serve the people more than just information and this is how the idea of a children’s programme started. Thousands of people left Kosovo and were placed in refugees camps and many of them had children. We created a programme not only to entertain them but that could also contribute to their education.

“In Boston, USA a building shaped as a guitar was built. A British scientist noticed that it rains more on Fridays in UK…”

The programme was made from the children’s voices who told us about themselves and their friends. They became correspondents in the refugee camps. We had many beautiful stories, history, geography, poetry and radio – including a dramatisation of the well-known children’s book “Cufo” from Gaqo Bushaka.

“Cufo the pig crashed his back. Cufo run away as he knew the practical value of the proverb “light legs, white cheek…”

You’re with the BBC. Dear friends we’re approaching the last minutes of BBC Albanian. Believe me, here in London the studio from which we broadcast is full of BBC Albanian staff and leaders of BBC World Service. Our colleagues from Tirana, Pristina and Skopje tell me the situation is the same there. Let’s go initially in Tirana, and Alexander Furrxhi.

“Yes Seladin, every beginning comes to an end. I think that those who worked for the BBC for two decades have reason to consider ourselves lucky. We were lucky to meet and work with so many people through the BBC, so please allow me to share a personal moment in this last minutes. I want to greet all my friends and my family with much respect and love for everyone on this last time this 28th February 2011, Alexander Furrxhi, BBC Tirane.”

From Tirana to Pristina, Muharrem Nitaj.

“Seladin, with respect for everyone who has listened to us during these 18 years from the studio in Pristina and the staff here, Arber Llakiu, Viole Hyseni, Fadil Bytyci, Blerina Rugova, Fatmir Matoshi, Besa Tovolani and many, many others that have worked from Pristina, and finally from me as well, for 18 years in continuance Muharrem Nitaj, hopefully not forever goodbye – but, for now, just goodbye.”

Thank you Muharrem Nitaj. Nazim Rashiti as always from Skopje.

“Yes Seladin, my last report couldn’t reach the listeners and this makes me close this broadcast with a feeling of injustice that also reflects the closure of BBC Albanian. With respect for the listeners, goodbye and I hope we will be hearing and meeting in another context. From Skopje, Nazim Rashiti.”

Let’s get back to Studio 7 of the BBC World Service. I am Seladin Zhezairi and with me in the studio is my colleague Majlinda Zeqiri. Majlinda this are the last seconds of BBC.

Yes Seladin, the last seconds. For me these 10 years are unforgettable. Thankyou to all colleagues. A farewell to all BBC World Service listeners. I wish you health and luck wherever you are and from wherever you have listened to us. This was the last broadcast of BBC in Albanian. It’s the 28th February 2011.