In Dhërmi, the ownership titles distribution continued today with 789 of them, in continuation of the process of concluding the mortgage of inherited houses in an area that is part of the group of areas such as Thethi, Malësia e Madhe, Kukësi and some others, where systematic problems exist, but which have already entered the solution path.
For the Municipality of Himara, one third of the process is completed and the final registration will be completed by autumn.
Prime Minister Edi Rama was in Dhërmi today in a meeting with the residents, to whom he personally handed over the ownership title.
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Good day everyone and thank you for gathering here today to continue a process which will conclude a very long effort, first of all on your part, but I assure you, also from our part, since as I explained in the previous meeting, this area together with several other areas of Albania which extend from the north, from Theth and in fact I will be in Theth the day after tomorrow to do the same process, all the way down to Konispol, there are several points where the problem has been different from that of other parts of the territory. This is to say how untrue and how low is all the propaganda according to which a discriminatory policy has been made in Himara because that propaganda has completely different goals from our common interests and from the interests of its own residents.
The truth is that the problem of registering inherited houses in these areas, and I repeat, from Thethi, Malësia e Madhe, Kukësi, Hasi, Tropoja and then further down, is a problem related to the fact that unlike other areas, the whole relationship of property titles has been complicated, very complicated. In technical language, it is about placing the properties on the map and, on the other hand, placing the houses so that the real location fully matches the location on the cadastral map, and that there are no overlaps and no conflicts.
What has particularly been hard in these areas, which is not the same as Theth and the northern areas, is what happened in many years, starting in the 90s and after, when there was a lot of violence, with papers, with AMTPs, with certificates and where, as you know better than me, there are often 3 owners for one property. And in a very common way, a piece of land becomes a source of conflict because there are different contenders who show cards and this comes on the one hand as a result of malicious actions.
What matters to you is that this long ordeal to register inherited houses is over and now it is just a matter of registration and submission of the certificate. Today there are 789 certificates. In the entire district of Vlora, there is a number of about 4,200 or 300, a part of which we will distribute here and this physical distribution here, is also done to raise awareness of others to apply because we have a problem with the application, also because a large part of them reside outside and so the application process is difficult for them to do, we managed to conclude now that we are talking, 1/3 of work. The rest of the work is about 2,500 more certificates in the municipality of Himara and about 500-600 outside the municipality of Himara, but within the district of Vlora, we will finish it by the end of October.
What is important to repeat, and which the prefecture and the municipality are repeating over and over again, is that people must apply. So I am calling on everyone, but I am also asking you to tell all your friends, neighbors, family and anyone around you who you have contact with, who needs or will register the property, to make the application, application is very important!
I want to conclude, that this is an extremely large work in terms of volume. Without a doubt, it would have been much better if it had been done earlier, but it is not that it was not done earlier, that we did not want to do it, but it was not done earlier for the reasons I said and for the reasons I repeat once again, the same applies to the residents of Himara, to the residents of Theth and to the residents of a number of other areas that have this problem.
Everyone has their right to have their opinion, but facts are facts. We can fight with opinions, we cannot fight with facts and the fact is that in this process there was and is the maximum will to close once and for all this history that became senseless to be honest.
Others have definitely used this impasse as much as they could to poison people’s minds and hearts by telling all kinds of tales, ugly tales that the government will take the properties in Himara, a tale that has nothing to do with the truth because the government, even if it intends to, cannot do this. Secondly, you are a witness yourself that those who have developed and are developing properties here in this area, as in all of Albania, are private entrepreneurs who have contracts with the owners, not with the government.
On the other hand, you are also a witness that those contracts are contracts of greater benefit to the owners because the price of land here has increased in a way that no one could have imagined until 10 years ago and the increase in the price of land has not come from the sky, it did not come from the sea, it did not come from the mountains either. The sky, the sea and the mountains have been here before. The beauties of the area have been here and before, but here we are today and you know very well that until a few years ago we could not gather at this square.
You know very well that until a few years ago it was a big deal to come here. I came today for two hours, exactly two hours, at 8:03 I left home in Tirana, at 10:03 I was near here. It is all this infrastructure that has been built and the construction of this infrastructure has caused the price in the whole area to go up to the point that you know this better than me, certain parts of this area today have a higher price than in Corfu.
But to say that a policy has been made to expropriate the Himarjots and all the autochthonous inhabitants for “the oligarchs”, that there are no oligarchs in Albania, the word oligarch among the great Albanian entrepreneurs does not connect the two together, it is a word thrown into the air and like all big words and like all big lies that are the ones that are absorbed and believed the fastest and this has taken its place. But to say that is to tell a very big, very, very big lie. How much has been invested from Llogaraja to Sarande for the people here, for the villages here, for the coast here, to change the face of an area since I came to Himare before as if I was coming to Bathore, but not Bathorja today, Bathorja of the past.
The number of tourists has increased, as few could have imagined. 10 million tourists were reached years ago, this year it may go 12, it may go 13, but this does not happen by chance. This is because tourists who come to this area find reasons to come. I never imagined that I would live the day when Himara would be divided by some people into “ours and theirs”. The Himarjots have historically been Himarjots in the first place, even so that Himarjots that they wanted to make a republic on their own, that they are a bit of a republic on their own from the mind, so they wanted to make a Republic on their own here in the territory.
Himara belongs to the Himarjots and the Himarjots are who they are. They are free and within their right to call themselves what they want, but whatever they call themselves based on their origin, at the end of the day their name is Himarjote and Himara, like Tropoja, like Saranda, like Gjirokastra, like Vlora, like Durrësi, all those who live in Himare are citizens of the Republic of Albania.
Himara has history, it has a very rich history and it has an inseparable history. You cannot divide the story of Himara and divide it at will into a piece and say no this is so, no it is a story, it is a story, and what symbolizes what I am saying is the face of Vangjel Dule. What business does Vangjel Dulja have in Himarë, except as a citizen of the Republic of Albania, like anyone else and with what right, with what right does he incite division and to speak absurdities and to speak nonsense, which have nothing to do with the daily life of the Himarjots, nor with the daily life of the Albanians, nor with the daily life of the Greeks, nor with Albania, they are only related to the goals of some very small people who have divisive interests and who do not belong to this century at all, they come from other centuries, they come from the darkest territories of history.
Therefore, it is good for everyone to get this into their heads, that before they have anything else, anyone else, the Himarjots have Himara, and Himara is not to be taken here and taken there, Himara is to stay here. Himara is staying here and to be the place where the life of Himarjo families and other Himarjo generations flourishes. Even others are welcome, of course, but Himara is the one who comes from history and who is definitely imposed by the future.
One of the reasons why this process is coming to an end and I am saying it very openly and very directly, is our persistence. That’s why the municipality was made with an arm, that’s why the cadastre was made with an arm, because there is a professional who guides the work. And that’s why the relationship is closer and closer to the residents, because they have a man, who, as I have said in the beginning, try to get him on the phone and tell me if it will ever happen that he won’t pick up the phone.
Everyone should carry whatever flag they like in their mind and whichever flag they like at home. Yes, the flag of this Republic is honored and respected only by doing one more job every day for this country and for the people.
Everyone has their own work to do. Everyone has their own responsibility to keep. Everyone has their own account to give and everyone who is on the side of the citizens has his own account to demand according to duties.
Thank you very much.