Ali Ahmeti, the Albanian politician, the historical leader of the Albanian community in North Macedonia with a prominent role in the most important political developments in this country, as well as one of the most important figures in the political and social scene of the Western Balkans, was honored today with the title “Honorary Citizen of Tirana”, for all his contributions to the Albanian community of North Macedonia.

The awarding ceremony took place in the premises of the Municipality of Tirana with the presence of the Prime Minister Edi Rama, the Speaker of the Parliament Lindita Nikolla, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Igli Hasani, the Mayor of the Municipality Erion Veliaj, and other high officials of Albania’s and North Macedonia’s political life.

In the presentation of the historical events that made Ali Ahmeti one of the most prominent political figures, Mayor Erion Veliaj said, among other things, that “Today we are witnessing that Ali Ahmeti will remain in the long history of our nation, and especially our city. This is the model of a true politician and activist. This is the model of Ali Ahmet, the politician for whom freedom is a substance of his soul and his being”.

While Ali Ahmeti, in his word, said that he shares the credit for this title with all his comrades: “I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart for the support that the Albanian state has given us. Today, Tirana is completely different and that makes me happy, it makes every Albanian who comes and visits it happy. I would like to thank you very much for this honor. I share this honor with all my comrades-in-arms, patriots, political prisoners in my country and in Kosovo.” – he said.

“An Albanian among the best of our national history” – Prime Minister Rama called politician Ali Ahmeti in his greeting.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Only Ali Ahmeti could bring me back here today!

I have put a few words on paper because considering that I usually do not speak briefly, and considering whom I have to talk about today, I was very afraid that I could keep you for hours about the figure, personality and character of Ali Ahmeti.

Dear Ali Ahmeti,

Dear Madam, Dear Friends and Guests,

Today Tirana honors an Albanian among the best of our national history, a history written with extraordinary hardships, not only because of the great powers to whom Albania was once an annoying geographical expression, not only because of the stronger neighbors which until not many decades ago saw the Albanian as an unbearable historical atavism in the lands and territories of this provincial region between the east and the west, but also because of those archaic Albanians, who used the weapons of war and diplomacy against each other without ever hesitating, between each other and foreigners, to always choose the latter.

I do not believe that another nation in the Balkans has suffered more than the Albanians from the division among themselves, and I think that on this neighborhood of quarrels, wars and historical backwardness in the middle of Europe, such divisions have made it increasingly easier for foreigners to prevent our identity from being shaped state-wise and affirmed globally, wherever Albanians live, under the flag of the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Kosovo or other republics in the region.

Ali Ahmeti is one of the best Albanians who years ago climbed the mountains of resistance for freedom and equal constitutional rights, of our brothers and sisters in the neighboring state of North Macedonia, without asking for ethnic bloodshed or the demolition of the independent state after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, but placed on the agenda of the Republic of Macedonia, the necessity of accepting the Albanians as a non-ignorable subject of the state of the neighboring country.

The tools of this mountain of resistance did not aim at the division of Macedonia, but at its unification under the same banner of values and principles of democratic coexistence between the Albanian and Macedonian people. The path of resistance in the mountains that Ali Ahmeti and other good Albanians opened with weapons in their arms was not the path of a nationalist war mission, but the path of a patriotic vision of peace.

Undoubtedly, those weapons were not a bluff from politicians blinded by the thirst for power, nor were they a joke of adventurers like those in Ismail Kadare’s “The Dark Year”, but they were the most meaningful statement of the patience of Albanians in the conditions of discriminatory disregard of their presence as a necessity for social peace and the prosperity and integrity of Macedonia.

It is still early to write the history of this Albanian among the best, but it is not early to say that among the Albanians of this time of epochal changes for our nation, among which the Albanians in the Republic of North Macedonia shine, Ali Ahmeti is our greatest master in using the weapon of diplomacy.

Without Ali Ahmeti, the Albanians of North Macedonia would not be in their best state ever in the history of that country, nor would they have a democratic pluralism, so dynamic within the perimeter of the life of the Albanian parties, to not allow them sink in the fight for more power, underestimating the real possibility of the political weakening of the Albanian factor.

This may be the case, but this is not the moment for me to elaborate further on what I have just said because I do not want in any way for my opinion to be read as interference in the election campaign of the neighboring country, where we do not have any intention of influencing the decision-making of the voters of that country, even the Albanians, to whom I only say to see the interest of the Republic of North Macedonia, which today more than ever is also theirs, side by side with their fellow Macedonian citizens and with all the minorities that live in that Republic and protect their Republic.

Ali Ahmeti can without question be criticized inside the country because it is the right and duty of anyone who is in the opposition, even though Ali Ahmeti has never sat in an office chair except that of his party headquarters, there is no doubt that attacks and criticisms outside the ranks of the Albanian majority party that he leads are targeted towards him in the first place, but there is one thing that in undeniable: What Ali Ahmeti has done with his power, for the advancement of the rights of the Albanians in the neighboring country, for their affirmation as equal citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia and for the elevation of the Albanians, in the eyes of the whole world, all of us others cannot discuss it, but we just have to accept it and if we are wise, take it as a lesson, from one of the best Albanians.

At the end of this speech, when an honorary citizen of the stature of Ali Ahmeti is added to Tirana, I want to bring the wise words of a great politician and leader, “Boys want power to be recognized by others, while men to do good for others”.

Thank you!