The Chairman of the Association for the Protection of Properties of Himara Nikollaq Neranxi unveiled in a lengthy interview with Albanian Daily News on the calvary of the inhabitants of Himara, southern Albania which according to him are being plundered by the government linked with mafia circles.

Mr. Neranxi revealed among others their efforts to make known their question to the foreign embassies in Tirana, including the US one, which have shown sympathy for their case and determination to protect their properties.

Below the full in terview: 

- Mr. Neranxi, you have had recently meetings with senior officials of the US Embassy in Tirana.  Would you be so kind to tell the readers of Albanian Daily News what was concretely discussed on the Himara questions, of course that which can be made public?

- Before answering your question I want to make a necessary clarification. During these months when we as community of Himara are fighting with the mafia governors and their clients, alone or also accompanied by other Himara people, we have had many meetings. I can admit that we have met almost all the foreign ambassadors in Tirana. The meetings have all been formal, where note has been taken on all the talks by these institutions. It is a pity to tell you that most of them had been cheated (I do not want to say misinformed because it seems to me that I minimize the problem). The propaganda of the people in power had worked hard so that the foreign representations could not learn the truth and I can say strongly convinced that if we had not raised powerfully the voice, now Himara would have been flattened and no one would have understood what really happened. In the meantime, as far as the US Embassy is concerned, our meetings have been much more frequent there. At the beginning we asked for a meeting with them and after they listened to us it was they also that showed interest in anything new with regards to the problem. Everything has been discussed there, we can make this public and there is nothing to hide.

- Can you tell something concrete?

- A few days ago, the Prime Minister issued a decision of the Council of Ministers (VKM) through which it was shown that the families of the Spille Himara neighborhood, whose houses would be demolished in the frame of the project "Urban Requalification", would be expropriated and the value of the compensation was about 100 million old leks (cents as compared with the real value of that property at the seaside).This decision was made a few weeks after the Ombudsman ruled that the Himara inhabitants were right after a comprehensive and long investigation of the problem. He asked the Himara Municipality that the project should be discontinued, to give property certificates to the autochthonous inhabitants of Himara and afterwards it could make a project, which should have the acceptance of the inhabitants because the current one was rejected by us. Based on this material of the Ombudsman, an advocacy office, which was selected by the Association for the Protection of Properties of Himara chaired by Nikollaq Neranxi, which worked on this problem for months, put together all these arguments and we sued the Himara Municipality and its head Goro. We demanded the discontinuation of the works and to bring back the cemented coastline to the previous state. Both the lawsuit and the material of the Ombudsman were made before the issuance of the VKM.  You are aware that when there is a judicial process and the Ombudsman has spoken out, no actions at all can be undertaken. So the Premier does not recognize the institutions of this state because there is no explanation of the fact that he continues stubbornly the looting project.

- What did the Director of the Office for Human Rights at the US Embassy, Mr. Geoffrey Parker, tell you?

- He told us that he was meeting us according to special instruction of the US Ambassador, Mr. Donald Lu. We had sent all the documents before the meeting and he was very clear on the situation. Two priests of our area were also present at the meeting. The Mafia of the looting of properties has not spared even churches - this is a terrible thing. What a shame for this thief state. Unimaginable things are happening in that area! Mr. Parker promised us that the institution he represents would be on our side because the right is on our side. He also encouraged us to take the struggle to the end.

- Listening to what you said it seems that you have followed the strategy of internalization of the question of property plundering in Himara. Do you think that the Albanian authorities realize that such actions damage it because they are acting against the international rights?

- As I have also been deputy of the Parliament of Albania, I, in the first place, respect very much our institutions, and we have addressed all the Albanian institutions on the problem of the land plundering in Himara.  As you know, the Institution of the Ombudsman went to Himara, took the documents, saw the situation at the place and launched an investigation. After this, when it was convinced that the inhabitants were right, a document was prepared by it which demanded from the Himara Municipality to stop the works and cooperate with the inhabitants. Other institutions have not given any answer and on top of all they did not provide the legal office which worked on this question with the documents according to law. The possibility to shed light on the questions was very small because Mafia worked in details on its plundering project. 

As far as the foreign representations in Albania are concerned, they were shocked when they learned the truth from the documents which we showed them.  How such a thing can happen, they asked us. In Albania, buildings constructed on, let's say, plundered lands are legalized, because they did not ask permission to anyone when they built them, while the Himara people, the autochthonous inhabitants do not get the property certificates so that the plunder can be made easily. The governors use words like: "We will demolish some car wash places and some fences for major projects!" But the problem is that the car wash places are in our lands; we are neither newcomers nor occupiers. So our fence is worthier than a villa in Bathore. Naturally this state has been discredited with Himara and now it is clear to all this fact. Every day this government is disgraced, but their determination to plunder everything cannot stop them. So they cannot stop on their own, consciously, because they are hostages of criminals who helped them to come to power. They should be stopped at any cost, and not only for Himara, but for the entire ransack in every corner of Albania.

 - How much determined are you on this question when there are also circles that attack you in different forms, including some so called media representatives?

- We do not stop until we go to the end of this history. The right is on our side and there is no discussion on this. We become stronger by the support of the Himara community in the US as well as Pader Karavella, a priest whose origin is from our areas. He had done a great work that the question of the properties of Himara gets international attention and be resolved for good. I cannot find words to thank that good patriot who was close to us at any moment of our struggle. As far as the media mud is concerned, it should be said that they had taken order to attack me personally in order that our cause gets weaker. If you check in Google, it is written on me more than on a minister during these times. I am not saying more than on a deputy because most of them are not known by their neighborhood, because they have not spoken once in the parliamentary hall. However, this thing has really made me a protagonist at that level which, in fact, I did not want and did not aim. I just wanted to be one of the Himara inhabitants demanding our rights, nothing more. They turned the fight as a personal matter with me, thinking of harming me as I run a business. In fact, the opposite has happened. This media fight has increased the number of friends and supporters, and I would like to share with you another fact, which has the touch of humor, in a way, but it is true. As the business bears my surname whenever my name is mentioned, in a way my business is mentioned. So in this case not only the number of friends has increased but even the selling.

However, as I have never caused any problem to other people during my life, I cannot accept that someone can slander about me. That is why I have filed a lawsuit for slander against these pseudo journalists, harming of image and violation of honor. Very soon I will face them in court. 

- Have you ever be concerned that this fight with the state can harm the business because, in fact, you have had some nasty experiences?

- My fight with this thief state has started since a year ago with regards to the local taxes. They increased the taxes ten times and made the law of super fines with the only aim of bankrupting the existing businesses and new businesses could be created with the money coming from drugs and other traffics. Naturally in all these businesses to be created the partnership criminal + politician or trafficker + politician would be respected. I have denounced this scheme since the very beginning as Chairman of the Association for the Protection of Traders and Market in Albania. We organized protests in front of the City Hall with the participation of traders and civil society, we took the law on super fines to the Constitutional Court and we won. I wrote every day against this government of thieves and the revenge did not delay. They have looted the company and according to my investigations the state's hand is behind that plunder. For the moment I cannot say more but when light will be shed on the question, you will say you were right. In fact they came to frighten me, because even the most ignorant person knows very well that big companies like mine work through banks, not in cash, so they had nothing to steal there. So the looting by the masked people was just only to exert pressure on me so that I shut my mouth. To show that this strategy does not work in my case, the event turned into a comedy on the TV Show of Arian Cani.

A few months later, they came and took me with police cars from the company on the day of the fair under the claim that my customers had parked at wrong places! So the owner of the company was taken to the police precinct because the visitors had wrongly parked their cars!!! That was also pressure to frighten me. A lawsuit has been filed by the Neranxi Company against police for this shameful event, for the great financial damage caused to the business by spoiling an activity which had cost greatly financially and as investment in time and human resources.

Naturally that this frontal fight of the state with me could not make me withdraw because I have undertaken two missions: to protect the property and the history of my hometown as an oath of the predecessors and to protect the interests of an honest business, of those people who have created everything with their sweat. So this is a road without turn back, only forward towards victory.

- Mr. Neranxi, you have been very active with regards to the questions which we discussed above. So in a way you have given proofs that you are a dignified individual to represent the interests of a community. This has also been proved when you have been a lawmaker. Have you thought of the possibility to be again part of the new Parliament?

- No, I have not thought of that during these times as I have had much work and problems. It has been impossible for me to think of that. Everything that I have done so far has been in defense of the private property and free entrepreneurship. I have done these for myself but also for the community with whom these problems connect us. You cannot survive differently in this jungle, so there was no other choice. If we did not react, the end awaited us. So my activity did not aim at being elected deputy. If the deputies of this Parliament had done a public activity in the benefit of the community similar with mine to arrive at that honorable hall, they would really have been the best part of the society. But we know very well what kind of past some of them have had. Thus in Albania the path to become deputy does not pass through actions and works in the benefit of the community. In short, I do not meet the criteria. Leaving aside the irony and humor, I tell sincerely I have not asked anyone to put me on the list and I do not intend to ask for such a thing. Some proposals have been made to me, but for the moment I think that I feel good as part of the civil society.

-Lastly, how do you see the dynamic of the relations with the strategic partner, Greece? Do you think that there is a little amateurism in the behavior of the Albanian diplomacy when good relationship between neighbors would be in the interest of both sides?

- I think that the relations between Albania and Greece, as well as between Albania and every other country, should be correct, which means that the sides should respect mutually each other. If one starts to show muscles, the other will do the same and the balances will be damaged. I maintain that the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama will remain in history as the premier who has made the highest number of mistakes in the international arena. He has made so great gaffes, and so I often say to myself that we are lucky that he is not taken so seriously by others because otherwise there would have been great impact on us as people.

By having good relations with Greece and every other country, there are only profits; nothing bad comes from that. Much work should be done in this direction. Naturally this government does not have chances to correct the mistakes, which it has made, but I hope that the other one to come to power will do the best in this direction.