Adriatic Sea Doçi
“Azem, you are alive! Democrats, our tribune calls us today: On the attack! Today or never! On the attack! On the attack!”. This is what Sali Berisha wrote on the 28th anniversary of Azem Hajdari’s death, in an attempt to motivate the Democrats after 13 years in opposition through his figure.
How realistic and sincere is Sali Berisha in his assessment of Azem Hajdari? Referring to the facts and circumstances, evidence and the archive of the time, it turns out that, until the day he closed his eyes, Azem Hajdari had no more fierce and determined opponent than Sali Berisha. In fact, Sali Berisha continued his revenge against Azem Hajdari 21 years after the murder, supporting the expulsion of his daughter, Rudina Hajdari, from the Democratic Party, due to her refusal to burn the deputy’s mandate, in February 2019.
The wiretapping in ’92
Only 4 months after Sali Berisha appointed his confidant, Bashkim Gazidede, to head the infamous SHIK, Azem Hajdari publicly complained that he was being wiretapped and monitored by Gazidede, certainly on Sali Berisha’s behalf. On June 26, 1992, three months after coming to power, Berisha appointed Gazidede to head SHIK. On September 7, 1992, Azem Hajdari, at that time a DP MP, denounced Bashkim Gazidede in the middle of Parliament for wiretapping him.
Azem Hajdari even holds Maksim Haxhiaj, the Prosecutor General at the time, accountable for not arresting Bashkim Gazidede for illegally wiretapping him.
On September 7, 1992, during an interpellation with the Prosecutor General at the time, Maksim Haxhia, Azem Hajdari stated: “Why wasn’t Bashkim Gazidede stopped for the illegal wiretapping of Azem Hajdari?” Maksim Haxhia, today a well-known lawyer, stated that “I couldn’t go and initiate criminal liability for Mr. Gazidede, for the recording he made of you, it is talked about, at least, in the newspapers. Whoever has concrete denunciations about concrete persons, with concrete evidence, has opened the door of the Prosecutor’s Office and our commitment is always ready.”
Azem Hajdari was seen by Sali Berisha as a threat to his power in the DP. This seems to be the reason why Berisha had tasked Gazidede with spying on Azem, collecting material about him, and learning about his connections and movements.
1996, Berisha: Azemi spy, connection to murders
In 1996, Azem Hajdari had launched a wave of criticism against the government of Aleksandër Meksi, but without attacking Berisha as President. With the cause of protecting the unions, Azem aimed to dictate to Berisha the overthrow of Meksi, to give another message to the democrats about his power in the DP. This was a moment when Berisha exploded against Azem Hajdari, accusing him of connections with the State Security, of being a spy for Ramiz Ali and of being implicated in serious events.
Berisha said, “Who is Mr. Azem Hajdari and who does he really serve? Judging by the facts and not by the words, we have the right to say that we had two Azems. The one at the rallies who caused trouble, while the one in real life who became friends with Irakli Koçollari, and other security forces, got so drunk that he could not control what he took out of his pockets. MP Azem Hajdari went on a hunger strike. The many curious, political fans were surprised by Mr. Hajdari’s actions and brought different versions in their explanations, then accusing Azem Hajdari of numerous criminal connections, connections with the state security forces, in the service of Ramiz Ali and so on. He decided to stop the snack and brandy strike: In the “Xhela cafe” it is said that MP Hajdari, rumored by the press and other voices about the problem of murders and in On the eve of the March 22 elections, on hunger strike, armed, a unique case in the history of hunger strikes, abandoned by everyone, scolded by Çupi and Këndez, mistreated by Kurt Kola, surrounded by former 80-leks (and there are many of them), he decided to end the meze and rakija strike.
Blackmail and smear campaign
Sali Berisha then launched a smear campaign and blackmail against Azem Hajdari, who was becoming an increasingly serious threat to Berisha’s power within the DP. Berisha accused Azem of links to crime and trafficking, through the newspaper Rilindja Demokratike.
The DP newspaper, and consequently Berisha’s, calls Azem Hajdari a miserable clown of Albanian politics who leads a bunch of divisive, failed ordinary people, and compares him to a gambler.
In an article dated January 7, 1997, the newspaper Rilindja Demokratike, referring to the university strike organized by Azem Hajdari on January 6, among other things, writes: “Using his nephew, who prefers to keep his seal under his pillow instead of books, Hajdari attempts to manage some of the students’ difficulties in order to realize his sick political ambitions. Hajdari, excited by his ego inflated with tricks from a bunch of ordinary vagabonds, declares the revival of the trinomials, according to the principle ‘speak, speak, something will remain’. Hajdari, transformed in a short time into a miserable clown of Albanian politics, forgets that a month ago it was the workers, the students and all the citizens of Tirana, who did not even deign to come and ridicule his meeting in a sports environment of the Qemal Stafa stadium, where his shouts resembled the outbursts of a bookmaker…”.
January 1997, Berisha expels Azemi from the party
Sali Berisha’s patience reached its peak on January 9, 1997, when, on his orders, the leadership of the DP parliamentary group decided to propose to the DP Presidency the expulsion of Azem Hajdari from the DP group. Very soon, Azem Hajdari was ‘elevated’ as a member of the DP National Council. A few days later, the DP Presidency expelled Azem from the DP parliamentary group. Azem Hajdari’s punishment by Sali Berisha was certainly also reflected in the RD newspaper. Meanwhile, in the first plenary session of the Assembly, dated January 20, 1997, Azem Hajdari gave a speech on his expulsion. Hajdari emphasized that his expulsion was illegal, while adding that he had not been summoned to the DP National Council, nor to the leadership, nor to the parliamentary group, as required by procedure.
“If the parliamentary group or even a simple MP were to make such a proposal, this is the competence of the parliamentary group and no article of the Democratic Party statute provides for the decision-making power of the DP leadership to expel a MP from the parliamentary group. This is a top-down connection, which is not discussed at all in the forums. I am currently a member of the National Council of the Democratic Party, suspended indefinitely, and “suspension” as a term differs from “expulsion”…,” says Azem Hajdari.
Berisha’s suspicious role in the murder of Azem Hajdari
Azem Hajdari remained a serious threat to Sali Berisha even after being expelled from the DP. Punishing him with exclusionary measures was not an option. After his ouster from power in July 1997, Sali Berisha brought Azem Hajdari closer to the party, giving him an office next to his own. Azem Hajdari was killed by Fatmir Haklaj on the evening of September 12, 1998, in the courtyard of the Democratic Party. 23 years later, Sali Berisha’s role remains questionable.
First, Sali Berisha has never answered the question of who urgently called Azem Hajdari from Fier to Tirana on the afternoon of September 12, 1998, and for what reasons.
Secondly, Azem Hajdari’s phone, which could have revealed communications with Berisha, has mysteriously disappeared.
Thirdly, Sali Berisha has never explained what he told Azem before going downstairs to confront Fatmir Haklaj, where he told him that they were looking for him.
Fourth, Sali Berisha rushed to accuse Fatos Nano of the murder, an accusation he withdrew years later as a fabrication.
In view of this accusation, he organized the coup d’état of September 14, 1998. Fifth, Sali Berisha never refused to testify about the murder of Azem Hajdari, but changed his version of the event from time to time.
The punishment of the daughter
From September 1998 to 2019, Sali Berisha shed ‘crocodile tears’ for Azem Hajdari. His mask fell on February 28, 2019, when he asked Lulzim Basha to expel Rudina Hajdari, Azem Hajdari’s daughter, from the Democratic Party, after her refusal to burn the deputy’s mandate, a scenario devised by Berisha and Meta to provoke a political crisis and topple the Rama government. Berisha said that “the DP should not act with double standards”, implying that since Myslim Murrizi was expelled, Rudina Hajdari should also be expelled. And that is what happened. Rudina Hajdari was expelled from the DP.