The violent incident in Zvërnec, where resident Eduart Subashi was bloodied by private security guards of a multi-billion-dollar project, has finally torn away the veil of political hypocrisy in Albania.
What is happening on the coastline of Vlora is not simply a property conflict between an individual and a company; it is the reflection of a larger national drama where sovereignty, land, and citizens' rights are reduced to a bargaining chip for electoral and geopolitical interests.
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| The violent incident in Zvërnec, where resident Eduart Subashi was left bleeding, was immediately exploited by the Greek Foreign Ministry, sparking strong geopolitical debates over the minority charter, property rights under Law 7501, and the fate of billions of dollars of investment on the coast. |
The "Palestine Fence" in Vlora and Athens' Alibis
Eduart Subashi's testimony is shocking. The comparison he makes between the surrounding fence and the "situation in Palestine" shows the degree of isolation and aggressiveness that local residents are facing. However, his statement contains a detail that goes beyond his private life: "I am an Albanian and Greek citizen... I have the deed to my land since 1991."
This detail served as immediate bait for the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its lightning-fast intervention, characterizing the event as the "wounding of a member of the Greek minority" and implying an infringement on the properties of the Greek National Minority in an area like Zvërnec, raises major geopolitical questions. Why is Athens rushing to take under its protection a territory that historically and geographically has had no connection to the compact Greek minority?
According to independent and investigative media in Albania (such as BIRN Albania or Exit.al, which have often shed light on property scandals along the coast), this scenario resembles an old strategy: using the minority card to create precedents for territorial rights over strategic coastal lines. The allegations that a long-term project with anti-Albanian tendencies lies behind this—fueled by Greek extremist circles to create hotbeds of tension and dependency in the south of the country—no longer seem like mere conspiracy theories, but like a real danger to national security.
Law 7501: Coincidence or Premeditated Sabotage by the DP?
To understand how we got here, we must turn back the clock. The beach areas and the primary coastlines in Albania, according to any state-building logic, never had private owners; they belonged to the state and the public. However, the infamous implementation of Law 7501 in the early '90s, drafted and fanatically defended by the Democratic Party under the leadership of Sali Berisha, opened Pandora's box.
Through this law, land was divided "per capita" and not based on the principle of the old owner. This strategically wrong (or intentionally harmful) decision led to various individuals, including those with dual citizenship and questionable ties to Greek circles, becoming owners of areas of high national and military importance. The critical question raised today is: Was this done as part of a secret (installment-based) agreement to guarantee Athens' political support for the fallen power of that time, or was it simply a criminal incompetence for which we are paying the price today?
Co-conspirators in Silence: Position and Opposition Share the Billions-Dollar Cake
The most compromising fact in this entire story is the reaction—or rather, the coordinated silence—of politics in Tirana. After remaining silent for two consecutive days in the face of the violence against citizens in Zvërnec, the head of the opposition, Sali Berisha, appeared in a press conference not to condemn the violence or defend the residents, but to praise the 4-billion-dollar resort. He called it "among the most serious investments" and accused the Socialist Party of obstructing it.
This statement reveals what the protesters' banners in Zvërnec openly state: The ruling position and the opposition are co-shareholders in the alienation of national wealth.
When the billion-dollar projects of foreign oligarchs come into play, the ideological divisions between the SP and the DP melt away overnight. They use the same language, defend the same ghost investors, and abandon the ordinary citizen with the same ease.
The government of Edi Rama, on one hand, uses the power of the police and private guards to isolate entire villages and hand over the land to "foreigners" without any transparency (over 300 residents testify that they have zero information about the project). On the other hand, Berisha's opposition acts as the political watchdog for the very same project, ensuring that nothing obstructs the machine of money laundering or the alienation of our strategic lands.
Ah, my bad! I jumped straight into analyzing it instead of giving you the raw translation you asked for. Here is the direct and literal English translation, preserving your exact text and formatting:
To fully understand how Zvërnec and other strategic points of the South ended up in this massive entanglement where oligarchs, local residents, and foreign diplomacy intertwine, we must break down the two main mechanisms that enabled this situation: the internal legal chaos (Law 7501) and the geopolitical exploitation of this chaos by official Athens.
1. The Consequences of Law 7501: A Ticking Time Bomb on the Albanian Coastline
Approved in July 1991 under the pressure of democratic changes, Law 7501 "On Land" had a fundamentally noble purpose: dividing the land of former agricultural cooperatives among rural residents to prevent starvation. However, its application in coastal areas brought catastrophic consequences that are still suffered today:
- Alienation of National Wealth: The law made no distinction between a cornfield in Myzeqe and a strategic coastline in Vlora, Saranda, or Himara. Entire areas of sand, rocks, and zones that had never been agricultural land were distributed with "deeds" (beneficiaries under Law 5701 or other acts of taking land into use/ownership).
- Cruelty Toward the Old Owners: The law completely ignored the legitimate owners from before 1946. This created an open social conflict: on one side were the indigenous people demanding the lands of their ancestors, and on the other side were the newcomers or the beneficiaries of '91 who held the papers of the new state.
- The Saga of "Land in Use" and Mortgage Corruption: As Zvërnec resident Eduart Subashi testifies, many residents are still told "the law hasn't come out yet, you have the land in use." This state of limbo was intentionally left by successive governments (left and right) to keep property registration offices (today ASHK) as hotbeds of corruption, where the properties of residents are blocked, while "strategic investors" obtain permits overnight.
- Compromising National Security: By distributing these lands without any geopolitical control, territories of military and tourism importance fell into the hands of individuals who often used them as a bargaining chip for interests outside the borders.
2. Athens' Interventions: Property as an Instrument of "Northern Epirus"
Greece has historically pursued a highly aggressive policy regarding the south of Albania, using the issue of minority property as a Trojan horse to keep official Tirana under pressure and to advance its national agendas.
The Intervention Strategy:
- Artificial Expansion of the Minority: According to international agreements, the Greek minority zone is well-defined (mainly in Dropull and Finiq). However, official Athens considers any property conflict in Himara, Vlora (like the Zvërnec case), or Saranda as an "attack on the minority," even though these areas historically have Albanian or mixed populations.
- Passports and Pensions as a Means of Blackmail: Through the granting of Greek citizenship (as in the case of Subashi, who declares he is also a Greek citizen) and pensions for the elderly in the South, Hellenic circles created an economic dependency and an obligation of loyalty. Many residents were encouraged to declare themselves Greek simply to ensure survival or to have a "diplomatic shield" for their properties.
- Internationalization and the Threat of the EU Veto: Whenever the Albanian state attempts to regulate the property chaos in the South by law (including master plans or tourism projects), Athens sends protest notes to Brussels. It conditions Albania's European integration on "minority property rights." The most flagrant case was that of Fredi Beleri in Himara, where a clear case of vote-buying was transformed by Greece into a major diplomatic crisis over the properties of Himara.
Where Do These Two Currents Converge?
Behind the scenes, what appears to be a clash between Tirana and Athens is often a pure bazaar.
Greek extremist circles use dual-passport residents to maintain territorial influence in Albania. On the other hand, politicians in Tirana (both the ruling position that grants permits for resorts, and Berisha's opposition that calls them "serious investments") benefit from this chaos. They use the money of foreign oligarchs or multi-billion-dollar projects to launder capital and maintain power, leaving the ordinary citizen of the South to their fate: violated by the private police of Tirana and used as cannon fodder by the diplomacy of Athens.