Albanian Prime Minister Berisha on Wednesday praised ‘King’ Leka I Zogu, who passed away earlier that day. The son of Albania’s last King Zog I was 72 years old. According to the Prime Minister ‘the Albanians lost one of the greatest personalities of their political history’.
Leka I will be buried with honours ‘belonging to a King’, Berisha said. Leka has devoted all his life in exile to the struggle for freedom for Albanians worldwide, the Prime Minister noted in his eulogy, in which he critised the former communist regime from barring the royal family from returning to the country after the Second World War.
"King Zog fled Albania in 1939 – when Italy invaded its neighbour - as other kings fled from realms occupied by Axis forces, but he remained at all times in the antifascist coalition. And his forces fought bravely at the port of Durres. They continued the fight for the liberation of the country till the end", Berisha added.
The Prime Minister also touched on the 1997 referendum on the restoration of the monarchy. "The referendum took place in the flames of communist insurgency and can not be considered a closed issue’’, Berisha said. © RB; Source: 24 ore
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