"The happiest moment in his political life", Sali Berisha's stories about Kosovo and world leaders according to Malltez

Albania's historical memory and international diplomatic relations have often been kept out of the public eye, but a special window on these events is offered through the stories of Sali Berisha, narrated by Jamarbër Malltezi.

In an interview on Alfred Lela's 'Pasvon' podcast, some of the key events that have marked the orientation of Albanian foreign policy and especially the decisive impact on the essential national issue: Kosovo's independence were revealed.

According to Malltezi, when asked when Sali Berisha's happiest moment in his political life was, the answer is immediate and unequivocal: the day of the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo.

This issue was not simply a political goal, but a historical dream, especially for the generation born and raised in dictatorship, when Kosovo was treated by the communist regime as a "foreign country" and nothing more.

Malltezi recalls a significant moment from the mid-1990s, when the former historic President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, visited Berisha at the Government Villas in Dajt. In an informal conversation, Rugova pragmatically stated that, at best, Milosevic was ready to divide Kosovo.

Rugova’s deeply pragmatic and painful approach conflicted with Berisha’s strict vision of Kosovo’s full territorial integrity. This philosophy of Berisha was clearly seen when, two decades later, he came out openly and aggressively against the idea of ​​border revision or partition of Kosovo in 2017. His stance treated every square meter of Kosovo as inviolable.

Meanwhile, one of the most intriguing diplomatic behind-the-scenes stories revealed in this interview is the historic visit of United States President George W. Bush to Tirana in 2007. Malltezi reveals the background to this visit, where prior to his arrival, European leaders such as French President Jacques Chirac had intervened, demanding the postponement of Kosovo's independence in the name of preserving peaceful regional relations and balances with Russia.

Under this pressure, Bush's visit to Albania was surrounded by geopolitical dilemmas. However, Berisha organized a perfect reception ground, avoiding any domestic political controversy (including conflicts with the opposition leader Edi Rama), with the sole aim of making the agenda exclusively dominated by Kosovo. In this atmosphere, Bush broke the framework by declaring the monumental sentence: "Time is now".

This did not happen without a political cost for the American administration, which took on the task of resolving this global impasse. In a frank conversation between the two, Berisha expressed his deep historical gratitude to the Albanians and left it in the hands of the American President to choose the easiest diplomatic path for Washington, demonstrating high statesmanship maturity.

But the ties with the Bush family had already begun in the early 1990s. During the first meetings with former President George HW Bush, the situation was completely different. Malltezi recounts a remarkable detail: during that first meeting, the US administration opened a large atlas on the table to show the President exactly where Kosovo was geographically located. This shows how unknown this problem was to the Western world before the Albanian leadership firmly placed it on the oval tables, ultimately turning it into an absolute priority for US foreign policy.

Another powerful geopolitical lesson came through a meeting between Berisha and the historic German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Kohl had told him that after World War II, almost a quarter of German territories had remained outside its borders, mostly in Poland. Before German unification and integration into the European Union, Kohl had faced pressure on whether Germany should return these properties or territories.

He showed that when he proposed to the leadership of his CDU party to leave this chapter open, only two people supported him; all the others were against. Thus, Germany decided that the chapter of losses should be closed forever so as not to hinder the future and international cooperation. This story, followed with admiration by Berisha, highlights his capacity to absorb the principles of international relations and the historical compromises that ensure the development of nations.