TIRANA, Nov. 28 – Albania has marked its 104th anniversary of independence with speeches, events and prominent displays of the country’s national flag.
On the occasion of Independence Day, the courtyard of the Ministry of Defense was transformed into a military museum exhibition of two jets, rocket launchers, guns, a missile, a helicopter, transport vehicles, guns, and a cement bunker from the former communist regime.
President Bujar Nishani accompanied by Defense Minister Mimi Kodheli celebrated the independence of Albania in the coastal city of Vlora, the city where Ismail Qemali raised the Independence Flag.
Nishani and Kodheli along with other participants placed flowers at the Monument of Ismail Qemali.
Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj raised the national flag in the capital’s downtown square, in a ceremony attended by dozens of residents. The cloudy skies of Tirana were also filled with hundreds of red and black balloons representing the colors of Albania’s national flag.
In his remarks, Veliaj said that “104 years of independence represent a success story for Albania,” and added that “the most patriotic act is to focus on work.”
“Next year, we will celebrate Albania’s independence in the most beautiful square of all time,” Veliaj said, referring to the ongoing construction at Skanderbeg Square.
The country’s 104 anniversary of independence found political leaders as divided as ever.
In his remarks, the chairman of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha said that thanks to the governance of the Socialists, Albania is today must a country where people want to leave instead of coming back.
“Let’s honor this day by transforming Albania into a country where all Albanians can come to,” Basha said.
Albania declared independence in 1912 after five centuries under the Ottoman Empire. After World War II the country established strong ties to the Soviet Union and China, until the fall of communism in 1990. Albania joined NATO in 2009 and in 2016 it was granted conditional rights to accession talks with European Union.
