Albanians, Cut Off, Get Set to Vote

By DAN BILEFSKY, New York Times,

Published: June 23, 2009

TIRANA, ALBANIA — With parliamentary elections approaching on Sunday, many Albanians say they feel like Hysen Demiraj, a 45-year-old driver and former political prisoner, who was born in a jail cell during Albania’s brutal dictatorship and says he still feels imprisoned in a country that is unfairly isolated and ostracized.


“We Albanians are tired of feeling cut off from the world,” he said on a recent day after waiting for hours in scorching sun for a German visa, one among a small army of visa-seekers. “We are the forgotten part of Europe and it doesn’t feel so good.”


The intense alienation might seem surprising given that this poor, southern Balkan country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in April — a moment of enormous symbolic and psychological resonance for a place severed from the west for more than 40 years under the Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha.



Whether the election is peaceful, free and democratic, analysts and diplomats say, will help determine the progress toward international rehabilitation. Albania’s recent application for E.U. membership already faces deep skepticism; the bloc is overextended and fears admitting lawlessness through the back door. Washington, meanwhile, which lobbied hard for Albania’s NATO membership, will be deeply embarrassed if the vote goes awry.




see more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/world/europe/24iht-albania.html?_r=1&ref=world