By Lulzim Basha

I want to remember with special respect today the birthday of Pjetër Arbnori, the great politician, author, translator, and humanist that spent 28 years of his youth in the infamous prisons of the communism. Pjetër Arbnori belong to the Pleiades of rare politicians who never compromised with the evil, never succumbed to pressures or privileges, who fought and tried for their ideals till their last day, regardless the time’s difficulties. As the “Balkans Mandela” said, being resilient was nurtured to him by his family, school, readings, and the long experience of the political prison fellow inmates.

Fear, envy, temptation for privileges, according to him, were the roads that led to evil.

In all his life, as a young dissident and later as a Parliament Member and Speaker, Pjetër Arbnori overcame successfully the challenges lying ahead of him, transfoirming into the model politician where loath for the political opponent and vendetta never found place.

Let’s honor today Pjetër Arbnori, his indelible traces in Albania’s history, wishing and hoping that the values he brought to the Albanian politics will be inherited to the younger generations of the politicians.