93 years after the will of Mit'hat Frashër, the black decision is made to close the Academy of Albanological Studies

2023-05-28 18:10:00, Opinione Kastriot FRASHËRI

93 years after the will of Mit'hat Frashër, the black decision is made

Academy of Albanological Studies

By Kastriot Frashëri, researcher, lawyer

93 years after the testament of the last revivalist Mit'hat Frashëri for the establishment of the Albanological Institute, the decision to close the Academy of Albanological Studies is made.

The man who adored the book and loved the nation on March 4, 1929, would go to the Notary of the Court of First Instance of Tirana, where he would sign the Will with No. 163. With this will, Mit'hat Frashëri donated all his wealth after his death to the Albanian nation. He handed over the copy of this Testament for execution to some of his contemporaries, whom he trusted.

Mit'hat Frashëri, through this Testament, left all movable and immovable property, books, furniture for the creation of an Albanianological Institute, a scientific center for Albanian researchers, in which they would carry out their studies on the History of Albania . Also, in this will, he requests that his private library be kept complete, as it was inherited by his father, Abdyl Frashëri, and relatives.

Mit'hat Frashëri

"I don't know where the Institute will be located, yes, if it is hit a little outside the city, I would like my grave to be in a corner of the garden, more to the right, entering from the street gate. On this grave I want a large piece of stone and a cypress tree. It seems to me as if I will be the custodian of the Institute, as if I will also take an eternal part in its revival".

While Albanians and the entire Albanian world prepare to celebrate the 100th jubilee of this great achievement of the National Renaissance, his gravedigger Mr. Edi Rama, as chairman of the Council of Ministers, who has taken the decision to close the Academy of Albanological Studies, transferring the assets of this important national institution under the control of the Academy of Sciences, which is led not only by his party loyalist Skënder Gjinushi , but also by the minister of education of the communist regime. The very abnormal internal situation created in recent years in the Academy of Sciences calls into question not only the legitimacy of the leader, but also its credibility with the public.

The Center for Albanian Studies today ASA is known to have been established on March 8, 2008 in the framework of the restructuring and modernization of the Albanian university and academic system, by decision of the Council of Ministers, from the merger of four Institutes (Archaeology, Linguistics and Literature, History, Culture Popular) and two research units (Art Study, Albanian Encyclopedia) of the former Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Albania. Rich with a team of scientific researchers and confirmed specialists in the fields of Albanian studies, as well as with funds and archival materials of particular importance, ASA was positioned as one of the most important research-scientific institutions in the Albanian world. Among other things, its mission is to carry out research in the fields of history, archaeology, cultural anthropology and the study of art, of linguistics and literature, etc. In this important institution of science and heritage, we saw that prominent personalities of the Albanian world were part of it, among them I would single out Prof. Aurel Plasari, Honor of the Nation, etc.

Special importance in the work of ASA has been the research, assessment, conservation and promotion of the material and spiritual heritage of the ancient and new Albanian culture, as one of the essential and most expressive evidences of the Albanian identity.

Regarding this sudden development to the detriment of our national heritage, the Senate of the Academy of Albanological Studies has also reacted, which, according to my sources, has met urgently and issued an official position.

The closure of the Academy of Albanological Studies (ASA) has become an important national issue during the last 24 hours, bringing not only the reaction of the senate of the institution of Albanology but also of the national elite in Albania.

According to the draft decision of the government published in the media, it is predicted that all the institutes under the Academy of Albanological Studies will be merged. They will be attached to the Academy of Sciences, which also receives all movable and immovable assets. So, its main existing units, such as the Research Center of the Albanian Encyclopedia and Publications and the academic staff of these units, will be reorganized as research-study units at the Academy of Sciences, within this year.

Regarding this latest development within the community of Albanian albanologists, the Senate of the Academy of Albanological Studies itself, which convened urgently, was the first to come out with an official position stating that the closure of the academy violates the law on higher education. and Scientific Research in Albania.

It seems clear that this decision creates the dangerous precedent of unjustified closure of a Public Institution of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

By right, the members of the highest body of this institution, based on the legislation on their organization and functioning, have informed the public opinion that only the Senate of the ASA should express itself on the legal fate of the Academy.

Taking into account the ferocity of the state to finalize its projects, as well as starting from other precedents spread over time, it seems that this venture is at its end. I can't find a reason to justify the project-decision of our government that with this intended achievement it seems to me that every year it enriches the former decisions of the sultan beyond Anatolia or those of today's center of neo-Ottomanism that continue to come from Istanbul with the same style even this new century.

What about the Center for Albanological Studies, what did they have, anyone would rightly ask? As I stop to analyze the consequences of this thoughtless government move, I cannot remain silent without recalling an event experienced about 5-6 years ago, probably 2008, which left an impression on me regarding the importance of these anti-national decisions, where as my old friend Prof. Dr. Luan Malltezi was having a coffee at the Palace of Culture when a friend and our colleague Prof. Dr. Pigeon Xhufi, who after joining us at the table at the beginning of the meal, so worried and with his voice shaking from sadness, tells Mr. It was unfortunate that I was in the Institute (of History, which at that time was being emptied by the reform initiated to build KF ownership) and my eyes filled with tears as I saw thrown on the floor to be thrown into the trash, hundreds of your files removed without mercy and a drop of professionalism from the files of this institute, which at that time as I recall was in the process of reorganization just like the ASA today, erasing worse than barbarians several decades of research work of the well-known professor which, being owned by the institution, would serve at all well in order for the new generation to further deepen their studies in the field of historiography and not start them from scratch. But our policy makers have no knowledge of the workings and rules of scientific studies. I bring to the reader's attention that more than two decades ago, at an international conference on Albanianology, an eminent Italian academic stated with full certainty that it is a great fortune for Albania that, being a small country, it has two outstanding historians of the Middle Ages as Prof. Malltezi and Prof. Jufi who belong with full rights to world historiography.

On the other hand, I would emphasize that the closure of ASA will consequently cause the cancellation of more than 45 international agreements that this institution is a party to as HEI and consequently no other institution has the right to carry these contractual and academic obligations.

But this is not the only problem that brings consequences for Albanian science, since the closure of ASA turns the institutes into research units or, more clearly, puts them under the complete control of the Academy of Sciences of academic knowledge in the fields of Albanianology. On the other hand, surely, as I showed the case above, ASA will continue to diminish from the destruction of its material heritage, the fruit of the hard work of its collective employees and scientific collaborators.

The fact that this draft decision immediately interrupts the career of nearly 100 researchers after the law No. 53/2009 for the Academy of Sciences does not provide in any provision nor the employment procedure in this institution, which not only seriously violates the principles of academic freedom, but also causes a serious anti-national act by extinguishing the Academy of Albanological Studies and with it the institutes integral part of it. This whole story happens right on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the science of Albanology where the former chairman of the Congress of Manastri (1908) Mithat Frashëri laid the foundations for the creation of an Albanian religious institute as a necessity of the time. I don't know if the civilized world has today deleted from its professions this important interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that aims at the study of language, customs, literature, art,

Then it is appropriate that we no longer have Albanological studies! This is a serious anti-national act and therefore requires the reaction of all institutions in Albania to curb such nonsense against the national identity. The Institute of National Affairs, which I lead as an expression of the aspirations of its people, joins the concerns of the Albanian community and will take all legal actions in their support to stop such an unnecessary, unargued enterprise that comes in open opposition to the national interest.