Madam, - I refer to Fintan O'Toole's articles (March 25th) in which he ridicules Albania's presence among the US "Coalition of the Willing". Sadly, the negative features listed - crime, corruption, unemployment, squabbling politicians - are all too true - though one might add that which of us nowadays is in any position to cast the first stone? But there is another side to Albania, and its important to "accentuate the positive".
One such feature, surprisingly perhaps, is what might be termed "democratic legitimacy".
It's little more than a decade since Albania emerged from the bizarre, paranoid regime of Enver Hoxha. Even today, Albania is perhaps 50 years behind even its Balkan neighbours. The first free election resulted, paradoxically, in the return of the old-regime Socialist Party.
But the subsequent election result, sweeping in the opposition Democrats, was accepted. The Democrats, in turn, were discredited through association with Albania's tragic pyramid investment scandals, in which tens of thousands lost their life savings. Civil unrest swept the country, but "regime change" was achieved through a near-exemplary free and fair election. The Socialists, and their allies, were subsequently re-elected.
As Irish football fans discovered, central Tirana, Albania's ramshackle capital, has been transformed by the city's new mayor, an artist named Eddie Ramos, creating parks and pleasant open spaces, where once there was a plethora of seedy bars, owned by Mafia figures. The mayoral election campaign was keenly fought and undeniably "free and fair". (Perhaps Mr. Ramos should be let loose on O'Connell Street!)
Albania's finest hour came during the Kosovo crisis. It would have been so easy for scheming politicians to stir up trouble through exploiting national frustration over the treatment of Albanian Kosovars.
Instead people and politicians united in a common effort to cater for half a million refugees, with a minimum of fuss. The NATO intervention was also facilitated without any of the controversies arising elsewhere in the Balkans (the legitimacy of that intervention, notably high-level bombing of civilian targets, must of course be challenged - but that had nothing to do with Albanians).
If the country has displayed some naivety through token involvement in the "coalition of the willing" they can't be blamed for supporting those who came to the aid of the broader Albanian nation in their hour of need.
Given that democracy, as we know it, was totally unknown just 12 years ago, the transformation, though far from complete, is nevertheless remarkable. On the security front, Albania, apart from the mountainous north east, is probably safer than many parts of neighbouring Macedonia.
Incidentally, your readers may be interested to learn that, with the long-term support of the Irish credit union movement, some 41 credit unions have been established in Albania. - Yours, etc. sincerely,
DERMOT BOUCHER,
International Affairs Manager,
Irish League of Credit Unions,
Lower Mount Street,
Dublin 2.