Six weeks later, the famous writer Ismail Kadare shocked the country by announcing that he and his family would not return from a trip in France. The request for asylum by the country’s cultural icon sparked fierce debate. Some Albanians felt betrayed that Kadare had abandoned ship. Others felt proud that he had stood against the regime. Many wondered if Kadare, long promoted by Hoxha, would still be studied in schools.
The defection hurt Alia, especially because Tirana was preparing to host a conference of Balkan foreign ministers in October, the first high-level international meeting ever in the country. “With this ugly act, which heavily offends the patriotic conscience of our people and citizens, [Kadare] abandons the people in the fatherland and puts himself in the service of the enemies of Albania,” declared Zëri i Popullit. Kadare defended his decision as a response to broken promises. “Because there is no possibility of legal opposition in Albania, I have chosen this course, which I never wished to take and which I will not recommend to others,” he wrote. Ten years later, back in his Tirana apartment, Kadare told me that his defection was intended to “stimulate the democratization of Albania.” He wanted to “unmask the hypocrisy of the regime’s reforms.”
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