Belind Këlliçi, a Democratic Party MP, has voiced harsh accusations against architects involved in projects linked to the Albanian government and to the document “Albanian Files,” saying their positions are politically one-sided. According to him, some of the international architects who have worked in Albania have turned into “political operatives,” because in their analyses and writings, he claims, they support the government and attack the opposition.
He said that some architecture studios, including those he himself mentioned, in certain cases portray Democrats as “former communists,” a label that Këlliçi considers manipulated and unacceptable.
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The Democratic MP also raised claims of clientelism and a lack of transparency in public projects in Albania, declaring that contracts end up with winners who, according to him, have ties to the government.
“In parliament we will raise our voice and demand accountability for how these projects were awarded and why the prime minister’s friends always turn out to be the winners,” he declared. Këlliçi called for a full investigation and full transparency regarding the government’s contracts and collaborations with foreign architecture studios, which he described as clientelist relationships.
In his reaction, Këlliçi called the situation “scandalous,” declaring that world-renowned architects have turned into political operatives. He said that Edi Rama’s architects, with whom, according to him, the division of spoils in Albania was planned, have suddenly turned into political operatives.
According to him, in their notes and texts that are part of “Albanian Files,” these authors constantly target the Democratic Party, while praising the Socialist Party and Prime Minister Rama, even at the local level.
Këlliçi mentioned a studio which, according to him, has put down roots in Korçë and has done whatever it wanted there, adding that it describes Democrats and the Democratic Party of Albania as former communist forces in Albania. He described this as unbelievable, but true, and claimed that corrupt projects or the thirst to profit from public money in the poorest country in Europe have pushed these studios to turn into PS patronage organizations, deliberately manipulating history.
He further declared that all it takes is for Edi Rama to hand out a project and, according to him, it is forgotten that he is the son of Kristaq, a member of the People’s Presidium and a signatory to the hanging of poet Havzi Nela in 1988. Likewise, Këlliçi said that the 10th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania in June 1991 is no longer mentioned, when, according to him, the bloodiest political force in Europe, which isolated Albania for 5 decades, simply changed its name to the Socialist Party, which today, according to him, is known as a criminal organization and has dozens upon dozens of officials, ministers, MPs, mayors and administration directors in prison for corruption and ties to organized crime.
He added that it is precisely these studios that take the money they earn in Albania from officials of the former Party of Labor, adding that, according to him, together with it they also take the ready-made slogan that “Sali is to blame” or that “the opposition is the problem.”
Këlliçi said it was highly unacceptable to move from personal tastes to public slander and then have the audacity to put these things in a book. He said this is even more serious when it comes from a studio that presents itself as international, such as Bolles and Wilson.
According to him, these positions are not accidental. He recalled that earlier the Dutch architect de Graaf had asked that no elections be held in Albania, but that Edi Rama, whom Këlliçi called his employer, be declared king or president for life.
In conclusion, the Democratic MP declared that all of this constitutes lobbying generously paid for with Albanian taxpayers’ money, whom he described as the poorest and most robbed people in Europe. He stressed that these contracts and clientelistic dealings of Edi Rama deserve investigation and full transparency, while warning that the opposition will demand accountability in parliament over how these jobs were awarded, how these studios were brought in and why, according to him, Edi Rama’s friends always emerge as the winners.
