TIRANA – “Please do not involve me with this issue!” This has been the answer of the well known Albanian writer, Ismail Kadare, to a question on the demolition of the National Theater which was put to him by a local TV on Sunday.
Asked by Tema TV on his opinion on what happened on Sunday with the National Theater Kadare, who fled Albania in 1990 when the communist regime was falling, said he had no words on the demolition because he did not want to involve himself in that issue.
“I do not feel well, I am not aware of the question. Please do not involve me with this issue!” said the worldwide known writer whose career started during the communist regime being one of the most privileged writers of the then authorities.
Some of his works have been played on the stage of the National Theater which was demolished on Sunday.
During the communist regime Kadare, born on 28 January 1936 in Gjirokastra, was a member of the People’s Assembly for 12 years (1970–82), and deputy chairman of the Democratic Front. He started writing poetry until the publication of his first novel ‘The General of the Dead Army’, which made him a leading literary figure in Albania and famous internationally. At the end of October 1990 he fled with a regular visa for his entire family, and applied for political asylum in France. During the 1990s and 2000s he was offered multiple times to become President of Albania, but declined. He returned to Albania for the first time after 12 years in 2002./argumentum.al
