Albanians commemorate the 555th anniversary of the death of the National Hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg on January 17. Commemorating this day, best performing high school students and participants in the history Olympiads came together at the Centre for Openness and Dialogue at the Prime Minister’s office, joining a round-table discussion on the symbol of the resistance of the Albanian nation.
Prime Minister Edi Rama joined this discussion hosted by the Ministry of Education and Sports, also attended by the leading researcher and author Aurel Plasari, who donated his book “Skanderbeg, a political history” to the participating high school students.
* * *
“Good evening everyone and thank you very much! While thinking about hosting an event to celebrate an important date in our history, but also an anniversary, namely the anniversary of the death of our National Hero, I concluded that nothing more interesting could be found than me becoming the patron of an academic discussion among the best performing high school students in Tirana and Aurel Plasari. Aurel needs no introduction and I even think he would find it annoying and inconvenient and therefore I am sparing him of this inconvenience and thank him a lot for accepting this invitation. And, to open this discussion, I would like to simply ask him a question and the discussion will then go on between him and you.
I would like to start with a phrase, a rhetorical question asked by Fan Noli when he said: Could there be a man more alive than Skanderbeg himself? And as the author of a book that I very much love – and I love it more than the book’s author indeed – the book “Skanderbeg”.
Aurel is the right person to answer and rightly chair a discussion on the figure of Skanderbeg. The reason for this is definitely his book, but it goes beyond the book alone.
Aurel is now available for you and by thanking him again I would like to give him the floor, expressing also the gratitude not only for attending this event, but also for bringing a series of images he would certainly illustrate his discussion,” Prime Minister Rama said.
