Address by Prime Minister Edi Rama at the international high-level private and public investment conference in Istanbul at invitation of the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:*

Your excellency Mr. President of the Republic of Turkey,

Honourable true friend!

Allow me first and foremost to express my gratitude for being in front of this highly esteemed audience and to all those watching us on television now, the deepest gratitude for the immediate response following the tragic event that broke the heart of my nation.

You were there for you and the Albanian people on the very first morning, when we had to deal with the devastating consequences of the November 26 earthquake. I will never ever be able to find the right words that would describe how much it meant to the Albanian people and me your personal commitment and the mobilization of your people, who came to Albania immediately with a full heart and totally ready to help. We will never forget your search and rescue teams’ commitment and dedication on the ground who risked their own lives just to save ours, and we will never forget your promise to be there to help in our rebuilding.

Thank you so much for being here today with me and for having provided me with this unique opportunity to address such a special forum of wealthy people at such a crucial time for my country, which is in real need for help in order to heal the deep wounds inflicted upon them.

Honourable participants,

In the wake of the terrible earthquake that hit Albania on November 26 and in the face of its tragic aftermath with 51 dead and over 900 injured, dozens of thousands homeless and countless damages, I stand in front of you to appeal for help.

Which is really the most beautiful of faces in Islam?

According to the God’s Messenger – May peace be upon him – feed the needy, greet and save those whom you know and those whom you don’t know.

A core principle that echoes through the Prophet’s noble sayings, conveyed by ‘Adi Bin Hatim: Save yourself from hell-fire even by giving half a date-fruit in charity.”

I would like to thank in front of you each of our brethren, who so far were the expression of this face and I wish to anticipate my thanks for all of those among you who will become the expression of this saying. May God accept your charity!

Albanians of all religions, all walks of life, poor and wealth ones, in the country or abroad, from Tirana or the United States, Pristina or Europe, Tetovo, Ulcinj, Presevo Valley, to the globe’s farthest regions, gave and continue to give away everything they have. Thousands and thousands of them contributed to solidarity funds in the wake of the natural disaster, helping us raise tens of thousands, which is a lot for our small country.

Elderly people with a monthly pension of 200 dollars only have offered shelter and warmth for their homeless neighbours. Mothers have made their own and their children’s beds available to the orphans, and the children in need for a shelter. Young girls and boys in our diaspora have abandoned school and their workplace just to return and work voluntarily wherever needed back to their homeland. All this solidarity is a living proof of the wonderful Turkish poem:

In the snowy night woods,

The strangest of our powers is the courage to live

Knowing that we will die.

However, needless to explain that this whole solidarity within us, as great as it is in the heart of our nation, is far from enough in terms of what our nation needs to overcome the tragedy. I admit that if it was not for two wonderful Hadiths of the Prophet, it would have been almost impossible for me to come here and stand in front of you to issue this appeal for help. They go like this:

The people Allah love most are those who are most useful to other people and whoever helps ease one in difficulty, Allah will relieve his hardship on the Day of Resurrection.

Let me be clear my dear friends. I don’t offer resurrection, but I am just seeking a light of your heart in the belief that the Turkish writer Murat Ildan was right when writing that the most precious light is the one that visits you in your darkest hour.

And let me ask for your forgiveness if I am sounding repetitive, but to speak the truth, this light saw in Turkey one of its rays, one of its beacons. Amid the unspeakable pain for the lives lost, for the almost Apocalyptic-like devastation in some quake-affected areas, Turkey demonstrated again that it sticks to its wisdom because it did not abandon a friend and brother in need and as the old saying goes: Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

For all that and for the more than a noble promise of the Mr. President to build right away 500 homes, for all the kindness and support through him by the Turkish people for Albania’s wounded land I am here to express gratitude and humbly ask each and every one of you join us in such a painful, yet unforgettable journey.

The glory Quran teaches us that no leaf falls without God knowing it. The magnificent Quran also teaches us that calamities and disasters are a test to the mankind in order to purify them of sin so that they can repent.

It is my wish that the disaster we are facing would turn into inspirational, the pain we are through would turn into strength and the destruction we are seeing would turn into the most beautiful landscape in the future. Joining every morning and every night my fellow Albanians in praying to God for help, I can’t help but constantly remind and think that the devastating earthquake, the strongest we have ever been hit, has challenged us like no other challenge in our entire modern history. It has literally brought down our most important cities, Tirana and Durrës.

Durrës is the city that the Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi mentions in his “Book of Travel” in 1670 for its harbour, its important port, ruins of the castle collapsed by the previous earthquake and the wonderful Fatih mosque, built in honour of Mehmet the Conqueror in 1502. Years later, other travellers would describe the stunning beauty of Fatih mosque sitting atop of an imposing hill and surrounded by tulips and wild narcissi, the most preferred flowers for the Ottomans. Now, the very same mosque is surrounded by rubble. However, I want to believe that, with your help too, we will manage to do in Durres and in every other quake-affected area what Turkey did in Izmir following the devastating earthquake in 1999.

Our preliminary reported data are shocking. The majority of destroyed homes are what you would call “gecekondus” in Turkish, poorly constructed communist-era houses, or buildings originating from a time when neither a plan, nor control or responsibility was in place. However, many of the aforementioned buildings are multi-storey structures, where dozens of families are housed in. This is why, although no final official figure has been established, after the assessment damages to many buildings that are being inspected by international experts, including Turkish experts, who are on the ground right now, we believe that damages go beyond what we as humans can afford. So, without an outside contribution, the time we would need to heal our wounds would be too long for the patience people can show and the for the breath of hope in the country’s future. And at a time of winter in Albania and the disruptive mess of the international politics is unfortunately a commodity we can’t have.

However, beyond the earthly controversies, let’s have faith in the precious Hadith that tells everyone who wishes to hear that God accepts nothing but what is right.

And as I ask for your help, let me appeal to your feelings of love and kindness, words that have 50 synonyms in the Holy Quran, words that in no other place are so beautifully and comprehensively described in the Holy Book.

More than this, the Great Quran contains a unique definition of generosity, an act of sincerity towards God. Whatever you spend that is good, is for parents and kindred and orphans and those in want and for wayfarers. And whatever you do that is good, Allah knows it well.

Apologizing for interfering with your conference on such a serious, worrisome issue for a country, most of you do not even know, and also sharing with you the same conviction of the founding father of this great state, Kemal Ataturk, who believed that humanity is one single body and every nation is part of this body, I would like thank you wholeheartedly for your patience and thank President Erdogan for his compassion.

God bless you!

God bless this great nation!

God bless Albania and Albanians!

Thank you!

*Simultaneous interpretation