Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at inauguration ceremony of the memorial bust of Eqerem Çabej at the Academy of Science Park:

Dear Brikena,

Dear professor,

Honourable friends and guests!

It is a particularly special case that puts to the test the whole experience drawn in delivering speeches in front of people, because speaking Albanian beautifully and honouring a man like Eqerem Çabej, whose devotion and contribution to Albanian crowned him the eternal majesty of the Albanian studies, is a challenge of its own.

Together with a dear friend Ardian Klosi, who is unfortunately no longer with us but who grappled for long with the labyrinth of the Albanian language, I remember we once discussed the Albanian equivalent translation of a word, which thanks to a fortunate transgression of the Greek word seirios it was introduced via the Latin word sirius and via a verbal adjective serenus it entered the common and single origin of the majority of Western European languages, the serenity.

Eqerem Çabej’s absence makes it completely impossible to express in a single word the definition I’ve always thought it best suits to the personality embodied in this bronze monument, which, when you look at, being aware of the work and hardship the man it dedicates has gone through, leads you to the serenity.

Surely, if he was here, Eqerem Çabej would have easily given provided us the right equivalent word or phrase to the source language. However, Hektor Dule’s mastery has allowed him to sculpt in eternity could not be summed up in a single sentence, or paragraph, what Eqerem Çabej left not only as a trace but also as a spirit in all the veins of the body of the Albanian.

I don’t want to dabble in explaining, or even describing the values ​​of this portrait. We’ve seen a lot of works cast in bronze and I belong to those who have mostly despaired at the authors.  But this is not the case, because we stand today in front of work that ranks bust of Eqerem Çabej amid the five top master hands of the Albanian sculpture and to me it is equivalent to the emotion, the plastic and striking power of the most beautiful Albanian sculptural masterpiece, the bust of Naim Frashëri by Odise Paskali.

Brikena could talk today and say much wiser and more suitable things that would best suit to the moment she gathered us, but her silent presence actually makes Brikena again the worthy heir to her father whose forbearance has been part of his legacy, and on the other hand, the discretion in any environment where his work civic being has always radiated, but rarely the word, or the sensational presence.

This memorial bust’s image renders the park a piece of Çabejan feeling of being present, without being at the same time irritant to everyone else around. It is a precious presence and the mastery to convey it via a bust I believe it crowns in the most exemplary way the long career of Professor Hektor and on the other gives us the possibility to be console ourselves in the democratic language of the plastic language, which has experienced degradations similar to the democratic environment of the Albanian speaking language.

I persevered with Brikena for this work to have all its grace, by being erected right where it is placed, and I have told Brikena that not only she deserves all the respect for her dedicated to the figure of Eqerem Çabej, but also that all her effort have best paid off through such a work, through a realization that comes as a blessing to all those who will walk along this path, regardless of whether they will or will not turn their heads to see his highness resting under the shadow of the tree and with the today’s Academy of Sciences on his back.

It would have been boring and monotonous if I were to further prolong this speech, which, as I said from the onset, is one of the most difficult ones I have ever delivered, because I am overwhelmed by the greatness and strength of Eqerem Çabej in using this invaluable asset of all Albanians, which is the Albanian, but I want to publicly ask Brikena a favour.

This year marks the 550th anniversary of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg’s death and at the same time, this year, for anyone who may have forgotten or doesn’t know it, marks also the 85th or 86th anniversary  of a the national treasury, the doctoral thesis Eqerem Çabej defended at the University of Vienna, titled “Italo-Albanian Studies” devoted to the Arbereshi in Sicily.

I believe that Brikena will consider seriously the publication and revitalization of this historic study, which will undoubtedly provoke a quality debate, and it would have been wonderful should this treasure also become a subject to discussions at the Diaspora Summit we will host on 26 and 28 November this year and which will be devoted to the Albanian studies. The Albanology recaptured as a passion and as a necessity in the treacherous path to recognition until the discovery of the last root of the Albanian children in the provinces and hundreds of villages of the home country.

If Brikena takes on this challenge, there is no doubt that I and other well-wishers gathered around the bust here will all be ready to support her overcome all the obstacles which are common to all good things in Albania. Certainly then the publication of this treasure will remain, as Eqerem Çabej has, just like the phrase he himself wrote about Naim Frashëri, “breathing out of our breath and blood from our blood.”

Thank you very much!