By Hasan Bello
Historically, consulates and embassies have always had a dual function:
1. Official function – representing the state, protecting the interests of citizens, developing political, economic and cultural relations, etc.
2. Information function.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Yugoslavia imposed on the Albanian state, for the same reasons that the Foreign Minister mentions today, the opening of three consulates: one in Shkodër, one in Korça and one in Vlora. All three played a very active role in undermining constitutional institutions; in inciting discord and conflict within Albanian society and politics and, above all, in recruiting a network of informants and spies who, after a few years, took control of the fate of the Albanian nation. To illustrate, I am mentioning one case for each consulate.
1-The Consulate of Shkodra was the main instigator, after the Italian agency, for the events of June 1924. There is still a report from the Prefect of Shkodra, addressed to the Minister of the Interior, where he reports that a secret service agent who had infiltrated this consulate had informed him that an assassination attempt would soon be prepared against several personalities that would destabilize the Albanian state. In fact, the prefect, who in those years also played the role of local chief of the secret service, had underestimated this information. He informed the minister only after two very serious events that became the cause of the aggravation of the situation. On April 6, 1924, two American tourists were killed in the Mamurras forest, while on April 20, Avni Rustemi was seriously injured, who died a few days later. Both events increasingly implicate the hand of Serbia through its consulate in Shkodra.
2-In 1932, a large number of people were discovered and arrested, including Hysni Kapo's uncle, Murat Tërbaçi, as members of the Secret Organization of Vlora. According to investigations and testimonies of participants, this organization was financed and supported by the Yugoslav consulate in Vlora. This is one of the largest subversive operations of the Yugoslav government within the Albanian state.
3-The Yugoslav consulate in Korça prepared the ground and recruited a large number of young Albanians who would later play an important role in running the state.
Therefore, the opening of the Serbian consulate in Shkodra is part of the asymmetric war that Serbia is waging to consolidate its espionage positions with the aim of using it to destabilize the Albanian state.
