Evening star., 1924-06-09

took place another tragedy, right in the
midst of the brewing storm. On the 2Oth
of the same month an inhabitant OF
Tirana wounded mortaliy Avni Rustenl,
a member of the parliamentary oppcsi-
ton. Portentous demonstrations were
held throughout the north and south,
the people demanding the immediate ap-
prehension and exemplary punishment
OF the assassins of all these crimes. Dur
ing the impressive funeral Of Avni
Rustem the procession stopped before
the residence Of the prime minister long
enough to oblige him to come out and
promise that he would do everything
within his power to bring the culpr1tS to
swift punishment
Yet the rumor was spreading fast
plicated in the murder of Avni Rus
tenn. at least; and the apparent delay
of the authorities in setting the ma
chinery of law in motion contributed
additional fuel TO popular indi ignation
in the north and south where the gov
ernment and the party in power were
frankly detested.
y y = x
At this juncture, the opposition in
timated to the government that pub
lie morality and decency. as we'll as
political exigency, required that the
cabinet should retire in order to ap-
pease popular feeling in the disaf-
fected sections. The request was re-
fused on the ground that the retire
ment would have been interpreted by
the people as an acknowledgment OF
guilt on the part of the government
itself.
Thereupon almost the entire oppo-
sition withdrew from the assembly,
and. at the request of their seVeral
- 1af n
rama 20 assemble at Valona, the
stronghold Of opposition to the gov
ernmeut of Tirana. The latter, IN
its turn, seemed to be thankful of rid
ding itself of the opposition and tried
TO rule the country with the aid OF
the mutilated asse embly- AS a result
the northern and southern sections
were driven to despair and gradually
drifted into open revolt against the
government of Tirana-
There is one point of special inter
est in the armed contest which ts now
going on, namely, that for the hrst
time in the history of Albania there Is
such a joining of hands between her
two extreme ends as against the cen
ter. That is, in itself. sufhcient Ia
strife. Upon all other occasions the
contest was between the north and
south the central section usually
aliguing itself with the north. But
as a matter of fact, the members oil
the opposition, which is now IN open
revolt, are recruited from all sections
of the country. and the attack against
the center is largely due TO the rae
that the government is situated In II
And the party in power is also formeo
in the same way, irrespective OF any
regional shade.
Tho present head of the Tirana
government, Elias Vrioni, is a south
erner; and so are two other mem
bers OF the government, the nortn
being represented in 1t by fourtn
one. :
The makeup of the opposition IS
just as interesting. Its prlncipaI
leader is Mgr. Theofan Noli, Bishor
of the Albanian Orthodox Church IN
America, who is now with the m
surgents at Valona. What is more
interesting Is that Bishop Noli was
born in a little Albanian colony, IN
Thrace. near Adrianople. The othef
notable leader of the opposition Is
Louis Gurakuqi. Roman Catnoiic
native Of Scutari, the great majority
of the population of which is Mosiem
The foremost leader. II not the
moving spirit of the party in power
Is Ahmed Zogu, a young mountain
eer BY an ironical turn OF the po-
litical wheel. Zogu was first put IN
power by the party or opposition
which later brought about an un-
wholesome bitterness between MN
and the party he deserted. In the
last three years he has been premier
dictator, and the power behind the
throne since last March, when bui-
let wound forced him to retire from
rofitiCS