Memories of Mehmet Latif – MEMO!

Write, Albrim Hoxha

– Where are you, young man?? – I teased him often.

– Mu hala m'bijn dhomt! – Memoja jokingly replied.

– U prish prap a? – I was telling him about the computer that he kept on the back of the bike.

– Eh, I will take it to Ladoja to format it – he said, shrugging his shoulders and laughing, how to say “he caught Lado with me”!

So often i “break” that computer, it seemed to me that every two or three weeks he took it in for servicing.

– It's not on the computer, Memo, you know where the problem is – I kept teasing him and we both laughed. He never lost his temper.

For Memon, I have nothing but beautiful memories and very pleasant conversations. It was very positive. Silley adapted to us very easily, so that the big difference in age was not noticed.

“The living encyclopedia” as I often called Mehmet Latif, he was very energetic and a complete motivation for any work or activity that we started together.

Gjirokastra, Tirana, Zitose – the triangle that was not separated for as many years as we worked together.

Qazim Bey Vlora, General Oedip Ohri, Myfit Sinojmeri – topics that did not bother him from his mouth and mind.

Indescribable, unforgettable visits to the general in Tirana. Unrepeatable emotions they gave when they both met. Memo and General Edip Ohri. Even Mira, the general's daughter.

Even meetings with Ariana, the descendant of the Vlora family. A lady full of dignity, despite the fact that the state had not been so fair and dignified with them, as the great-grandson and great-granddaughter of Ismail Qemali, the founders of the Albanian State.

The general was the adopted child of Qazim Bey Vlora, the son of Ismail Qemali. Kazimi, had lived in Struga until the end of his life and had married the mother of Oedipus and Dashamir (Dashman, as Memoja told him). He always carried a briefcase with him. there, as Mehmet Latifi insisted, inside the bag, it probably was “Declaration of Independence of Albania”. The original one, which has never been found. With the death of Qazim Vlora, Serbian forces had raided the house where he lived, they had made a mess and destroyed many valuable things. Among them, from that moment, the fate of the bag with documents was also unknown.

This bag and what could have been inside, they constantly attacked and challenged the journalist Mehmet Latifi. In the last months of life, made two or three serious attempts to find him.

Secured an entry pass to the Belgrade Archives, as an investigative journalist, for supposedly scientific research. The authorities there did not have to learn the real purpose because they would make access impossible. Many procedures, too many filters to go through, too many permissions to ask. All of them cost money.

– A little more. I approached the guild for this period, now another permission is needed to access that sector and those archival materials. I need one more time. They don't leave you comfortable. They follow you step by step – clarified after the visits to Belgrade.

Really came close. He needed another visit or two to that archive, to make sure whether or not there is something from the materials that Qazim Bey Vlora carried with him.

He didn't make it because the serious illness caught him quickly. A long walk with his daughter, Anita, in recent weeks, enjoyed them very much. This made us understand that Memo's mission is slowly ending and important things are being left in the middle. They remained there, ku i la Memoja!

Memories of Memon, we will save them, we show and write on every anniversary, but what he left to us, as friends and collaborators, we constantly mention them in our conversations.

Proud and honored to have him as a friend!