The researcher and writer Timothy Garton Ash is in Tirana to present his book “My homelands.”
In his remarks, Veliaj said that “it is a great pleasure to welcome in our city a great historian and an outstanding activist like Timothy Garton Ash, who not only represents the best of Great Britain, but also the best of the western world and his activism since the ‘70s, when he visited Albania, in the struggle to emancipate and open societies after the fall of communism.”

“I am very delighted that you have returned in the’ 90s and are finally visiting Tirana in 2023. This city always needs clear minds to enrich itself with the history of others, and perhaps not repeat the mistakes of others. As a historian, as a friend and as an outstanding activist, I want you to see this city as your city. Thank you for your contribution and inspiration,” said Veliaj.
Historian Timothy Garton Ash said that he feels really welcome in Tirana, which he found transformed beyond recognition and which has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

“I came to Tirana for the first time in 1978. At that time it was a very different city, without the amazing places it has now. I think we can say unequivocally that it was not ‘cool’ at that time, and here we are 45 years later, and now thanks to you and your colleagues, it is has been transformed beyond recognition to become one of the most popular destinations in Europe. This shows that miracles can happen,” he said.

Timothy Garton Ash is the author of eleven books of political writing or ‘history of the present’ which have charted the transformation of Europe over the last half century. He is Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He writes a column on international affairs in the Guardian which is widely syndicated.
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