Attending the event organized by the high authorities of Bari, Puglia region, were MP Mimi Kodheli, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Assembly, Pandeli Majko and Milva Ekonomi, mayors, university directors and Albanian and Italian scholars.

Before the start of this event, Speaker Spiropali met Mayor Vito Leccese and expressed her gratitude to the municipality and the “Aldo Moro” University of Bari for organizing the memorial ceremony for the patriot and writer Luigj Gurakuqi.

Spiropali and Leccese placed wreaths of flowers on the plaque commemorating the assassination of Luigj Gurakuqi.

In her speech, Spiropali highlighted the fact that, “Luigj Gurakuqi ended his earthly journey in this city that he loved perhaps more than his homeland, Albania. Delegate to the Vlora Assembly, the author who wrote the text of the Declaration of Independence and its co-signer, would be enough for us to call Luigj Gurakuqi one of the founding fathers of the Albanian state”.

“Luigj Gurakuqi was neither a casual nor episodic figure, but a personality with a decisive role in the fate of Albania at the beginning of the last century. Luigj Gurakuqi did not become among the most prominent men of Albania in a day or by chance. He was the closest associate of Ismail Qemali, the founder of the independent Albanian state, who also, by a sad coincidence, had breathed his last, six years ago, also in Italy, in Perugia”, emphasized Spiropali.

Speaker of the Parliament emphasized that, “Gurakuqi was also the closest associate of the liberal democrat Fan Noli, who served as Prime Minister of Albania during 1924 and in whose government Gurakuqi served as Minister of Finance”. /k.s/r.e/a.f/p.s./