Lantos Opposes The Capital City Bill

 

 

For Immediate Release
Contact: Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, (914) 671-8583 

 

LANTOS OPPOSES THE CAPITAL CITY BILL AND CALLS FOR GENUINE SELF-GOVERNMENT IN TUZI-MALESIA

 

 

NEW YORK, AUGUST 18, 2005— Congressman Tom Lantos, the Ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, sent a second letter this month to Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, after reading and analyzing the Capital City Bill, which was presented to him by the Montenegrin government as a means of “providing for significant improvement of the area Malesia-Tuzi.” In his response, Congressman Lantos stated that the bill “does not confer on Tuzi-Malesia the rights and administrative powers and privileges of all the other communes in Montenegro,” and he urged the Montenegrin government to “drop the Capital City legislation and move toward providing greater real local self-government in Malesia by reinstating Tuzi’s status as a commune.”

 

The letter was released following an in-depth discussion with Congressman Lantos at his office on July 29, at which Civic League board members and supporters gave powerful testimony about the need for Congressman Lantos’ help in opposing a bill that would have destructive consequences for Albanians in Montenegro. Instead of conferring on Tuzi the status enjoyed by the other municipalities in Montenegro, the Civic League explained that the Capital City Bill would carve up Tuzi and make most of it an “urban municipality” within and under the complete control of Podgorica. Civic League President Joe DioGuardi and Balkan Affairs Adviser Shirley Cloyes were joined at this meeting by Marash Nuculaj, Kol Dedvukaj and Zef Dedivanaj from Michigan, Ahmet Zeka from Pennsylvania, and Lek Gojcaj, Gjergj Dedvukaj, Mark Gjonaj, Joe Zagreda, and Kol Zagreda from New York.

 

Marash Nuculaj, head of the Civic League’s Michigan chapter, said today that, “We are fortunate to have a Congressman like Tom Lantos, who is willing to help stop this legislation,” adding that he “hoped the Montenegrin government would reconsider its position and withdraw the Capital City Bill for the good of the entire country.”

 

Shirley Cloyes agreed, stating that Congressman Lantos is “the only member of the U.S. government who has taken up the plight of Albanians in Montenegro, often in the face of tremendous opposition. From his August 2003 visit to Albanian communities in Montenegro, to the October 2003 Congressional Human Rights Caucus hearing that he held on ‘The Future of Albanians in Montenegro,’ to his repeated challenges to the Montenegrin government about the need to give equal rights to all of its citizens, Tom Lantos has demonstrated his commitment to Albanians in Montenegro, one of the most

oppressed groups in the Balkans.”

 

Joe DioGuardi emphasized that, “The Civic League will continue to respond to the plight of Albanians in Montenegro and in Presheva, where the smallest and most beleaguered populations of Albanians live.”