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By:
Elvira Berisha
- 13 January 2021 14:11
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The independent assemblyman, Rifat Deri, formalized the request to change the name of the library on the grounds that Hivzi Sulejmani "was involved in processes that led to the killing of Albanians". This proposal was discussed at the first meeting of the Municipal Assembly for the year 2021, where it was decided that before such a thing is done, the relevant institutions familiar with Sulejman's work should be consulted. The literary community is divided on this issue
Pristina, January 13 - Whether a writer should be judged only for his literary creativity or even for other decisions he makes during his life is a question that divides the literary community.
Some writers support, while others oppose the request of the assembly member Rifat Deri, that the city library located in the "Dardania" neighborhood does not deserve to bear the name of the writer Hivzi Sulejmani "because of his dark past", when as the head of the Court in Prizren, he "sentenced Albanians by shooting and imprisonment, only because they did not belong to the communist ideology of that time".
His proposal to change the name of this institution to the Prishtina City Library was discussed at the first meeting of the Prishtina Municipal Assembly for 2021, which was held on Friday, January 8. Changing the name of the library was foreseen with item 11 of the agenda and after discussions it was proposed that this matter be dealt with in more detail.
Rifat Deri initiated the name change, on the grounds that Hivzi Sulejmani was involved in processes that led to the killing of Albanians. His initiative dates back to two years ago in the context of changing the name of streets and institutions in the Municipality of Pristina, which, according to him, are unfairly named.
"As for the Library of Pristina, which is named after Hivzi Sulejmani, I have abundant archival information and documentation that the library does not deserve its name. The question is posed: Why? Because this man was educated from 1935 to 1940 in Belgrade. On the occasion of the entry of the power of the military occupation of that time, or the military police watch, he was named as a judge of the Court in Prizren, where he sentenced many Albanians to shooting and heavy imprisonment, just because they did not belong to the communist ideology of that time ", said Deri.
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This initiative of his has provoked a debate among the members of the literary community in Kosovo, who - just like the assembly members at the meeting where this initiative was discussed - do not have the same attitude.
Writer Nazmi Rrahmani says that the name of the library should not be changed in any way. For this he enumerates several reasons. He says that Hivzi Sulejmani is one of the biggest critics of the society of the time in which he lived.
"Let them read his letters, writings, literature, the novel 'People', 'Children of my river', his stories and reactions against all the deformations of the society at that time and see who Hivzi Sulejmani is," he said. said Rrahmani for TIME. He also mentioned that Hivzi Sulejmani donated his private property to the children of Pristina. When he died in 1975 in the Hospital of Pristina, the well-known writer Hivzi Sylejmani donated his house on the outskirts of the capital, on the road leading to Germia Park, to society. Meanwhile, in the neighborhood "Tophane" for seven decades, in the building of 1930 that is protected as a monument, the main library "Hivzi Sulejmani" functioned, along with its branches in the capital and in the villages. From there, this library moved in August 2016, to the new facility in the "Dardania" neighborhood.
Rrahmani mentions other reasons when he opposes changing the name of the library.
"The third reason is that the novel 'People' is the first novel written in the literature of Kosovo, even though censorship did not allow it to be published until 1966," said Rrahmani, adding that before a decision is made, the society must be consulted civilians, people from the field and literature and connoisseurs of Suleiman's personality.
Shyqri Galica, head of the League of Writers of Kosovo, gives a completely opposite opinion to Rrahman.
"The writer is not only related to his work, but also to his life, because his life is his work. The initiator is very right. These names were imposed on us by the Yugoslav system, therefore I consider this initiative of this assembly member to be right. He was a prosecutor and sentenced people to death, and only later changed his activity", said Galica. To strengthen his opinion, he quotes a quote by Ernest Hemingway: "The writer must be coherent with his life and ideals when he writes, because there are some who live differently, think differently and write differently."
The writer Binak Kelmendi, president of the PEN-Center of Kosovo, belongs to the group of those who oppose the change of the name of the library "Hivzi Sulejmani", although according to him, it is difficult to separate one's career from artistic work.
"He was a prosecutor in a time without time, when Albanians were persecuted by the government - sometimes we call him communist, sometimes we call him Serbian. He either had to act like that or go with the persecuted Albanians, or commit suicide. As far as I know, he later repented and late repentance is what anyone can pardon", said Kelmendi. "I am against changing the name, because if we go like that, many names would have to be changed", he added. Even Kelmendi mentions the fact that Hivzi Sulejmani donated his house to the city of Pristina.
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However, Deri clarifies that his request is only related to the library facility located in the "Dardania" neighborhood and not to Hivzi Sulejmani's house in "Taukbashçe".
"I didn't think about the house at all. My complete focus is on this library and in the future that the city's libraries are called the City Libraries of Pristina. Let's not create situations to say this was the best, weakest or most beautiful writer. Let's make it uniform, all the libraries will be called Libraries of the City of Pristina", he said.
At the meeting of the Municipal Assembly of Pristina, the head of the capital, Shpend Ahmeti, said that such a decision cannot be taken without the involvement of other relevant institutions. In the discussion among the assembly members, among other things, it was mentioned that the position of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo should also be sought on this issue.
"I am assuming that Rifat has it with the role of Hivzi Suleimani in the trials of 1945, which were called 'the people's trials', where several writers were involved. However, I am saying that with such a decision, with a 10-minute discussion, apart from being not legal, it is not at all - I am saying it informative. Because when the Municipal Assembly makes a decision, there will be questions from both the citizens and the media, there must be a clear rationale", said Ahmeti. He has proposed that the Legal Office of the Municipality of Pristina give instructions on which procedures should be followed for changing the name of an institution.
"What I proposed today is for the Assembly to mandate the executive to prepare for the next meeting what are the legal procedures for changing the name of an institution and at the same time, if you want, we can request information and answers from the institutions relevant to the role, career, history of Hivzi Sulejman", said Ahmeti.
On the other hand, Munish Hyseni, director of this library, told KOĖHA by phone that he is not aware of this initiative. He briefly said that Hivzi Sulejmani is a complex figure and that the decision should be made by consulting those familiar with his activities.
In 2019, when Deri mentioned the request to change the name of the library institution, well-known literary personalities did not support this idea.
In one of his writings, university professor and writer Agim Vinca wrote that many researchers have called Sylejman a moral parable.
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"All the researchers who have written about Hivzi Sulejmani (R. Qosja, H. Mekuli, M. Raifi, B. Krasniqi, S. Hamiti, etc.) have called him a 'moral parable', starting from his attitude in life and especially from his literary work considered as a monument of human morality. Those who, in the 80s, demanded the removal of his name from Kosovo's institutions - the emissaries of Serbian and Serbian politics, as they demand today, sporadically, for other reasons, but with logic - would not forgive him either one or the other. more or less the same, excluding, even individuals from the ranks of Albanians", Vinca wrote. In this article, he also mentions the fact that Hivziu exercised important state duties, which was that of the president of the District Court in Prizren (later also the provincial prosecutor), which brought him to the position of signing death sentences of to people who were considered "enemies of the people" at a time when Kosovo was under military administration, but according to him his actions, mistakes and omissions, as well as values and merits, should be seen in the context of the time and should not be judged by today's criteria.
"It is that unfortunate document of the judgment of the leaders of the LNDSH from 1945, signed by him in the capacity of the president of the Court, about which our opinion, with some exceptions, did not know before, but it was mainly announced in lately, sometimes also through malicious interpretations by people who want to use these acts for 'political capital', as well as for 'correcting' their own problematic biographies. I don't think that this action, carried out at a relatively young age and in extremely difficult conditions, does him no honor at all. On the contrary. But Hivziu "washed away" his early (unforgivable) mistake, so to speak, with his intransigent attitude towards Serbian hegemony throughout his later life, and especially with his main literary work critical of the political bureaucracy and the ruling oligarchy of of the time, which committed great abuses in the name of socialism, just as they are being done today as much, if not more, in the name of democracy", he emphasized.
