San Francisco Frontiers - From USSR to NATO, Albania showcases military past

The Albanian army museum in Berzhite, near the capital Tirana, showcases everything from Soviet tanks and Chinese torpedo launchers to home-made weapons and NATO flags.

"It is a public space which tells the political history of the country through the history of the Albanian army," said museum director Arben Skenderi.

Once nicknamed Europe's "North Korea", the small Balkan country was shunned by much of the world under Communist dictator Enver Hoxha.

He forged close ties with the Soviet Union and China before falling out over their supposed deviation from true Marxism.

The country embraced the West after the fall of the communist regime in 1990 and, 30 years later, is part of NATO and hoping to become a European Union member.

More than 80 percent of the weapons shown at the museum belong to the era of the Communist dictatorship, between 1945 and 1990, and include Soviet and Chinese battle tanks and a Chinese torpedo launcher.

Also on display is the MiG-15 fighter jet, produced in the Soviet Union, and the MiG-17, 19 and 21 models -- produced later in China, but based on the Russian model.

"These weapons were part of our education -- at school we all knew how to disassemble and reassemble a Kalashnikov with our eyes closed," said Arjana Dede, a 72-year-old former teacher, watching while children played on the tanks and cannons on display.

- 'Turbulent diplomacy' -

Through its communist years -- which made Albania one of the most closed countries in the world -- at least a fifth of the country's budget was devoted to military spending, arms purchases, and fortification, with the construction of 170,000 bunkers.

"Everything here testifies to the turbulent diplomacy of the late dictator Enver Hoxha, who was angry towards the whole world -- the West of course, but also the former Yugoslavia, the USSR and China," said historian Edmond Collaku, manager of museum collections.

"Communist Albania was one of the most militarised countries in the region relative to its surface area and its population," said Collaku.

By the 1980s, Albania had 61,000 active soldiers and more than 660,000 reserve soldiers and volunteers, he added, among just 3.5 million citizens.

Former military official Fejzo Nebiaj told AFP the country's Communist army had more than 1,000 tanks, 240 Russian and Chinese planes and helicopters, four submarines and around 400,000 rifles.

According to archives, at the end of the 1980s Albania had 200,000 tonnes of munitions prepared for an envisaged conflict with its old allies.

It also began to develop its own weaponry: domestically-made rifles, mines and ammunition are on display at the museum.

After the fall of the dictatorship in 1991, Albania made joining NATO a top priority, and the military alliance's flag is also on display in the museum.

Gjergj Methoxha, the country's defence policy director, told AFP that Albania is "determined to fulfil all its obligations" towards NATO, whether "political, institutional or military".

Tirana inaugurated a NATO tactical air base in early March this year, which Prime Minister Edi Rama said "constitutes an additional element of security for the Western Balkans".

Its military arsenal now includes three Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones and two American Black Hawk helicopters.

"In the worst and in the best of times, Albania has been and always will be a peaceful country," said one museum visitor, 76-year-old Aferdita Andoni.

"But weapons can also serve for peace."

A.Clark--SFF