Albania’s Iranian guests

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Who are Albania’s Iranian guests? In July, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani visited an Albanian village just outside Tirana. At a tightly-guarded encampment, he addressed the Iranian group who live there - the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), or People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). MEK has been a leading opposition voice against the Islamic Republic of Iran for decades. Following the revolution of 1979, MEK fell out with the Iranian government – members were persecuted, and the organisation moved to Iraq for around three decades. Migration to Albania was facilitated by the United States, and more than 3,000 members have arrived.

But in Albania – a fragile democracy - there’s disquiet. Critics claim MEK’s presence compromises Albania’s security, and is fuelling a crack-down on the press. Meanwhile, dozens of Iranian MEK members have defected but find themselves living a precarious existence in Tirana because they are stateless, without passports.

Assignment investigates the improbable relationship between Albania and MEK.

Presenter: Linda Pressly Producer: Albana Kasapi

(Photo: Gholam Mirzai has left the MEK. He would like to return to Iran. Credit: BBC Credit)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now this was a story that completely surprised me and it was one that was brought to us at assignment by the BBC journalist who almost single-handedly keeps the Balkans well and truly on the BBC's agenda.
0:12.0	Albania Kassapi is Albanian and you're still very connected with the zeitgeist back home.
0:18.0	Yes I am, but this story had escaped my radar completely as well back in 2013 when this Iranian
0:24.9	opposition group started arriving in Albania and it was only this summer
0:29.2	when I went back home to visit my parents as I usually do that I heard news that
0:34.9	President Trump's personal lawyer Ludi Giuliani was in town and visiting that made
0:41.0	me think what's going on here.
0:43.0	So here's this week's assignment from the BBC World Service.
0:47.0	We hope you'll be engaged by what you hear in the next half hour
0:50.0	and if you are perhaps you'll have a moment to rate us with your podcast provider.
0:54.4	So do stay tuned now for Albania's Iranian guests. Wow, this is the first time I've seen something like this in the middle of the Albanian countryside.
1:12.0	Newly constructed settlement looks like a military base.
1:17.0	Well it's certainly very uniform and there are a great number of buildings spread over
1:22.0	what looks like a huge area on a very gently
1:26.0	sloping hill. Look down the hill that's huge gate and the two golden lion
1:31.4	statues on top of it.
1:33.0	Well that's BBC producer albana Kossapi
1:36.5	and we're on an elevated piece of land about 30 kilometers from Tirana
1:41.0	looking across at what's become the new home of one of Iran's main
1:47.5	opposition groups. They're known as Meck, Mujahideen Elkal or the People's Mujahideen El Kalq, or the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran.
1:56.0	I'm Linda Presley and in this week's assignment on the BBC World Service,
2:00.0	we're exploring the relationship between Albania and these unlikely Iranian guests.
	...

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