Page 38 - AACL 25th anniversary

Anniversary Celebration of
Albanian American Civic League
1997
1998
January 1999
October The Civic League Begins
July Senator Al D’Amato and Congressman
The Civic League Goes to London, France, and Tirana for Kosova
Distribution of Rescue in Albania to the House and Senate
Christopher Smith pass Civic League- sponsored Resolutions (S.Con.Res. 105 and H.Con.Res. 304) calling for the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic as a war criminal.
DioGuardi and Cloyes meet with the leaders of the Albanian community in London at a dinner organized by UCK representative Pleurat Sejdiu and then travel to Paris to participate in a UCK-sponsored event for the Albanian community in France.
At the Civic League’s request, Congressmen Lantos and Gilman write a foreword to Rescue in Albania by Harvey Sarner. The League begins distribution of 10,000 copies to demonstrate the courage and tolerance of the Albanian people who saved Jews from the Nazis in World War II. Congressmen Gilman and Traficant send the book with a personal letter to each Jewish member of Congress and with a “Dear Colleague” letter to the other members.
Congressman Jim Traficant, with international legal expertise retained by the Civic League, introduces H. Con. Res. 312, calling the Clinton administration to recognize the legal right of Kosovar Albanians to self- determination and independence from
1998
February 1999
The Civic League Lobbies the Pope for Kosova
DioGuardi and Cloyes go to Rambouillet, France, to speak at a KLA-sponsored demonstration outside the peace talks.
February The Civic League Declares
1998 Serbia.
August Cloyes begins work with the
1998
its Support for the Kosova Liberation Army
Transnational Radical Party on the documentation to be submitted to The Hague to indict Milosevic as a war criminal. In order to establish the charge of “crimes against humanity,” international law requires that an armed conflict between two armies must be established. Cloyes argues that the KLA is a defense force.
DioGuardi and Cloyes are keynote speakers at an international conference in Tirana on Kosova and peace and stability in the Balkans. They make the case for the independence of Kosova at a press conference with former Albanian President Sali Berisha and on Albanian TV and radio. DioGuardi and Cloyes also confront Albanian President Pandeli Majko about his failure to publicly support the independence of
The Civic League issues a public declaration, “In Defense of the Albanian National Cause,” in which it announces its support for the Kosova Liberation Army and condemns the neo-Communist government of Fatos Nano for its corrupt politics and abandonment of the Albanian national cause.
March The Civic League Tells
Congress that the KLA Is Not a “Terrorist Group
1999 Kosova.
The Civic League shifts the focus of a Congressional hearing with Balkan envoy Robert Gelbard from Bosnia to Kosova. Under questioning instigated by Cloyes DioGuardi, Gelbard is forced to retract his earlier, erroneous depiction of the KLA as a “terrorist” organization. The retraction creates a storm in the Western media, and overnight the attempt to “criminalize” the KLA is halted. In an historic confrontation, Cloyes tells Gelbard that “the KLA is not a terrorist group, and that 500,000 Albanians in America are all KLA.” After the hearing, the Civic League holds the first rally on Capitol Hill in support of the Kosova Liberation Army.
January-July DioGuardi and Cloyes Advocate for Kosova on
DioGuardi and Cloyes travel to Rome to meet Pope John Paul II and to Bajram Curi, Albania, to meet with the Albanian refugees in the care of the UNHCR at the request of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and with leaders of the KLA.
U.S. and International TV and Radio
1998
DioGuardi and Cloyes represent the Albanian viewpoint on more than 50 U.S. and international TV and radio broadcasts, including CNN International, CNN, Fox-TV, BBC- TV, NBC, MSNBC, WPIX, and CNBC—before and after the NATO bombing campaign.
DioGuardi and Cloyes Call Congress to Support U.S. Intervention in Kosova and to Indict Milosevic
the European Commission for Kosova
Cloyes testifies after Senator Bob Dole, Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick, and Henry Kissinger before the House International Relations Committee in support of U.S. troop deployment to Kosova.
The Civic League holds a rally in front of the UN, calling on the U.S. government to arm the KLA and deploy troops to defend the people of Kosova. DioGuardi and Cloyes march with 5,000 demonstrators to the Serbian mission.
The Civic League holds a second rally in front of the UN with Jewish leaders to protest the ongoing genocide in Kosova.
September The Civic League Lobbies
March 1999
DioGuardi testifies before the Congressional Helsinki Committee, calling for U.S. intervention in Kosova before Milosevic kills more Albanians.
1998
The Civic League holds a rally in Manhattan, marching from the United Nations to the office of U.S. Special Envoy to the Balkans Richard Holbrooke, to protest Holbrooke’s entering into the October agreement with Milosevic—a diplomatic holding pattern that would lead to the infamous massacre of Albanians at Racak.
1998
June intervention.
October The Civic League Lobbies
Emma Bonino, head of Human Rights for the European Commission, meets with the Civic League Board in New York City to discuss her trip to Kosova during the Serbian summer offensive and her plans for ending the war.
May DioGuardi testifies at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing
Against Holbrooke’s Agreement with Milosevic
on Kosova, criticizing U.S. foreign
policy there and clashing with Biden 1998 over the need for U.S. military
DioGuardi again testifies before the Congressional Helsinki Committee, this time about the Serbian invasion of Kosova and the need to indict Slobodan Milosevic as a war criminal.
38
Saluting Albanian Religious Tolerance in an Age of Intolerance