Bollino/Koka's reaction: Look for the blame in those you bargained with

2025-12-25 19:58:00, Aktualitet CNA

Journalist Bledian Koka has reacted to Carlo Bollino's statements, describing them as threatening and with double standards in relation to the media and the government. The reaction was made on Syri TV, where Koka responded to Bollino's warnings that he will "expose" criminal persons and sources that, according to him, are connected to this media.

In his reaction, journalist Bledian Koka raised questions about why Carlo Bollino, if he claims to have knowledge of crime figures or dirty money in the media, has kept this information hidden until now. According to Koka, publishing accusations in the form of threats constitutes a conflict of interest and raises doubts about the real motives of this reaction.

Koka emphasized that Syri Televizioni journalists are not shareholders or owners, but professionals who work with regular contracts and salaries, choosing this media outlet because of its critical line towards the government. He described Syri Televizioni as one of the few serious opposition media outlets in the country that continues to conduct investigations in a media environment dominated, according to him, by strong ties between the government and the media.

In his response, Bledian Koka categorically denied any connection between Syri Televizione and organized crime, stressing that this media outlet has not provided a platform for figures in the underworld and has not served as a voice or media coverage for them at key moments facing justice. The journalist stated that if Carlo Bollino claims to prove otherwise through what he calls “investigative journalism,” he and his colleagues are ready to publicly confront any evidence. According to Koka, the issue is not related to a single name, but to a broader problem of relations between the media and the government in Albania.

Bledian Kokës said that transparency and equal standards are needed in the media, emphasizing that any accusation of links to crime figures must be accompanied by facts and evidence, and not by public warnings or threats.

"Mr. Bolino himself has reacted. He has warned us, the eye, and he will tell us who the criminals who sleep in Syri Television are.

Who is the dirty money that comes to our television. He has made very serious warnings. From here he is in a conflict of interest. So, if Mr. Bolino knew these things about the eye, the question is, why has he kept them hidden until now? Because we have not been silent, we have never had any hairs on our tongue with Mr. Bolino, with Top Channel, with the Klan when it came out, so, we have had everything, we have said, that we have done it, that we have done it every time he has come before us with, with facts and evidence. The question is, why did Mr. Bolino remember today to threaten us, the eye? In this case, and he told us that he would show us the criminals.

Now you and I work here at this television station, Sonila. We are not even shareholders, we get our salary, we have made our contract and we have done this because I believe that Syri is among the few, not to say the last serious opposition media in Albania, which, as I say, still says to the opposition, opposition. There are other media that really do their job, but with voice and image and with genuine investigations, which really in a calcified media terrain, not because of the choice of the media, but because of the approach that the government has with these media, as I say, has made resistance to the media almost impossible and non-existent.

I think that we who speak here today and who work on this television today, are not ashamed to come out, because we know that no one, whenever we make a status, calls us a thief or a servant of Edi Rama. They call us a servant of Sali Berisha. As far as I know, Sali Berisha is the leader of the opposition and it has been 13 years since the last time he was in power. So this is the truth.

Mr. Bolino must understand that publishing that information is not the fault of the eye. He should look elsewhere, who threw the stone and hid the hand, but this is the job of Mr. Bolino with those he bargains with, who are in power, like Belinda, like Edi Rama, Erion Veliaj, not that he continues to serve them, these are their choices.

What has never happened on Syri Television in relation to organized crime is that Safet Bajri has never given an interview on Syri Television and said that I am simply a fisherman in time, on the day when he was accused of very serious crimes, not by Albanian justice, but by Belgian justice. And of course, Syri Television has not yet gone crazy to the point of becoming the personal cameraman for television, of Kelmend Balili's journey from his home, with the driver, the former director of the State Police, Ardi Veliu, today the director of the AK, who went and surrendered to the police. So, Syri Television has never had these kinds of relationships with these intellectual people of the criminal world until today.

If Mr. Bolino, with his warning that he will teach us investigative journalism, manages to prove the opposite of this, honestly, I, who have been working at Syri Televizione for about six years and since the first day the syri.net portal was opened, would be very interested to see it.

I think this is also a controlled explosion for me, because the truth is that it's not just Carlo Bolino.

We are here and we cannot pretend we don't know that many, many other media outlets, even those with national licenses, would like an investigation and a real approach to dismantle this vile and corrupt connection, which no longer honors the media, between the media and the government, where the government is the only solution and the opposition is the great evil, despite the fact that the government steals from morning to night ," said Koka./CNA