By Erion Veliaj/ When Meros is left with Derri Maç in his hand

Ky shkrim i Erion Veliajt për gazetën "Tema" dhe Mero Bazen është botuar në gazetën "Koha Jonë", më 26 tetor të vitit 2005. Në këtë opinion të shkruar nga Erion Veliaj gati dy dekada më parë në gazetën “Koha Jonë”, e quan Mero Bazen njeri me personalitet të vogël. Erion Veliaj përmes opinionit të tij të shkruar në Tetor të 2005 e akuzon se ka marrë shuma marramendëse për të mbështetur projektin e kazinove. Ky është mendimi i Erion Veliajt dikur për Mero Bazen, i cili sot është kthyer në një lëtyrë mediatike për të mbrojtur të pandehurin Erion Veliaj me 13 akuza për vepra të rënda penale si korrupsion, pastrim të produkteve të veprës penale, fshehje të pasurisë dhe futje të sendeve të ndaluara në qeli. Lexoni opinionin e Erion Veliajt për Mero Bazen dhe gazetën “Tema”

2025-07-27 10:44:00, Opinione Erion Veliaj

This article by Erion Veliaj for the newspaper "Tema" and Mero Baze was published in the newspaper "Koha Jonë" on October 26, 2005. This is his opinion and judgment about Mero Bazen...

By Erion Veliaj

In yesterday's article in "Tema", Mero Baze, former owner of the newspaper, now sold to Taiwanese owners, comes out in defense of the casino project. In fact, I don't know the exact amount that the Taiwanese owners paid, some say it's staggering, and it must be so until Mero's mind is taken over, thus causing him professional sclerosis, and moreover a deficit of integrity. Why do I say this? For example, read what Mr. Baze wrote on February 15 of this year:

...the offer for the casino was made in the international press by the Albanian government, while the building in the center of Tirana turns out to be owned by a group of Albanian businessmen. This serious source and the facts that the opposition (the Democratic Party) has about applications from employees of the "Hyatt Regency Perth" casino network in Tirana are sufficient arguments to launch a serious investigation... there are many suspicions that behind the partner group is hidden the company of the Prime Minister's wife or businessmen close to her, and this is much more serious than the fact that Fatos Nano has lost money in the Thessaloniki casino. It is known that when you enter a casino, you enter to lose, and it does not matter whether they film you paying money or not. The theatricalization (by Berisha) of this bitter fact that is very likely to turn into a financial scandal in Albania... This name, this face and this money, (the owners of the building, that is) are many times more shocking than the scene of Fatos Nano's ordinary payment in casinos around the world, from Thessaloniki to Atlantic City. (additions in brackets are mine).

The de facto chief of staff of the new government is not at all professional when he compares the purity of the business that now owns the newspaper "Tema" with the projects of MJAFT.

Are you implying that those I mentioned with disgust above were cleaner than a dozen Western representatives who contribute to JJAFT?

Or is he saying that, just like us at ENOUGH, that business is controlled by well-known auditing companies?

Better yet, where are the employment contracts for the journalists of "Tema", who are terrorized into writing lies as Mero pleases? Will Mero Baze come out to defend them too?

But this Mero, who turns the word of the paradoumaje and sells the newspaper to those who beat him and made him a fish in the south, alludes that ENOUGH is selling dignity for property?

How can you be so shameless, when you've asked all of Tirana where Erion Veliaj might have an apartment, and you haven't found anything since I still don't qualify for a loan, you're left with using a common bluff and conspiring about anything that you'd like to be true, but that reality denies.

In fact, I forgot, we have had offers for properties, and for staggering amounts of 6 figures of dollars, but Mr. Mero has the names of the bidders in the deed of sale of his newspaper, and he has the names of the shameless realtors around the table, who, like him, have built a false career as "independent" journalists.

By Erion Veliaj/ When Meros is left with Derri Maç in his hand

Article by Erion Veliaj published in the newspaper "Koha Jonë" in October 2005

Let's get back to the topic.

Mero Bazes, he really doesn't care about the small casinos. This is simply an excuse to shift attention from the Big Casino of his small personality. I say this because he had all the time available to do this job, and to protest first at the former Fiesta bar where any ordinary passerby would make the connection with the current ruling family.

Yes, this would be a conspiracy like Mero's when he says that MJAFT leaves his salary at the casino, so we leave this banal argument aside. But what we cannot leave aside is the hypocrisy of declaring that MJAFT's mission was to 'put the government in conflict with American diplomats.'

Erion Veliaj writes the diversion to Mero Baze
May 5, 22:00

Which diplomats? What is this urban myth and ordinary deception that the American Embassy was a defender of this project? Show me this statement, please. Because the only Americans who have publicly declared themselves against the casino have been Senator Brownback, who chairs the Helsinki Commission, and Congressman Eolf, who chairs the Budget Commission.

These fabrications that mock the complex we have towards foreigners are in keeping with Bar West, but beyond that they seem ridiculous. Yes, yes, ridiculous, because it is this same Mero who on February 19, on the front page of the TEMA newspaper, wrote:

"Casinos, two Greeks win, Albanian and USA lose", and as if by magic it turns out that one of the two Greeks has become an American during this summer. That must be so, because on that same date Mero declares that

… “The Greek model for casinos in Albania could create a crisis in the gambling market and control over 'cash' in the country” and the correspondent comments: “Almost all Western countries have adopted legislation that does not allow foreign companies to operate in the casino field.

Mero Baze, the stinking journalist, part three/ From apartments and offices to a hotel in Ksamil
April 14, 2:04 PM

Most of the profits from casinos are taken by the state and they are entirely domestic companies. The only problematic model in the field of casinos is the Greek model, which is the most criticized in the world. In Greece, casinos were opened as a stimulus for political corruption and wiped out small games of chance from the market by creating monopolies. The same situation seems to be repeated in Albania.

... After this we will have a concentration of gambling in a Greek company, with the constant risk that in addition to money laundering, we will also have the risk of transporting Albanian 'cash' to Greece."

Should I add more or are Mero's own words about the "American" investment enough? Or should we dig back into the archives of Mero's publications after 1997, where his journalism is more like "The Anglo-American Danger to Albania"?

Haven't we reacted to all four candidates?

Of course Mero doesn't know, because after we spoke in February on several television channels and when we met with the residents of Shallvare and representatives of the Ministry of Finance to present the concerns of the argument (TEMA Newspaper, March 4), this gentleman was vegetating in Rogner and fighting the corruption of the Nano government with a cup in his hand.

Finally, we are accused of wanting to add negative news to the international stock market about the Albanian government. I don't believe that the prime minister is so stupid as not to understand that the main negative news on this stock market is the fact that Mero, the hand himself, serves as the chief of staff for all personnel movements in the administration. This is where the prime minister can intervene to change the negative quotas in the perception of his government.

Mero Baze pus smell, part four/ 10 thousand m2 of land in Ksamil
April 15, 12:17

And to conclude, MJAFT has called for strict control of all gambling kiosks, without excluding anyone.

Mero's claims are similar to those of Blend Klos when he headed the anti-trafficking unit, according to which civil society should have done more to catch traffickers. Because, of course, once we take control of the police and prisons, we will be after them, we told Klos at the time.

And with the same answer we expect Meros today . Yes sir, strictly control casinos of every size. Because today the state, financial and construction police are in the hands of those with whom Mero is flattered all day long.

This situation is embarrassing for Meron, because in this gambling game he has entered with his position as a completely ADDICTED publisher and opinion writer and with the confrontation with his undeniable statements, not only has he been dealt a very bad hand of cups - cups that are reddening the face of the entire new government, but worse still, only he, the black, all-powerful Derri Mac, is left in the game.

Mero Baze's editorials are written by Erion Veliaj from prison
April 8, 12:11

S. Oh, I forgot. Mero, the cartoon in the middle of yesterday's article against ENOUGH in TEMA, you have with the shadow of the "Corbis" logo in the background, which the well-known image company places to show that the image was not purchased legally. Now that you have half a million euros, it's as if the man doesn't dare steal a cartoon that's worth less than 10 dollars./ CNA