User:Albanian Information/sandbox

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."