Sawt Falasteen - Trump-linked resort shines light on Albania's 'stolen' land

The construction on the quiet Adriatic island of Zvernec is linked to US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, and has triggered daily protests across the Balkan nation since late May.

While thousands take to the streets chanting the slogan "Albanian is not for sale", Balliu has taken to the courts in hopes of recovering his ancestor's land.

Earlier this month, armed with "enough documents to fill an entire truck", Balliu filed a complaint with the country's anti-corruption prosecutor's office, SPAK.

He maintains that more than 200 hectares of land on Zvernec have belonged to his family since 1933.

Prosecutors have seprately opened an investigation into the origin of the funds used to purchase the Zvernec land for the Trump family resort.

Balliu is not alone in his property struggle.

At least 100,000 land conflict cases are awaiting judgment before the Albanian Supreme Court, judicial sources told AFP, and some have turned deadly, particularly during and after the country's civil war in 1997.

- Threats -

Albania's land rights issue stems from its communist past that banned individual land ownership, further muddled by customs that date back to the Ottoman era.

Although the ban has been reversed, tracts were redistributed to people, who were often on collective farms, rather than restored to their original owners and those who lost their land were never compensated.

Many others throughout the country -- particularly around the capital Tirana and Albania's principal port, Durres, were simply squatted.

Balliu told AFP his father kept all the property titles for the land confiscated by the communist regime, despite the risks posed by the former dictatorship for keeping such documents.

"I will continue my fight until my last breath. It's the sweat of my parents, of my grandparents, their blood that calls on me not to give up this property," he said.

Clutching under his arm a blue folder stuffed with documents, maps, and cadastral surveys, Balliu said he has been threatened several times for trying to assert his rights.

Police figures show that conflicts over property rights have left more than 200 people dead in Albania since the late 1990s.

As recently as 2025, a judge was shot dead in open court as he was about to rule on a property dispute.

Rampant corruption after the collapse of communism did not help, with fake deeds and politicians promising land to supporters.

- Stolen land -

According to sources close to the investigation into the Trump family project, the land was sold in April 2026 by an Albanian businessman based in the United States, Artur Shehu, to a holding company named Albania Land Development for 122 million euros.

Shehu has claimed on television that the 460 hectares indisputably belonged to his family.

Lawyer and former prosecutor Eugen Beci told AFP that given the legal proceedings and allegations against Shehu of being linked to organised crime, "there is a strong likelihood that no development permit can be issued."

Still, barbed-wire fencing and bulldozers appeared on the beach, sparking outrage against the project.

Opposition to the development has become a flashpoint for frustrations over perceived corruption, with demands now including the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Protesters have also expanded their scope beyond the Kushner-backed resort to other developments on pristine sites.

On Sunday, residents of another coastal town in northern Albania tore down the perimeter walls and barbed wire that had surrounded its bay for more than 20 years, insisting the stretch of land, which the state handed over to private investors, belongs to their families.

A project on that site backed by Club Med was abandoned in 2009 due to the unresolved ownership issues.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST