Travel Guide Manez

Manëz/Manëza (pronounced "maneuze"/"maneuza") has around 6,000 inhabitants and is part of the municipality of Durrës. Also known as Manza/Menzë, the village is located 10 km southeast of Lalzi Bay and 23 km northeast of Durrës (minibus connections). Nestling at the foot of a hill, along a road leading to Lalzi Bay, Manëz saw its population double in 2018 with the arrival of a strange community. The village has been designated as the home of the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), an armed resistance movement against the Islamic regime in Tehran. It was at the request of the United States that these Shiite fighters, who had passed through Iraq, were first settled in Tirana in 2016, before being moved to Manëz, a location deemed more discreet. The group is in fact considered "terrorist" by certain states such as Iran, but also by France. The organization has its international headquarters here, in a small town of around 3,000 inhabitants that looks like a military camp. Located 600 m south of Menëz, it is called "Ashraf 3" in honor of a militant killed in 1982, and because it is the third PMOI camp since the group fled Iran in 1981. The group is rather discreet and has little contact with the locals. However, tensions have already arisen following the PMOI's purchase of land to create its own cemetery. For, it seems, these "guests" are here to stay for a long time on Albanian soil.