Relations with Greece are very important for Albania and they should be full focus of the new administration, experts say.
TIRANA, Oct. 14 – Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos made a one-day visit to Albania Monday, during which he met with all top country’s officials covering a wide range of topics in the bilateral ties.
Discussions included hot topics in Albanian domestic politics that affect relations between the two neighboring countries, including the Greek “law of war with Albania,” properties of the Cham population in Greece, the maritime border, the joint TAP pipeline project as well as other topics linked to Albanian immigrants in the neighboring country. Athens’ support for Albania’s EU membership when it takes over the presidency next year was also part of the discussions. Venizelos met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, President Bujar Nishani, Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta and Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati.
He also met with Lulzim Basha, Tirana mayor and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, as well as Vangjel Dule, head of the Unity for Human Rights Party, which represents the interests of Albania’s ethnic Greek minority.
Albania and Greece are coming out of a very cool period in relations, and it was clear the talks were not easy. But relations with Greece are very important for Albania and they should be full focus of the new administration, said Albert Rakipi, executive director of the Albanian Institute for International Studies.
“After a long period of cool relations, we now have political dialogue at a high level and this should be used to advance relations. This is in the interest of Albania,” said Rakipi
Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, Bushati called on his Greek counterpart to abolish a World War II-era law that technically has left the two countries at war. Greece should scrap a law dating back to 1940 so that Albanian Cham community who were expelled by Athens during World War II can claim back confiscated property, Bushati said. The scrapping of the war-era legislation “would allow the vindication of denied property rights in accordance with international law,” he said.
Venizelos said that Athens was not afraid to tackle historical issues but insisted that the war-time law between Albania and Greece was abolished through a decision by the Greek government in 1986. He also added that Athens does not “recognize the Cham issue” urging anyone who has a claim against Greece to go to the international human rights court in Strasbourg. The law declaring a state of war between the two states, passed by Greece after Italian forces in Albania attacked Greece in October 1940, has never been abolished by the Greek parliament.
The Chams are an Albanian community who originally resided in the coastal Epirus region of northern Greece. The Greek authorities brutally expelled the Muslim part of the Cham community, after accusing them of collaborating with the Nazi occupation forces. They now live in Albania and elsewhere, mostly in the U.S. and Turkey.
Venizelos reiterated his country’s will to support Albania’s overall development and European Union integration process.
During a meeting with Rama, Venizelos expressed the will of Greek government to take the relations between the two countries to a new level of cooperation.
“The Greek Presidency of the EU in 2014, along with the Italian presidency, will form a comprehensive framework for the realization of the Mediterranean cooperation for the implementation of all objectives related to the European integration of our countries,” he said.
