Torn between rival Washington and Ankara requests, Tirana chooses to abstain.
TIRANA, Dec. 4 – Albania was among 41 countries that abstained last week in the vote for Palestine at the United Nations, something that resulted in a friction with one of its closest allies, Turkey.
Israel was happy that Albania did abstain, considering it a Muslim country with whom Israel has developed close ties over the last couple of years.
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said that Tirana could not go against the United States (which voted against) as it considers them as the most strategic ally.
But that did not please Turkey. It was later learned that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had tried to convince Albania to abandon plans to abstain on Palestine’s status at the United Nations and vote “yes” instead, according to Turkish daily H
