Albania celebrates 95th anniversary of its army

TIRANA, Dec. 4 – Albania celebrated the 95th anniversary of its army on Tuesday with a military parade in an effort to show its readiness to join NATO next year.
Despite the rain, thousands of people lined up along Tirana’s main boulevard, Martyrs of the Nation, in the second military parade in post-communist Albania. Some 3,000 soldiers marched in the parade and 200 armored vehicles drove down the boulevard.
During the communist regime, before 1990, military parades were annual events.
Taking part in the parade were also military officials from some NATO member countries including the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Turkey.
They were joined by militaries dislaying the flags of Croatia and Macedonia with which Albania has signed the Adriatic 3 Charter, a U.S.-backed initiative outlining a common military strategy and promoting regional cooperation.
The three countries are expecting to receive membership invitation at a NATO summit in Bucharest next year.
Albania has some 350 troops in international peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia.
“Albania is closer than ever to the membership invitation at the most democratic alliance (NATO),” said President Bamir Topi, also Commander-General of the country’s armed forces.
Albania aims at turning the military into a professional army by 2010. It has also increased its annual military budget to more than two percent of the GDP for next year, as required by NATO standards.
The Albanian army was created in 1912, only days after the country gained its independence following the collapse of the once-powerful Ottoman Empire.