Kosovo festivities spark political debate in Albania

TIRANA, Feb. 20 – Last week when neighboring Kosovo was celebrating its 4th anniversary of independence, there were held some activities on that in Albania too.
A main street in Tirana was named after late Kosovar President Ibrahim Rugova and Kosovo also launched the new building of its embassy in Tirana.
Both events sparked a political debate in Tirana.
The street was before named “Deshmoret e 4 Shkurtit (Martyrs of Feb. 4) to commemorate 84 Albanians killed during the World War II. The Tirana city hall decided with only the votes of the governing Democrats to change that name into Ibrahim Rugova.
Moreover it came by surprise to many people and noted from the media the fact that another street in capital Tirana was named after Rugova since 2008 when the city hall was run by the opposition Socialist leader Edi Rama.
At the ceremony Prime Minister Sali Berisha considered Ibrahim Rugova the architect of independent Kosovo. “We pay tribute to a visionary man, who gave Albanians honor more than anyone else. President Rugova is the founder of the first pluralist party in the communist dictatorships Balkans. He was the inspiration and organizer of most exemplary peaceful movements not only in the history of the Albanians, but also in the history of many other European nations,” Berisha said.
No opposition members were seen at the ceremony, or the country’s president Bamir Topi.
In the evening the Kosovo embassy launched a cocktail party to celebrate its new offices and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was also present there (he also took part at the street ceremony too) together with the Kosovo opposition leader and other personalities.
Socialist leader Edi Rama and, moreover, President Bamir Topi were not seen at the ceremony.
It was learnt that Rama was not invited as the ceremony was held with a small limited number of persons.
But Topi’s absence caused a political fight in the local media. It was a confused story and one may have understood that Topi was invited, but due to his health problems at the moment he did not take part.
Other could think that Topi could not bear standing alongside Berisha and other governing Democrats who have started a tough battle against him.
Topi is expected to lead a new center-right party to be founded soon from displeased former Democrats. That means they may take some votes not only for the parliamentary elections next year but also put in danger the election of the new president this summer.
Whatever the causes of such an incident or friction, it shows once again that the political fight in this country is so tough and Albanian leaders hardly accept each other.