Pogradec lakeside summit fails to bring unity to ethnic Albanian politicians in Macedonia
TIRANA, May 21 – Prime Minister Edi Rama has met with Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian political leaders in the border town of Pogradec to discuss how to best end political and ethnic tensions in the neighboring country.
Parliamentary Speaker Ilir Meta, also present at the Pogradec meetings, said they asked ethnic Albanian political leaders to keep themselves and the population under control and resolve everything through dialogue.
The meetings at a lakeside resort were closed to the media, with just a few photos released. However, ethnic Albanian politicians are so divided in Macedonia they refused to sit at the same table at the same time in the unofficial summit organized by the Albanian government, which was largely interpreted as a failure by the Albanian press.
The move came as Albania asked its NATO allies for an international investigation to shed light on deadly incident earlier this month in the ethnically-mixed Macedonian town of Kumanovo.
Prime Minister Rama said at a security conference on Thursday that attempts by the Macedonian government to create an association between the words “terrorists” and “Albanian” were unacceptable for Albania.
“It is unacceptable for the Albanian government and state to see delays and worse still the lack of transparency and justice” associated with the “damages suffered by innocent residents of Kumanovo,” Rama said.
He added “everyone wants a stable and democratic Macedonia to be part of NATO, but it cannot be a part without guarantees of following the values and principles of the alliance.”
Rama also warned that if Macedonia wants to join NATO in the future, it should fully protect the rights of its ethnic Albanian population.
“Macedonia cannot be part of NATO, without following the letter and the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement,” Rama said, referring to the agreement that ended the ethnic conflict in Macedonia in 2001, enshrining equal rights for ethnic Albanians.
Albania has been a NATO member since 2009. Skopje’s bid has been blocked by Athens over the name dispute. Athens does not want Macedonia to use the same name as one of its provinces, saying it implies territorial claims.
There has been increased focus on Macedonia following armed clashes two weeks ago in which eight police officers and 10 gunmen were killed, bringing the total number killed to 18. It was early mistakenly reported that 22 people had died.
Another 37 special police officers were wounded. Authorities said they had launched an operation on a house used by the gunmen to prevent an attack. Some among the group wore insignia of now-disbanded ethnic Albanian rebel groups that fought against Serb and Macedonian forces in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Many analysts have expressed concern that the Macedonian government used the clashes to distract the population from the ongoing political crisis in the country.
The Macedonian opposition claims Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is behind the illegal wiretapping of 20,000 people, and opposition head Zoran Zaev has been releasing a series of damning leaks of the recorded conversations. The government denies the allegations and counters that Zaev is plotting a coup.
In 2001, ethnic Albanian rebels took up arms against government forces demanding greater rights for the minority community. The brief conflict left more than 80 people dead and ended with an internationally brokered ceasefire and the arrival of foreign peacekeepers.
It is still unclear how the latest clashes began. The government said police forces mounted an operation after tracking an armed group of about 50 men to a house in Kumanovo.
