TIRANA, Feb. 2 – Albania’s opposition has accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of lying in statements related to Albania’s vote in favor of a UN resolution urging the United States to withdraw recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Former Prime Minister Sali Berisha said his Socialist successor, Edi Rama, lied during a talk show on Thursday, when he said the United States did not ask Albania and other strategic partners to vote against the UN resolution.
“The request against the resolution that denounced the sovereign decision of the U.S. President and Congress was presented officially by the U.S. government through a letter by U.S. Ambassador at the UN Nikki Haley towards all partner states in the UN, including Albania, three days before the vote,” Berisha said in a statement. “So, Rama lied saying he wasn’t asked to vote against it.”
During the last ten minutes of a television talks show, Rama was asked whether Turkey’s president, Recep Erdogan, was happy that Albania took a stand against the U.S. in rejecting its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
It was to this question that Rama answered he was neither asked nor received an expression of gratitude, because Albania’s vote was in line with the EU.
“Our vote in the UN was coherent with the long standing and correct line which says that in times of such duality, we stand by the EU,” Rama said.
Rama’s statement is in line with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ earlier explanation of Albania’s vote in the UN.
The country’s UN vote became an issue of major debate in the country, to the point the opposition’s Democratic Party said this year it would make an official request to revoke it.
The opposition’s concern is that the vote goes against Albania’s best interest and refers to Trump’s statement that monetary help towards the countries that voted against the US will be interrupted.
Several analysts have also deemed the vote as a normal diplomatic move which is being politicized in the country.
“The resolution was supported by 128 member states, Albania being among them. I think it is a wrong reading to interpret Albania’s vote as a vote against President Trump, and even more so as a vote against the United States. Albania has joined the international community, which calls on the United States to reflect on the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said Albert Rakipi, of the Albanian Institute for International Studies, speaking in a recent interview for Tirana Times.
According to Rakipi, Albania’s vote at the UN will not have any consequences, while the U.S. leadership in international relations has only been successful with the support of its strategic allies, such as the EU, which Albania ultimately supported in the UN.
“This is a normal vote for Albanian diplomacy, and, why not, the most normal move it has taken in the past five years,” Rakipi said.
Rakipi added that Albania could have also abstained, like other countries did, however, the vote was in line with 128 other UN members, a normal move in foreign policy.
