Berisha says anti-Albanian sentiment is threatening the region’s stability
TIRANA, Jan. 4 – Albanophobia, or the anti-Albanian sentiment, in the Balkans, must end, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said last weekend at a meeting of top leaders and other senior security officials held in Munich, Germany.
Berisha said that other countries should not fear Albanians, but also mentioned that the Albanian nation has been split in five different countries.
Berisha said that respect of the agreements in the region is of primary importance. Without mentioning it directly, he was likely talking about agreements like the one between ethnic Albanians and the governments of Macedonia and Serbia.
Berisha said albanophobia is threatening the region’s stability, and added Albanians were there most threatened ethnicity in the region. “I hope that the joint European prospects will be the ones to offer a solution,” he said.
The comments were interpreted by some in attendance as nationalistic, and come as the prime minister has increased his nationalist rhetoric ahead of the upcoming elections facing pressure from the rise in the polls of the growing Red and Black Alliance, a party that is seeking a union between Albania and Kosovo.
The international community expressed concern when Berisha came out with nationalistic comments during Albania 100th anniversary of independence.
Since the fall of the communist regime in 1990, Tirana has always prided itself on being a factor of peace and stability in the Balkans, leaving the dream of a Greater Albania behind and nationalism was not high on the agenda for years. ,
Tirana has officially proclaimed that Albanians would only reunite as a nation inside the European Union when Albania and neighbouring countries join the bloc.
But recent nationalist rhetoric from Berisha may turn into a concern for Europe and may also be hamper the country’s progress into the union.
