Turkish Prime Minister Visit to Albania cancelled

TIRANA, March 12 – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Albania, which was scheduled to start Tuesday, was cancelled due to “health problems”. The official visit to Albania was postponed to a further date due to health problems, said a statement released from Prime Minister’s press office on Monday evening. Erdogan, 52, was late for two and a half hours to participate in Monday’s cabinet meeting as doctors had to treat him for complaints of backache. The doctors examined the premier and prescribed a day’s rest due to recurring of symptoms of hernia. Following the cabinet meeting, which lasted 4 hours, Erdogan attended the ceremony at the parliament held to mark the anniversary of the approval of the Turkish national anthem. Then, Erdogan was back home to have a rest. Erdogan’s meeting with Danish Parliament Speaker Christian Mejdahl was also canceled and he did not attend the central executive board meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party, either. In October 2006, Erdogan was hospitalized after suffering a sudden drop in blood sugar level.
Erdogan’s visit to Albania was much expected for their talk on the privatization of the Albtelecom. The cancellation did not pass without voices that were a sign of displeasure from Turkey on Albania’s cancel of the first contract. Albanian authorities are in talks with a Turkish consortium to renegotiate some terms of the sale of state phone company Albtelecom in a move to resurrect a deal the government canceled in 2005. The Turkish Calik Enerji Telekomunikasyon A.S. consortium had been awarded the 120 million Euro contract to buy 76 percent of Albtelecom by Albania’s former Socialist government. Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party-led government canceled the contract after his party took power in September 2005, claiming irregularities in the sale. The government hired international auditors to investigate the deal. After Berisha visited Turkey in September last year he said he had spoken with Ahmet Calik, the head of the consortium, and they had agreed to renegotiate the deal. Minister of Economy Genc Ruli has said negotiations did not cover the price, other than increasing it. Albtelecom, which the government valued at about 145 million Euros in January 2004, is the only fixed-line telephone company in the country and it can also operate a mobile phone network. Calik Enerji was the only international company that bid for Albtelecom. Ten other companies _ from Slovenia, South Korea, the United States, Kuwait and Ireland _ had expressed interest but did not submit bids.