Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has urged Kosovo leaders to come together amidst the new developments following the announcement of indictment against President Hashim Thaci.
Rama also revealed that Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti will visit Tirana on July 3 to discuss the situation.
In an interview for Kosovo’s Kohavision TV on Thursday, Rama reflected on the political rift in Kosovo, calling it “degradation”.
He said it’s impossible for him to bring together all leaders of Kosovo at this crucial time, following indictments against Thaci and the leader of Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), Kadri Veseli, and expressed his willingness to join discussions on Kosovo issues, if invited.
“I think that even in war when people fight and are killed, there is a moment when they take a break and communicate. We are too few to be crippled in this way. There is a reason why we are at a disadvantage today – and this is a fact – in terms of the Albanian issue, because of what I said: there has been a great degradation in Pristina for many years, and of course everyone has their own responsibility. I’m not here to blame anyone,” he stated.
Rama clarified that he is not trying to take the lead regarding issues that belong to Kosovo: “In this process, it is Prishtina that leads and not us because at the end of the day it’s the duty of the legitimate leaders of Kosovo not mine. I speak about Kosovo but I do not speak on its behalf.”
The Prime Minister has faced criticism by Kosovo politicians in the past for interfering in Kosovo’s domestic or international issues. His alleged support on a Kosovo-Serbia land swap deal spearheaded by Presidents Thaci and Vucic caused a rift between Pristina and Tirana last year.
In March 2020, Rama ignored a proposal by Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti to hold a meeting between political leaders from both countries. Apart from the pandemic, Kurti’s main concern back then related rumors about a land swap deal between Thaci and Vucic.
A glimpse of the Albanian government’s careful engagement in the now-cancelled White House summit of June 27 between Thaci and Vucic may have been revealed in the last two days. Acting Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj was in Washington, D.C., where he met with the US envoy for the dialogue, Richard Grenell. Cakaj expressed Albania’s full support of Grenell’s plan to improve economic ties between Kosovo and Serbia.
Rama has blasted the publication of indictment against Thaci and Veseli. In his speech in Parliament on Thursday, he compared the announcement by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague to dazibaos, wall-mounted big-character posters used to denigrate innocent people during the Chinese revolution.
“A text which, even if there is no further legal development, resembles a dazibao the Chinese revolution, where the presumption of innocence […] is annihilated. An announcement that does not throw mud simply on Thaçi, Veseli and the Kosovo Liberation Army but also Kosovo and Albanianness itself.”
Rama said that whoever would read the prosecutor’s announcement would think that Kosovo is a country in the middle of Europe ruled by people on the basis of their ability to commit crimes against humanity. “In that text, it seems as if you are reading about the homeland of the aggressors,” he added, referring to Serbia.
Albanian President Ilir Meta and opposition leader Lulzim Basha also defended the KLA war against Serbia, and expressed their firm belief in the innocence of its leaders.
