In an interview held with the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, news outlet Albanian Daily News reports that the Albanian shelter for thousands of Mojahedin-e-Khalq members remains a thorny issue for bilaterial relations between the two countries.
Asked about the involvement of Albanian political figures in activities of the MEK, Deputy Minister Ravanchi responded:
First of all, let me say that terrorism should not be tolerated by all countries. Terrorism is a menace, it is a threat not only to one or two countries. It is a threat to all international community. This fact should be understood by all. It does not recognize any borders. Secondly, we do not recognize good or bad terrorists. All terrorist are dangerous because they do not want to see good things happening to the people.
The distinction between a good terrorist or a bad terrorist is, I think, definitely misleading. We should not accept any notion that would categorize a good terrorist versus a bad terrorist, good terrorist organizations versus bad terrorist organizations. The organization you referred to has been responsible for the killing of more than 17,000 innocent Iranians. So whoever is dealing with these people should recognize the fact that they have committed so many crimes and they are hated by Iranians.
The leadership of the MEK has recently been receiving several visits from high US officials, and it is thought that US–Iran relations also were reasons behind the recent phone call between Prime Minister Edi Rama and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
It was only in March that the Albanian government officially accepted the presence of 3,000 MEK fighters in the country.
