PM meets with representatives of Serb minority in Albania

PM meets with representatives of Serb minority in Albania

Vucic closed the first day of his visit to Tirana by meeting with representatives of the association of Serbs in Albania with whom he discussed the need for preserving the identity, and backing projects aimed at developing the religious and cultural identity of the Serb people.

Vucic underlined the necessity of establishing closer ties between representatives of the Serb community and the motherland, and simplifying the procedure for acquiring Serbian citizenship, said a statement..

The position of Serbs in Albania is not good because their minority rights are not respected, the representatives of Serbs in Albania told Tanjug, and expressed hope that Vucic's visit " will help to improve their situation."

Simo Hajkoja Hajkovic, president of the Skadar-based Orthodox Slavic Association "St. Vladimir", told a Tanjug reporter that Serbs living in the Skadar area are not satisfied with their position, as they have no rights that a national minority should have.

"We do not have schools in our language, we do not have newspapers or TV news programs in Serbian,” he said, adding that it would be particularly important to introduce a news program in the Serbian language.

Pavle Jakoja Brajovic, president of the Serb-Montenegrin National Minority Association "Moraca-Rozafa" in Skadar, said that the association carried out a count of the Serb population in Skadar and the surrounding area, as well as in other places, "which showed that some 30,000 Serbs and Montenegrins, both Orthodox and Muslim, are living in Albania."

The Serb minority did not take part in the latest census taken by the Albanian authorities, he added.