Albania president: Independent Kosovo good for peace

Albania's president says an independent Kosovo would contribute to peace and stability in the Balkans.

Izvor: AP

Monday, 26.11.2007.

14:44

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Albania's president says an independent Kosovo would contribute to peace and stability in the Balkans. During a visit to neighboring Greece Monday, President Bamir Topi said he had discussed Balkan issues, including the status of Kosovo, with President Karolos Papoulias. Albania president: Independent Kosovo good for peace Topi said afterward that granting Kosovo independence "would be a valuable contribution toward the final peace in the region." Topi said the future of the western Balkans lies firmly in Europe. "I believe, and I am convinced, that the region of Kosovo and Albania, but also Serbia, see their future in the European family," Topi said. The two presidents, who have little real power, strove to patch up relations strained two years ago when Papoulias cut short a visit to Albania after protesters gathered outside his hotel. Relations between Greece and Albania have been strained periodically since the 1990 fall of communism in the tiny Balkan country because of perceptions of racism and xenophobia in Greece, and over the status and treatment of hundreds of thousands of Albanian immigrants. On Monday Papoulias, who was Greece's foreign minister in the late 1980s and mid-1990s reiterated Greece's support for the "European and Euro-Atlantic perspective of Albania," which aims to join NATO and the EU. Up to 1 million Albanians live in Greece, many of them without proper immigration status, while Greece is the biggest single investor in Albania.

Albania president: Independent Kosovo good for peace

Topi said afterward that granting Kosovo independence "would be a valuable contribution toward the final peace in the region."

Topi said the future of the western Balkans lies firmly in Europe.

"I believe, and I am convinced, that the region of Kosovo and Albania, but also Serbia, see their future in the European family," Topi said.

The two presidents, who have little real power, strove to patch up relations strained two years ago when Papoulias cut short a visit to Albania after protesters gathered outside his hotel.

Relations between Greece and Albania have been strained periodically since the 1990 fall of communism in the tiny Balkan country because of perceptions of racism and xenophobia in Greece, and over the status and treatment of hundreds of thousands of Albanian immigrants.

On Monday Papoulias, who was Greece's foreign minister in the late 1980s and mid-1990s reiterated Greece's support for the "European and Euro-Atlantic perspective of Albania," which aims to join NATO and the EU.

Up to 1 million Albanians live in Greece, many of them without proper immigration status, while Greece is the biggest single investor in Albania.

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