Albania, note of protest to Serbia

The Ministry has also released a declaration for the media.

“The Foreign Ministry of Albania rejects the political mud-throwing that has been undertaken by the main leaders of Serbia against the people of Albania. The declarations of high-level Serbian officials fall against the basic ethics of good relations, reciprocity and respect between sovereign countries. Furthermore, they do not reflect the level of an EU candidate country. We invite the Serbian leaders to reflect and show maturity by condemning the anti-Albanian acts that took place before, during and after the match between Serbia and Albania, such as the holding of several Albanian journalists in the airport of Belgrade, the burning of the Alba nian flag in the stadium, 40 minutes of chants “kill all Albanians” and for the pathological violence that was used against the Albanian national team players”, the declaration says.

By reminding that the “history of Balkans doesn’t show Albania as a country that has ever destabilized the region, or that has undertaken any aggression against freedom-loving people who demand independence”, the declaration reminds that “Albania, as a NATO member and EU candidate, has loyally followed the policies of cooperation, good-neighboring and democratic stability in the region, by standing to the views that the Euro-Atlantic integration is the common path of the peoples and countries in our region”.

“Thanks to the European perspective, today we can build a region where peace and prosperity prevails against divisions and xenophoby”, the declaration concludes.

Serbia, note of protest to Albania

The Serbian Foreign Ministry has sent a protest note and they have even decided who is to blame.

“The incident started at the Nikolla Tesla airport in Belgrade, with an unusual personal engagement of the Albanian Ambassador to Belgrade, Ilir Bocka, who insisted to allow a big number of Albanian citizens, claiming they were businessmen and journalist, by going against the agreement that had been reached with UEFA and the two national federations”, the Serbian Ministry says.

“We want to underline after the requests of the Albanian Embassy in Belgrade were fulfilled, even after some interventions from the Albanian Foreign Ministry, the cooperation and hospitality of Serbia were abused in the worst way possible. Rather than being responsible for this group of people and not allow any incident, there are indications that this group has contributed in the incident that promoted the unacceptable project of Greater Albania”.

It is clear that this is not about a hooligan attack of fans, but a provocative action that was well-organized beforehand”, the document says.

As for the relations between the two countries, the note says: “This raises suspicions about the commitment that has been declared by Albania for reinforcing regional cooperation with Serbia. This is proven by the organization of demonstrations in front of the Serbian Embassy in Tirana and in other places outside Albania, and also the unilateral information of the media about the incident”, the Serbian document says.

Serbia expects the Albanian Foreign Ministry to distance themselves and condemn the incident, and also to take measures against those who are responsible. They also ask the Albanian government to cooperate with the Serbian institutions for identifying those who are responsible, the note says.

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