Dendias sends subtle but clear message
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias conveyed a very subtle but clear message regarding Albania’s European perspective and the consequences of the undermining role played in the Western Balkans by third parties with a revisionist agenda, such as Turkey, during his visit on Wednesday to Tirana.
Dendias nevertheless expressed his general optimism about Greek-Albanian relations, but also about the prospect of moving forward on bilateral issues, such as the signing of the agreement to refer the delimitation of maritime zones to The Hague.
Dendias’ message was in fact an indirect response to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who on Wednesday attended the signing of the contract for the procurement of three Turkish Bayraktar UAVs by Albania.
Rama said, among other things, that “thanks is not enough for my friend [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” and added that “we are proud to be on the same side and strategic partners with Turkey.”
Dendias, who had lunch with Rama, said after that Albania has made a key choice to become a member of the EU and place itself in the hard core of the European family. “This is where we Greeks believe it belongs. But this implies a number of parameters,” he said.
Dendias stressed that Greece has no problem with Turkey per se. “But it does have a big problem with Turkish revisionism, as with all revisionism. Consequently, any parameter must serve the European idea on the one hand, but on the other hand it must not allow revisionism in the region,” he said.
His talks with Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka focused on accelerating dialogue on the basis of the existing political agreement, to reach an agreement for referring the issue of delimiting the two countries’ maritime zones and continental shelves to arbitration by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
