Rama says justice to rule on Beleri and that he treasures minority
The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama gave an interview on Greek state media ERT broadcasted on Wednesday discussing Greek-Albanian relations, and the detention of the elected ethnic Greek mayor of the Albanian region Himare, Fredi Beleri. Beleri was arrested by Albanian police special forces over charges of vote buying.
“The Greek minority in Albania is a treasure to our culture of coexistence and an irreplaceable bridge to nurture and strengthen the friendship between the two peoples, between the two states and definitely between the two governments,” highlighted Rama.
Referring to Beleri who remains imprisoned, Rama said “this man is a citizen of the Republic of Albania, who must be equal before the law like every citizen of the Republic of Albania, and at the same time must answer to the law like every citizen of the Republic of Albania. There cannot be two justices, one justice for Albanian citizens of Albanian nationality and another for Albanian citizens of Greek nationality.”
“Greece considers to have the ball in its court, implying that if things don’t go its way, it will take revenge on Albania by making Albania’s accession to the EU difficult. This is not a very European and rather dated attitude in my opinion,” he added.
“We have important strategic interests which require a friendly and strategic relationship with Greece,” he noted. He concluded by declaring his devotion to his friendship with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
