The chairman of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Thursday that the purpose of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s visit to Belgrade, slated for October 22, has been called into question.
Speaking about the incident during the Serbia vs Albania soccer match, when a drone carrying a map of “Greater Albania” was flown into the stadium, Drecun said that Serbia, in addition to a strong demarche handed to the Albanian ambassador on Wednesday, needs to insist on an official apology from Tirana.
Since Albania has recognised the unilateral act of secession by Kosovo-Metohija’s ethnic Albanians, Tirana should clarify whether it already claims the Serbian southern province as its own territory, Drecun told the RTS.
It is unacceptable for a sports event to be abused for promoting the politically anachronous and anticivilisational Greater Albanian idea, Drecun said.
The map of “Greater Albania” carried by the drone at Tuesday’s match at the Partizan Stadium in Belgrade included parts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece.
There is no doubt that Tirana is behind this political provocation, Drecun said.
“Orchestrated incidents with an identical message should be expected in the coming period as well,” he said, warning that the idea of “Greater Albania” has a “horrific capacity to destabilise the region.”
The displaying of the map of “Greater Albania” demonstrates “Albania’s pretensions towards part of our territory,” said the chairman of the parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija.
Albania has got away with a constant aggression against Serbia in 1998 and 1999 and with supporting the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic Albanian paramilitary formation, Drecun said.
“There were camps in Albanian territory in which Serbs were murdered and their organs harvested for trade, so it is unacceptable that Albania should lecture Serbia about anything,” Drecun concluded.
Officials in Pristina and Tirana have not distanced themselves from the political provocation with the map of “Greater Albania”.
On the contrary, the Albanian soccer players who attacked the Serbian player who took the map off the drone have been welcomed as national heroes, and the mayor of Tirana immediately awarded them the city’s top honour.
