Tweet
TIRANA -- Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha has announced a plan to grant Albanian citizenship to ethnic Albanians worldwide.
He said at a government meeting in Tirana that Albanians in Albania and Kosovo “should feel as one” although they had two separate governments.
Berisha also insisted that the plan would not cause friction in the country’s relations with neighbors.
Kosovo's population is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian. Ethnic Albanians form about a quarter of the population in neighboring Macedonia, where an ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001 brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Montenegro and Serbia have smaller ethnic Albanian communities.
Last week, Berisha angered neighboring Greece by referring to "Albanian lands" in Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
His spokeswoman later said he was referring to the past.
He said at a government meeting in Tirana that Albanians in Albania and Kosovo “should feel as one” although they had two separate governments.
Berisha also insisted that the plan would not cause friction in the country’s relations with neighbors.
Kosovo's population is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian. Ethnic Albanians form about a quarter of the population in neighboring Macedonia, where an ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001 brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Montenegro and Serbia have smaller ethnic Albanian communities.
Last week, Berisha angered neighboring Greece by referring to "Albanian lands" in Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
His spokeswoman later said he was referring to the past.
Berisha is getting extremely vocal lately.
Comment