The Macedonian Foreign Affairs Ministry strongly condemned what it called “insulting and inflammatory” rhetoric coming from official representatives of the Republic of Albania. The statement was issued after Albanian member of Parliament Mesila Doda called for war in order to establish a “greater Albania”.
“Irresponsible statements from public individuals are not in the spirit of good neighborly relations and the declarations for friendship and cooperation between the two countries. They are certainly not in the spirit of the European values”, Macedonia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said. The Ministry called on Albanian officials to refrain from such statements in the future, and focus on moves that would improve trust and cooperation and help improve living standards.
Last week, Doda held a rally in Macedonia at which she condemned the decision by Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov not to award a mandate to form the Government to the Social – Democratic party SDSM, because of its embrace of the Tirana platform drafted between several smaller Albanian parties under the tutorship of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. The platform calls for changes to the Macedonian emblems, name, official language and a set of other concessions.
Doda said that Macedonia is in fact part of the ancient Albanian lands she calls Illyrida, and said that Albanians will fight in support of Albanians living in Macedonia.
