Former Albanian Foreign Minister and former Socialist Party MP Ditmir Bushati has said he hopes the announcement made by Serbia’s Foreign Minister Marko Gjurić regarding a preliminary agreement to open a Serbian consulate in Shkodër and an Albanian consulate in Bujanoc is not true.
Bushati described such a decision as wrong for Albania, both strategically and politically.
“I hope that the news announced by the Serbian Foreign Minister and the alleged agreement with his Albanian counterpart regarding the opening of a Serbian Consulate in Shkodër is not true,” Bushati wrote on Facebook.
According to him, from a strategic perspective, a Serbian consulate in Shkodër does not reflect the historical reality or the size and significance of the Serbian minority in that area.
“A Serbian consulate in Shkodër does not reflect the historical reality, the weight of the Serbian minority in the region, and unfairly creates a comparison with Albanians living in the Presheva Valley,” he stated.
Bushati added that such a decision would also be a mistake from a tactical perspective, arguing that the rhetoric of high-ranking Serbian officials toward Kosovo is currently at a very tense level.
“It would be equally wrong tactically, at a time when the language used by senior Serbian officials regarding ethnic cleansing in Kosovo has reached extreme levels. It would also be a provocation toward Montenegro, given that Serbia has not abandoned assimilationist practices toward the Montenegrin minority living in Albania,” Bushati said.
Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Gjurić announced in an interview with Radio Belgrade that Serbia and Albania had reached an agreement in principle with Albanian Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha on opening consulates in Shkodër and Bujanoc.
