Albania’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ferit Hoxha, has responded to Serbia’s Foreign Minister Marko Gjuriq, stressing the need for dialogue, trust and pragmatic cooperation in the region.
Hoxha welcomed the calmer tone at the end of Gjuriq’s message, but stressed that the future of the region should not be built on threats and accusations.
“I appreciate the calmer sentiment in the conclusion of Marko Gjuriq’s message, because that is precisely where the future of our region lies: not in threats and accusations, but in dialogue, trust and pragmatic cooperation,” Hoxha wrote.
Referring to the dispute over the Ibar River and water resources, Hoxha stressed that water does not recognize political borders.
“Water is life. It does not carry a passport, it does not read political maps, and it does not stop to ask which side of the border it is flowing on,” he said.
According to Hoxha, using water as a means of punishment cannot be treated solely as an internal matter of another state.
“Yes, the Ibar does not flow through Albania. But if tomorrow someone threatened to cut Serbia off from water flowing through its territory, Albania would be equally vocal,” Hoxha wrote.
He added that such a response would not depend on whether that water ultimately reaches Albania, but on the principle of peaceful coexistence in the region.
“That is the role of neighbors, is it not? Not to calculate whether the water reaches our tap first before deciding whether we should care, but to take care before such calculations determine the neighborhood in which we live,” he said.
Hoxha called for the debate to move away from nationalist rhetoric and focus instead on cooperation.
“Rivers should carry water, not threats, while borders should define jurisdictions, not divide our shared responsibility for peace,” the Albanian minister said.
Hoxha also referred to the renewed discussion surrounding concepts of the “Greater” variety, which he said had resurfaced in the debate.
“As for all the ‘Great’ things invoked in this discussion, Albania remains interested in only one: a Greater European Union that includes Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and the rest of our region,” he wrote.
Hoxha said Albania is ready to work toward concrete examples of cooperation between Albanians and Serbs.
“Let us continue with more Europe, less mythology and more reasons to view our past through the eyes of the future, rather than viewing the future through the eyes of the past. And yes, water for everyone — to drink in peace and to irrigate, equally peacefully, the fertile lands of our shared and beautiful neighborhood,” Hoxha wrote.
On August 9, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić reiterated a position he had expressed several years ago regarding the possibility of changing the course of the Ibar River, saying that consultations with experts in the field had already begun.
His statements were rejected by Kosovo’s acting President, Albulena Haxhiu, who described the idea as “absurd,” “threatening” and “chauvinistic.”
Albania’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ferit Hoxha, also responded, arguing that changing the course of a river that forms part of a transboundary water system cannot be treated as an internal matter of one state or decided unilaterally.
Gjuriq responded by arguing that Serbia, as a sovereign state, would decide for itself how to manage its natural resources.
The Ibar River, approximately 270 kilometers long, originates in Montenegro, flows through Serbia and then enters Kosovo, where it feeds the artificial Lake Gazivoda/Ujman.
