Albania seeks return of remains of historic figures

Albania has asked for the return of the remains of its exiled king from France and those of Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa from India, local media reported Saturday.

Prime Minister Sali Berisha said his government will establish a commission for the return of the remains of King Ahmet Zogu I and other royal family members, who were buried in a cemetery in France.

"King Zogu was an architect of the Albanian modern state, and one of the greatest and most distinguished personalities who made a major contribution to the history of the Albanian nation," Berisha told a press conference.

Berisha said his government has begun negotiations with India for the return of Mother Teresa's remains and that it will intensify negotiations so that they will be returned on the 100th anniversary of her birth in August.

King Zog was Albania's first and only post-independence monarch, reigning from 1928 to 1939. He fled Albania after it was occupied by fascist Italy during the World War Two, and died in France in 1961.

Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia to an ethnic Albanian family. She went to Calcutta, India, in 1929, as a Roman Catholic nun.

She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her dedicated service to the poor and infirm. She died in 1997 and was buried in Calcutta.