Albania lobbies for Kosovo recognition

Source: Tanjug

KIEV, BELGRADE -- Albanian parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli invited on Saturday in Kiev Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) members to recognize Kosovo.

The action prompted the Serbian parliamentary delegation to lodge a firm protest.

Taking over the chairmanship at the BSEC General Assembly, the Albanian representative said Albania would continue to support Kosovo's independence, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Head of Serbia's delegation to the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly Aleksandar Vlahović told Tanjug that Serbian representatives had reacted immediately, pointing out that only three out of the 12 BSEC member countries had recognized Kosovo's independence and that a majority of UN member countries also did not recognize it.

Vlahović called Topalli's invitation undiplomatic, saying it was completely unexpected because the protocol only called for a formal handover of the organization's chairmanship.

“The Serbian delegation's protest received support from other delegations,” Vlahović stressed.

The Albanian parliament speaker’s move came only one day after Albanian President Bamir Topi called on South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) member countries to recognize Kosovo's independence at a summit in Sveti Stefan.

Pressure from countries lobbying for Kosovo's independence was also evident during the recent meeting of the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of World Cultural Heritage in Paris, when, according to Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić, a true diplomatic war was fought between countries which unsuccessfully tried to get Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo re-designated as Albanian and a Serbia-led group which opposed this.