Albanian Media
 
Former diplomats write to Samaras: Cautious with Tirana

The so-called “diplomatic cycle”, a group of 23 former Greek ambassadors, most of whom serving in key countries abroad, have sent a letter to the Greek Prime Minister, Andonis Samaras, referring to the foreign policyt matters, warning that the financial crisis should not remove the priority role of the national matters of Greece.

The letter has been signed also by the Greek former Ambassador to Turkey and the former head of the National Intelligence Service, Ioannis Krantis, Kostantinos Politis, former Ambassador to Albania, and the former Ambassadors to Belgrade and Cyprus.

Among the national matters for Greece, besides the relations with Turkey, Skopje and Cyprus, is also the relation with Albania.

The former Ambassadors remind him that Albania, according to them, is a country created by the Great Powers in 1913 and that so far has not held a friendly position towards Athens, becoming a problematic country for Greece since its formation.

“After the positive developments for Tirana with the matters of Kosovo and Skopje, the rivalry of Tirana with Athens is increasing”, they say.

According to the Greek diplomats, the “help in NATO membership without anything in exchange and the support for the European Union integration by leaving the Northern Epirus matter unsettled, has increased Albania’s ambitions and this can be noted with the leaders Berisha and Rama, typical Balkan leaders, who have taken considerable political benefits from Athens without giving anything in exchange”.

For the Cham matter, the former ambassadors remind that “this Muslim population should have been evicted to Turkey according to the Losana agreement, they underline that they have cooperated with the Italians and the Germans during the Second World Wars, and then returned to Albania, and that most of the Albanian politics considers this period as historic and a matter of holocaust for the Albanian population”.

The final advise that the former diplomats give to the Greek Prime Minister, is that Athens should correct its mistakes of the past and be more cautious with Tirana’s goal in the European Union.