Erdogan reminds Rama of the forgotten bill from 1990... and meanwhile, Tirana donated to Turkey by Erdogan, several hydroelectric power plants and, apparently, Turkey demands the return of the money in their place....
Although Rama considers him a brother, when it comes to money, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not forgive. While in the political corridors there is talk that there was a rift between Tirana and Turkey after the agreement with Israel on weapons, the Turkish authorities have returned to an old debate.
According to Turkish media, Albania still owes Turkey the payment for the electricity purchased in 1990. According to official data, despite the passage of 35 years and the close relations between the two governments, the debt has not been repaid and remains active in the accounts of the Turkish state.
According to documents included in the report by the Turkish Supreme Audit Office (Sayıştay), responsibility for this debt has been repeatedly transferred between four state-owned energy institutions due to ongoing restructuring of the Turkish energy system. Initially, the payment was to be made to the Turkish Electricity Authority (TEK), then to TEAŞ, later to TETAŞ and since 2018, the responsibility has been placed in the accounts of EÜAŞ, the current state-owned company for energy production and trade.
Since 2007, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has requested that the debt be paid in installments, and several attempts at a diplomatic solution have been made in 2017, 2018 and 2020 through the Turkish Embassy in Tirana. However, according to internal documents from Ankara, there has been no official response from the Albanian authorities, despite the fact that a diplomatic note verbale has also been submitted.
At the last meeting of the Albania-Turkey Cooperation Council on February 20, 2024, the debt issue was requested to be included again on the agenda by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most recently, on April 29, 2025, EÜAŞ has again addressed the Ministry of Energy to know if there are any developments, but the official response remains the same: “The process is being followed”.
The report of the Supreme State Audit Office in Turkey recommends that efforts be intensified to collect this historical debt from Albania, emphasizing that the issue must be resolved definitively.
This situation comes at a time when relations between Tirana and Ankara are represented as “excellent” at the political level, especially after the personal rapprochement between President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Edi Rama. But this case shows that political friendship has not undone Turkey’s economic interest in its outstanding obligations to Albania. It also raises suspicions that there have been recent cracks in Rama-Erdoğan relations.
