Albanian political parties meet to resolve crisis

Albania's president has started round-table talks with the government and the main opposition party to end a seven-month political crisis over alleged electoral fraud.

The leader Edi Rama, also Tirana mayor, met Saturday at President Bamir Topi's office. The Socialists have boycotted Parliament for months blocking most legislative work and staged large protests.

They claim the Democrats manipulated vote-counting in the June 28 national elections and are demanding a recount which the government has ruled out.

A statement is expected at the end of the talks. The Democrats control 75 of parliament's 140 seats; the Socialists have 65.

Brussels welcomes initiative to resolve Albania's political crisis

12/02/2010

TIRANA, Albania -- Helmut Lohan, head of the EC delegation in Tirana, said Brussels welcomes a political roundtable scheduled for Saturday. President Bamir Topi is organising and mediating the session, aimed at ending a parliamentary boycott the opposition Socialist Party (SP) has been staging since September.

SP lawmakers are demanding an investigation into alleged manipulation that occurred during the June 2009 general elections. Lohan said that, "... it is up to [the] political leaders of Albania to find a solution in order to continue European integration in line with the country's interests."

The EU Presidency welcomed the initiative Thursday, praising the readiness of Albania's two biggest parties -- the SP and the ruling Democratic Party -- to participate.

Berlusconi causes outrage after saying Italy will only accept immigrants who are 'pretty girls from Albania'

By Nick Pisa

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was described as 'an indecorous old man' by opposition MP Paola Pellegrini

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was under fire tonight after claiming Italy would only accept immigrants who were 'pretty girls from Albania'.

The 73-year-old politician made the remark during a meeting with Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha at a summit and his guest was left visibly uncomfortable by the joke.

The two, who had just held talks on the number of Albanians allowed into Italy, were speaking at a press conference in Rome when Berlusconi said: 'We will only accept pretty girls from Albania.'

The Italian Premier, who is in the middle of a divorce battle with estranged wife Veronica Lario, 53, also joked with photographers: 'You know I am single now.'...........

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1250613/Silvio-Berlusconi-causes-outrage-saying-Italy-accept-immigrants-pretty-girls-Albania.html#ixzz0fLrtDdVn

Gattuso’s car returned

Albanian authorities say they have sent back to Italy a car stolen from AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso. The Range Rover jeep, which was stolen in 2006, was seized in the capital Tirana last year.

It was owned at that time by an Albanian man, who had bought the car from an Italian, but he was not charged. Authorities said yesterday that besides Gattuso’s car, they returned six other vehicles that had been stolen in Italy, Norway and Greece.

Many vehicles stolen in European countries end up in Albania with false documentation.

NATO - SERBIA

President Boris Tadić met with NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Admiral James Stavridis

They discussed Serbia's activities within the Partnership for Peace program and cooperation with KFOR in preserving peace and security in Kosovo.

A statement after the meeting said that "Tadić feels that the Kosovo Serbs are still the most endangered people in the entire Europe, which is why KFOR has to continue protecting them, their monasteries and churches, regardless of the decision to reduce the number of its soldiers in the province".

Tadić stated that the so-called northern Kosovo reintegration plan is a threat to stability throughout the region, the president's press service announced.

The meeting in Belgrade was also attended by Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac and VS CoGS Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletić.

An ethnic Greek party in Albanian politics?

After clashes over the last decade in the Greek community represented by the "Omonia" and HURP, finally took a break, forming an ethnically Greek party.

At least these are the Albanian media providing information, to give a new dimension of open policy of "European Albania" even the official Tirana, never had allowed the creation of "ethnic parties in the country".

In the Greek new party, have joined the organization's former presidents Zarballa, Qirjazati and Llabovitiadhi, former MPs and MPs as Thoma Mico, Ziso Lluci Christo Goci, Ligoraq Karamelo ect.

It seems that something is wrong and more scenes rivalry between the Greek community to be corrupt from Albanian policy, often used for nationalist purposes of official Tirana, while Athens, gives dual citizenship for about 600 thousand Greeks living in Northern Epirus.

Anyway, the integration strategy for immigrants who attended Athens, will be associated with the population census in Albania, where Greeks will benefit civil and political rights, while their current political representation in Albanian spectrum, should not be necessary in the future.

RS parliament adopts referendum law

Source: Beta

BANJA LUKA -- The Republic of Srpska (RS) parliament has voted to approve the draft Law on Referendum. 46 MPs voted in favor, 16 were against, while six abstained. The referendum question, related to the Dayton Agreement, will be determined later. The results of the referendum, according to the new law, will not be obligatory for the government. Speaker Igor Radojičić concluded the discussion on the draft in Banja Luka earlier this Wednesday, and the session was then continued with a discussion on the bill drafted to amend the law on defining RS citizenship. Bosniak (Muslim) MPs who left the session yesterday after their proposal to withdraw the Law on Referendum was rejected, today returned to the hall for the discussion on the amendments to the Law on Citizenship started. RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik stated that the adoption of the Law on Referendum was not the first step toward the secession of the Serb entity in Bosnia, that the proposed law was a reflection of RS' constitutional right to arrange that area, and that it was not contrary to the Dayton Peace Accords.

Jakup Krasniqi: "If you break away the Serbs in northern Kosovo, the Albanians of the Presevo Valley will be annexed to Kosovo"

In the end of March, will be created "The Committee of Natural Albania"

If the Serbs in northern Kosovo wish to break away, we know that the Albanians from southern Serbia, Presevo and Bujanovac be annexed to Kosovo, said the chairman of the House of Kosovo Jakoup Krasniqi. "If some Serbs are ready to live in the northern part of Kosovo and believes it can secede from Kosovo Albanians and then" the Presevo Valley "is ready to join with Kosovo," said Mr. Krasnitsi as broadcast electronic media in Pristina.

The draft strategy for the northern Kosovo, prepared by the Government of Kosovo and the International Civilian Office, it is very important for the Serbs of Kosovo, considered Mr. Krasnitsi because, he said, to create a new commune in northern Kosovska Mitrovica is a choice which would work much better than that now.

"The best would be to Mitrovica was a city, but this is currently impossible.The creation of new municipalities and the integration of Serbs not mean division, but is not jointed.

It is an effort to consolidate peace and order, "said chairman of the House of Kosovo. The Serbs of Kosovo need to understand that the institutions of Kosovo shall respect the laws throughout the territory of Kosovo, added Mr. Krasnitsi.

Anyway, according to the journalist Koco Danaj, the author of the book "The Platform of Natural Albania", in the end of March will be created "The Committee of Natural Albania", which consists the preparation of the unification process of all Albanians under the Natural (Greater)Albania.

Turkish ship runs aground in Adriatic Sea

Turkish ship runs aground in Adriatic Sea

The Turkish flagged cargo ship "Murat Hacibekiroğlu 3" ran aground in the Adriatic Sea on Sunday.

The ship, carrying wheat from Italy to Croatia, ran aground eight miles off the shores of Croatia. Saffet Hacibekiroğlu, owner of the ship, told an Anatolia news agency correspondent that the ship’s crew was in good condition and efforts were underway to salvage the ship.

The Balkan Dimension of Migration

Constantinos Holevas
Geopolitical Annalist

The discussion of the bill promoted by the government to regulate aspects of the immigration issue has caused many conflicts and it is obvious that the issue is highly sensitive and complex. The value views on "Human Rights" have begun to crumble, and after the clear view of the Greek Ombudsman C. Kamini that the provision of nationality is a human right of the immigrant, but a sovereign right of the nation state and touches the hard core of national and state sovereignty.

It should also be paid to this aspect of national security, which stressed elegant but clearly the UN High Commissioner for Immigration Antonio Gutierrez said during his meeting with his Greek counterpart in Athens.

I think it would be useful and relevant to highlight the Balkan dimension of the migration problem, always trying to combine the principles of democracy and humanism with the requirements of our national security and territorial integrity.
This combination also seeks any European country that respects its laws, its citizens and long-term interests of its own and Europe in general.

First item on the Balkan dimension is the very group that drafted the bill, which the Government seized then. As we read in the press everyday prepared the text came from an NGO, some members of which we sympathize with the demands of minority Skopje and Albanian nationalism.

Second item must be special attention is the fact that the Albanian presence in our country is disproportionate to other ethnic immigrant groups. Of course no one can ignore the majority of Albanian workers who are peaceful and labor.But it is not reasonable in terms of national interest to legitimize or to acquire a large number of Albanian nationality, where we have continuing challenges irredentism, expansionism and historical distortions of the neighboring country.

Who can exclude that the massive Albanian Greek citizenship would lead to a minority issue, especially in areas of Northern Greece? I recall some recent actions that concern us:

In early January the President of the Parliament of Kosovo and the former spokesman of the armed separatist UCK, Jiakoup Krasniqi, supported the unification of all Albanians in one country, promoting the well-known idea of Greater Albania. He said that every year comes closer to the quest for the unification of all Albanians and indicated by name as areas where "the Albanians have the majority of the population" of southern Serbia, parts of Greece and Montenegro. There is in Greece currently such areas does expect the implementation of the legislation under discussion?

In addition to the Albanian Encyclopedic Dictionary, released recently by the Academy of Sciences of Tirana with state funding, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa, Arta and Preveza presented as Albanian national territories and Marco Botsris and Pyrros Dimas characterized genuine ... Albanians. For the scientific elite of the neighbor region of Epirus is Albanian territory which "captured" militarily by Greece in 1912-13.

The same dictionary vindicates the propaganda claiming the Chams Thesprotia and remember that 1900 of them were sentenced in 1945 by the Court of Ioannina Prefecture as partners of German-occupiers. Also, the dictionary describes them as settlers Northern Epirus, writing that is not native, but came to work in fields landowners. They write the first two volumes that have been released. The project will be completed by the end of 2010 and expected new surprises!

It is not wise policy to ignore the dangerous aspirations of Albanian nationalism and create our own imported from a naive minority in our country. The Russians do not border with Albania have already expressed their concern about the "mega Albanian" projects. A public statement made in mid-October 2009 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting Belgrade.

The third Balkan point of interest is this: Some people acquire Greek citizenship is likely to be fanatical Islamists. Again it is useful to separate the majority of law-abiding Muslims from the minority of fanatics, but they exist. The issue is safety not only of Greece and given the presence of extremists in various parts of the Balkans such as Bosnia. Israel is usually good information already made sure to warn the Skopje Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, when he visited Jerusalem on 8/1/2010. The Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman told him to watch the presence of supporters of Jihad in the Balkan Peninsula. Perhaps some of our compatriots consider excessive assessment, but a sensible security policy must take this into consideration.

And let us not forget that blind naturalisations fanatical Muslims will create problems in neighboring Bulgaria, which will enter the EU free and which has a significant Muslim minority, which is represented by a dynamic filo turk party.

The emigration problem in our country is the most important national issue for the next generation and stability.

THE DEMOCRATIC UNION OF GREEK MINORITY IN ALBANIA "OMONOIA"

Saranda 10/02/2010

PRESS RELEASE


The necessity of population census in Albania, "Omonia" (The Greek politic organisation) notes to the albanian institutions and the opinion of the country. The obvious response to this dynamic expressed by the international factor in all the reports on Albania.

Even late in the first step was taken. We expect a free and realistic inventory will be a major preocupation of government to implement a fair policy towards its citizens and its component groups. We understand the technical difficulties involved, but note that if the commitment of all stakeholders, can be overcome. We hope that these difficulties do not become an excuse for those who want the actual printing of society, those who want a census for show and meet the international factor.

In recent days we see an intense media interest. It is logical because for the first time you make free census in Albania. We also permanent self-appointed representatives of the Albanian society to become used to the Albanian panel televisions in the role of "defenders" of the Albanian nation and not lose the opportunity to show the anti-Hellenism, to make false one and take it in the inventory.

Really, what bothers me the truth? Possibly specific owners not interested in the truth and peaceful coexistence, so why lose their role. Albania joined the road of no return of European integration and only serve the above is to put obstacles on this road.

Watching with great interest all the steps and wait for the call of actors to table our proposals

The Press and Communication Office

Witness the murder of Azem Hajdari, requested asylum in Greece

After a series of attacks against him in Albania, known as the President of "Association Azem Hajdari", Marin Gryka has traveled with his family requesting political asylum in Greece.

As he himself said Greek authorities, the application for political asylum was made after he felt threatened by the power of that is in force in Albania.

read more: www.crimesonair.blogspot.com

Referendum for imigrants requested by Samaras and Karatzaferi

This is the message sent on the merits of the pitch of the House Chairman of ND Ant. Samaras to the Prime Minister, yesterday the-agenda debate in parliament at party leaders who caused the President of LAOS Karatzaferis which led to yesterday's pre-agenda debate in parliament.

Samaras and Karatzaferis showed that insist changed draft law presented, and wanting to demonstrate the arbitrariness that displayed by the Government Decree regarding the granting of citizenship presented three examples.

The bill, startup from different sources, is likely to vote against all the opposition parties.

Samaras avoided to answer the "call challenging" Karatzaferis, the two parties together to create a referendum on the issue.

Elefterotipia, www.enet.gr

Albanian opposition warns of street protests

09/02/2010

TIRANA, Albania -- The opposition Socialist Party (SP) says it will organise protests if talks on overcoming the current political stalemate, mediated by President Bamir Topi, fail.

SP lawmakers have been boycotting the work of parliament since September, insisting on a thorough investigation into general elections last June, which they say were marred by serious violations.

Both the SP and the ruling Democratic Party have agreed to participate in talks mediated by Topi to try and overcome the crisis. Topi is expected to begin contacting representatives of the two sides on Saturday.

A large anti-submarine exercise of NATO, in Otranto Channel, near Albanian Maritime borders

The greek Submarine Pontos, in one of the scenarios will simulate enemy submarine seeking to enter the Adriatic and to cut off the main ports of southern Italy.

The large anti-submarine exercise "NOBLE MANTA 2010 NATO" will join the submarine PONTOS (S119) east-southeast of Sicily, in the wider maritime channel output of the Adriatic in the Mediterranean.

The exercise will take place on 12 and 13 February and considered the most difficult anti-submarine exercises. The Greek vessel in one of the scenarios will simulate enemy submarine seeking to enter in Adriatic and to cut off the main ports of southern Italy.

There will also be exercised in special items relating to the business ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR and of NATO Rapid Response Force NRF (Nato Response Force In addition to the PN in exercise involving submarines, helicopters and aircraft for cooperation from France, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, USA, Italy and Turkey, the units of the NATO Standing Force (SNMG-2).

From 9 to 12 February PONTOS the submarine will arrive in the port of Augusta in Sicily for part of the crew to participate in the meeting of the exercise before leaving. After the exercise, the February 24, will call back to the port of Augusta to participate in a brief analysis / criticism of the exercise.

Milososki-Meta: Macedonia and Albania foster good relations

TIRANA, February 8. (MIA). Relations between Macedonia and Albania are good, but efforts need to be made to enhance the economic sphere, countries' foreign ministers Antonio Milososki and Ilir Meta concluded Monday at a press conference in Tirana. It was noted that key projects are Corridor 8 and the strengthening of bilateral and trade ties, cooperation and exchange of experiences in terms of EU integration processes, MIA reports.

- We'll resume building Macedonia as a model of multi-ethnic and democratic society at the forthcoming census, slated for 2011. The citizens of Albania will be able to express their national and religious background. It will be a good opportunity for Macedonians living in Albania, being loyal citizens, to express their national origin and to become a more integrated part to the Albanian society, stated Milososki.

Earlier, both ministers signed cooperation protocols between the ministries and a cooperation protocol between the Macedonian MoFA's Diplomatic Education Directorate and the Albanian MoFA's Diplomatic Academy.

Later in the day, FM Milososki will deliver an address before students at the Diplomatic Academy in Tirana. He is also scheduled to meet with Albanian President Bamir Topi, Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli and Premier Sali Berisha.

Albania Extends Motorised Boats Ban, to Detriment of Tourism

8 February 2010

In an effort to fight illegal trafficking, Albania’s parliament adopted another three-year ban on the use of motorised boats, which critics say hamper the country’s tourist industry.

Aimed at stopping people and drug traffickers to Italy and Greece, the moratorium – first put in place in 2005, affected around 2,000 Albanian speedboat owners.

According to albanian press, speedboats were commonly used in the 1990s to traffic migrants and drugs from Albania to Italy, but following closer cooperation between Albania and its neighbours, there has been a decline in their use.

Although tourist boats and jet skis are excluded from the ban, they still are still subject to a set of rules..

The moratorium’s critics find the moratorium unnecessary and say that it is damaging the country’s tourism industry and local fishermen.

Karatzaferis: "Today Pre agenda for immigrants"

Pre-agenda debate in parliament, with all parties and leaders on the immigration bill, made this afternoon in the greek Parliament.

The debate was caused by an initiative of the President of LAOS, George Karatzaferis.

Before the parliamentary debate, the Minister John Ragousis will meet with the Chairman of the Group of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, on the controversial immigration bill.

McCain, Lieberman call on Bosnia

Feb 7, 2010, AFP

Visiting US senators on Friday called for Bosnian leaders to show unity and resolve an impasse on how the divided country should be governed to help it gain NATO and European Union membership.

“(The) United States believes that the only real path to secure a prosperous future (for Bosnia) is European and Euro-Atlantic integration and it’s important that no more time be lost,” Republican senator John McCain told journalists.

McCain and independent senator Joe Lieberman headed a delegation of US senators and and members of congress.

They expressed disappointment at the failure of EU- and US-backed talks, held late last year between Bosnia’s Muslim, Croat and Serb leaders, aimed at ending the political deadlock in the Balkan country.

Since the 1992-1995 war Bosnia consists of two semi-independent halves — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. They are linked by weak central institutions while each has its own government.

The unclear division of authority between the two entities often leads to paralysis of institutions.

The international community has been insisting for years on the reform of the Bosnian constitution to make the country more functional.

The Bosnian Serbs, however, have refused any modifications which might reduce their hold on power.

Albanians are preparing for a referendum union with Kosovo and FYROM

This is the time to prepare the referendum for union territories inhabited by Albanians

The journalist Koco Danaj, said during an interview for "Alsat TV", that for "Natural Albania", "the time has come to prepare the referendum for unification of Albanian territories with Albania".

In addition, Danaj stressed that "this decision does not clash with the aspirations for integration of Albania in the European Union, but rather, prepares a union of all Albanians, to promote "Natural Albania".

"Kosovo and Albania have a border between them which is nonexistent, so the union can happen very easily", stressed Koco Danaj the author of the book "The Platform of the Natural Albania".

Washington calls for solution to name dispute between FYROM and Greece soon

Skopje. You should make as many efforts as possible to conclude the name dispute with country-region place Greece in the next few months, recommended U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in a conversation with FYROM president and foreign minister, FYROM A1 television station reports.

In his conversation with Gjorge Ivanov and Antonio Milososki Steinberg expressed Washington’s expectation for negotiations to speed up so that the issue is solved by June. According to unofficial information Hillary Clinton’s deputy said it would be better if the name dispute was solved first and then the range of the name use should be discussed.

Ivanov and Milososki assured the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State that this is FYROM’s wish too. The three discussed the issue within the 46th security conference, which is taking place in Munich.