All Albanians should unite in one state - Xhaferi

SERBIANNA (USA), December 15, 2005 06:03 AM (10:03 GMT)

 

Unification of the Albanian territories in a single state was more than necessary to resolve the Albanian question in the Balkans and without it the regional crisis will never be resolved, says Arben Xhaferi, leader of the largest Albanian opposition party in Macedonia, the Democratic Party of Albanians.

 

Speaking in the Albanian capital Tirana at a roundtable organized by the Institute for Dialogue and Communication, Xhaferi said that Albania should be the country to demand for the unification of western Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania.

 

"The Albanian question is not fiction or romanticism. It is reality," says Xhaferi.

 

Albanian government has not yet endorsed Xhaferi's idea but are leaning toward it with the belief that another independent Albanian state should emerge from the ongoing status talks of the Serbian province of Kosovo. Officially, Albania is not commenting on whether Kosovo will join Albania once independent.

 

"I insist for a direct recognition of Kosova's independence, a democratic, independent, and peaceful Kosova, in the European Union, maintaining a permanent friendship with the United States," says Albania's Assembly Speaker, Jozefina Topalli who recently visited Kosovo capital Pristina and spoke with the President Rugova.

 

Topalli also voiced support to integrate Albania and Kosovo proposing a construction of a Durres-Pristina highway as a way to speed up the integration process.

 

Kosovo is increasingly becoming a monoethnic region as Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanian minorities are forced out either by violence or by other intimidation tactics.

 

"And Mr. President, you enjoy the support of the entire Albanian parliament, Albanian government, and all Albanians in Albania," Topalli said.

 

According to the Tirana-based Gazeta Shqiptare, Xhaferi's positions have "often raised the eyebrows of politicians and has been frequently described as an extreme solution."

 

Referring to the issue of inviolability of borders, Xhaferi says that they are a technicality designed to prevent wars and that the "right of self-determination stands above that."