Washington – Based AACL Calls on President Trump to Dismiss Grenell

TIRANA – The Albanian American Civic League (AACL) has expressed its concern about the situation in Kosova which it calls dangerous after the fall of the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti in a declaration which has recently been made public with a call on President Trump to relieve Ambassador Grenell from his duties as the special envoy for the Kosova-Serbia dialogue.

AACL is an Albanian American lobby group in Washington, D.C., founded by former Congressman Joseph DioGuardi and a board of Albanian Americans in 1989, representing the concerns and interests of the Albanian people in the United States and the Balkans.

“The fall (of Kurti government- editor’s note) was the result of an unprecedented move orchestrated by a few members of Kosova’s political elite dedicated to advancing their personal interests, in coordination with President Trump’s Special Envoy for Serbia-Kosova Peace Negotiations, Ambassador Richard Grenell,” said the declaration which brings to attention some key events in which, according to it, Mr. Grenell is involved. Among them it is highlighted that Ambassador Grenell facilitated meetings between Serbian President Aleksander Vucic and Kosova President Hashim Thaci which have concentrated on changing the borders between Kosova and Serbia to create ethnically pure states.

“Ambassador Grenell has openly taken Serbia’s side by trying to accommodate their destructive demands,” it is said in the declaration. “If Thaçi and his associates encouraged by Ambassador Grenell try to take over the government without new elections or contrary to any constitutional provisions, turmoil and destabilization in Kosova will ensue and President Trump will likely be blamed,” said the League according to which President Trump’s appointment of Ambassador Grenell has also alienated European foreign policy leaders with Grenell working behind the scenes and not including key European allies in Kosova-Serbia negotiations.

“The European Union is against any territorial exchange for very good reasons,” said the declaration, which carries the cal of the League on President Trump to relieve Ambassador Grenell from his duties as the Special Envoy for the Kosova-Serbia dialogue.

Further on the Civic League has serious concerns that Europe’s appointed Envoy for the Kosova-Serbia talks, Miroslav Lajcak, is the wrong choice for this important position due to his ties to Serbia during his role as the European Union’s special representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 2007 and 2009 and coming from Slovakia, one of five EU member states that has yet to recognize the independence of Kosova.

“A permanent solution to the Kosova-Serbia problem is difficult, but it is possible.  A mutual recognition of existing borders with guarantees for the protection of equal political and human rights for the minorities both in Kosova and Serbia is essential,” it is said in the declaration, which pledged that AACL will continue to work very hard to promote and protect the legitimate rights of the Albanian people, just as the Civic League has done for the last thirty years.

“We have managed to change the policies of many US administrations through our work with the foreign policy leaders in the US Congress, and we will continue to do so in many different and even stronger ways before and after the coronavirus pandemic ends,” the AACL Board of Directors said President Trump /argumentum.al