Albanian PM Lashes Out at Dualism of Europe Towards Afghan Refugees

Speaking to the Italian media ‘Il Foglio’ on Thursday, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that he does not want to give lectures to Italy and Europe, but his country is expecting more refugees than many other countries.

Rama stressed that it is a task for Italy to host Afghan refugees, adding that Albania will also open its doors to incoming refugees.

“Our history imposes this on us,” Rama said. “We lived through the war and we have a fresh memory of it. If Europe maintains a dualist approach towards Afghanistan, it is because they do not remember history.”

The Prime Minister further stressed that welcoming refugees is an obligation for Albania.

“I do not give lectures to anyone. Not to mention Italy to which I am very attached. But, I am saying that receiving refugees is our obligation. I remember Milosevic, I remember the war, the refugees, the deaths, the tortures. We used to be Afghans for you Italians,” Rama said.

But the daily propaganda of Rama on the question of refugees ignoring as a citizen told him last Tuesday on social networks that Albania has ‘1000 burdens on its back’ has become a funny target by its adversaries.

The former justice minister Yllli Manjani ridiculed on Wednesday Rama when the latter said that he is not sheltering Afghans because the US asked for that. “Where did you get them? By what plane are they transported?! How did he make their vetting?! Most importantly, when he got them himself, why did he have to negotiate with America?!” asked Manjani with a touch of irony.

Further on the former minister makes fun of Rama’s argument that Albania owes this to the Afghan people. “No Albanian has emigrated to Afghanistan to have any mutual debt. As far as we know, neither the Greeks, nor the Italians, nor the Germans, nor the Americans need today to shelter them for reciprocity,” said Manjani who wonders where Rama made friends with Afghans.

In the meantime, even though they have not yet arrived in Albania, circles close to Prime Minister Edi Rama are showing that the Afghans who are expected to come to this Balkan country are not people who are not qualified from a professional point of view. On top of all, there are even people who once worked in the ranks of the US Army, who have stayed in Afghanistan for 20 years since 2001. “They are people who have worked with the US military. They are people who have lived in harmony with the West. They have crafts, skills making them suitable for our societies,” said a source close to Albania’s prime minister speaking on local social networks on Wednesday.

The Afghans who are coming have human qualities that make them more suitable for the Albanian society, according to the above source. /argumentum.al