- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

‘An Act of Capitulation’: Why Does Montenegrin PM Root for ‘Greater Albania’?

© AFP 2023 / SAVO PRELEVIC Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic (R) shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after a joint press conference in Podgorica
Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic (R) shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after a joint press conference in Podgorica - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Tahir Veliju, leader of the United Albanians’ Union, declared a persona non grata in Greece and Serbia, was recently in Montenegro presenting his book about a Greater Albania. In an interview with Sputnik, Democratic Party leader Milan Knezevic said that it was additional evidence of the Montenegrin government taking orders from the US ambassador.

“We are talking about a classic case of capitulation here. By letting Veliju in, [Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo] Djukanovic put the country’s sovereignty on the line and assumed full responsibility for everything that may happen here in the future, including the territorial claims being made by the ideologues of the Greater Albania idea,” Milan Knezevic said.

He mentioned the enthusiastic welcome the Kosovo and Albanian politicians had given to Mr. Veliju’s visit to Montenegro describing this as another sign of Djukanovic playing “the old card” of staking on the votes of the local Albanian community that helped him win the referendum on the country’s 2006 exit from the union state of Serbia and Montenegro.

“If Djukanovic hopes that by playing this old card he will score another electoral victory, I want to warn him that he will  be heading into a ”hot autumn” when he will have to worry more about the protesting Montenegrins who will not tolerate another theft of their votes,” Knezevic warned.

Kosovo's foreign minister Hashim Thaci - Sputnik International
Kosovo Urges Parl't to Ratify Montenegro Border Demarcation Agreement
The opposition fears that a thousand or so Albanians, illegally put on the voters’ list, could carry the upcoming elections, just like they did the 2006 referendum.

Milan Knezevic mentioned the plane tickets Djukanovic had bought the foreign-based members of the country’s Albanian and other minorities to come to Montenegro and vote in the 2006 plebiscite.

He also reminded that the existing election laws guaranteed the local Albanian parties a number of parliamentary seats and that it was playing right into Djukanovic’s hands because the majority of local Albanians will vote for his party. He described the decision to allow the presentation of the book about a Greater Albania as a ploy to secure the local Albanians’ votes in the upcoming elections.

“Tahir Veliju presented his book in Tuzi, which is a district of (the Montenegrin capital] Podgorioca. If someone with such ideas is allowed to visit a part of our national capital, then this means that it too can be found on the Greater Albania map,” Milan Knezevic insisted.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала