Six agreements, including a military cooperation framework agreement, were signed on Tuesday by Turkey and Albania during the official visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to Ankara.
In the Turkish capital, the Albanian Prime Minister had a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the two leaders presided over the first meeting of the Turkey-Albania High Level Cooperation Council. Edi Rama was received at the presidential palace with a formal ceremony, a parade on horseback and 21 cannon shots.
In their joint statements after the meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he exchanged views with the Albanian prime minister on regional and global developments. “Turkey and Albania are two NATO allies that contribute to peace and stability in the Balkans. We wish to deepen our close cooperation in the defense industry and the military sector. The military cooperation framework agreement is the most concrete manifestation of this will,” he said among other things.
The Turkish president placed special emphasis on Albania’s cooperation in dealing with the followers of Fethullah Gülen, the FETO organization as it is referred to in Turkey, whom the Turkish government blames for the 2016 coup attempt. “We know and appreciate the sensitivity of Mr. prime minister in the fight against FETO. We will not allow this satanic network, which tries in every way to poison our relations, to achieve its goal”, he emphasized.
In bilateral cooperation, he set the goal of doubling the volume of trade between the two countries from the current $1 billion to $2 billion. Turkish investments in Albania amount to 3.5 billion dollars and more than 600 companies are active, according to Mr. Erdogan.
The Turkish president also referred to the hospital built by Turkey in Albania: “We had promised to build a hospital in Albania within three months. We made a bet with Mr. Rama on this matter. Thank God, we built our hospital in a record time of three months. We will continue to operate this hospital together, where patients from every region of Albania will find treatment.”
For his part, Edi Rama spoke with particularly warm words about his country’s cooperation with Turkey, saying: “I would like to repeat that for Albania, Kosovo and Albanians there are three important things whenever we talk about relations us with Turkey. I think these three important moments will remain in our national memory, like today and tomorrow.”
The first of these, he said, is Turkey’s recognition of Kosovo, as soon as it declared its independence. “Thanks to you and your government, Kosovo was recognized as an independent republic. Minutes after declaring his independence in his own Parliament, he was recognized by your state,” he said.
Second, “when Albania was shaken by an earthquake with very serious consequences, you were the first to contact us,” the Albanian prime minister said, recalling that Erdogan had told him that “as long as Turkey exists, Albania is not alone” and then Turkey built 500 apartments. The third time that, according to Edi Rama, Turkey stood by Albania was during the pandemic.
Finally, the Albanian Prime Minister also referred to the operation of the Turkish hospital in Albania, characterizing it as a model for the reform of the health system, as well as the work of the Turkish Maarif Foundation in the field of education, as well as the presence of the Istanbul Technical University (ITU ) in Tirana.
In addition to the military cooperation framework agreement, Turkey and Albania signed after the meeting of the High-Level Cooperation Council a memorandum on cooperation in the field of media and communication, a protocol on the cooperation of the two countries’ public broadcasters, a memorandum of understanding in the field of sustainable management of forests and protected areas, an agreement on development cooperation and the status of the Coordination Office of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) in Albania and a memorandum on environmental cooperation.
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