TIRANA, October 11 – The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama is on an official visit to Turkey where he was received by the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. The closed-door meeting held at the presidential complex in Ankara lasted around three hours.
This is Rama’s first visit to Turkey since the closure of the Mehmet Akif Turkish College in Albania. Representatives of this institution have claimed that the government’s decision was made at the request of Turkish President Erdogan, given that the college in question is part of the Gulen movement’s investments.
Prime Minister Rama has denied this claim, stressing that he does not receive orders by America, Turkey or any other country. However, the Turkish media have considered this decision of the Rama government as a fulfillment of a several-year request of Erdogan.
“Takvim”, a newspaper close to the government in Turkey, wrote on Tuesday that everything happened “after long diplomatic efforts and the last visit of the President of Turkey to the Balkans”. According to “Takvim”, the Albanian government decided to close these schools and expel the teachers from them after the increased activity of Turkish diplomacy.
Another meeting between Prime Minister Rama and President Erdogan took place two months ago at Erdogan’s invitation as part of the ceremony for the Islamic Solidarity Games and for a working meeting as Prime Minister Rama himself announced at the time. Even then, the meeting was held at the Presidential Complex in Ankara and was held behind closed doors to the media.
This meeting was also seen as a break of the ice between the two leaders, since certain displeasure was created precisely because of Gulen after Erdogan’s last visit to Albania. It should be recalled that recently Prime Minister Rama said that Albania will receive 6 drones from Turkey, which will be used for civil services. /Argumentum.al
