Prime Minister Edi Rama and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered remarks to reporters following their bilateral talks and the meeting between the government delegations.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Good evening everyone! Honourable Mr. President of the Republic of Turkey!
My dear friend!
Honourable and dear friends, Turkish government ministers accompanying the President
Today is an important and definitely a beautiful day, as it is indeed every day when we open the doors to welcome friends from your country.
Today is also a very special day for the fact that we have together witnessed the finalization of an extraordinary friendly, fraternal, benevolent effort to support the rebirth of a community, right where the earthquake hit very hard and where 522 families will now live in much better living conditions than they used to live in prior to the earthquake that left them homeless.
Again, I would like to express my gratitude to the President for standing by us since the very first moment in the wake of the devastating earthquake and for being the first to publicly commit a concrete pledge and for delivering on your pledge and keeping your word. But the latter is not news when it comes to President Erdogan, as he always does what he says.
I would undoubtedly thank all those who invigorated this generous and not easy initiative, starting with the Minister, our friend Murat, to the construction company, the workers, because not only they changed the lives of these people, but built yet another very significant example for the value and depth of the Albanian-Turkish relationship.
Thank you very much everyone!
Many may think that I am exaggerating it by expressing so many thanks, but as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to say: “He who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah”. And the thanks are never enough for this deed.
Thank you very much!
A year ago, we signed a series of agreements in Ankara, and most importantly, a declaration on setting up the High Level Cooperation Council, which at that time, here in Albania at least, raised some eyebrows and many asked: “What is this Council? What will the Council be tasked with? What is going to change?” And indeed, a year later today a series of concrete initiatives and finalizations are now a reality, clearly showing the added value of this Council and proving that the Ankara meeting opened a new chapter in the relations between us.
It was exactly the Ankara meeting where I didn’t place a bet with the President regarding construction of the Fier hospital, as I would have lost it. Thankfully I did not place a bet, all the more so as the President does not place bets, as far as I know. He is just a football fan without placing any bets and the truth is that the new hospital is in place, being not just an new hospital facility that delivers health care to a wide region in Albania and not only, but also a know-how centre, which is delivering on the new phase of the health system reform to take health system administration to a whole new level, based on the universally known and successful hospital autonomy being implemented in Turkey, a reform that is expected to give a fresh impetus to the whole health care system in the country.
I have previously said that our dream, our ambition is for the hospital service to increasingly follow the example of the Turkish health service and to resemble, step by step, in its excellence and if this might seem impossible too many, I can tell you that today no one finds it impossible as long as in this effort we have the support of President Erdogan and the authorities of the Turkish government.
I don’t want to extend my speech, since the visit agenda envisages that the President will address Parliament shortly, but I want to say that the good news is that now, as we already discussed it 1 year ago, introduction of Albanian as a language of choice throughout Turkish education is now a reality.
Monitoring Albania’s roads system with surveillance cameras is now a reality, thanks to the assistance provided by the Turkish government under the auspices of the President for this project.
The draft law on new technology parks is now a reality and at the same time, the project on the first technology park is taking shape, thanks to the Turkish government assistance and the direct President support, which gives us the opportunity to benefit from a fantastic experience of merging into one university, science and business space, which Turkey is doing with impressive success.
Also, we are cooperating to boost the intelligence capacities in the area of customs and tax revenues and we will definitely do our best to strengthen economic relations and enhance trade volume.
The potential is great and to increase relations in the field of tourism.
We are not jealous of our neighbours, but I don’t know how to describe how we feel when seeing millions of tourists from Turkey going to neighbouring countries in the region and to Albania, the number of tourists from Turkey does not match the level of love between peoples and the level of Albanian-Turkish relations.
This is an objective we have discussed today with the President and I am convinced that with the help and support of a prominent, well-known minister such as the Minister of Tourism and Culture of Turkey, who is personally committed to working with our ministers, we will manage to start changing this trend as well.
Once again, thank you all very much and undoubtedly the media’s interest focuses on the President’s speech today.
It is with great pleasure that I have the honor to give the floor to the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Thank you very much!
Honourable Prime Minister, my dear friend Edi Rama,
Dear Ministers,
Dear members of the delegation,
Precious media representatives,
I would like to extend my most cordial greetings and respectful feelings,
Yes! A bit earlier we signed seven cooperation agreements with our colleagues and I very much wish these agreements are to the benefit of both countries.
It is my great pleasure to be in my friendly and brotherly Albania. On behalf of my delegation, I would like to thank the Albanian people for warmly embracing and welcoming us with their hospitality and sincerity. Our Albanian brothers today made us feel at home.
Turkey has close ties of friendship and brotherhood with Albania dating back centuries ago. We are witnesses to the strength of these special ties between the two countries, in every event we experience and in every trouble we encounter. Your brothers and sisters in Turkey felt your pain deep in their hearts when the earthquake hit Albania in 2019.
Convinced that the real friend is the one who rushes to help and stand by your side without being asked to do so, we immediately took action as soon as we came across the news about the earthquake. The Turkish emergency and aid crews made intense efforts to heal the wounds and relieve your difficulties as much as possible. We closely monitored the construction work, frequently talking with my precious friend Mr. Rama.
As we pledged, we promised you, today we handed over the houses we built for the quake-affected residents in Lac, whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake. By completing these 522 housing units within record time, namely within 13 months or so, and thanks be to Allah, we have once again seen a concrete manifestation of the importance we attach to our brotherhood.
We will hopefully continue to stand with Albania in good times and bad times from now on as well. Through the restoration works we are carrying out, we add a special importance to the historical monuments that reflect our common cultural heritage in Albania.
The ministers of tourism and culture of both Turkey and Albania will cooperate and meet to explore ways to enhance cooperation on developing tourist packages. For example, and from time to time we have been proposed to create separate ministries of tourism and culture. Tourism and culture are under the single roof of one ministry for 149 years and I tell them we are not going to separate these ministries and so the situation continues to this day. So is this not a signal to you? If you are satisfied with the situation, continue as you are, with two separate ministries.
God willing, today we will inaugurate the Hajji Et’hem Bey Mosque renovated by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA). Besides being a place of worship, Et’hem Bey Mosque is also an exemplary monument that contributes to the historical and touristic fabrics of the city of Tirana.
Together with the historical clock tower from the Ottoman era next to it, the mosque is one of the most important extant cultural heritages of Tirana to
Honourable media representatives,
With my precious friend, Prime Minister Edi Rama, at the bilateral meeting today we explored in details our relations at the strategic partnership level
Likewise, we also discussed and emphasized the importance of the putting into operation of the mechanism of the High Level Cooperation Council. We will hopefully hold the first meeting of the Council in the first part of this year.
At our meeting, we also valued our fight against the FETO terrorist organization. As you know, this terrorist organization staged an unsuccessful coup attempt on July 15, 2016, targeting our democracy.
During that terrorist act, which we foiled thanks to our nation’s resistance, unfortunately our 251 citizens were despicably killed by FETO members and became martyrs. It is obvious that this structure, with its hands stained with the blood of innocent people, poses a serious grave threat not only to Turkey, but to any country where it is present. The fact that FETO can still find places of activity in friendly and brotherly Albania deeply hurts our people whose children had died a martyr’s death. It is our most sincere expectation that more concrete, more resolute and swifter steps be taken against the FETO structure in Albania.
Valuable media representatives,
Together with the Prime Minister we also discussed our economic ties. Our trade volume reached some $853 million last year, having grown by nearly 68 per cent.
Our common goal with the Prime Minister is now to achieve our $1-billion trade volume goal in a short span of time. Turkey is the biggest investor in Albania taking into account the contracting services as well.
The total amount of our investments is estimated at 3.5 billion dollars. Over 600 companies of ours provide employment for nearly 15,000 people. Obviously, we do not consider these figures to be sufficient, they should rise to much higher levels. I believe these figures will further increase with the strong support to be provided by Albanian officials.”
I think we are determined to further deepen our relations in all areas. Concluding my remarks, in terms of your demands for hospitals and health care systems, I would like to inform you that I have instructed my Health Minister to explore opportunities and address all your needs in this aspect. We are ready to deliver and do what is up to us. I hope that the decisions we made at today’s meetings will be useful. In the meantime, on my personal behalf and on behalf of the delegation and my cabinet, I wish a long and healthy life to all Albanian residents, who will be living in the new apartments we inaugurated today. Thank you very much!
-The credibility of the European Union has been seriously questioned after last month’s issues. A news story in Brussels suggested that the European Union has lost its credibility even when it comes to the bilateral relations with various states. The piece of writing suggested that both NATO and the EU need Turkey. How do you assess the new relations between Turkey and the European Union, will there be any change regarding the European Union’s attitude towards Turkey?
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Thank you for your question. Of course, instead of talking about the EU approach, I think we should rather focus on the NATO attitude. So what matters to Turkey is NATO’s attitude rather than the EU’s. This is what matters most, because the EU has yet to accept Turkey as its member. If we were to consider the accession chapters, their opening and closure, we can say that we have seen a chapter only. We have discussed and we have closed that chapter temporarily. Meanwhile, the EU’s decision to bring Turkey around goes on.
However, as far as NATO is concerned, Turkey is currently a dignified and strong member of NATO. We will always continue to do what falls to us regarding the steps taken concerning NATO, as has been the case so far.
As for the Balkans, and the bilateral meetings we have had with our friends, with my friend in particular, we attach great importance to the peace and stability in the Balkans. We have thus far done what has fallen to us regarding the peace and stability of the Balkans. We are one of the guarantor countries in terms of the assurance and future of the peace and tranquility of the Balkans.
-My first question goes to President Erdogan. The assistance you have provided to Albania is incomparable to any other country in the Balkan region. Should the European Union worry about the extra attention you are attaching to Albania and does Turkey expect something in exchange of the investment in our country? This is because allegations are often made about your close relationship with Prime Minister Edi Rama. This is actually the question I would also address to Mr. Rama, adding that there is definitely a limit regarding how much you borrow even from your brother, because that debt has to be definitely paid back one day. Is this the sort of the Albania-Turkey relationship at this point?
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: You placed me at a disadvantage by making such a question. There is an expression in football and it goes like: “you placed me at a disadvantage.” However, I am not placed at a disadvantaged position, because friendship, the brotherhood rules differ, because there are certain sorts of support and assistance that sometimes go beyond brotherhood itself. Sometimes there are bilateral relations based on rights and obligations. We are talking about the post-earthquake situation that is regulated by the rules of brotherhood and by the rules of the law of obligations. We built this project very quickly. We are doing the same with historical and cultural sites and we are doing it all based on the rules of brotherhood and again, based on these rules, we will go on with the restoration and new construction projects and do not try to look beyond that because we are brothers. Who knows what will probably happen. Such a question should not be raised as to what will happen, you should never question this.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Going over some comments while on our way back from Laç, I was really impressed and I was laughing at a comment by a citizen, who wrote: “Thank God you are not a Muslim, because who knows what the EU officials would have said taking notice of your close relation with the President of Turkey.” I am actually a Catholic. My better half is a Muslim, but I don’t think anyone, either in Albania or in the European Union, should worry about this relation between the two countries, because this is actually a traditional relationship. Albania-Turkey ties survived as part of a long-time tradition even when Albania used to be an isolated and secluded country.
Meanwhile, when it comes to my personal relation with President Erdogan, I repeat there is nothing to worry about, on the contrary.
Much of what is said, not only by the conspiracy theorists, but also serious individuals in the EU area, is strangely funny.
The truth is that there are some things that can’t be undone. I do not know of any government other than the government of President Erdogan, then Prime Minister of Turkey, to immediately call an extraordinary session of Parliament to recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state and independent immediately after Kosovo parliament declared the country’s independence. This is what the gentleman here on my side has actually done.
Just like, beyond all conspiracy theories, I think that Turkey’s role in our region is irreplaceable, inalienable and indisputably a constructive role in the best interest of peace. All those shadows cast on Turkey or the president turn out to be a product of imagination and interpretations, but consistent with reality.
The truth is that we have had frequent meetings. It has been and it is a privilege for me as the Prime Minister of a small country to take so much time from the President of Turkey, but I am telling you – and I have told him once – I have never felt myself as being in front of someone who delivers lectures and ready-made solutions and formulas on how you should act and moreover embarrassing and forcing you into a difficult position, asking from you things that you would never wish to hear about them at all.
On the contrary, he shows utmost mutual respect and this is something really precious.
As for the concrete part of the relationship then, everyone sees it is definitely a relationship of great interest. What is our great interest? It is precisely turning the words you have frequently heard from the President into reality.
I said it earlier today and I would repeat that this is really a special day. I have probably never admitted it so openly before and probably I shouldn’t say it again, but one can hardly meet people in international political relations whose “yes” really means “yes” and their no definitely means “no”.
You can hardly meet people without a plastic content, but are of real flesh and blood and say what they do and do what they say.
And the President of the Republic of Turkey is one of them. I have not heard in face-to-face meetings anything I have not heard in public. Therefore, I think that the Albanian-Turkish relations, Albania-EU relations and the relations with the countries in the region produce positive results only.
Let’s never forget that the European Union could have been in a situation that would not resemble its today’s situation if it was not for Turkey.
Turkey is an inevitable, inalienable and irreplaceable security valve for the European Union and I have underscored this fact at NATO and Brussels meetings. I have reiterated it at all bilateral meetings and I am repeating it today publicly, because that is the truth.
I am telling this to all Albanians, who are divided into being either with Turkey or the European Union anytime such meetings take place. No, we are with Albania and it is precisely we are with Albania we are also close friends with Turkey; we are strategic allies with the European Union and the United States of America. We are friends and allies of other international partners and we are not here to make a choice and this is because our choice is very clear; our choice is Albania.
I am concluding with a saying of President Erdogan, who tells me so often.
“At the end of the day, any decision you make is for Albania and Albanians. It is not neither for Turkey, nor for others.”
Thank you!
