A day before the announced protest in Tirana against the Special Court of The Hague, a political debate between the Vetëvendosje Movement and the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, was recorded.
To treat this issue as the local elections in Kosovo, in the show “Topic of the Day”, moderated by journalist Arbër Hitaj, the positions of Vetëvendosje deputy, Adnan Rrustemi, and former socialist deputy, former deputy minister of foreign affairs, Etjen Xhafaj, were compared.
The discussion focused on the evaluation of the protest, the role of Albanian institutions and the relationship with the Special Court.
Rrustemi stated that Vetëvendosja supports any citizen reaction against the Special Court and in defense of the KLA war.
“We appreciate, support and welcome any citizen reaction against the Special Court in The Hague and in defense of the former KLA fighters who are being unjustly held there,” he said.
He added that his party has been consistent in its political opposition to this court, both in terms of arguments and through protests.
“We are the only entity that, without electoral calculations, came out in defense of the KLA war.”
Deputy Rrustemi said that “It is a fact that Mr. In July or early August 2015, Rama came by helicopter to Pristina urgently to meet with Mr. Thaçi and Mr. Mustafa in function of the establishment of the Special Court and the approval of the constitutional amendment that formed this court. And a few weeks later the Special Court was established“,”.
On the other hand, Etjen Xhafaj responded by emphasizing that the protest was not organized by the Albanian government and that Prime Minister Rama expressed support for the KLA fighters.
“First, we are talking about a protest that will take place tomorrow in Tirana, which is called ‘Justice for Liberators’ and which will gather Albanians from all over the world. A protest that was not organized by the government or the prime minister of Albania,” Xhafaj said.
The former deputy criticized Vetëvendosje’s statement, saying that it focuses more on attacks on Albanian institutions than on the essence of the protest.
“Today’s reaction of Vetëvendosje talks about the protest only in the first of eight such paragraphs. And in the other seven paragraphs he emphasizes the role of the Vetëvendosje Movement and its positions and criticizes not only the prime minister of Albania by name, but also criticizes the institutions of the Republic of Albania and closes with a piece of advice to friendly institutions on what they should do,” Xhafaj said.
