In the wake of the Greek Prime Minister’s visit to the Greek minority villages in Albania, Ioannis Armakolas saw a willingness on Athens’ part to promote Tirana’s European perspective as much as it can as well as an unprecedented warmth between the two countries’ political leaderships.
Asked to comment on the acquisition of Turkish drones by the Albanian government on the eve of Mitsotakis’ visit to Albania, he stressed: “Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. The closer Albania gets to EU accession, the more fully aligned Tirana will be with European policies on foreign and security issues, which are also Greek positions. De facto, Tirana will therefore be moving further away from the undesirable influence of Turkey. The friendly relations between the two countries will continue, but we are interested in eliminating Turkey’s negative influence on Greek issues”.
Regarding the outstanding issues between Greece and Albania, he stressed that clear political will was needed on both sides, noting that while comments in Greece are usually aimed at what offends us about the Albanian political leadership, we never take into account things that may offend the sensitivities of the other side.
Click to listen the interview in Greek
