FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Prime Minister Edi Rama is determined to take the maritime delimitation issue with Greece to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. But according to former Albanian Navy captain Artur Meçollari, two of the points agreed upon during the 2018 negotiations would almost certainly be dropped in The Hague, leaving Albania with less maritime territory than what has already been achieved at the negotiating table. Meçollari stated this on Pamflet’s “Të Pashoj” podcast.
According to Meçollari, the 2020 decision to take the case to The Hague not only includes the points not agreed upon from the 2018 negotiations, but risks reopening those that were agreed upon.
Meçollari adds another dimension of risk: the new agreement could once again interfere in Greece-Turkey relations, just as Article 2 of the 2009 agreement did, which was overturned by the Albanian Constitutional Court in 2015. That article had favored Greece in relation to the island of Kastelorizo, in an area of over 500,000 km2 of sea disputed between Greece and Turkey.
Artur Meçollari: What happened after the 2009 agreement, we know very well, we have it clear that the whole state came together, in one, so to speak, the media, public opinion rose up against the agreement. The constitutional court was established, the case was brought to the constitutional court, a decision was made. and in the end we have the breakdown of relations or the serious damage to relations with Turkey, only because of the 2009 agreement. Because the 2009 agreement had made an extremely serious mistake. In its article two, it had intervened in Turkey-Greece relations. In favor of Greece. So, in addition to not having implemented the basic principles for the delimitation of maritime spaces between Greece and Albania, where it was to the detriment of Albania and in favor of Greece, it had also intervened in Greece-Turkey relations, in relation to the eastern seaboard, with the delimitation of maritime spaces with the eastern seaboard, favoring Greece.
It is about the island of Kastelorizo, where the disputed area is over 500,000 km2. So, all this chaos was created by a head of the negotiating group called Ferit Hoxha. Now what is happening? The Prime Minister in 2020 decided to take the issue to The Hague. But he did not decide to take the issues that were not agreed in 2018, but only, so it can be normal, issues that were not agreed in the 2018 negotiations, can be taken to The Hague. This is a political decision. But he cannot take the whole issue and those that were negotiated.
Because what has been negotiated and agreed upon, we can overthrow, no, they cannot overthrow us, but with 100% two of them overthrow us in The Hague, which means that we in The Hague get less than what we negotiated in 2018 and to achieve this goal the prime minister did nothing else, he brought in Ferit Hoxha and we could be in the same situation as in 2009, losing an area that is guaranteed to be lost by 40 km2, but we could get back into the conflict or the contradiction between Greece and Turkey as we got into in 2009 and this is one of the reasons that the Turkish government today, in addition to the fact that it has a problem with the Ministry of Defense regarding investments in the field of defense, has another problem that Albania could unintentionally, I cannot say unintentionally, but mainly oriented by the tendency to enter, to open negotiations with the European Union, damage relations with Turkey by maintaining a pro-Greek position in maritime relations between Greece and Turkey. Which would be the most fatal mistake he could make. And that is why we should not follow the same line that was followed in 2009. We should not follow the same line.
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