Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras has hit back at Albania’s Premier Edi Rama who accused him of nationalism, after the former called on Albanian authorities to respect the rights of the Greek minority, following the injury of an ethnic Greek during a protest.
In a lengthy post on X Monday, Rama says Tsipras displayed “reflexes of the past” in seeking to “rally followers around the flag through hasty conclusions about neighbors and their sovereign institutions.”
Tsipras attributed Rama’s comment to “the heat of the moment” and cited the Prespa Agreement negotiated when he was in power which resolved a decades-long dispute with North Macedonia over the country’s name as proof of his willingness to settle sensitive national issues.
“Our work, efforts and struggles in promoting peace and cooperation in the region, including through the iconic Prespa Agreement, leave no room for anyone, to publicly lecture me on what nationalism means, or what the Left of the 21st century stands for,” the former prime minister said in a post on social media.
“After all, we should be careful not to confuse the patriotic duty to defend the rights of our national minority – and of any minority – with the nationalist tendencies that are unfortunately poisoning our world once again,” he added and called on competent Albanian authorities will safeguard the protection of the legal rights of all citizens involved.
