Serbia is carrying out "masked" ethnic cleansing of Albanians, says Minister Cakaj

Gent Cakaj at Euronews Albania studio 

 Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gent Cakaj accuses that Serbia is carrying out another ethnic cleansing of Albanians, emphasizing that this time this action is being hidden by bureaucratic actions. Mr. Cakaj during the interview for Euronews Albania said that at a time when Serbia will hold the next year national census, the " has begun the disappearance of the addresses of Albanians".

"It is a well-disguised process. It has been going on since 2011. In the name of verifying the addresses, if the Albanians do not result in the declared place of residence, they are registered as displaced. At this moment, the address is passive and as a result, his or her right to vote is taken away", said the minister.

Mr. Cakaj brought the example of Medvedja where he said that, in 2015 the Albanians of the Presevo Valley living in Kosovo were not allowed to vote after closing the border.

At this rate, he said, there is a risk that Albanians will reach less than 15% of the population of Medvedja and thus the Albanian language will no longer be an official language.

The Albanian Foreign Minister said that these actions of Serbia are a "ethnic cleansing disguised as bureaucracy" of the Serbian state and "a well-thought-out state effort to reduce the political influence of Albanians."

Mr. Cakaj said that for this problem "the international factor should be alarmed and the Council of Europe should react and this issue should kill the eye of the European Commission".

The Albanian Foreign Minister spoke for the first time about a canceled meeting with his Serbian counterpart because the state of Serbia refuses to give permission for the opening of the Albanian consulate in Medvedja.

"My communication with the government and officials of the Serbian government is too limited not to be non-existent. I have never had a bilateral meeting with any Serbian Foreign Minister. It was a scheduled meeting but due to the circumstances it was canceled and I canceled it. The essence of the talks of that meeting was the opening of the Consulate General in Bujanovac, for which Serbia is still not responding positively and this shows something of its will in terms of regional union and bilateral relations," said Mr. Cakaj.

Contrary to the positions of the Prime Minister, Edi Rama so far, he said that Serbia has not shown willingness in bilateral cooperation with Albania. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania said that Serbia remains the country with the most bilateral problems in the Western Balkans and has not distanced itself from the past. He even accused the EU at this point saying that has not condemned the crimes committed in Kosovo.

"I think that the main problem in regional cooperation continues to be Serbia because it is the only country that continues to interfere in the internal affairs of at least three Western Balkan countries, and I am deliberately saying at least three. Vucic has not distanced himself from the past in relation to Albanians and Kosovo. The EU has been somewhat closed regarding the criminal heritage of Serbia in Kosovo", said Mr. Cakaj.