The Albanian-American Civic League, through a statement to the media, have expressed their concern about, as they emphasized, “the new and accelerated pressure from the EU and DASH on the Prime Minister, Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani”.

In their statement, they say that they have expressed their concerns to some members of the House of Representatives and the US Senate.

“Instead of capitulating to Serbia, steps should be taken that support the principled positions recently expressed by Albin Kurti and Vjosa Osmani. Otherwise, the conflict in Southeast Europe will intensify. We also hope that the silent ethnic cleansing of Albanians in southern Serbia will be put to an end,” the statement said.

Full statement:

Dear friends and supporters,

Joe and I, along with the vast majority of the Board of Directors of the Albanian-American Civic League, are very concerned about the new and accelerated pressure from the European Union and the US State Department on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani who surrender to actions that favor the Serbian government, at the expense of Kosovo. As a result, we have decided to make a public statement of our concerns, which we have shared with several members of the US House of Representatives and Senate:

1) In a surprising statement by Derek Chollet, the adviser of the US State Department, he said that it was good to talk with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and that he shared the disappointment with Kosovo’s decision not to postpone the requests regarding license plates and regarding the advancement of Serbia’s integration into the EU. This achieves the cooperation of the US State Department with Serbia, whose president has no intention of recognizing Kosovo’s independence and any intention to create an independent state.

2) In the interview of Deputy Assistant Secretary Gabriel Escobar for the Voice of America, he insists that Kosovo postpone the implementation of license plate requirements in the north of Kosovo and, most importantly, that Kosovo immediately enter into negotiations with Serbia for the creation of the Association of municipalities of the Serbs, for which he also emphasizes that both the United States and Europe are united.

As we have explained in the past, the position of the US State Department does not necessarily reflect the position of the Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committees. We believe that the US State Department is overreacting to the Serbian government’s threats to Kosovo – threats related to Belgrade’s relations with Moscow.

Instead of capitulating to Serbia, steps should be taken that support the principled positions recently expressed by Albin Kurti and Vjosa Osmani. Otherwise, the conflict in Southeast Europe will intensify. We also hope that the silent ethnic cleansing of Albanians in southern Serbia will be put to an end.