ALBANIA RISKS SPOILING TIES WITH TURKEY OVER ARMS EXPORTS TO ARMENIA

Gazeta Shqiptare, Tirana
19 Jul 07

‘Arms: Diplomatic Conflict With Turkey’

The Albanian government risks spoiling relations with Turkey, its
closest ally, over an arms shipment bound for Armenia.

Armenia is in open conflict with its neighbour Azerbaijan, a conflict
that may assume the proportions it had in mid-90s when thousands of
people died in the fighting. As is known, in Azerbaijan there is a
sizable Turkish population, so Turkey has always been very sensitive
to this conflict.

A few days ago, our country dispatched a shipment of heavy weapons
to Armenia, but Turkey stepped in to prevent it from reaching that
country. For the sake of some hundreds of thousands of euros, Albania
risks spoiling its relations with Turkey, its ally. If one adds to
that the fact that Turkey is a NATO member, an organization Albania
is trying to join, this incident assumes even larger proportions.

In the mid-90ies, Berisha breached a UN arms embargo through illegal
sales of armaments to Zaire and Congo [as published].

The Turkish authorities denied transit through their territory
to a sizable shipment of Albanian arms and ammunition bound for
Armenia. They turned back the Albanian ship and its consignment.

These days, an Albanian naval ship laden with armaments, mainly heavy
artillery and ammunition, is moored in the port of Durres. The ship
had sailed from Durres toward the Straits with a shipment bound
for Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress