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"The Balkans have paid with blood...", Rama reacts to Vučić on Ibri: Rivers follow geography, not political arguments

2026-08-11 08:03:33Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
"The Balkans have paid with blood...", Rama reacts to Vučić on Ibri:
Rama and Vucic

The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, has reacted to statements coming from Belgrade regarding Kosovo and the Ibar River and Albania's involvement in the debate.

In a lengthy post on X, Rama emphasizes that Albania has no territorial claims against Serbia and that Tirana's support for Kosovo does not need the narrative of a "Greater Albania."

According to the Prime Minister, Kosovo is a separate state and Kosovo Albanians are citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, with their own institutions and the right to determine their future.

Rama also directly addresses Belgrade's narrative on the status of Kosovo, declaring that "Serbia lost Kosovo," while adding that repeating the opposite does not change the territorial reality.

"The territory of the Republic of Kosovo is not Serbian territory and the natural resources located in it are not resources of the Republic of Serbia," he says.

Rama argues that the Ibar River should be treated as a transboundary water system.

He acknowledges that Serbia is free to manage the resources within its jurisdiction, but emphasizes that the potential consequences for another state cannot stop at the state border.

"This is precisely why international water law exists," Rama writes, "rivers have the annoying habit of following geography and not diplomatic arguments."

The Albanian Prime Minister also says that the rights, security, property, language and cultural heritage of the Serbian community in Kosovo must be protected. 

Rama emphasizes that Albania wants good relations with Serbia and a region integrated into the European Union, which, according to him, should also include Serbia.

"But good neighborliness cannot mean that Serbia's neighbors accept Serbia's version of history," Rama writes. "The Balkans have already paid a very high price, in blood and in lost time."

Rama's full post:

A very interesting summer exchange between our Foreign Ministers. Although I was expecting an answer about the Ibar, we somehow traveled from hydrology to international law, made the obligatory stop at “Greater Albania”, passed through “Kosovo and Metohija”, and finally arrived at the well-known museum of Serbian historical anguish.

There is a strange piece of political folklore in Belgrade that seems immune to time: whenever Albania talks about Kosovo, “Greater Albania” must immediately be invoked, as if repetition might one day turn an old ghost into a valid argument.

He won't return it.

Albania has no claim on Serbian territory and has no need to invent one. Nor do we need a “Greater Albania” to stand by Kosovo.

Kosovo is a separate state. The Albanians of Kosovo are exactly that: Albanians of Kosovo. They have their own Republic, their own institutions, and the right to decide their own future. We will always stand by this right.

Serbia lost Kosovo. Reiterating that it did not lose may perhaps turn defeat into victory in the geography of the political imagination, but unfortunately maps are less willing to compromise. The territory of the Republic of Kosovo is not Serbian territory, and the natural resources found within it are not the resources of the Republic of Serbia. Our Serbian friends know this very well, including every time we sit together around European tables.

So, let's go back to the river.

The original issue remains exactly where Albania left it: #Ibri is a transboundary water system. Serbia is completely free to manage the resources within its jurisdiction. What it cannot reasonably argue is that the potential consequences for another country magically stop at the Serbian border.

This, after all, is why international water law exists. Rivers have the annoying habit of following geography rather than diplomatic talking points.

The situation of the Serbian community in Kosovo was also mentioned. Their rights matter. Their security matters. Their property, language, cultural and religious heritage must be protected. Albania has never had a problem saying this, because this is simply what a democratic state owes to its citizens.

And here we come to perhaps the most entertaining acrobatic maneuver of this exchange: warning Albania against ethnic expansionism, while in the same statement referring to the territory of another sovereign state as if it were still Serbian. It's a pretty hard circle to close.

Maybe it works within a political bubble in Serbia. Outside of it, the geometry becomes less tolerant. And yes, I completely agree that the future of our region should be one where borders gradually lose their power to divide us. Absolutely.

But there is one small prerequisite before borders become less important: the acceptance of those that already exist. The genius of the European project was precisely the separation of national belonging from territorial appetite.

The Albanians of Kosovo are Albanians of Kosovo. Albania will stand by them and by their Republic because we share history, language, family and future, but above all because a free, democratic and secure Kosovo is a legitimate European state and an indispensable part of the stability of our region.

There is nothing secret about this stance. There never has been. No secret map. No hidden borders. No necessary “Greater.”

Albania's position, therefore, will remain exactly the same publicly and privately: we respect Serbia, we want good neighborly relations with Serbia, and we want the entire region to be within Europe - Serbia in particular.

But good neighborliness cannot mean asking every neighbor of Serbia to forever pass over to the Serbian version of history.

The Balkans have already paid too much, in blood and lost time, for that kind of compromise.

And meanwhile the Ibri, completely unaware of all our historical cartography, will continue to flow according to geography and not folklore.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

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