Adnan Azizi Takes Aim at Ali Ahmeti, Accusing Him of Hypocrisy and Double Standards

Adnan Azizi, an MP from VLEN, has responded sharply to Ali Ahmeti’s comments regarding Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s appearance alongside North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski during the “One Stop Shop” event in Bllacë. He described Ahmeti’s stance as two-faced and drew attention to his past political cooperation with individuals who, according to Azizi, were opponents of Albanians.

In the VLEN MP’s assessment, the Kurti–Mickoski appearance was linked to the implementation of a concrete initiative aimed at facilitating the movement of citizens and businesses, as well as strengthening economic and regional relations between Kosovo and North Macedonia.

Azizi called Ahmeti a two-faced manipulator and said he had been troubled by Albin Kurti’s presence alongside Hristijan Mickoski at the “One Stop Shop” in Bllacë. According to him, this is a strategic project that brings the Albanians of Kosovo closer to those of North Macedonia, makes movement easier for people and businesses, and at the same time strengthens the economic position of Albanians in the region.

The response also mentioned Ahmeti’s previous relations with Macedonian and Serbian politicians. Azizi listed Aleksandar Vučić, Nikola Gruevski, Sasho Mijalkov and Ljube Boškoski, saying that Ahmeti had previously justified such cooperation as a matter of political interest, strategy or realpolitik.

Azizi also devoted particular attention to Ahmeti’s involvement in cooperation surrounding the Open Balkan initiative. He claimed that the earlier rapprochement with leaders whom Albanians had viewed as opponents was described as a “state interest,” while today the official meeting between Kurti and Mickoski is opposed in the name of patriotism.

According to Azizi, Ahmeti’s agreements with opponents of Albanians were presented as a “political strategy,” his appearance alongside Vučić in the Open Balkan project was described as a “state interest,” while governing jointly with Gruevski and Mijalkov was justified as “realpolitik.”

The VLEN MP expanded his response to include Albanians’ collective memory of the events in Luboten and the role of Ljube Boškoski. He asked why the suffering of the families of martyrs and victims is now being used as a political argument when, according to him, the same standard was not applied when Ahmeti cooperated with political figures who held anti-Albanian positions.

Azizi stressed that the tears of the mothers of martyrs should not be exploited according to political interests. He added that if this pain had been genuine, Ahmeti should also have felt it when he sat at the same table with people whom Albanians viewed as responsible or jointly responsible for their suffering.

Azizi further claimed that there is a difference between Ahmeti’s way of conducting politics and Kurti’s. He portrayed Kurti’s politics as an approach that, according to him, has sought to consolidate Kosovo’s sovereignty and extend Kosovo’s institutions into the north of the country.

Concluding his response, Azizi said the issue is not the photograph showing Kurti alongside Mickoski. According to him, the real problem is political hypocrisy and the use of patriotism only when it serves a particular interest.

He concluded that the hypocrisy lies in the fact that cooperation with those whom Albanians once faced was called patriotism, while today moral lectures are being delivered over an official meeting that is bringing about a concrete project benefiting Albanians. Azizi added that Albanians do not forget, history cannot be rewritten through statements, and patriotism is not measured by tears used only when they bring political gain.