Fetoshi on the reactions to Begaj’s visit to the Valley: “The Albanian World” is being used to relativize the “Serbian World”

Arben Fetoshi, director of the Octopus Institute, has said that the way Serbian authorities and media reacted to the visit of Albania’s President, Bajram Begaj, to the Presheva Valley is part of a communication strategy aimed at softening and relativizing the project known as the “Serbian World.”

In an analysis published on Facebook, Fetoshi says that portraying President Begaj’s visit as an expansionist threat from an “Albanian World” is not supported by facts. According to him, this is the product of strategic communication that uses relativization and “false symmetry.”

According to Fetoshi, claims that Albania has ambitions for territorial expansion or that it is promoting a “Greater Albania” are used to divert attention from discrimination against Albanians in the Presheva Valley. He also mentions the practice of address passivization, which international human rights organizations have described as “ethnic cleansing through administrative means.”

He underlines that the messages President Begaj delivered during this visit were focused on support for the rights of Albanians in the Presheva Valley. However, in Serbian political discourse, they have been interpreted as a threat to Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Fetoshi stresses that such rhetoric is intended to create the idea that Albanians also have a project similar to the “Serbian World,” with the aim of relativizing Belgrade’s hegemonistic project and diverting attention from continuing international criticism over violations of the rights of Albanians in Serbia.

Bajram Begaj’s visit to Bujanoc, Vučić: He received all permits for the visit, the armed persons were ours