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While he is daily strengthening cooperation with Israel and the day before had a mysterious meeting with representatives of Kurdistan, Rama is leaving today for Ankara, where he will meet with Erdogan within the framework of the NATO Summit.
In diplomacy, balances are as important as alliances. But in the case of Edi Rama, recent days have created the impression of a leader who is trying to play with several goals at once.
On the one hand, the Albanian Prime Minister has chosen to deepen relations with Israel. The visit to Tel Aviv, the meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu and the announcements of expanding cooperation in the field of defense, including the project to establish a Special Forces School with Israeli expertise, have brought strong reactions in the media close to the Turkish government.
Just a day before leaving for Ankara, Rama hosted a high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq, led by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, at the Prime Minister's Office. Officially, the meeting was presented as a step towards cooperation in technology, tourism and investment. However, the timing of the visit did not go unnoticed, as the Kurdish issue remains one of the most sensitive topics for Ankara.
Meanwhile, today and tomorrow Rama is in Ankara for the NATO Summit. According to the official announcement of the Prime Minister's Office, he will participate in the summit proceedings, will hold a meeting with NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, while tomorrow a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also on the agenda.
But this meeting is expected to be the most important political moment of the visit.
For weeks, the Turkish government-affiliated media have significantly changed their tone towards the Albanian prime minister. Newspapers such as Hürriyet and Daily Sabah have published critical articles, linking Tirana's rapprochement with Israel to political developments in Albania and raising questions about the direction Albanian foreign policy is taking. Some of them have also openly criticized military cooperation projects between Albania and Israel.
Against this backdrop, the visit to Ankara is also seen as an attempt to maintain balance with one of Albania's most important partners in the region. The personal relationship between Rama and Erdoğan has been one of the pillars of cooperation between the two countries for years, but recent developments have created a colder climate than what has been seen in the past.
In international politics, signals often carry more weight than official statements. And the signals of recent days have been numerous: an Albania that is increasingly moving closer to Israel, a meeting with the leaders of the Kurdistan Region on the eve of a trip to Turkey and, immediately afterwards, a diplomatic showdown with Erdoğan in Ankara.
Officially, the NATO Summit will focus on Euro-Atlantic security and the challenges of the Alliance. But for Edi Rama, the attention is expected to be on what will happen behind the closed doors of the meeting with the Turkish President. Because there it will be seen whether the Albanian Prime Minister will manage to maintain the balance among his allies, or if the game with several gates is becoming increasingly difficult. /Pamphlet
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