Yesterday, the Albanian Prime Minister met all the Albanian leaders of Kosovo, attended the Kosovo Transitional Council, and was welcomed by hundreds of Kosovars in Pristina Pages 2–3

By ALEKSANDËR ÇIPA Albanian diplomacy, without evading the absurd reality, has, through Prime Minister Ilir Meta’s visit to Pristina yesterday, for the first time established an official protocol between its two capitals. This is perhaps one of the unusual cases in Tirana’s diplomatic experience in which its Executive, despite being weighed down by the day-to-day problems of domestic politics, realistically leaps over the “fences” of political prejudice. Prime Minister Meta, with a more diplomatic commitment, yesterday made possible an official exchange of words with the entire representation of Kosovo’s political spectrum. At the same time, with equal care, he articulated the current position and the Albanian state’s disposition regarding the institutional future of the other half of the Albanian nation. In its full context, Meta’s visit to Pristina is framed by propriety toward institutional obligations. (We recall that this visit takes place after the remaining Yugoslavia’s politico-legal declaration that borders would be opened.) But above all, the Prime Minister’s welcoming address at the meeting of the Provisional Transitional Council suggests that “consensus around the principle of self-determination of the future” constitutes the best recommendation for the specific diplomatic partnership between the two Albanian capitals. The Prime Minister’s serious contact with LDK leader Ibrahim Rugova, representative of the political entity that won Kosovo’s first local elections, held in a transformed Kosovo, should also be understood in this context. This contact is all the more significant when one considers the recent past, in which a protocol for meetings of this kind was absent. Viewed through the lens of the latest developments in Albanian politics, the Meta–Rugova meeting leaves the impression of a possible link for dialogue with Tirana. If sufficient space was given to this possibility on the meeting’s discussion agenda, then it can be said that Tirana’s diplomatic Executive has sufficiently committed itself to achieving political cooperation. It is worth mentioning that, for this political reason, the Prime Minister himself has found another opportunity to emerge from the circle of crisis brought on by the recent events in Tropojë and the obstructive confrontation with opposition leader Berisha. Sëguri(?) Tropojë and the obstructive confrontation with opposition leader Berisha. Segments Troposhë(?) or the obstructive parallel with opposition leader Berisha. Sëg-

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