Albania–Serbia relations

Albanian–Serbian relations

Albania	Serbia

Albanian–Serbian relations are foreign relations between Albania and Serbia. Albania has an embassy in Belgrade. Serbia has an embassy in Tirana. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). Serbia and Albania are both official candidate countries for EU accession.

In the late Ottoman period, Serbian diplomat Ilija Garašanin contacted the abbot of Mirdita, Msgr. Gasper Krasniqi, with the goal of acquiring the Albanian Catholic element as the alleged solution to the "Eastern Question". However, their goals were different. While Garašanin considered those contacts as means for the realization of a Serbian exit to the Adriatic Sea, Krasniqi made effort to help Serbia to organize a revolution of the Albanian Catholic community, primarily Mirdita, against the Turks, for the political freedom and independence of Albania.

At the beginning of Balkan Wars, one of the important strategic goals of Serbian politics was to acquire a corridor to the Adriatic Sea, as such, its intention had been to share a common border with its ally the Kingdom of Greece thus denying the Albanian nation independent status. The First Balkan War found the Albanians as a nation fighting for its own national state. This fighting was largely limited, however, to militia operations and guerrilla tactics.

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