Albania’s Foreign Ministry called on Greece to stop the “unjustified politicization’ of the killing of a 35-year-old Greek who was shot dead by the Albanian special forces on Sunday.
According to the Albanian police, Konstantinos Katsifas, was killed after he shot at officers with a Kalashnikov assault rifle near the village Bularat (Vouliarates) in Albania’s northern Epirus region, 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the Greek-Albanian border.
The incident occurred during the ”OXI Day” celebrations in the village that is predominantly Greek.
Albanian media published photographs of police vehicles that allegedly have been shot at by Katsifas.
The Foreign Ministry in Tirana, states that “the police have clarified in detail that this is an entirely isolated incident from today’s activities in that area and is a flagrant case of extremist aggression towards the Albanian Police.”
It also “expresses disappointment” for the reaction of Athens, which “did not condemn the armed attack towards our law enforcement forces,” and calls for “caution and avoidance of attributing political and diplomatic nuances to this case.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama in a tweet described Katsifas a “madman”.
“Dear neighbors, instead of calling unacceptable the loss of life of a madman who shot against our police, who only performed their duty, join us to thank God that no innocent lives were lost today by extremist stupidity. ”
Fqinj të dashur! Në vend ta quani të papranueshme humbjen e jetës së një të fandaksuri që qëlloi me plumba luftarakë mbi policinë tonë, e cila bëri vetëm detyrën e saj, bashkohuni me ne në falenderimin e Zotit që asnjë jetë e pafajshme nuk humbi sot nga marrëzia ekstremiste🇦🇱🙏🇬🇷
— Edi Rama (@ediramaal) October 28, 2018
Earlier, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that “it is unacceptable that the operation led to the loss of human life.”
It called on the Albanian authorities to provide complete clarification about the conditions under which the Greek citizen lost his life.
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