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Albania is currently at home to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an Iranian political-military organization that fled there in 2016 to avoid persecution from Iran. It also hosted former Guantanamo detainees Uyghur background once the United States deemed it no longer a threat.
“Albania and North Macedonia have hosted war refugees from the former Yugoslavia and, along with Kosovo, local populations have witnessed the disastrous consequences of armed conflict. People also witnessed American support for their security, peace and democracy,” Vurmo said.
For North Macedonia, it is also a way of showing that it takes its membership of NATO seriously and also of obtaining diplomatic leverage for Unblock its EU accession negotiations.
In 2019, the country, then called the Republic of Macedonia, changed its name to North Macedonia to resolve a dispute with Greece, which claimed the country had usurped the name of its North Macedonia region. A hard-fought agreement with Athens led the country to lift its veto on Skopje’s membership of the EU and NATO.
The 27 EU countries agreed to launch joint accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania in March 2020.
But Bulgaria vetoed North Macedonia’s membership until the latter admitted its membership. the language is derived from Bulgarian and adapts its history textbooks to reflect a stronger Bulgarian presence.
“The appreciation given to the United States is extremely high, given the disappointment and anger of citizens towards the EU. People think that the United States is the key strategic partner of the country,” said Predrag Arsovski, a Macedonian commentator and columnist.
“The entire region expects a radical change between the current US administration and the Trump administration. They expect Biden to get much more involved. That’s why they want to cash out their tokens early,” he said.
