After weeks of daily protests, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is digging in to defend two luxury resort projects backed by Jared Kushner’s investment company that have resulted in thousands of people protesting in the streets of the capital Tirana and on the southern coast, where one of the resorts is slated to be built. Protesters opposed to two planned resorts in ecologically sensitive areas, in Tirana, on June 12.Photographer: Atdhe Mulla/BloombergThe opposition has dubbed itself the “Flamingo Revolution” due to the impact on a protected wetland home to flamingoes, seals, and sea turtle nesting sites – with protesters hoisting inflatable pink birds and signs opposing the projects.The demonstrations began late last month as site preparations began on the Zuvernec peninsula – while Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, went on a podcast and discussed plans to develop the island of Sazan. The resort development he champions is the brainchild of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, who described falling in love with Albania a few years ago while visiting on a boat. Rama met them on that trip and found them to be “very nice, humble…humanly good people.”Now, Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners is involved in the €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) project near the Vjosa-Narta protected area, and another one on nearby Sazan Island.Together the projects are worth up to €5 billion, Rama said. -ReutersAccording to Rama, the protesters are not engaging in genuine demonstrations – rather, it’s “political theater,” he told Bloomberg on Tuesday – claiming that the protests are backed by “an enormous digital amplification ecosystem that is clearly not organic,” and has blamed Iran and others due to the fact that Albania is home to 3,000 members of an exiled Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (REUTERS/Florion Goga)”Neither a loud minority, joined by every opposition force, nor a wave of digitally amplified outrage fueled by the global fascination with the Trump name attached to what I believe is an extraordinary opportunity for Albania (and further amplified by the interference of malign foreign actors) will divert us from implementing our Albania 2030 Vision,” he told the outlet. Abandoned former military housing on Sazan island, Albania.Photographer: Atdhe Mulla/Bloomberg”Our standard is clear: law, science, transparency and European obligations – not hysteria,” Rama told Bloomberg. “We are opening the country, protecting its natural assets, attracting serious investment and moving steadily toward EU membership.”
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