Endri Fuga

A BIRN Freedom of Information Request has revealed that Prime Minister Edi Rama on 29 September last year appointed his own former spokesperson, Endri Fuga, as head of the newly established Media and Information Agency, MIA. The appointment was not published and was disclosed only recently following the FOI request.

The Albanian government under Prime Minister Edi Rama has secretly proposed to extend the contract for the private management of Tirana International Airport from 22 to 35 years, parliamentary submissions show.

Alleged Gulenist Selami Simsek in Court in Tirana. Photo: LSA

Both men are alleged by Turkish authorities to be members of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, which Ankara alleges is a terrorist organisation responsible for a failed coup plot in Turkey in 2016.

Albania has denied that the Turkish state intelligence agency, the MIT, was involved in the extradition on January 1 of an alleged supporter of the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Teacher Harun Celik was arrested in Albania in July 2019 while apparently trying to travel from Kazakhstan to Canada via Tirana on fake documents.

JANUARY

January 11 - Romania begins a six-month EU Council presidency amid anti-government protests at home and calls from EU leaders to respect the rule of law.

January 17 - Human Rights Watch's World Report 2019 highlights threats to journalists and minority and immigrants' rights as key problems in the Balkans.

Fears grow over the state of media freedom in Albania after Edi Rama's Socialist government pushed through laws that critics say will allow it to censor online media.

Prime Minister Edi Rama's spokesperson Endri Fuga told BIRN on Tuesday that he did not think it was necessary to comment on the allegation that the Albanian premier was behind an illegal foreign donation of $80,000 to President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.