PRESS RELEASE
The Albanian Interfaith Council (the Albanian Muslim Community, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, the Albanian Catholic Church, the The World Headquarters of the Bektashi, and the Evangelical Brotherhood of Albania) are following with much concern the recent political and social developments, which are taking on an increasingly popular character, in connection with the import and destruction of Syrian chemical weapons in Albania. In this regard, we would like to unite to these concerns, seeing the danger and the dimensions that such an issue contains.
Our country has been blessed by God with many riches and natural resources, but for years it has been suffering from ill treatment and exploitation, leading to the destruction of all the forests and pasture areas, and the pollution of the land, water and air. So far very little has been done to stop these natural disasters, while the civic awareness on these issues leaves much to be desired. This sad situation has been compounded also by the tragic event of the explosion at the dismantling factory of military ordnance in the village of Gërdec, very near the capital city.
We think that our country is far from the discussion and much further from the realization of such an undertaking, as is of the storage and destruction of the chemical weapons here. It seems that, not only the state lacks the capacity needed for such a venture, but also such a thing could set a very bad precedent in the future for our country to become a “warehouse” for hazardous waste.
For these reasons and others which have been expressed these days by the rights of a civil society, we ask the Albanian state, the politicians and the country’s authorities to refuse absolutely, henceforth, the receipt of the chemical weapons and their destruction in our country, and to be committed together in the awareness and in the preservation of our common home, Albania.
