Pristina, 7 September 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski said Thursday that he had no problem understanding the logic of Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, about his visit to the municipalities of Chair and Tetovo, but that the bigger issue was the symbolism of the meeting in Tetovo.

In an in interview with Skopje-based newspaper "Koha", Pendarovski said that there is nothing controversial about the Kosovo Prime Minister’s attendance at the commissioning of Adem Demaçi Street in the Municipality of Chair, considering, he said, it bears the name of his greatest political mentor.

"I have no problem understanding Albin Kurti's logic for his visit. If I were him, I would have done the same. He came to pay tribute to the street carrying the name of his greatest political mentor, Adem Demaçi. Although, the symbolism behind surrounding actions was the bigger issue in this constellation of overpowering feelings and emotions between Macedonians and Albanians, especially within the past year or two due to the issues with Bulgarians, blockades to Europe, protests, consequent rallies.." Pendarovski said.

Pendarovski stressed that during his visit Kurti did not take advantage of North Macedonia's hospitality.

"I said it before, and I will say it again: Mr. Kurti in his visits, both to Tetovo and Chair, did not say a single bad word against Macedonia or the Macedonian people. He did not take advantage of the country's hospitality, not even for a moment," Pendarovski emphasized.

According to him, the issue with Kurti's visit were the videos recorded by Tetovo Mayor Bilal Kasami with the message "Welcome to Albania."

"Even waving the ‘Greater Albania’ flag to me was not a big issue. There are people like that at every rally, there are procedures, they will get reported and the court will point them out, with their first and last names, because they broke the law. The most surprising thing to me were the videos Kasami recorded. There was no need to film himself saying ‘Welcome to Albania.’ Just imagine someone from the Serbian community, in a visit to Serbia (for example, President Vučić) or someone else, filming themselves saying ‘Welcome to Serbia’ or ‘Old Serbia.’ I was recently in Pustec, Albania with my colleague and friend Bajram Begaj. I did not say ‘only Macedonians live here’ or ‘Welcome to Macedonia’," President Pendarovski said in the interview.ssh/ad/