Albania demands remains of king and Mother Teresa

Published on Saturday 10 October 2009 19:58

ALBANIA wants the remains of Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa and its only post-independence monarch to be returned to the country, the prime minister said yesterday.

Mother Teresa's remains are in India and King Ahmet Zog's in France.

Sali Berisha's government has asked India for the Roman Catholic nun's remains to be returned by the 100th anniversary of her birth next August. Berisha said Albania has started negotiations with India's government, which "will be intensified this year".

Macedonia and Albania have been engaged in a dispute over the national identity of Mother Teresa, who was born in Macedonia to an Albanian family. She went to Calcutta in 1929, and dedicated herself to the service of the poor and infirm, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. After her death in 1997, she was buried in Calcutta and Pope John Paul II beatified her in 2003.

Zog was king of Albania from 1928 to 1939, when he fled after the occupation by fascist Italy. He died in France in 1961, and is buried near Paris. Albania abolished the monarchy in 1946, and Albanians voted against restoring it in 1997, but a small royalist party is allied to Berisha's 16-party Democrats' coalition.

"Zog (is] one of the greatest, most distinguished personalities with a major contribution in the history of the Albanian nation," Berisha said.

He said the king's remains would be re-interred at the former royal family's cemetery near Tirana. There has been no reaction from the family or the French authorities.