Activities of Atlantic Council of Albania on the civil-military relations.
In the framework of the project: “Civil-Military Relations to the benefit of the transparency of the Albanian Armed Forces and their public support”, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, the Atlantic Council of Albania (ACA) is conducting a series of activities across the country to further enhance civilian - military relations especially during the country's civil emergency responses, and to increase public support to the Armed Forces during their missions inside and outside the country.
Served this purpose, the ACA organized a meeting on 23 January 2013 with professors and students of the Faculty of Social Sciences in Tirana, headed by Deputy / Dean of the this faculty Dr. Orinda Maltezi.
At this meeting, the President of the ACA, Dr. Arian Starova, after having experienced participants with the history of the Atlantic Council of Albania, spoke about the importance of civil-military relations, the meaning and the obligations of a NATO country to strengthen civil-military relations, and to increase the public support for the Armed Forces during their missions at home and abroad.
Improvement of civil-military relations, he noted, is an important indicator of the consolidation of democracy in the countries members of NATO and one of the fundamental elements in the work that is currently taking place for the operation and the ongoing transformation of the Alliance.
Dr. Astrit Gjunkshi, former adviser in the Albanian mission to NATO in Brussels , presented a concrete overview of how these relationships function in NATO missions in Afghanistan and in the other military intervention of the Alliance .
Colonel Dritan Demiraj, Commander of Special Forces and Former Commander of Albanian forces in some missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, spoke to students on preparation before departing on a mission, tasks that our bodies perform in missions abroad, the difficulties encountered, cooperation with the other forces, with local government as well. He showed them different curiosities during the military missions on the ground.
The meeting was followed with great interest by students who did a lot of questions, especially on the selection of personnel serving in these forces, their preparation, their prospect, the cooperation with NATO, etc..