BY TUFAN TURENC
HURRIYET- The people of Serbia, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh and Macedonian have longed to reach the Adriatic Sea for a century, and now this dream has been fulfilled by two years of work by Turkish engineers and workers. Turkish firm ENKA performed a miracle with its know-how, technology and experience in this difficult region. By way of comparison, it took an Italian firm 14 years to bore two 2,800-meter tunnels though our Mt. Bolu. But tunnels twice as long through Mt. Erik were done by ENKA in just two years. The trip from Pristina to Tiran has thus been shortened from eight hours to just over two. A Kosovar who sets off from the capital Pristina can reach the Adriatic from the beaches of the Albanian city of Dures in three hours. This is a real dream come true for the people of the region. Speaking at a ceremony, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha wholeheartedly thanked ENKA and the firm's head, Sarik Tara.
We flew from Istanbul to Albania to attend this historic ceremony. Tirana is about to become a European city. People were doomed to poverty under communist dictator Enver Hoxha, but now they go to cafes and restaurants wearing stylish clothes. Nearly 70% of Albanians are Muslim, but there's no fundamentalism, and religion has no effect on daily life. The same is true in Kosovo. Nearly all the people there are Albanian Muslims, and no impact of religion can be seen. The situation is slightly different in Macedonia, where you can sometimes see religion's impact, but it's not very problematic.
I flew from Tirana to Pristina after the opening ceremony. After staying there for one night, I went to Prizren, which still seems like an Ottoman city, and then to the Macedonian capital of Skopje by highway. Then we proceeded to Bitola , Resne and Ohrid, which are full of green forests. Manastir, where Ataturk attended high school, has been changed to Bitola. The local school is now a museum, must of it devoted to Ataturk. Aydogan Ademoski, a businessman of Turkish origin, did a lot to help establish the museum. We were very impressed by Bitola, where we visited the pool on the clock tower, fountain and the mosque, all of which are mentioned in a folk song beloved by Ataturk. During my visit, I constantly sang this song.