Turkey sent two water cannon trucks to Albania aboard a military transport plane on Monday as protests demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation continued, the Albanian Exit news outlet reported.
The shipment prompted criticism from Turhan Çömez, a deputy parliamentary group leader of Turkey’s nationalist opposition İYİ (Good) Party, who accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of helping suppress the demonstrations.
The plane departed from Kayseri in central Turkey around midday on October 19, delivered the vehicles to Rinas airport near Albania’s capital of Tirana and returned to Turkey, Çömez wrote on X.
“Your experience in suppressing demonstrations has crossed borders,” he wrote, mocking the government for sending vehicles that he alleged would be used to spray students with pressurized water.
Footage published by Albanian opposition politician Belind Këlliçi showed two water cannon trucks at the airport, while photographs carried by Albanian media showed the vehicles beside the rear cargo ramp of a Turkish A400M transport plane.
Këlliçi, a deputy leader of Albania’s opposition Democratic Party, accused Rama of increasing his government’s capacity to attack students and young people protesting corruption and injustice, in remarks published by Balkanweb.
Whether the vehicles were donated or purchased had not been disclosed when Exit published its account Monday evening, nor had the terms governing their use.
The Turkish Embassy in Tirana, Albania’s State Police and its Interior Ministry had not responded to the outlet’s requests for comment by publication.
The protests grew out of opposition to coastal resort developments linked to Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, around the Vjosa-Narta wetlands and on Sazan Island.
The movement gained momentum after footage circulated in late May showing private security guards forcibly dragging away a citizen protesting the development in Zvërnec, prompting demonstrations against the violence and police inaction, according to an account published by Citizens.al.
Named the “Flamingo Revolution” after birds inhabiting the wetlands, the movement expanded into demands for Rama’s resignation and an end to corruption.
Thousands of students joined on October 13, protesting education costs, university conditions and employment prospects, as demonstrations escalated into clashes with police.
Police have used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets, while some demonstrators have thrown stones and set fire to buildings, and seven officers have been suspended over allegations of excessive force, Reuters reported.
Rama, in power since 2013, has rejected demands to resign and argued that the unrest threatens Albania’s efforts to join the European Union.
Turkey and Albania have developed military ties, signing a cooperation agreement in 2024, while Ankara has supplied drones, military vehicles and training to Albanian forces.
Turkish police have used water cannons against demonstrations at home, from the 2013 Gezi Park protests, which began against the redevelopment of an İstanbul park and spread nationwide, to protests following the jailing of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s main political rival, in March 2025.
The post Turkey sends water cannon trucks to Albania amid protests: report appeared first on Turkish Minute.