Absolutely nobody had ‘Dua Lipa comes out as an Albanian nationalist’ on their 2020 bingo cards, so everyone is confused
British singer-songwriter Dua Lipa poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on February 20, 2019. (Tolga AKMEN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE NO POSTERS NO MERCHANDISE NO USE IN PUBLICATIONS DEVOTED TO ARTISTS (Photo credit should read TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Dua Lipa, who invented disco earlier this year with Future Nostalgia, left fans sufficiently confused Sunday night (July 19) when she appeared to throw her support to Albanian nationalism on Twitter.
Did anybody have that on their 2020 bingo cards?
The “Physical” hitmaker shared a cropped photograph of a nationalist flag bearing the double-headed black Albanian eagle. A map of “Greater Albania” — a nationalist concept where Albania absorbs several neighbouring regions — was printed on the flag’s centre.
The abruptness of the declaration left some fans stunned. Her mentions quickly bristled with tension as many struggled to process her tweet.
au•toch•tho•nous adjective
(of an inhabitant of a place) indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists pic.twitter.com/OD9bNmLcZ4
— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) July 19, 2020
So, what is the flag that Dua Lipa shared?
The same flag that Lipa tweeted was flown by a drone during a 2014 football match between Albania and Serbia, inciting a riot.
It features a map of so-called “Greater Albania” — a concept that expands the state to include territories in Macedonia, Greece and Serbia as part of Albania.
This is a view called irredentism, or the outlook that historically ethnic Albanian regions in the Balkans should be part of a grander Albania state.
One such territory is Kosovo, an autonomous patch of the Balkans.
Serbia and Albania have for decades been entangled in a tense diplomatic dispute over Kosovo, which was formally a province of Serbia which has a majority ethnic Albanian population. Disagreements reached a high-water mark in the year-long Kosovo War that began in 1998.
A flag with Albanian national symbols attached to a remotely operated drone flies in the stadium during the EURO 2016 group I football match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade on October 14, 2014. (ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)
As a partially-recognised state, Serbian and Albanian leaders have traded barbs for the right to claim the territory – Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Serbia refused to recognise.
As much as the dispute has in part petered out thanks to European Union mediators, Dua Lipa, whose parents are Kosovar Albanians, seemed to tweet her support to her 5.6 million followers of claiming Kosovo – as well as Preševo Valley in Serbia – as part of Albania.
While not visible in the photograph the singer shared, the date Albania won independence from the Ottomans in 1912 is printed on the top centre of the flag.
It is flanked by pictures of the founder of the Albanian state, Ismail Qemali and his Kosovar Albanian associate Isa Boletini.
Dua Lipa stans as confused as they are angered by singer’s tweet.
The 24-year-old’s message proved divisive online.
https://twitter.com/paperbroke/status/1284953241822928900
https://twitter.com/DIorioNathaniel/status/1284948358222815235
https://twitter.com/mathaiaus/status/1284961759145586688
It also suggest that migrants should be excluded or less worthy. Hardly a message for anybody who, like herself, represents the ability for the child of migrants to succeed.— Florian Bieber (@fbieber) July 19, 2020
not her.. not her.. https://t.co/xjxSv1ZDtD pic.twitter.com/0bpSH2TUVF— Bruno 🧮🍉 | 🇮🇹🇧🇪🇮🇪 (@euro_bruno) July 19, 2020
PinkNews has contacted Dua Lipa’s representative for comment.
