A luxury tourism project on an Albanian island, led by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, was the spark that sparked unprecedented demonstrations in Tirana. This movement, which received the nickname "flamingo revolution", reflects a deeper questioning of the Albanian political system.

Published on: 04/06/2026 - 18:16Modified on: 05/06/2026 - 09:41

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For three days now, the streets of Tirana have been filled with thousands of demonstrators expressing their anger against the government by chanting slogans like “Our country is not for sale”.

“This is unprecedented since the end of the communist regime in Albania. Usually, the rallies are tolerated by those in power, even co-opted by them. This time, it is a hybrid movement representing a wide range of civil society which demands the departure of both Prime Minister Edi Rama and the main opponent Sali Berisha,” notes Klevis Kolasi, specialist in Albania at Ankara University.

Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and the Island of Wrath

The cause of this unprecedented movement seems linked to… the Trump family. Not the father and president of the United States, but the daughter and son-in-law. The protests began to have a nickname on social media: the “Flamingo Revolution.” A reference to the populations of pink flamingos endangered by a vast tourist-real estate project of the Trump clan on the island of Sazan, in the south of Albania, just opposite the Italian boot.

“We were on a cruise with friends in the Mediterranean, we swam to this island that we didn't know existed! We walked there barefoot, climbing to the top of a hill. It was captivating and we were won over,” Ivanka Trump told the “Founders Podcast” show on YouTube on May 31.

For the daughter of the US president and her husband Jared Kushner, buying an island may seem as simple as a phone call. In fact, the couple received the preliminary green light from the Albanian government at the end of 2024 to transform these 5.7 km2 on the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas into a paradise for luxury tourism.

Until now, this island had escaped the wave of tourist investments made on the Albanian coast. It is also a vestige of the Cold War, when the Soviets considered it to be an indispensable military fortress against the Western bloc.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump would like to transform it into a premier destination for the ultra-rich. The island of Sazan thus obtained a new nickname: “Ishulli i Trumpëve”, “the island of the Trumps”, reported The Guardian, which was the first media, in June 2025, to investigate this purchase.

Since then, preparations to build more than 1,000 luxury homes on this piece of land have accelerated...much to the dismay of local wildlife, including more than 200 pink flamingos. The project threatens their natural habitat, “one of the last wetlands of this kind in Europe”, underlines Juljan Myftari, political scientist at the University of Tirana.

The pink flamingo as a symbol

Ce qui n’était jusque-là qu'une irritation de la population albanaise face à la nonchalance avec laquelle la famille Trump veut s’acheter un morceau d’Albanie s’est transformé en colère fin mai. Après le passage d’Ivanka Trump et de ses architectes, une barrière a été érigée et une société de sécurité privée s’est installée pour faire la chasse aux petits curieux.

Des petits curieux devenus de plus en plus nombreux, de plus en plus en colère jusqu’à se transformer en mouvement social dans la capitale albanaise, avec un flamant rose comme symbole. "Pour la première fois depuis longtemps, les citoyens se réapproprient l'espace civique, alors qu'il était auparavant monopolisé par les partis politiques", confirme Juljan Myftari.

“I understand that the term ‘flamingo revolution’ is popular, it’s very catchy. But it is at the same time reductive and does not allow us to understand a deeper anger that is being expressed at the moment,” points out Florian Çullhaj, political scientist at the European University of Tirana.

See also Albania: demonstrations against the Trump clan's project intensify

First, there is a symbolic aspect to this affair, according to the experts interviewed. “Whatever the potential profitability of such a project, a small country like Albania does not have to sell its land. The Prime Minister does not have the right to decide to offer a piece of the country to private investors on a platter,” summarizes Gëzim Alpion, sociologist of Albanian origin at the University of Birmingham.

For this expert, it is enough to awaken old traumas. “Albania is a nation that has been historically dismembered, notably following the London Conference in 1913,” he notes. “There is a sort of tradition among Albanian leaders, who do not hesitate to sacrifice parts of the national territory if this allows them to establish their power.”

Generalized fed up

As such, the demonstrators in Tirana express above all "a fed up with what they consider to be yet another example of public assets which only benefit a small elite, while ordinary citizens feel excluded from major national decisions", explains Florian Çullhaj. The entire procedure surrounding Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's project has been opaque, with in particular legislative changes occurring at the end of 2024 which, conveniently, made it possible to exploit certain hitherto protected areas for tourist purposes, such as those surrounding Sazan Island.

“These demonstrators are marching to denounce the corruption which has become endemic in Albania,” assures Gëzim Alpion. The small arrangements with the Trump family would have become the symbol of a “long list of corruption scandals which have given the population the impression that the development of the country is for the exclusive benefit of oligarchs”, specifies Klevis Kolasi.

For the moment, it is only a few days of demonstrations. Not yet enough to worry the authorities. “Since 2013, the government has strengthened its control over most counter-powers and institutions,” underlines Florian Çullhaj.

But be careful, "the Albanians, when they get angry, it can become very violent, as during the demonstrations of 1997, sometimes called 'civil war of 1997', which occurred after the collapse of several Ponzi pyramids which almost bankrupted the country", underlines Juljan Myftari.

For the experts interviewed, the government's reaction risks making the situation worse. “Edi Rama has entered into a logic of confrontation with the demonstrators, and he affirms that the project will remain relevant as long as he himself remains in power,” confirms Juljan Myftari.

For Klevis Kolasi, this movement can become "really dangerous if there is an even greater convergence of struggles between environmental considerations and anger against a power perceived as too oligarchic and corrupt." In this case, he believes that even a possible abandonment of the luxury tourism project “made in Trumpland” will not calm the demonstrators.

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