As mayor of New York City, Eric Adams developed a reputation for wanderlust, with a specifically profound love of Albania.
Now Mr. Adams, only months out of office and evidently footloose, has been granted Albanian citizenship and received an Albanian passport, by special decree of the Albanian president, Bajram Begaj.
Mr. Adams’s dual citizenship was reported by Albanian media and confirmed by his spokesman, Todd Shapiro.
“He loves Albania,” Mr. Shapiro said in a brief call. “He does.”
As mayor, Mr. Adams hosted three flag-raising ceremonies for Albania. Last June, he hosted a celebration of Albanian culture at Gracie Mansion. And in the waning weeks of his mayoralty, after dropping out of the race for re-election, Mr. Adams flew to Albania and met with the nation’s prime minister, Edi Rama, on a trip that his aides said included talks on business and tourism.
“It took 109 mayors before they understood that we should have an Albanian Day parade here in New York City,” Mr. Adams said last June. “I can’t wait until I get to Albania and enjoy the beautiful rivers and seas and mountains and all that you have to offer.”
Roughly 40,000 of New York City’s 8.8 million residents identified as Albanian in the 2020 census. That does make the city home to the world’s largest Albanian expatriate population, something Mr. Adams touted in an interview with an Albanian newscaster last fall.
“This is the Albania of America right here,” Mr. Adams said, deploying the pet phrase he has also used to connect New York to Athens, Kyiv, Seoul, Islamabad, Tel Aviv, Zagreb, Lima, Mexico City, Dublin and Istanbul.
His extensive overseas travel figured prominently in his indictment on federal corruption charges, where he was accused of accepting free airline tickets, lavish overseas accommodations and illegal campaign donations from Turkey. The charges were abandoned under highly unusual circumstances by President Trump’s Justice Department.
Mr. Adams’s soft spot for Albania extends to his family. His son, Jordan Coleman, competed on Albania’s “American Idol” equivalent in 2022. This was before Mr. Adams had crossed Albania off his own travel bucket list.
“He called me up and said, ‘Dad, I don’t know if I’m coming back home, I love Albania,’” Mr. Adams recalled during one of his flag-raising ceremonies. “Whenever he sees me, he reminds me, just put up the flag, the Albanian flag. Thank you, Albanians. Thank you.”
Emma Goldberg is a Times reporter who writes about political subcultures and the way we live now.
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