In 2024, Kushner — a real estate developer, investor and Trump administration negotiator on Gaza, Iran and Ukraine — announced plans for his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, to develop a major luxury resort on Albania’s Sazan Island and the Zvernec coastline near Vlora, with the potential for up to 10,000 hotel rooms.
He visited the site with his wife, Ivanka Trump, in January 2026, while in April, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama confirmed to POLITICO that discussions over the project were continuing.
The proposed development lies within a once-protected natural ecosystem that is home to flamingos, more than 200 migratory bird species, Mediterranean monk seals and nesting sea turtles. But contentious changes to Albania’s law on protected areas in 2024 paved the way for tourism developments in some protected areas.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rama told CNN International that the project does not yet exist and that the environmental assessment is still being carried out. He also added that “The challenge is not to pour concrete over the heads of flamingos. The challenge is to prove that development and nature can not only coexist, but that nature and development need each other.”
Controversy grew in late May when developers fenced off part of the site with barbed wire, triggering demonstrations, clashes with private security guards, several arrests and the jailing of a security guard accused of assaulting and unlawfully detaining a protester.
The protests have spread to Tirana, and the flamingo has become a symbol of the movement, popping up also on social media posts, accompanied by the title “the flamingo revolution.”
Suzi, a protestor who works in the tourism sector, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity because of a fear of retribution, said: “We are protesting because we are in danger of giving our land to people who have zero interest in helping Albanians, but only in profiting for themselves.”