Resolution ,35th Panepirotic Convention
Photo: Press Conference on the situation of the Greek minority in Albania from left to right: Haralambos Karathanos, Secretary-General of the organisation of North Epirus, Konstantinos Hatzidakis (EPP-ED, Greece), and Grigorios Karamelos, Member of the Albanian ParliamentBrussels, 02 April 2003
EU MUST STOP ASSOCIATION STABILISATION PROCES AGREEMENT WITH ALBANIA
The Panepiriotic Convention urges to USA, EU and Greece to have under strong observation Albania, about the Rights of the Greek minority in Albania. The Panepiriotic Convention, calls EU to romp the stabilisation proces with Albania, still the greek minority to be lived with civil and politic rigths.
“We call on the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and all international organizations to demand that Albania fulfill all its international obligations to ethnic Greeks in Northern Epiros and throughout Albania. We call on European representatives negotiating with Albania to forge a framework for its eventual integration in Europe to freeze negotiations until the Albanian government fulfills the E.U.’S demand to take accurate measure of minorities in the country. We call on the Albanian government to enhance its full acceptance in the community of responsible nations by restoring its full Greek Minority all educational, religious, political, linguistic and cultural rights due them under bilateral and international agreements signed by its representatives since the country was created in 1913 including the right to declare their ethnic and religious affiliation in a census monitored by international observers. We call on the Albanian government to finally honor the 1935 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice to allow ethnic Greeks to educate their children in their mother tongue whenever they live. We call on the Greek government to raise a strong voice in international organizations for the rights of ethnic Greeks in Albania and to do everything in its power to help Greeks from Northern Epiros working in Greece to return to their homes by providing economic assistance that will allow them to earn their livelihood in their native region and maintain its identity. We call on the Greek Parliament to adopt a resolution that it will not approve Albania’s membership in the European Union unless it first grants all rights to the ethnic Greek Minority in the country starting with an accurate measure of its members. We call on the United States to do everything in its power to end the occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkish troops; to press the Turkish government to end harassment of the Patriarchate, re-open the School of Halki, and acknowledge the Pontian and Armenian genocide and to press FYROM to stop expropriating the name Macedonia, which has been identified with Greece throughout its history.” The Convention elected the new board of the Panepirotic Federation as follows: Photis Galitsis president, Alex Pallas vice-president, Demetris Koutoulas secretary, Eva O’Brian special secretary, Eva Cantlis treasurer. Members: Christos Kyrkos, Eleonora Michopoulos, Irene Photiou, Ioannis Rammos, Vasilis Mandros, Kostas Zestakis. Past president Demetrios Tsoumbanos was elected chairman of the Convention.Former president Michalis Servos delivered a comprehensive and detailed report on the conditions of the Greek Ethnic Minority in Northern Epiros. Professor Theofanis Malkides presented his book “The Ethnic Greek Minority in Albania” published by the Panepirotic Federation on three languages, Greek, English, and Albanian. The book will be distributed to the members of Congress and Senate, to university libraries, to local state politicians and to various organizations. The Panepirotic Federation has given 250,000 dollars in scholarships the last ten years.
Το ψήφισμα, το οποίο υιοθέτησε το 35ο Συνέδριο, έχει ως εξής: «Τα μέλη της Πανηπειρωτικής Ομοσπονδίας Αμερικής, συνελθόντα κατά το 35ο δισενιαύσιο εθνικό τους συνέδριο στο Γούστερ της Μασαχουσέτης από τις 13 μέχρι τις 16 Ιουνίου 2007, 65η επέτειο από την ιδρύσεως της Ομοσπονδίας τους, υιοθέτησαν
το ακόλουθο ανακοινωθέν:
Καλούμε τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και τα Ηνωμένα Έθνη και όλους τους Διεθνείς Οργανισμούς να απαιτήσουν από την Αλβανία να εκπληρώσει τις διεθνείς της υποχρεώσεις προς τους Έλληνες της Βορείου Ηπείρου και όλης της Αλβανίας.
Καλούμε τους Ευρωπαίους αντιπροσώπους, οι οποίοι διαπραγματεύονται με την Αλβανία για το πλαίσιο της μελλοντικής της ένταξης στην Ευρώπη να παγώσουν τις διαπραγματεύσεις έως ότου η Αλβανική κυβέρνηση εκπληρώσει την απαίτηση της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης να προβεί σε ακριβή απογραφή των Μειονοτήτων στη χώρα.
Καλούμε την αλβανική κυβέρνηση να επαυξήσει την ολοκληρωτική της αποδοχή στην κοινότητα των υπεύθυνων εθνών, αποκαθιστώντας στην ελληνική εθνική μειονότητα όλα τα εκπαιδευτικά, θρησκευτικά πολιτικά, γλωσσικά και πολιτιστικά
δικαιώματα, τα οποία της ανήκουν λόγω των διμερών και διεθνών συμφωνιών που υπεγράφησαν από τους αντιπροσώπους της από την δημιουργία της χώρας το 1913, συμπεριλαμβανομένου και του δικαιώματος
να δηλώνουν την εθνική και θρησκευτική τους ταυτότητα σε απογραφή πληθυσμού, η οποία θα επιβλέπεται από διεθνείς παρατηρητές.
Καλούμε την αλβανική κυβέρνηση να τιμήσει επί τέλους την γνώμη του Διεθνούς Δικαστηρίου του 1935 να επιτρέψει στους Ελληνες να εκπαιδεύουν τα παιδιά τους στην μητρική τους γλώσσα.
Καλούμε την ελληνική κυβέρνηση να εγείρει δυναμικά την φωνή της στους διεθνείς Οργανισμούς για τα δικαιώματα της Ελληνικής Εθνικής Μειονότητας στην Αλβανία και να κάνει τα πάντα εν τω μέτρω των δυνάμεών της να βοηθήσει τους Έλυνες από την Βόρειο Ήπειρο οι οποίοι εργάζονται στην Ελλάδα να επιστρέψουν στα σπίτια τους παρέχοντάς τους οικονομική βοήθεια η οποία θα
τους επιτρέψει να κερδίζουν τα προς το ζην στη δική τους περιοχή και να διατηρήσουν την ταυτότητά τους. Καλούμε την Βουλή των Ελλήνων να υιοθετήσει ψήφισμα, το οποίο δεν θα επικυρώνει την ένταξη της Αλβανίας στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση εάν δεν αποδώσει πρώτα όλα τα δικαιώματα στην ελληνική εθνική μειονότητα, αρχίζοντας με ακριβή απογραφή των μελών της.
Καλούμε τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες να κάνουν τα πάντα εν μέτρω των δυνατοτήτων τους να τερματιστεί η κατοχή της Βόρειας Κύπρου από τα Τουρκικά στρατεύματα. Να πιέσει την τουρκική κυβέρνηση να σταματήσει τον κατατρεγμό του Πατριαρχείου, να επιτρέψει την επαναλειτουργία της Θεολογικής Σχολής της
Χάλκης. Να αναγνωρίσει την Ποντιακή και Αρμενική Γενοκτονία και να πιέσει την Πρώην Γιουγκοσλαβική Δημοκρατία της Μακεδονίας να σταματήσει να απαλλοτριώνει το όνομα Μακεδονία, το οποίο έχει ταυτιστεί με την Ελλάδα καθ’
όλη την ιστορία της».
Στον χαιρετισμό του ο Μητροπολίτης Βοστόνης είπε ότι «κατάγεστε από τόπο μαρτύρων και ηρώων, από γη μεγάλων ευεργετών του Έθνους. Οι μεγαλύτεροι ευεργέτες της ελληνικής Παιδείας, εντός και εκτός της Ελλάδος, ήταν Ηπειρώτες. Την παρακαταθήκη αυτή της προσφοράς της μαρτυρίας και των αγώνων να την κληροδοτήσετε στα παιδιά και στα εγγόνιά σας» και τόνισε πως «όλοι μας πρέπει να είμαστε υπερήφανοι για την ελληνική μας καταγωγή».
Μιλώντας για το Βορειοηπειρωτικό, είπε ότι «θα πρέπει να μάθουμε και να μη ξεχάσουμε ποτέ την ιστορία» και τόνισε πως «δεν πρέπει να ξεχάσουμε ποτέ τον αείμνηστο Μητροπολίτης Κονίτσης Σεβαστιανό και τους αγώνες του. Δεν πρέπει
να ξεχάσουμε εκείνους, οι οποίοι είδαν τις εκκλησίες τους να γίνονται κινηματόγραφοι και αποθήκες.
Δεν πρέπει να ξεχάσουμε καμία μάνα, ιδιαίτερα τις μάνες που είδαν τα παιδιά τους να υποφέρουν και να φυλακίζονται επειδή τόλμησαν να μιλήσουν Ελληνικά».
1 comment:
I am not sure as to what rights you request for the Greek minority in Albania. It seems to me that this Panepiriotic Convention fights with ghosts.
I am a so called 'Epirian' from Qeparo, an orthodox village in the south of Albania, where as you claim 'the rights of the Greek minority are not respected'. You would call me Greek - but I am pure Albanian. There are hundreds of thousands like myself whom you brand as 'Greek minority' for your own nationalistic purposes.
You call for educational, religious, political, linguistic and cultural rights for the Greek minority in Albania. Let's address them one by one.
GREEK MINORITY
There is a Greek minority in Albania, predominantly in the Dropulli region. There are also 3 villages, Himara, Dhermi and Palase where the inhabitants speak Greek. Even there their identity is debatable as in the case of Himara where the people speak Greek but they cry for the dead in Albanian. The Himariotes themselves refuse to be branded as Greeks or Albanians. They insist on being called Himariots. Curious little detail!
However, the Greek minority has full rights under Albanian law and is absolutely free to express their identity in whatever form they wish to. They live in pure harmony and totally free among other Albanian villages. The numbers of the Greek minority are also hugely inflated. The so called Epiriotes, include thousands of Albanians like myself. They also include hundreds of thousands of Albanians, who for economic reasons have emigrated to Greece and declare themselves as Greek minority in order to benefit of the 200 Euro pension that Greece gives them in return. As my great uncle from Himara once said: 'if the Greeks are stupid enough to give us money, of course we're going to say what they want to hear'... He said it in Albanian!
In any case, the majority of the southern Albanian population, especially that of Greek minority lives in Greece because of economic hardships endured in Albania. This affects all Albanians not just minorities. For most of the year they work and live in Greece but every 4 years, during general election, they are all squeezed into Greek buses into Albania to go and vote. Therefore, how can their rights be abused when they live in Greece?
RELIGIOUS
All citizens of Albania, regardless of their ethnic background are totally free to worship in any church, mosque, temple and in any language they wish. The Orthodox church in Albania is widely respected and even the orthodox Albanians go to church to worship in Greek. The head of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is of Greek nationality. The freedom of religion in Albania cannot even be compared with that of Greece where non-orthodox ethnic groups are constantly under attack. Therefore I don't understand what rights you request.
POLITICAL
The Greek minority in Albania, although extremely inflated in numbers by extremist organisations such as yourselves, has political representation in the Albanian parliament. There are two political parties stemming from the Greek minority with a clear voice in Albania's fragile democracy. Why don't we talk about the political rights of the Albanian minority in Greece? There are about 800,000 of them unrecognized by the Greek government... When will they have political representation in the Greek parliament?
LINGUISTIC & CULTURAL
If you happen to travel in the south of Albania you will notice that your mobile phone will switch to Greek operators and the TV will have better reception of Greek TV stations than Albanian ones, although you are still in Albanian territory. There are Greek schools in the south, even in predominantly Albanian areas. Cultural rights are extremely respected and widely celebrated by all Albanians. Greek music, dance and other customs are freely exhibited all over Albania. We could start of course to talk about linguistic & cultural rights of the Albanian minority in Greece, where an Albanian school would provoke another fascist movement exterminating the evil Albanians that 'pollute' Greece.
RECIPROCITY
Finally, I believe that the time has come to speak of RECIPROCITY. If you believe that the rights of the super inflated Greek minority in Albania, let's also begin to shed some light upon the rights of the Albanian minority in Greece.
Perhaps the time has come for the Albanian state to start speaking of an Albanian minority in Greece, the Arvanitas, the 10,000 Albanians in Thrace and the 800,000 Albanian emigrants all over Greece. And of course we have to speak of Chameria, the Albanian minority in Greece that was expelled during the 2nd world war. Just as you request for the Turkish Genocide against Armenians to be recognized, so should you call on the Greek government to Accept the Greek Genocide against thousands of Chams.
Half of my family lives in Athens since 1991. They are Albanians although in the eyes of Greek officials they pretend to be part of this 'Greek minority' so that they can keep the Omonia ID Card and the right to work in Greece. Had they full rights to stay in Greece, they would gladly show the pride of being Albanians. Just like Greek emigrants in the USA have become US citizens with their minority rights in the country, so should the 800,000 Albanians have full rights under Greek law - their own schools, political representation, Albanian churches, Albanian cultural centres and minority status as the Greeks in Albania enjoy. Reciprocity, my friends, is the rationale of democracy...
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