ALBANIA; Importance of Freedom of the Press, Monitoring by US Embassy
Daily Press Briefing Oct. 18, 2007
U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing by Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey
The Greek Journalist Llambros Papantoniu asks about ulterior develompents in Albania.
Q.... On Albania, Mr. Casey, the Greeks in Northern Epirus, otherwise the Kosovo of Albania, protested yesterday against banning of Greek TV stations in Albania. Since the Albanian move against the freedom of the press, I'm wondering if you could any comment.
MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, I'm not familiar with the individual incident. Obviously we support freedom of the press and freedom of expression, whether that's in Albania or Greece or any other country. We believe it's important for you and your colleagues and others in the news media to be able to operate freely, to report on individual policies and ideas and events as they see fit. So again I'm not familiar with this specific incident. But again we would encourage all countries to exercise tolerance and make sure that they are doing nothing that would inhibit freedom of the press.
Q....Mr. Casey, is your embassy in Tirana watching carefully the systematic destruction of the Greek Byzantine church in Northern Epirus by the Albanian authorities, as it was reported extensively? Any comment?
MR. CASEY: Mr. Lambros, I'd refer you to the embassy in terms of what they are following or not. Certainly any issues related to religious freedom as well as freedom of the press are things that our embassies all throughout the world routinely monitor and cover. Okay, Mr. Lambros. Now is the last --
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