Church, ethnic Greeks reject results of Albanian census

Source: Tanjug

TIRANA -- Official results of a census held in 2011 in Albania are unacceptable and unrealistic, the Orthodox Church of Albania has stated.

Democratic Union of the Greek Minority Omonoia has requested from the Albanian government and the international community not to accept the published results.
Omonoia believes that the results have been falsified to the detriment of ethnic Greeks and other Orthodox minorities – Macedonians and Montenegrins.

The Church has announced that it would release an official statement that would be signed by Bishop of Tirana and Albania Anastiasie.

Omonoia has announced that it will do a parallel census in order to prove that the released results are not realistic.

According to the official census results, Albania has a population of 2.8 million. There are 24.360 Greeks or 0.54 percent of the population, while Greek is a mother tongue of only 0.15 percent of the citizens. Media and certain officials claim that there are 300,000 Greeks living in Albania.

The information that there are 8,000 of Roma and Cincars in Albania is also questioned.

98.7 percent of the population speaks Albanian as their mother tongue.

Media in Greece also believe that the Albanian census is not trustworthy.

Albanian political parties have welcomed the results of the census, claiming they “have unmasked pretensions and chauvinistic manners of Athens and its servants”.