In the declassified CIA report, 1994, "ALBANIA'S GREEK MINORITY: POTENTIAL FOR TROUBLE", the CIA analysis states that "there is a strong tendency for the Albanian government to use ethnic Albanian groups to be installed in the south, in areas inhabited by ethnic Greeks, a precedent which could destabilize the whole territory, due to the greed of economic zones and the upset of ethnic balances.
But although the year 1997 Civil War, divided Albania in two, leaving behind about 6 thousand killed, the occupation of economic areas where ethnic Greeks live, especially on the Ionian coast, Vlora - Himara - Saranda - Ksamil, today has brought over population Muslim and Catholic Albanians from the north of Albania, which clearly shows a disturbance of ethnic balances which could cost dearly the political stability of Albania ,,,
During the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia in 1997, a wave of ethnic Muslim Albanian refugees from Kosovo concentrated all the way to Vlora, but former Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou called on the Albanian government not to cross the "Red Line' to install Muslim Albanians in Greek territories. , like Himara or Saranda, .
In 2016, there was tension between two Albanian political leaders, Sali Berisha in opposition and Prime Minister Edi Rama, who accused each other of carrying out mass displacement of Albanians to the south of the country. The accusations have recently focused on Parliament, prompting the Greek government to accuse the Albanian side of ethnic cleansing against the Greeks of Himara.
In the years after 1997, the influx of Albanians into the areas of ethnic Greeks has not ended. in 2016, The Greek press and the Tsipras Government accused Tirana government of carrying out ethnic cleansing, influencing with "legal initiatives for mass invasions of the Albanian population towards the historic Greek territories in the south, threatening to block the stabilization process of association with the EU.
Meanwhile, we are in the middle of 2020, the government of Albania has started a process of registration of property titles, which is concentrated in the first area, the Municipality of Himara. According to the official Albanian applications, about 8 thousand properties are to be registered by the ethnic Greeks of Himara (?), while about 8 thousand others are to be registered by Muslim Albanians, adding about 5 thousand properties in state administration, a breakdown of balance terrible a dangerous precedent for ethnic clashes with Albanians and Greeks. The Albanian government has favored Albanian oligarchs to build on properties looted but contested by ethnic Greeks in Himara, but this registration risks failing because the Greek Minority Organization Omonia and the Greek Goverment, will not recognize it.
It is a critical moment for Albania, while an inevitable conflict will be generated in the war between Turkey and Greece, due to the economic zones and the regulation of the national borders, which could erupt for the entire Balkans. The occupation of areas inhabited by ethnic Greeks by Muslim and Catholic Albanians, especially from Kosovo, is a precedent, as the CIA report points out, to destabilize Albania, a report which in the first phase of destabilization in 1997 led to a Civil War, while in the phase that we are experiencing today in 2020, towards the ethnic Greeks, especially in the Ionian coast Vlora - Himare - Saranda - Ksamil, is carrying out ethnic cleansing, occupation of lands with overcrowding of investments with Albanians.
In Albania, live about 300 thousand ethnic Greeks who are forced to live in both Greece and Albania due to the threat from Albanians to seize their lands, especially on the Ionian coast, while the conservative government of Mitsotakis, strangely opened the light green for the opening of Albania-EU negotiations in February 2020, just on the eve of ethnic tensions in Northern Epirus, in the hope that Tirana will recognize the decisions on the AOZ Maritime Economic Zones, with Greece. But this is unlikely to happen, while the situation of the Greeks in southern Albania is more alarming than ever, due to the massive occupation by Albanians, and the tendencies of the two governments to remain silent about this occupation.
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