PANEPIROTIC FEDERATION OF AMERICA

P.O. BOX 56046

ASTORIA, N.Y. 11105

WWW.PANEPIROTIC.ORG

RESOLUTION OF THE PANEPIROTIC FEDERATION AT ITS 37^TH BIENNIAL CONVENTION

Whereas Albanian governments have made some efforts in recent years to improve conditions for the ethnic Greek minority,

Whereas the improvements are not extensive enough to provide the minority basic human rights that they are entitled to under bilateral and international agreements,

Whereas Albania has not met the requirement of the European Union to take an accurate measure of minorities in the country and is finally being compelled to do so later this year,

Whereas ethnic Greeks continue to be blocked from positions of authority in the police, the judiciary, the armed forces and public administration so that they feel powerless and are forced to seek refuge in Greece and abroad,

Whereas Albania has tried to disenfranchise ethnic Greeks and to undermine their cohesiveness through punitive redistricting of voting districts and administrative regions,

Whereas Albanian authorities allow false claims and fraudulent documents to be used to take property from ethnic Greeks which their families owned for generations,

Whereas the Albanian government does not apportion a fair amount of development funds donated by foreign governments, including the United States and Greece, to be used for public projects in areas where ethnic Greeks live,

The members of the Panepirotic Federation of America, meeting at their 37^th biennial national convention in St.Louis, Missouri from May 19 – 22, 2011, the 69^th anniversary of the founding of their association, adopt the following resolution:

1. 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.

2. We call on all international organizations that will oversee the census that will measure ethnicity and religious affiliation later this year, to take every precaution to ensure a fair and full count without obstruction or intimidation.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. We call on the Greek government to raise a strong voice in international organizations for the rights of ethnic Greeks in Albania, especially in the upcoming census, 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.

6. We call on all ethnic Greek groups, political parties, and organizations in Albania and all Epirot organizations outside Albania to work in unison to ensure a fair and accurate census and to make it possible for all ethnic Greeks working outside Albania to return to their native communities to be counted.

7. 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.

8. We call on all ethnic Greek political parties and advocacy organizations to work toward united action in pursuit of basic rights for the Greek minority and to promote such unity by election of its officers through popular vote.

9. 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.”