A Response to AFP
 

Piktura ne kishat e Voskopojes

SManalysis
 
Orthodox churches of Albania, are Byzantine churches, belong to the property of the population of Northern Epirus with Greek heritage.

The news of the destruction of the Orthodox Church is not the first. With dozens of Orthodox churches in south of Albania (Northern Epirus), have been systematically subjected robbers, which are reported in State Department.

But a special news issued by the AFP (Albanian correspondent, who she`s son, a journalist forbidden to enter in Greek territory, because of nationalist rhetoric that he uses in the media), is the fact that the destroyed churches, are Albanian churches (?) although it is known that the Albanian Orthodox church, in essence, is the Greek Orthodox Christian Byzantine heritage, as shown in all languages ​​the church of Greece and Epirus.

The second fact abusive, that uses AFP in this report, unfortunately represents the population of Albania, mainly Muslims, according to Census 2011 data, which is contested by the Community and the Greek Orthodox Church, draw strong Christian 17% (10  Catholic% and 7% Orthodox).

Reporting is done mostly deliberate, presented in the international media, another Albania, with predominance of Muslims and Albanian inheritance, which is "non-existent", by virtue of the Byzantine Orthodox heritage of Epirus, nothing in common with Albanians Muslims.

Meanwhile, the government of Albania, unjustly holds about 300 items and Byzantine churches, which are not returned, to the Orthodox Church, being robbed and destroyed in any time, thus losing the traces of ancient and Byzantine heritage. The Group cites by AFP, which has come out in defense of the church, there is nothing in common with the church, as belong to the Muslim community, manly MP from the opposition, and not an Orthodox church official response.


.................................................................................................................................................................

AFP 

Ancient church frescoes created by renowned icon painter Onufri stolen in Albania

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=60196#.UPj8p_Irki4[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

 Damaged frescoes painted by Albania's most famous medieval painter Onufri in The St Paraskevi church in the village of Vlash. A 16th century Orthodox church, considered a jewel of Albania's culture and being part its national heritage, was vandalised while some parts of its frescoes were stolen, an official said on January 16, 2013. AFP PHOTO / STR.

 TIRANA (AFP).- Several frescoes by a master painter were vandalised and some of their parts stolen from a 16th-century Orthodox church in southern Albania, an official said Wednesday. "Several frescoes were savagely damaged with axes and knives while some of their parts were stolen," Arber Kadija, a culture ministry official, told AFP. Fragments of the wall paintings were found on the ground at the Saint Paraskevi church in Vlash, a small village some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of the capital, Tirana, Kadija said. Police were investigating whether the incident was linked to illegal art trafficking or "an extremist act", he added.

The historic church was vandalised twice, on December 31 and January 4, Kadija said. It was unclear why the damage was not reported earlier. Art historian Auron Tare called the destruction of the frescoes a "most serious crime". Most of the frescoes, created by Albania's best-known icon painter, Onufri -- renowned for the intensity of his colours and his humanist scenes of Orthodox iconography -- were "badly damaged," he said. But Tare noted that the perpetrators neglected to steal the church's most prominent fresco depicting the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Most of Albania's 2.8 million inhabitants are Muslims. Orthodox and Catholic Christians make up around 17 percent of the population.

In the past two years, more than 20 Orthodox churches and monasteries have been looted, according to Gentian Stratoberdha, an official of the Albanian Orthodox Church. He insisted that the authorities should do more to protect some 170 Orthodox shrines in Albania. Since the fall of communism in the 1990s, more than 2,000 icons and hundreds of works of art have been stolen from museums, archaeological sites and churches in Albania.

In 2008, 18 icons were taken from the Byzantine church of Saint Mary in the southern town Labova. The perpetrators have never been found. In 2011, the government allocated some 200,000 euros ($266,000) for the protection of the country's cultural heritage, to the dismay of experts who said the amount was insufficent.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=60196#.UPj8p_Irki4[/url]