A historic visit of the first Greek Prime Minister to the areas of ethnic Greek minority in Himara, Livadhia and Dervitsani in south Albania.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis started his tour in Himara, where members of the Greek ethnic minority welcomed him at the seafront in the town.
“Thank you for keeping the flame of Hellinism and Orthodoxy in your hearts,” the PM said clearly moved, adding it was a great honor to be the first Greek prime minister to visit Himara.
“The Greek ethnic minority of Albania will have in me a steadfast supporter of your just claims. You are the bridge of friendship between Greece and Albania. I am and will remain a supporter of Albania’s European path and it is Albania’s duty to fully respect your rights on the issue of self-identification, the issue of language and in the matter of your property rights,” Mitsotakis said.
,He offered the his personal guarantee that, with a spirit of cooperation, all these issues will be resolved.
Olympic gold medallist Pyrros Dimas whoi was born in the town accompanied Mitsotakis on his visit stressed “I would have come from the other side of the world, I would not miss it for anything”.
In Livadhja he addressed over 300 members of the ethnic Greek minority that gathered in the yard of the high school “Lefteris Stalios”.
In the church of Agioi Pantes he lit a candle.
In Agioi Pantes church in Himara, locals chanted Eastern hymn “Jesus Arose” a few days before Christmas, when the Greek Army freed Himara on December 22, 1940 from Italian occupation.
There are different figures concerning the number of the ethnic Greek population in south Albania. Most Western sources put the number at around 200,000. The Albanian government in the 1989 census estimated around 60,000, while the Greek government supports a figure of 300,000. The Omonoia organization put the number at 287,000 after their so called “Greek census” in 2013. This census is not recognized by the Albanian government. Furthermore, 189,000 ethnic Greeks with Albanian citizenship reside in Greece, and are issued special identity cards.
There are several human rights issues among them being the often confiscation of their properties by Albanian authorities.
PS the usual mean Greeks claim that the PM did not bother with the Ethnic Greek Minority but he remembered them now ahead of the parliamentary elections.