[ALBSA-Info] Greek Minority Fears Forced 'Albanization'

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Greek Minority Fears Forced 'Albanization'

ATHENS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 200 — KATHIMERINI

The Albanian authorities are trying to force the Greeks of Albania to become 
Albanians, and the impending census is part of this effort as it will not 
refer to ethnicity or religion, the leader of the ethnic Greek minority 
organization Omonia said yesterday.

At a news conference in Thessaloniki, where he spoke to Greeks of Albania who 
are working in Greece, Vassilis Dulles charged also that the Albanian 
authorities are trying to grab the property of ethnic Greeks by forging 
property title deeds. He said that 75,000 stremmas (7,500 hectares) of 
property were being seized in this way.

Dulles left open the question of the Greek minority boycotting the census if 
ethnicity and religion were not mentioned. He said that the minority has 
begun a campaign to inform the international community of the problem and 
that representatives of the Council of Europe and other organizations would 
soon visit Greek minority areas.