[ALBSA-Info] NAAC Letter to President Bush Regarding Meeting with Greek PM Simitis

[National Albanian American Council - NAAC]

National Albanian American Council
1700 K Street, N.W., Suite 1201, Washington, DC  20006
481 8th Avenue, Suite 922, New York, NY 10001
Brigada e Krajishtes, N. 8, 38000 Prishtina, Kosova
Tel: (202) 466-6900   Fax: (202) 466-5593
Web: www.naac.org   Email: naac at naac.org
__________________________________________________
For Your Information

January 10, 2002
 
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
 
Dear President Bush,
 
I am writing to you in connection to your upcoming meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Constantinos Simitis.
 
Expressing the feelings of Albanians all over the world, we at the National Albanian American Council fully support America's War on Terrorism under your valuable leadership.  Albanians are the strongest supporters of the United States in Europe.  All of them mourned for the victims of September 11 tragedy, and many of them have volunteered to fight alongside our forces in Afghanistan.  
 
We, however, view with considerable concern the upsurge of Anti-American feelings in Greece after September 11.  We join our fellow Greek-Americans in deploring such irresponsible actions.  We also urge you to press the Greek government to fight and eradicate terrorism in Greece, especially the 17 November and MAVI terrorist organizations.  There is no justification for the prolonged inaction or indifference in that regard.
 
In addition, Greece can and should do more to contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of Southeastern Europe by respecting human and minority rights.  We urge you to press the Greek government to recognize all ethnic minorities within its territory (Albanians, Turks, Macedonians, etc.) and provide them full protection in accordance with International law.  As Greek Human Right Groups state clearly, Greece's policy of non-recognition of the existence of ethnic minorities is no longer permissible.  A truly democratic country must not use double standards when preaching about the rights of its own minorities in other countries and refusing to grant recognition and rights to ethnic minorities within its own borders.
 
Moreover, the Greek government should take further steps to improve the relations with its neighboring countries and help build a spirit of friendly cooperation so much needed in Southeastern Europe. We urge you to ask the Greek government to abolish the Status of War with Albania dating back to 1940.  Although today Greece and Italy are both members of EU and NATO and have no WWII related issues outstanding between them, the Status of War Law with the then Italian occupied Albania remains still in force, in violation of the NATO treaty and other provisions of International Law.   The necessity to abrogate of such law becomes even more pressing in light of some very disturbing comments that Mr. Simitis made in his visit to Russia last year in reference to the Greek nationalist doctrine of Greater Greece or Megali Idea.  Finally, the Greek government can contribute to the economic development of the region simply by not opposing US interests and projects in the Balkans such as the Baky Ceyhan and Burgas - Durrës pipelines.  
 
On behalf of NAAC, I thank you for your valuable time and attention to these matters.
 
Very truly yours,

Richard Lukaj
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
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