TIRANA, Oct. 29 – Official Tirana and Athens found themselves at odds throughout the week as the death of 35-year-old, Konstantinos Katsifas during a shootout with officers of the Renea Special Force on Sunday caused a storm of nationalistic and radical statements that overtook the public discussion.
On Monday, the Greek foreign ministry announced it had been made aware of the Greek citizen’s death and that it is following the case’s developments alongside Albanian authorities.
“Our condolences for the death of the Greek minority member, the loss of a person’s life is unacceptable under any circumstances. We express our regret for the Greek citizen’s death,” the foreign ministry’s announcement read.
In response to the Greek reaction, the Albanian ministry of foreign affairs expressed disappointment Greek officials did not condemn the armed attack against Albanian police forces, but rather spoke of “unacceptable loss of lives.”
Further on, the Albanian ministry’s announcement called for maturity in handling this clear and unprecedented case without giving it diplomatic or political connotations.
“We ensure our neighbors that Albania is a safe and secure county for all its citizens, including without any distinctions those under Greek citizenship,” the Albanian announcement said.
Further on, ALbania’s foreign ministry said it has clarified all the details of the event that led to Katsifas’ death and that this was an incident far isolated from the activities taking place on Sunday in the area and a case of flagrant extremist aggression against State Police.
Police forces were in Bularat on Sunday in context of the celebrations taking place to honor the Greek soldiers who died during the Greek-Italian war and were shot upon by Katsifas at around 10 am, before chasing after heavily armed Katsifas and asking him to hand himself in, without success.
The country’s Prime Minister Edi Rama also reacted to the news through his official twitter.
“Dear neighbors! Instead of calling unacceptable the life loss of a crazy man who shot with military bullets on our police, which was only doing its job, join us in thanking God no innocent lives were taken today by the extremist madness,” Rama wrote on Sunday evening.
On Monday, Athens also summoned Albanian Ambassador Ardiana Hobdari, according to Greek sources, which have also reported the Greek foreign ministry will hand over a note of protest to Hobdari related to Katsifas’ death.
The Omonoia organization representing the Greek minority said the killing could have been averted, describing it as “a cold-blooded murder,” while accusing Tirana of cultivating a “a psychological climate of violence” against the Greek community.
Local media has reported Katsifas, who actually belonged to the Greek minority and mainly lived in Athens, was shot during a crossfire a few hours after first aiming at the RENEA police forces. According to official police forces, RENEA operatives called on Katsifas to drop his gun and surrender without success, as he continued to shoot and gravely risk the policemen’s lives.
An investigative unit immediately arrived at the crime scene to inquire on the incident, which is officially reported to have happened during the national Greek holiday celebrations in Bularat.
Other Albanian news sources have reported Katsifas, who had arrived in Bularat only a week before the attack, had shown signs of extreme and dangerous behavior in his Facebook page and was tied to far-right Golden Dawn Party.
Greek media, on the other hand, reported Katsifas opened fired against the police as officers were taking down a Greek flag he had raised at a cemetery for the Greek soldiers who had died in battle during the Greek-Italian war.
All the declarations and opposing ways of painting the situation, be it from official political figures and institutions but also from the media and from the population itself, led to actual tensions particularly in Athens, were a big number of Albanian immigrants live.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Albanian Embassy in the northern Athens suburb of Filothei on Sunday evening to protest the killing, organized via social media by Greek-Albanian groups and the far-right Greek Golden Dawn party.
The protests stretched on Monday and Tuesday as well in Athens, and saw members unfold banners reading “Katsifas is immortal” and other defamatory comments, while also putting on fire a store owned by Albanians in Athens. On Wednesday, protesters overtook the street of Greece’s second biggest city, Thessaloniki, sparked by Katsifas death. Some people were reported injured from the protests.
