Albania: Greek Citizenship Offer Raises Hackles

By Sokol Shameti
The recent decision of the Greek government to offer citizenship to ethnic Greeks in – and from – Albania has angered both Greek and Albanian opposition parties and raised fresh suspicions in some quarters over Greek motives.
While the left-wing opposition in Greece has accused the Athens government of “importing votes”, Albanian opposition parties have accused Greece of interference in their internal affairs.
Greek-Albanian relations have long been prickly, especially over the southern chunk of Albania, which Greek nationalists call “northern Epirus” and say should be part of Greece.
The countries, which share a 282-kilometre-long border, have long argued over the size of the their respective minority communities on both sides of the frontier.
Athens announced the move to give ethnic Greeks in – and from – Albania citizenship with full rights on November 7.
Prokopis Pavlopulos, the interior minister, said the privilege would be granted to any Albanian citizen able to provide written proof that he or she is ethnically Greek.
Those likely to try and access the privileges fall into two very different groups, however.
The first is the relatively small ethnic Greek community in southern Albania. Officially, these number 36,000 and live in a few dozen villages around Gjirokastra and Saranda.
Their number has dropped since the last census in the communist era, when they numbered 58,758. Officials say this is because so many have abandoned their dwellings and emigrated.
A much larger group comprises Albanian citizens who have emigrated to Greece in recent years in search of work. These number about 500,000 and many have obtained documents giving them the same privileges as ethnic Greeks on producing IDs stating their ethnicity as Greek.
Some estimate that around 200,000 people in total could benefit from the offer of Greek citizenship, which might have a major impact on next year’s Greek elections.
Although the left-wing Greek PASOK opposition party considered a similar scheme, it has denounced the move by the conservative government of Kostas Karamanlis as a blatant bid to secure votes.
Albanian politicians, especially those in opposition parties, also bitterly criticised the plan.
“Athens is sending out a clear message to Albanians that if they ever want to join Europe they can only do this by changing citizenship and turning into Greek citizens,” said Pllumb Xhufi, of the opposition Socialists.
“This is a dangerous act that could have a domino effect,” said Sabri Godo, of the Republican Party. “What would happen if Albania gave Albanian citizenship to all ethnic Albanians in the Balkans?
“Greece shouldn’t give itself the right to unilaterally determine Albanian citizens’ ethnicity.”
Significantly, however, the right-wing prime minister, Sali Berisha, has endorsed the decision of the Athens government. Indeed, he said Greece’s example “should be followed by other countries in the European Union”.
Berisha’s refusal to antagonise Greece surprised some who recall his former reputation as a hard-line nationalist president of Albania from 1992 to 1997, when he was not known for conciliating the Greek minority.
Vangjel Dule, leader of the United Party for Human Rights, which lobbies for Albania’s Greek, Slav and Roma minorities, also backed the Greek move.
Dule said Albanians always looked with suspicion on actions by Greece to help the Greek minority in the country, even when they were positive.
“There is no Greek conspiracy – everything is happening within the frame of agreements made with the European Commission and ratified by Albania,” said Dule.
Spiro Ksera, an ethnic Greek official in Gjirokastra, said Greeks in the area had been waiting for this decision for a long time and nothing bad would happen to Albania as a result.
However, Albanian suspicions will not have been eased by the delighted reaction of the Greek nationalist group Vorioepir, which campaigns in support of Greek territorial claims to “Northern Epirus”.
Llambi Karathano, its president, said the agreement would reveal the existence of a vast number of ethnic Greeks in Albania that had not been recorded in earlier censuses. “The figure might reach 1 million,” he said.
Sokol Shameti is editor in chief of TV Klan. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication.