Tirana seeks to solve issue with passports of Albanian children born in Greece
TIRANA, July 31 – Albanian Ombudsman Igli Totozani has urged the Albanian Foreign Ministry to work toward resolving a spelling issue of place of birth in Albanian passports, which has left many Albanian children born in Greece unable to travel between the two countries.
Totozani said that he had also discussed the issue with his Greek counterpart Caliope Spanou when he visited Athens earlier this month.
The issue affects especially the children of the Albanian immigrants who were born in the in Greece after 1990.
Greece wants Albanian passports to have the names of Greek cities spelled in English, citing international treaties. Albanian passports have the place of birth with the Albanian spelling (i.e. Thessaloniki versus Selanik). These kids are not allowed to cross the border, delaying entire families.
There are about 800,000 Albanian citizens living in Greece at any time, most of them with valid Greek residency documents. Greece is the country that has most of the Albanian immigrants due to its closeness with the former communist country.
Totozani said that he had three times asked the foreign ministry in Tirana to give some explanation on the reasons why they have not resolved such a concern with the neighbors. But they had no answer. That urged Totozani’s office to make a public statement this week.
He asks the foreign ministry to explain what are the legal causes sparking such a problem, to continue with what procedures should the Albanian authorities undertake in order to allow for the free movement of Albanian citizens.
After the public concern expressed by Totozani, on Wednesday, the Albanian Ambassador to Athens Dashnor Dervishi met with Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos to discuss the issue.
According to the Albanian embassy, the Greek authorities had been willing to hold meetings to resolve the issue.
