Identity crisis in Greek village in Albania
Published: 27 April, 2009, 13:01
Edited: 12 March, 2010, 22:52
TAGS: Breakaway regions, Conflict, Scandal, Politics, Europe
As Albania is set to apply for EU membership, one Albanian mayor says his village should obtain special status as a Greek minority - and has been sentenced to six months in prison for further actions.
It may be in Albania, it may look like Albania, but this village has something of an identity crisis. The mayor in question, Vasil Bollano, was pushing for it to go Greek!
The village of Himara in Southern Albania was thrown into the spotlight two years ago, when the mayor ordered the removal of all non-Greek road signs. He said they should be in Greek and Albanian, not just in Albanian. The mayor himself has Greek origins, but like many others here, his family has lived in this area for generations.
The removal of the signs caused chaos, because they were along a section of Albania’s coast that is popular with tourists.
And soon afterwards, the mayor went one step further, and threatened secession from Albania.
The RT team tried to talk to him, but his offices were closed, and when they finally tracked him down, he refused to talk.
Most people in this small sleepy village don’t feel either Greek or Albanian.
Albanian vendor Lenin, unlike his namesake who has always been in the headlines, just sells them. He was born in a nearby Albanian village, and can trace back his roots in the area for generations.
“Greeks and Albanians are brothers. We go to each other’s houses, share our food, like one family. We have no problems here,” he says.
Like Lenin, Alket Neraxi, a Greek hotel owner, also says his ancestors were among the first in town.
 The village of Himara in Southern Albania |
“My great-great grandmother spoke only Greek, my surname doesn’t exist in Albania. So, I think I’m from the Greek island of Corfu, but I don’t have any connection to Greece today,” said Neraxi.
But that is not what the mayor believed. He said enough Greeks live in the area for it to be given special status as a Greek minority – so much so, that's he threatened Albania's desire to be accepted by the West.
“He sent a letter to the Greek parliament calling on it not to ratify the accession of Albania into NATO. This is against our constitution, and carries a penalty of up to five years,” said Genci Terpo, an Albanian lawyer.
Prosecutors have filed charges against Bollano for abuse of power, and his sentencing came as no surprise to anyone.
Despite his threats, he is not being taken seriously on either side of the border. Local journalist Besar Likmeta says Tirana purposefully treated him with kid gloves.
“Probably their thinking was that he’s just making a fuss, and the story’s going to go away. And also, they are treading very carefully with their bigger neighbour to the south, Greece,” explains Besar Likmeta, editor at the Balkan Insight edition.
In April, Albania filed for EU membership, and will want to keep Athens happy.
But the mayor of Himara, it seems, was determined to exploit that situation to his own Greek advantage.
27.04.2009, 12:04
1 comment
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My name is Vicky. I have lived in Himare and I know that 95% of the himariots are Greek. They speak Greek language and they have Greek traditions. 21 years ago, I went to light a candle with my mother in low in a very small church in Himare, which was turned in a dirty depot with sacks of cement for a construction company, and I saw the written words "Isus Hristos Nika" in the Greek language. This church who knows for how long has been there. It means that this people is Greek. Himara is a Greek city. What is reality can not be changed from Albanians, who don't know the history of this people. The street signs are there to help people and the tourists. Most of the tourists in that area are from Greece and I think it is good culture to have signs written in both languages. It means civilization. I have seen too many signs in Greece written in Greek and English.It is good help for tourists. I think Mr. Bollano is right. As a mayor of this city he is trying to help. It is ignorance to restrict the language of the majority of the people in that area.
We all know that northern Greece belongs to Albania. World very soon will learn the genocide committed by Greeks to Cameria, Albanian region (now is northern Greece). Currently the entire population of Chameria, has no rights of property and Greece has always punished them by not allowing Albanian schools, Albanian heritage, not allowing them to claim their lands or property. We are talking about thousands of Albanians in Chameria and not 50 Greeks like in village in Himare. How can 50 Albanians (tha claim are Greeks) that reside alongside 5000 Albanians in Himare say they want Greek signs etc etc. It sounds very suspicious because even though Albania does allow the 2% minority the right to have their schools etc but in return Albanian population in Northern Greece is punished and not given any right and we are talking for extremely large numbers of Albanians in Greece. The entire Cameria (the modern day norther Greece) It is also very suspicious that anyone stating they are Greeks, Greece in return pays them 300 euros a month. This is a serious propaganda and Albanian government should not fall to these provocations. Furthermore, Albania does not need to fall for Greek provocations to give something in return to Greece voting for Albanians EU membership. Albania does not need Europe, Albania has all it needs to be a very successful nation so NO TO EU if we have to sacrifice land, history, territory etc. We lost Cameria to Greece and still don't get any right so lessons are learned and mistakes should not be repeated and never will.
everybody must bow down to the awesomness of the albanians, greek is albania, zeus is albanian, serbia is albania, Fyrom is albania, Alexander the great was albanian, Bonaparte was albanian, the albanians were in europe before everybody else and knowned as the illirians kings from planet ZZORRG they are a 40 million strong nation of super warriors it is all true how do i know it because you cant prove im 100 % wrong i can always find a book or a reference that proves my point ALBANIANS FAKING HISTORY SINCE OTTOMAN ERA