Ethnic Greek mayor fights for rights in Albania.

[zefs]

Ethnic Greek mayor charged over removing road signs
Thu 29 May 2008, 15:34 GMT

[-] Text [+] By Benet Koleka

TIRANA (Reuters) - An ethnic Greek mayor in Albania has been charged for removing road signs in his area and demanding they include Greek place names, officials said on Thursday.

Sokol Malaj, the lead regional prosecutor, said Vasil Bollano had overstepped his authority and his actions disrupted traffic on a roughly 60-km (40-mile) stretch of road.

"Mr. Bollano has the right to manage the road inside his municipality, but not beyond. He issued an illegal order and damaged the signs," Malaj told Reuters by phone. The signs were written in English.

"My witnesses say he told them the signs would be put back only if they are written in Greek," Malaj added. "Someone visiting the area for the first time wouldn't know where to go."

The indictment issued by the prosecutor requested for the mayor to be tried on charges of abuse of office.

Bollano is on his third term as mayor of the western Himara region, an ethnically mixed area stretching over the southern half of Albania's coastline across from the Greek island of Corfu.

Bollano has come to symbolize the push for more rights for Albania's ethnic Greeks, especially the use of their language.

The large Himara region is mixed, with Albanian and Greek-speaking villages next to each other among rolling hills and olive groves.

Bollano told Reuters the signs bearing the words "Himara Municipality" and the emblems of the European Union and Albania, had been put up without his knowledge and in breach of the law.

"The language was not the issue, the official rules and competences were the issue," he said. "The signs were also written in English, and they could well be written in Greek. It is the municipality council that has to decide about it."

africa.reuters.com

[Peace Lover]

Originally Posted by zefs

Ethnic Greek mayor charged over removing road signs
Thu 29 May 2008, 15:34 GMT

[-] Text [+] By Benet Koleka

TIRANA (Reuters) - An ethnic Greek mayor in Albania has been charged for removing road signs in his area and demanding they include Greek place names, officials said on Thursday.

Sokol Malaj, the lead regional prosecutor, said Vasil Bollano had overstepped his authority and his actions disrupted traffic on a roughly 60-km (40-mile) stretch of road.

"Mr. Bollano has the right to manage the road inside his municipality, but not beyond. He issued an illegal order and damaged the signs," Malaj told Reuters by phone. The signs were written in English.

"My witnesses say he told them the signs would be put back only if they are written in Greek," Malaj added. "Someone visiting the area for the first time wouldn't know where to go."

The indictment issued by the prosecutor requested for the mayor to be tried on charges of abuse of office.

Bollano is on his third term as mayor of the western Himara region, an ethnically mixed area stretching over the southern half of Albania's coastline across from the Greek island of Corfu.

Bollano has come to symbolize the push for more rights for Albania's ethnic Greeks, especially the use of their language.

The large Himara region is mixed, with Albanian and Greek-speaking villages next to each other among rolling hills and olive groves.

Bollano told Reuters the signs bearing the words "Himara Municipality" and the emblems of the European Union and Albania, had been put up without his knowledge and in breach of the law.

"The language was not the issue, the official rules and competences were the issue," he said. "The signs were also written in English, and they could well be written in Greek. It is the municipality council that has to decide about it."

africa.reuters.com

Another identical thread !
So ,
1- There are no Greeks in Albania , only corrupted Vlachs . Bollanu , Dule , Soli , Pano , Pechi , Pacho , Caramelo etc. are Romanian names not Greeks !
2- In the Town of Himara the " Greeks " aren't more than 25% of the total population , in the Himara valley known as Bregdet " coast " the Greeks live only in three villages , Vuno "mountain" and two others but I don't remember them !
3- Bollanu claim Qeparo village 100% Greek , but George Tennet uncle refuse these claims :
a)Qeparo is 100% Albanian !
b)Bollanu is a "trap" !
c)The Tennet's are Vlach Albanians and not Greeks !
---------------------------------------------------
I see the Tennet's uncle interwiew about Qeparo in a very famous program in Albania in Top Channel , the program is called Shqip "Albanian" , some months before !
---------------------------------------------------
There's in Qeparo no one spokes Greek or Akrokeraounoi !

[TirAlb]

Tenet vllah?There are not many vllahs in that area,his family name is Koka (head),a common Albanian surname.So probably he is just Albanian.

[gmellos]

Originally Posted by TirAlb

Tenet vllah?There are not many vllahs in that area,his family name is Koka (head),a common Albanian surname.So probably he is just Albanian.

Oh yeah I forgot ONLY Albanians live in Albania and 75% of Greeks are Albanians too You guy are entitled to the WHOLE Balkans cause ONLY Illyrians existed!

[TirAlb]

Originally Posted by gmellos

Oh yeah I forgot ONLY Albanians live in Albania and 75% of Greeks are Albanians too You guy are entitled to the WHOLE Balkans cause ONLY Illyrians existed!

Not 75%,less,but in Himara probably more.

[gmellos]

Originally Posted by TirAlb

Not 75%,less,but in Himara probably more.

From https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/al.html
Albania Albanian 95%, Greek 3%, other 2% (Vlach, Roma (Gypsy), Serb, Macedonian, Bulgarian) (1989 est.)
note: in 1989, other estimates of the Greek population ranged from 1% (official Albanian statistics) to 12% (from a Greek organization)

according to you guys in 89 there was only 1/%

so if that is the same then 1% out of 3,619,778 equals 36197.78 Ethnic Greeks

if that Greek org is correct then 12% of 3,619,778 equals 434373.36 ethnmic Greeks

I say it is nore than likely somewhere in the middle say 6%

So I say 6% out of 3,619,778 equals 217186.68 ethnic Greeks!! take into account more than 25% to 1/2 of those Greeks have fleed Albania so it is possible we have between 108593.34 to 192890.01 Greeks living in Albania today!!!!

[TirAlb]

Originally Posted by gmellos

From https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/al.html
Albania Albanian 95%, Greek 3%, other 2% (Vlach, Roma (Gypsy), Serb, Macedonian, Bulgarian) (1989 est.)
note: in 1989, other estimates of the Greek population ranged from 1% (official Albanian statistics) to 12% (from a Greek organization)

according to you guys in 89 there was only 1/%

so if that is the same then 1% out of 3,619,778 equals 36197.78 Ethnic Greeks

if that Greek org is correct then 12% of 3,619,778 equals 434373.36 ethnmic Greeks

I say it is nore than likely somewhere in the middle say 6%

So I say 6% out of 3,619,778 equals 217186.68 ethnic Greeks!! take into account more than 25% to 1/2 of those Greeks have fleed Albania so it is possible we have between 108593.34 to 192890.01 Greeks living in Albania today!!!!

You have an Albanian official census,with names and surnames where Greeks were registred one by one and on the other side the speculations of a Greek organization,how can truth be in the middle?!1-2% thats the rate,you were about 60'000 at the time,and if you add 1500-2000 Himariots that started to declare themselves Greeks from the 90s,and the growth rate you can reach 70-75000 individuals of whom more than half today live in Greece.

[Mygdonia]

According to the Ellis Island database what is today constituted within ALbanian borders majority were self declared Greeks - you want PROOF?

[gmellos]

Originally Posted by TirAlb

You have an Albanian official census,with names and surnames where Greeks were registred one by one and on the other side the speculations of a Greek organization,how can truth be in the middle?!1-2% thats the rate,you were about 60'000 at the time,and if you add 1500-2000 Himariots that started to declare themselves Greeks from the 90s,and the growth rate you can reach 70-75000 individuals of whom more than half today live in Greece.

how can the ruth be in the middle you ask? Simple BOTH side either want to downplay the size of Greeks in Albania or bump it up! The realistic view would be some where in the middle since both sides are likely exaggerating their numbers!

Since Enver Hoxha was a extreme communist/xenophobe I'm sure his governemnt suppressed any non conforming groups i.e. Greeks. Also those estimates was made during just after his death while Albania was still communist hence more than likely wanted to suppress any non-Albanian population.