Albania–Greece relations

Albanian-Greek relations are foreign relations between Greece and Albania. The two countries share a history of conflict that continues to the present day.

Relations since 1992

After the fall of communism in Albania in 1992, a large number of economic refugees and immigrants from Albania (and other formerly Communist countries including Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia) arrived in Greece, mostly as illegal immigrants, to seek employment. Albanians in Greece comprise 60-65% of the total number of immigrants in Greece. According to the 2001 census, there are officially 443,550 holders of Albanian citizenship in Greece. [ [http://www.migrantsingreece.org/transpartner/Tables.pdf Greencard1998_ ResPerm2004v4correctedFINAL.xls ] ] [ [http://www.albanians.gr Albanians in Greece] ] This number does not include Albanians who avoided the census.

On the other hand there have been many minor incidents between the Greek population in Southern Albania (Northern Epirus) Albania and Albanian authorities over issues such as the alleged involvement of the Greek government in local politics, the raising of the Greek flag on Albanian territory, and the language taught in state schools of the region; however, these issues have, for the most part, been non-violent.

Today, relations have significantly improved; Greece and Albania signed a Friendship, Cooperation, Good Neighbourliness and Security Agreement on 21 March 1996. Additionally, Greece is Albania's main foreign investor, having invested more than 400 million dollars in Albania, Albania's second largest trading partner, with Greek products accounting for some 21% of Albanian imports, and 12% of Albanian exports coming to Greece, and Albania's fourth largest donor country, having provided aid amounting to 73.8 million euros. [ [http://www.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/en-US/Policy/Geographic+Regions/South-Eastern+Europe/Balkans/Bilateral+Relations/Albania/ Greek Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Bilateral relations between Greece and Albania] .] Additionally, Greece is Albania's main foreign investor, having invested more than 400 million dollars in Albania; Albania's second largest trading partner, with Greek products accounting for some 21% of Albanian imports, and 12% of Albanian exports coming to Greece; and Albania's fourth largest donor country, having provided aid amounting to 73.8 million euros. The Greek minority in Albania however, continues to suffer discrimination [Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan IdentityISBN 1850652791,by Miranda Vickers & James Pettifer, 1999, page 79.] [http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/G97,"In 1991, Greek shops were attacked in the coastal town of Saranda, home to a large minority population, and inter-ethnic relations throughout Albania worsened".] as the Albanian government has purged ethnic Greeks from appointed positions of power [Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan IdentityISBN 1850652791,by Miranda Vickers & James Pettifer, 1999,page 198,"A purge of ethnic Greeks in the professions in Albania continued in 1994, with particular emphasis on the law and the military." ] and continues to restrict [http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/G97,"the area studied was confined to the southern border fringes, and there is good reason to believe that this estimate was very low"."Under this definition, minority status was limited to those who lived in 99 villages in the southern border areas, thereby excluding important concentrations of Greek settlement in Vlora (perhaps 8000 people in 1994) and in adjoining areas along the coast, ancestral Greek towns such as Himara, and ethnic Greeks living elsewhere throughout the country. Mixed villages outside this designated zone, even those with a clear majority of ethnic Greeks, were not considered minority areas and therefore were denied any Greek-language cultural or educational provisions. In addition, many Greeks were forcibly removed from the minority zones...to other parts of the country as a product of communist population policy, an important and constant element of which was to pre-empt ethnic sources of political dissent. Greek place-names were changed to Albanian names, while use of the Greek language, prohibited everywhere outside the minority zones, was prohibited for many official purposes within them as well."] the teaching of the Greek language.

Embassies and consulates

Albania maintains an embassy in Athens and consulates in Ioannina and Thessaloniki. Greece maintains an embassy in Tirana and consulates in
Gjirokastër and Korçë.

References

ee also

*Foreign relations of Greece
*Foreign relations of Albania