Greeks in Albania Need More Rights! (ya right)

This is a very interesting article about the plight of the Greek minority in Albania with comments on the Cham/Albanian minority in Greece. I do not want to get to obvious in my analysis of this situation in comparing it to the plight of ethnic Macedonians in Greece, because what really interests me in not what is happening in the Balkans, but how the politicians in Washington react to these issues. I predict that the members of the Greek Issues Caucus will champion the rights of the Greeks in Albania, but ignore the rights of the Cham Albanians in Greece. The is the nut that is hard to crack. How can politicians in Washington promote human rights throughout the Balkans without picking and choosing? Because of this, the Greek Issues Caucus is one of the main forces of destabilization in the Balkans today. What Washington needs to do, pronto, is form a "Balkan Issues Caucus.


Security and Politics in Albania: A Limitation of Civil Liberties?:
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"Today, the small Greek community in Albania remains fearful that its prominent members (politicians, journalists, NGO members, lawyers etc) could yet again become subjects of state ‘attention.’ According to Albanian media sources, the Albanian secret service is currently monitoring members of the Greek community because of their statements on the “North Epirus issue.” The border provinces between the two countries are referred to separately as “Epiros” by Greeks and “Chameria” by Albanians; both states claim historic and cultural contiguity upon the cross-border terrain.

The demands of the Greek minority members in Albania which are today causing concern with the Albanian authorities include having more say in the communal affairs and seeking ties with their brethren in Greece. According to statistics and unofficial estimations, some 2-10 percent of the Albanian population has Greek ancestry and the overall controversy around “North Epirus” is interrelated with the overall democratic process in the post-communist Albania.

A relatively recent strain in relations between both states occurred on November 1, 2005, when Greek President Karolos Papoulias left in haste from an official visit to Albania, when an event s"