Rama theatrics with ethnic Greek properties

In what was seen purely as a public relations stunt, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama visited the ethnic Greek town of Himare on Friday to announce the restitution of some 400 titles to houses in the area to residents who have been suing the Albanian state for more than 30 years.

Rama's visit had a reconciliatory character with the local community, which in the last year, due to the case of the imprisonment of the elected mayor of Himare, Fredi Beleri, has often found itself at loggerheads with the state apparatus. Besides, the Beleri case itself has been perceived not only on a narrowly Greek-Albanian level, but more broadly, as a fierce internal war over the "land plots" of Himare, which is in a privileged location on the so-called Albanian Riviera.

However, in his charm offensive on Friday, Rama failed to mention that the approximately 400 titles which he promised...