Northern Epirus

The Greek Foreign Ministry has condemned the destruction of a monument dedicated to early 20th-century warrior chief Thymios Liolis in the village of Krania in southern Albania.
"Provocations against the ethnic Greek minority and, ultimately, against Greek-Alabnian relations, must be immediately investigated," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mayor of Tepelena Termet Peci (centre) addressing supporters in the Church of St Nicolas in the village of Lekel. Photo: Termet Peci Facebook

"The use of sacred churches for political activity insults religious and institutional feelings," a statement issued on Monday reads.

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his support on Friday for the rights of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania in a meeting with its representatives in Athens.

Mitsotakis said that Albania needs to respect their property rights and abolish the so-called "minority zones," to improve its relations with Greece and make progress in opening accession talks with the EU.

Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos on Monday warned that Greece will take legal recourse if the interests of ethnic Greeks in Albania are in "any way" compromised, following a decision by Albanian authorities to remove bilingual signposts from ethnic Greek villages in the area of Finiki.

Less than a week after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras warned Albania that Tirana's moves to seize seaside properties of members of the Greek minority in the city of Himara will hinder Tirana's EU course, Tsipras discussed the issue in a telephone conversation with his Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, today.

Bidding to defuse recent tensions, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke on the phone with his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama on Thursday, in the wake of last week's bilateral crisis sparked by a call published in the Albanian government gazette for the seizure of properties belonging to members of the ethnic Greek minority in the town of Himara.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reacted strongly to a move by the Albanian government of Edi Rama to effectively expropriate large tracts of prime seaside properties owned by members of the Greek minority in the upscale coastline town of Himara and neighbouring Sarande.

With bilateral relations still hurting following the killing of an ethnic Greek man by police in Albania in October, Greece's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned a decision by Albanian authorities to confiscate property belonging to ethnic Greek families in the south of the country.

Twelve Greeks detained on Thursday by Albanian authorities at a police station in the town of Gjirokaster before the funeral of an ethnic Greek were released early Friday morning, state-run news agency ANA-MPA said.

Several hundred Greeks, some of them holding anti-Albanian and anti-Macedonian insignia, attended the funeral of Kostandinos Kacifa on Thursday in the village of Bularat in southern Albania, hailing him a national hero.

Media reported that several buses and other vehicles traveled from different towns and cities in Greece across the border to Albania.