Greek minority to the Albanian government… GET ROOTED!
______________________________
The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania stated that the official census figures from 2011 in Albania are unacceptable and unrealistic. The Democratic Union of the Greek Minority (Omonoia) asked the Albanian government and the international community not to accept the published results. Omonoia believes that the results were falsified to the detriment of ethnic Greeks and other Orthodox minorities such as Macedonians and Montenegrins. The Church announced that it’d release an official statement signed by Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos of Tirana and all Albania. Omonoia has announced that it’d carry out a parallel census in order to prove that the released results aren’t genuine.
According to the official census, Albania has a population of 2.8 million. It claimed that there are 24,360 Greeks (0.54 percent of the population), whilst Greek is a mother tongue of only 0.15 percent of the citizens. Media and certain officials claim that there are 300,000 Greeks in Albania. The information that there are 8,000 Roma and Cincars in Albania is under question as well. The census claims that 98.7 percent of the population speaks Albanian as their mother tongue. Greek media sources believe that the Albanian census isn’t truthful. Albanian political parties welcomed the results of the census, claiming that they “unmasked the pretensions and chauvinistic manners of Athens and its servants”.
16 December 2012
B92
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=12&dd=16&nav_id=83690
Editor’s Note:
Albania has the most kleptocratic junta in Europe, let alone the Balkans. Yet, the USA supports it to the max, and the Americans use it to undermine the position of Serbia in the region. This is a case where Orthodox Christians MUST oppose the American government and media punditocracy… our confrères in the Orthosphere are under American attack (mostly political, but its boiled over into military action at times).
The Albanian census is a joke. Friends tell me that the Albanians only counted the Greek-born as “Greeks”, whilst it counted Albanian-born ethnic Greeks as “Albanian”. In short, its typical Balkan legerdemain, but Albania’s going to get away with it, as it’s the most-dependable American ally in the area. The Americans don’t care that the Albanian government’s thoroughly-corrupt and that most Albanians live in crushing poverty… Albania supports their designs on the Balkans, and that’s that.
By the way, the Church of Albania has 909 parishes… that means that if the Albanian government’s figures were correct, each parish would have less than 30 members! That’s certainly true of many OCA konvertsy conventicles, but it’s not true elsewhere in the Orthosphere (and Albania’s no exception). I think that the estimate of 300,000 Greeks/Orthodox (the two groups overlap, by and large) is the best figure that we’ll have (it gives 335 believers/parish, a credible number).
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Church and Ethnic Greeks Reject Results of Albanian Census
Tags: Albania, Albanian government, Albanians, Balkan, Cincars, EU, European Union, Greece, Greek, Greek Orthodox, Macedonians (modern), Montenegrins, political commentary, politics, Politics of Albania, Roma, Serbia, Tirana
Greek minority to the Albanian government… GET ROOTED!
______________________________
The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania stated that the official census figures from 2011 in Albania are unacceptable and unrealistic. The Democratic Union of the Greek Minority (Omonoia) asked the Albanian government and the international community not to accept the published results. Omonoia believes that the results were falsified to the detriment of ethnic Greeks and other Orthodox minorities such as Macedonians and Montenegrins. The Church announced that it’d release an official statement signed by Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos of Tirana and all Albania. Omonoia has announced that it’d carry out a parallel census in order to prove that the released results aren’t genuine.
According to the official census, Albania has a population of 2.8 million. It claimed that there are 24,360 Greeks (0.54 percent of the population), whilst Greek is a mother tongue of only 0.15 percent of the citizens. Media and certain officials claim that there are 300,000 Greeks in Albania. The information that there are 8,000 Roma and Cincars in Albania is under question as well. The census claims that 98.7 percent of the population speaks Albanian as their mother tongue. Greek media sources believe that the Albanian census isn’t truthful. Albanian political parties welcomed the results of the census, claiming that they “unmasked the pretensions and chauvinistic manners of Athens and its servants”.
16 December 2012
B92
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=12&dd=16&nav_id=83690
Editor’s Note:
Albania has the most kleptocratic junta in Europe, let alone the Balkans. Yet, the USA supports it to the max, and the Americans use it to undermine the position of Serbia in the region. This is a case where Orthodox Christians MUST oppose the American government and media punditocracy… our confrères in the Orthosphere are under American attack (mostly political, but its boiled over into military action at times).
The Albanian census is a joke. Friends tell me that the Albanians only counted the Greek-born as “Greeks”, whilst it counted Albanian-born ethnic Greeks as “Albanian”. In short, its typical Balkan legerdemain, but Albania’s going to get away with it, as it’s the most-dependable American ally in the area. The Americans don’t care that the Albanian government’s thoroughly-corrupt and that most Albanians live in crushing poverty… Albania supports their designs on the Balkans, and that’s that.
By the way, the Church of Albania has 909 parishes… that means that if the Albanian government’s figures were correct, each parish would have less than 30 members! That’s certainly true of many OCA konvertsy conventicles, but it’s not true elsewhere in the Orthosphere (and Albania’s no exception). I think that the estimate of 300,000 Greeks/Orthodox (the two groups overlap, by and large) is the best figure that we’ll have (it gives 335 believers/parish, a credible number).
BMD