On Friday, 25th January 2002, at 12:30 noon, representatives of the Heimarriots' League along with 12 children from Heimarra, standing for the 12 villages of Heimarra, assembled at the Herod Atticus St. and Queen Sofia Av. junction, protesting for the encroachment of their real estate property by the Albanian state and claiming the operation of Greek schools in Heimarra and the rest of Northern Epirus. Unfortunately the Greek police didn't allow, even the children, to move towards the Prime Minister's Megaro Maximou (Maximus Mansion) and disturb the "cookings" of Simitis-Papandreou with their Albanian opposite numbers, which are expected not to include once again the satisfaction of the fair claims of the Hellenism of Albania. On behalf of the Hellenic Front, Panayotis Doumas, the Communication Head, was present at the protest.
Earlier, at 11:45, the Chairman of the Heimarriots' League had delivered to the Embassy of Albania the following resolution for Ilir Meta, the Prime Minister of Albania.
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Living temporarily in Greece To the Prime Minister of Albania Ilir Meta Mr Prime Minister, We and hundreds of thousands other Albanian citizens of Greek nationality living temporarily in Greece, which you visit and gives us the opportunity of living a more decent life, will one day return to our cities and villages. Your visit to Greece, gives us the opportunity of raising two important issues which trouble the people of Heimarra. They are the issues of property (private, communal and church) and education. REAL ESTATE PROPERTY: RETURN IT TO THE OLD OWNERS. Private property: For many centuries Heimarra was a region with special privileges and a distinct charater. This is something well-known both in Albania and Greece. In murky periods, our land had its own democratic self-government system, in which everything went through the judgement of Heimarriots and the elders. The only era when this system didn't function was the Hoxha communist dictatorship. When at the dawn of the 1990's we were set free, we restored our ancient communal institutions. According to the Albanian law 7501 of 1992, it was decided that the co-operatives' farms would be equally divided among the population. The people of Heimarra decided that such a division would be unfair and level them down. Putting into practice our democratic communal institutions, we decided differently. A home-to-home referendum was conducted and it was decided that each would get what his family had before 1946, when the communist land reform took place. Since then the property status is fluid and the government official sometimes tolerate and sometimes raise problems with this situation. We ask from you to take a bold decision. Recognize the unanimous decision of the people of Heimarra and return the property to those who the Hoxha regime stole them from in 1946-1957. The issue is not so important for you. However it is vital for us, since it is about the land of our forefathers and the future of our children. Communal property: There was never in Heimarra before 1946 state land. All the property which was not in the hands of the Heimarriots belonged to our communities. During the last years it has been attempted to snatch the communal property and turn it over to private companies which lust after the beautiful beaches of Heimarra. Mr Prime Minister, let us make it clear. There was not an inch of state land in Heimarra before 1946. The communal property is the only sound way to develop our land and its exploitation belongs solely to our communities. Church property: Everybody knows which is the church and monastery property in the area. The people of Heimarra respect it. We ask from the government to respect it too and restore the true owner, the church, so that we can rebuild our churches and monasteries. We ask from the State Commission for the Return of the Real Estate Property to give its attention to the case of Heimarra and solve all these property issues. EDUCATION: RECOGNIZE THE REALITY. ENFORCE THE INTERNATIONAL LAW. The province of Heimarra, as it was recognized by the O.S.C.E. in its latest report for the 2000 local elections, is inhabited by ethnic Greeks. For this reason, we claim the enforcement of the internationally recognized minority rights. As a gesture of good will we claim the immediate re-operation of the Greek schools in the province. Your government continuously denies to enforce the international law, despite the relevant demands by parents every year. Your attitude violates our right to be taught our mother language and is in contrast with the international and European law, as well as the Hague International Court decision in 1935. Mr Prime Minister, At last decide! On the real estate property case, you insist on strictly enforcing a law, ostentatiously ignoring the will of people of Heimarra. On the education case, you insist for years on ignoring the international law, ostentatiously ignoring again the will of people of Heimarra. In both cases the only constant is that we, the Heimarriots, appear to be second-class citizens, as we had been for so many years under the Hoxha regime. Correct the situation with bold decisions and it is certain that tranquillity will be restored in Heimarra and the Greek-Albanian relations will profit a great deal. Athens, 25th January 2002 |