Greeks in Albania

The following year, Greeks revolted and declared their independence, and with the following Protocol of Corfu the area was recognised as an autonomous region under nominal Albanian sovereignty.

[32] The Greek minority in Albania is located mostly compactly, within the wider Gjirokastër and Sarandë regions[33][34][35][36] and in four settlements within the coastal Himarë area[33][34][35][36][37] where they form an overall majority population.

[36] Outside the area defined as Northern Epirus, two coastal Greek speaking villages exist near Vlorë; Nartë and Zvërnec.

Omonoia was banned in the parliamentary elections of March 1991, because it violated the Albanian law which forbade 'formation of parties on a religious, ethnic and regional basis'.

[a] In more recent years, tensions have surrounded the participation of candidates of the Unity for Human Rights Party in Albanian elections.

In 2000, the Albanian municipal elections were criticised by international human rights groups for "serious irregularities" reported to have been directed against ethnic Greek candidates and parties.

Vasilis Bolanos was re-elected mayor of the southern town of Himarë despite the governing and opposition Albanian parties fielding a combined candidate against him.

[72] In 2019 the candidacy of the representative of Omonoia, Fredis Beleris was rejected by the Albanian authorities due to a three-year conviction in the past.

[78] A special ID card for ethnic Greeks from Albania was issued in 2001 which was received by 189,000 individuals who resided in Greece at the time.

Another issue with the special ID card had to do with ethnic Albanians using fake documents which presented them as members of the Greek minority to obtain it.

[17] A number of Northern Epirotes have migrated since the late 19th century to the Americas, and are generally integrated in the local Greek-American communities.

[2] Northern Epirotes also emigrated to Australia, where they are active in raising political issues related to their motherland and the rights of the Greek populations still living there.

[29] Though Northern Epirote is a southern dialect, it is located far north of the reduced unstressed vowel system isogloss with the archaic disyllabic -ea.

[84] The local Greek dialects (especially the idioms of Chimariotic and the Argyrokastritic) are a more conservative Greek idiom (similarly to that spoken in the Mani peninsula in Greece, and the Griko language of Apulia in Italy),[86] because they were spoken by populations living under virtual autonomy during Ottoman rule due to the rugged nature of the region.

Singers from the Pogon region (as well as in the Greek part of Upper Pogoni) perform a style of polyphony that is characterized by a pentatonic structure, and also appears in the music of nearby Albanian and Aromanian populations.

[89] Another type of polyphonic singing in the region seems to have features in common with the lament songs (Greek: Μοιρολόγια) sung in some parts of Greece.

[91] In recent years there has been a growing interest in polyphonic music from this region, most notably by the musician Kostas Lolis, born near Sopik in Albania but now lives in Ioannina, in Greece.

Greek-Orthodox missionary Cosmas of Aetolia traveled across much of Southern Albania in a mission to preserve the Orthodox faith there, and was executed as a Russian agent in the process.

[99] This campaign was also part of the state persecution against the identity of the Greek people; as many of their traditions were closely related to Eastern Christianity.

[102] During the first period of Ottoman occupation, illiteracy was a main characteristic of the wider Balkan region, but contrary to that situation, Epirus was not negatively affected.

The spiritual and ethnic contribution of the monastery schools in Epirus such as Katsimani (near Butrint), Drianou (in Droviani), Kamenas (in Delvina) and St. Athanasios in Poliçani (13th-17th century) was significant.

[2] The most important impetus for the creation of schools and the development of Greek education was given by the Orthodox missionary Cosmas of Aetolia together with the Aromanian Nektarios Terpos from Moscopole.

[2] In the late 19th century, the wealthy banker Christakis Zografos founded the Zographeion College in his hometown of Qestorat, in the region of Lunxhëri.

[32][108] During the years of the communist regime, Greek education was also limited to the so-called "minority zone", and even then pupils were taught only Albanian history and culture at the primary level.

[110] One of the major issues between the Albanian government and the Greek minority in Albania is that of education and the need for more Greek-language schools, due to overcrowded classrooms and unfulfilled demand.

[108] The Zappas brothers, Evangelos and Konstantinos, endowed Athens with an ancient Greek-style marble stadium (the Kallimarmaro) that has hosted Olympic Games in 1870,[115] 1875, 1896, 1906 and 2004, and the Zappeion exhibition center.

[2] Christakis Zografos in the Ottoman capital offered vast amounts of money for the establishments of two Greek schools (one for boys, known as Zographeion Lyceum, as well as one for girls), and a hospital.

[118] The Chair of Omonoia called for the autonomy of Northern Epirus in 1991, on the basis that the rights of the minority under the Albanian constitution were highly precarious.

[117] Omonoia was banned from the parliamentary elections of March 1991 on the grounds that it violated an Albanian law forbidding the "formation of parties on a religious, ethnic and regional basis".

Four of the five ethnic Greek members of Omonoia stated that, during their detention, authorities subjected them to physical and psychological pressure, including beatings, sleep deprivation, and threats of torture.