On the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, Greece’s Ambassador to Tirana made a demarche to the Albanian Foreign Ministry, asking that the Albanian authorities condemn the incidents that occurred in the village of Dervican against members the Greek National Minority of Albania following the suspension of the Serbia-Albania football match.
Ambassador Rokanas also requested that all the necessary measures be taken to find, arrest and punish those who carried out the unprovoked attack, as well as to protect the Greek National Minority ahead of the upcoming events in celebration of the 28 October anniversary.
The Greek Ambassador conveyed Greece’s strong concern at similar attacks that target the peaceable Greek National Minority and pose an obstacle to the country’s European perspective, which is weakened and certainly not strengthened by extremist conduct and nationalistic flare-ups that awaken memories of a Balkan past that all the countries of the region must abandon, to the benefit of the region’s common European future.
Finally, Greece’s Consul General in Gjirokaster made corresponding representations to the local authorities.
October 17, 2014