sent by Demetrios Koutoulas
Προς father
Kosmas Karavellas, and akroqeravnos@yahoo.gr
I hope you are all well. I would
like to share something with all of you.
I spoke to Nick Gage, and I asked
him to discuss our issues concerning Himara and the region. He met with leaders
Vasilios Bollanos, Vangeli Doules, and Konstantina Beziani. In Greece he met
with Pyrro Dimas, and Mr Samaras.
I believe we are all united on
these issues, I along with the board of the POA will continue to fight for the
rights of Himara .
Attached is a letter from
President Nick Gage.
Dear Compatriots,
On my
recent trip to Greece and Albania, I met with leaders of both countries and
moved to promote he issues of most concern to the Greek minority in Albania
with the help of Vice President Menelaos Tzelios, who was with me in Tirana. We
went to the Albanian capitol for the consecration of the magnificent new
cathedral, the Ressurection of Christ. We were invited because POA was
instrumental in persuading the Albanian government to give land in the main
square of Tirana for the cathedral and we seized the opportunity to meet with
Albanian and Greek minority leaders who were also in attendance. In
conversations with Vasilis Bolanos, the president of Omonia, and Vangelis
Doules, the president of the Human Rights Party and vice president of the
Albanian Parliament, and Konstantina Beziani, who heads the office for
minorities, we learned that the two most important issues for the Greek
minority are the efforts of Tirana to join the region of Chimara dominated
by ethnic Greeks with an adjacent predominatly Moslem region so that ethnic
Greeks would never be able to elect officials in the area in upcoming elections
and the unwillingness of Albanian leaders to enact a framework law "on the
protection of minority rights" as other European governments have done that
will greatly improve the lives of ethnic Greeks and all other minorities in
Albania. (Albanian newspapers published pictures of me standing next to
Bolanos in the cathedral and wrote lurid front page articles with big, bold
headlines about my presence in Tirana. The articles bore no resemblance to
reality but showed how much Albanian nationalists fear the effectiveness of
POA).
In our
talks with the minority leaders we agreed to work together and speak with one
voice on these two crucial issues, Bolanos, Doules and Beziani focusing on
Albania and we focusing on Washington and Brussels through the World Council
of Epirotes Abroad (WCEA). On Greece, we agreed to divide our efforts with
Mr. Doules pressing the issues with Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and me
informing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, which I did. I also talked with
Pyrros Dimas, who is a leading member of the Greek Parliament, and he agreed to
meet with his party's leader, FM Venizelos, to urge him to take up the two
issues with Albanian leaders.
Last
night, I met with Chris Dimou, the WCEA president, and he promised to press the
issues with key figures in the European Union. As the WCEA includes Epirotes
living in Europe, it has the right to bring issues before the European Union,
which POA cannot do as an American organization.
As you
can see we are operating on all fronts with POA leading the charge in the U.S.
I have already made one visit to Washington and will go again next Monday to
see Congressmen and State Department officials. If anyone from the board wants
to join me, please let me know and please inform me, George Nanis, Jimmy
Koutoulas, or Chris Dimou if you plan to attend the WCEA convention in Ioannina
from July 24 to 27.
Have a
great summer and I hope to see you all in Ioannina.
Warmest
regards,
Nicholas
Gage
POA
President
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