FOREIGN AFFAIRS - RELATIONS WITH ALBANIA


Images from Albania A.SYRIGOS (issue XXXIX)
The vlach-speakers of Korytsa and the Albanian elections A. MITSOPOULOS (issue XXXVI)
Kalashnikov democracy in Albania K.I.HATZIDAKIS (issue XXXIV)
A new approach to the Albanian elections C. HOLEVAS (issue XXXIV)
The era of Change and the wisdom of the Ancient (Chinese) S.VRETOS (issue XXXIII)
Four questions -four answers about the events in Albania Ch.LAZARIDES (issue XXXIII)
Some peace is needed in «Omonia» A. SYRIGOS (issue XXXIII)
The Near Abroad and Politics A.D.PAPAYANNIDES (issue XXXII)
A different reading of Greek-Albanian relations A.SYRIGOS (issue XXXII)
Albania as a «new Bosnia»? Not impossible Th. MITSOU (issue XXVI)
Albania and military presence A.SYRIGOS (issue XXI)
Teachings of international practice and the Greek impasse Ch.LAZARIDIS (issue XX)
Radical change must come to Albania before the elections Y.DIMITRIADIS (issue XX)
Of gangs and policemen in Albania A.SYRIGOS (issue XX)
Where are they those invading Albanians? EPHIALTES (issue ×IX)
Albania: new opportunities or new temptations? Ed. (issue XVÉÉI)
The uprising of the Albanian South and the antonomy demands Y.DIMITRIADIS (issue XVÉÉI)
Greece, a country with no strategy Ch.LAZARIDIS (issue XVÉÉI)
Artificial States burn beautifully C.HOLEVAS (issue XVIII)
Midnight strikes for Albania R.PESHQEPIA (issue XVÉÉ)
Albania: a case of multiple collapses C.HOLEVAS (issue XVÉÉ)


ISSUE ×XXIX

Images from Albania

A.SYRIGOS

The Greek Foreign Affairs Minister and his Albanian counterpart sign in front of the TV cameras an agreement concerning migrants and work permits: the agreement had been already signed months ago, also ratified by Parliament; so the signature was just for the benefit of TV audiences. In the border regions, police detachments look for illegal immigrants, even using helicopters; but the flow of illegals continues undiminished. Visas for Greece are changing hands at considerable cost to prospective migrants, while the Greek consular authorities know nothing of the matter. Albanians hear Greek music, they build in the same anarchic way of post-War Greece. Such are the images from today’s Albania.

ISSUE ×XXVI

The vlach-speakers of Korytsa and the Albanian elections

A. MITSOPOULOS

The interesting showing of the vlach-speaking, Greek-extraction minority at the polls of the recent Albanian elections bring to the fore the fate of their ethnic group, which has resisted efforts at assimilation from Romania, the Catholic hierarchy or even Caritas to try and keep its own identity.

ISSUE ×XXIV

Kalashnikov democracy in Albania

K.I.HATZIDAKIS

The immediate experience of a Euro-MP who has been an observer to the recent elections in Albania speaks of a country that is in disarray, of the collapse of law and the rule of gangs armed (as most Albanians are) with Kalashnikovs. But the elections have been to a large extent fair, at least for a country where most people proceed to "family voting".

As to the electoral results, the victory of the Socialists should not mask the fact that Sali Berisha's Democratic Party remains quite strong, while there has been also strong support for the monarchy. Albanians are now expecting miracles from the Fatos Nano Government and any disappointment may prove politically fatal for him. The Greek minority has not been successful in getting important representation: this is due to internal discord, to the low level of electoral participation of emigrants who work in Greece - but also to ill advised and ever-changing policy that Athens has been applying to Greek - Abanian relations.

A new approach to the Albanian elections

C. HOLEVAS

It is not so easy to find the winners of the recent elections in Albania. The Socialists of Fatos Nano have secured almost 2/3 of the seats in Parliament (along with their allies), but they are tainted by their having governed along with the Democrats of Sali Berisha in the caretaker government of the last 3 months and they now have to perform up to the expectations of the victims of the collapsed "pyramid" savings schemes, of the South insurrection Commandantes etc. Greek-speaking and Vlach-speaking Greek minority elements have not been as unsuccessful in the polls as many are too ready to accept: but for the minority to earn better conditions, Greece should exert pressure to the new Albanian Government.

ISSUE ×XXIII

The era of Change and the wisdom of the Ancient (Chinese)

S.VRETOS

These are days of change throughout the world: Hong Kong has reverted to (mainland) Chinese sovereignty and the experiment «one country, two systems» starts for good; Turkey has lost its Islamist -controlled government and tries once more a Kemalist approach; Greek-Turkish relations have taken a new dip; the Berisha years seem to have ended in Albania where the Socialists of Fatos Nano try to keep the country together. In Greece, the unthinkable has happened: entrepreneur Sokratis Kokkalis has thrown a salvo against Industry Minister Vasso Papandreou who was supposed to be quite close to his business strategy. In a more routine move, P.M. Costas Simitis has once more espoused a left-sounding language stating that «casino capitalism threatens the very democratic core of society».

An era of change, indeed. But Chinese wisdom teaches that truth is not always what is visible.

Four questions -four answers about the events in Albania

Ch.LAZARIDES

Recent elections and electoral results in Albania - the setback for Sali Berisha and the victory of Fatos Nanos Socialists - have been largely misunderstood by Greek foreign policy. It is true that a period of crisis has ended in Albania: but the armed North may prove now as dangerous for Mr Nano, as the armed South has been for Mr. Berisha. It is also true that Athens has recently favoured the Socialists, but earlier it has been a staunch supporter of Sali Berisha´memories run long in Albania.

The poor electoral showing of the Human Rights Union where much of Northern-Epirus supporters had given their allegiance has made many people wonder whether the minority would not be better off in the mainstream Albanian parties. This approach is wrong: it is the politics of Athens that has brought discard to the minority. The minority should be helped without any tendency to exercise political control over it. Whatever senario proves true in after-election Albania, the Souths economic integration to the Greek economy will remain a fact. Athens should be wiser in its diplomatic moves than it had been when it kept supporting Sali Berisha during the early phases of the insurrection in the South, so as not to block the spontaneous trends that are favourable to Greek elements.

Some peace is needed in «Omonia»

A. SYRIGOS

The «Omonia» political organisation that was formed in early 1991 by Greek minority elements in Albania has suffered from the shortsightedness of Athens diplomacy and also from internal quarrels and dissent over the immediate and longer-range goals of the organisation. In the May 1996 elections, many of the minority voters had preferred to cast their vote for mianstream Albanian parties (mainly the Socialists); when most Opposition parties denounced the «Berisha elections», Omonia politicians were split over the stance that should be kept. Under such circumstances, nobody should be surprised with the bad showing of Omonia -sponsored candidates in the latest elections. Now the problem is how to change course and rehabilitate the credibility of Omonia.

ISSUE XXXII

The Near Abroad and Politics

A.D.PAPAYANNIDES

Elections in nearby Albania proceeding amid armed bands and insurrection remind to Greeks that they live in a Balkan setting - even if their Government manages to invite a quorum of European Socialist leaders to spread the Gospel of a socially - sensitive course to EMU and the common currency.

Meanwhile, and while Greece tries to face the major issues of its foreign policy, all the main actors have to understand an essential point: at every point of time, the policy devised must take into account the exact equilibrium created by all previous policy moves. It may seem evident, but this is an aspect that is often missed by most policy- makers who stand by old precepts and react on the basis of old reflexes.

A different reading of Greek-Albanian relations

A.SYRIGOS

Some months ago, there had been a wave of Albanian Mafia attacks against boats at the Ionian Sea followed by shootings etc: at some point, even a small warship was taken (to be returned later after an undisclosed behind-the-scenes deal with the perpetrators). At some time, the Greek Navy got tired of this situation and started to shoot back, blasting a fast boat of the Albanian Mafia out of the water. Sure enough, the attacks of the mafiosi soon afterwards showed a marked decline.

ISSUE XXVI

Albania as a «new Bosnia»? Not impossible

Th. MITSOU

In a discussion of An. Mitsopoulos with Human Rights Union M.P. Thomas Mitsou, the normalisation perspectives of Albania are deemed slight. The North-South rift has not been surpassed, disarming of citizens has not really progressed; the elections planned will certainly take place under explosive conditions. Greece should have actively demanded to be allowed to station its military detachment of the multinational force in Albania to the South, so as to provide direct support to its minority: Romania has been stationing its own force in the South where it is actively trying to enlist Vlachs.

ISSUE XXI

Albania and military presence

A.SYRIGOS

Participation of a Greek military detachment to the peace-keeping force that will be operating within three weeks in Albania has been full of hesitations. The peace-keeping force has started with several handicaps: Italian participation brings along past colonial memories and fears of economic neo- colonialism, while the overall approval of the population should not be considered as granted. Planning for the stationing of the Greek force started with Tirana - that is with a region clearly away from the South where the Greek minority and Greek interests are implanted. Later on, there was talk of stationing the Greek force in Tirana, but letting it operate in Vlora and Girokaster. The peace - keeping operations will clearly be a complicated matter.

ISSUE XX

Teachings of international practice and the Greek impasse

Ch.LAZARIDIS

Two schools of thought ruled international relations in the Fifties and the Sixties, as to policy to be followed against authoritarian Third World regimes. The one was conservative and was using arguments of international stability, the other liberal and was using long-term control arguments. The synthesis of these theories came from an unexpected source: Ronald Reagan applied a tough stance against the Soviet Union, but managed to push Latin American dictatorships to effective democratisation.

Meanwhile, during the Sixties and the Seventies, the Ostpolitik doctrine of economic penetration instead of military force projection failed to make permanent headway in Europe. It was Chancellor Kohl who established a new synthesis of equal economic and political presence, having accepted that an imbalance of such factors only leads to weakness.

While these teachings of international practice are well-know, Greek foreign policy has accepted to be led from impasse to impasse by its nervous reactions. Greece thought that to support instable regimes (as in Albania and in the FYROM) was «security strategy»; that «economic penetration» could work in a region where total loss of assets is probable (as in Albania) and where «pyramid» investment schemes can collapse in a matter of days. All in all, while Greece belongs to Europe it tends to behave as if it were a Balkan statelet.

Radical change must come to Albania before the elections

Y.DIMITRIADIS

The Secretary General of the Albanian Socialist Party Petro Cotzi expresses in an interview to Samizdat the view that elections should not take place in Albania unless the social situation is normalised. But foreign armed intervention to that effect is a means that should be used with great caution, if negative side- effects are to be avoided from a sensitive and increasingly nervous population.

Of gangs and policemen in Albania

A.SYRIGOS

There is a tradition in Albania to award to dynamic elements that at some point are presented as gangs the very task of policing and keeping the peace in times of turmoil. This is what the Baskim Fino government is doing right now, so as to get a grip on the anarchic situation prevailing in the country. The main problem now is how to disarm the population in time for the parliamentary elections to have a meaning; also how to give some effective help to Albanians who have lost their shirt with the collapse of the "pyramid" investment schemes.

ISSUE XIX

Where are they those invading Albanians?

EPHIALTES

Greece has had recently a tendency to exaggerate its role in the Balkan countries. While the self-image has been projected of Greece being the main attractive power for Albanians fleeing civil war and misery, in fact the wave of migrants was directed to Italian shores rather than Greek borders. And whatever political influence has been exercised in the Albanian crisis has not been the fact of Athens. Maybe Greece should accept that, after all, its importance is lesser than its thinks.

ISSUE XVÉÉÉ

Albania: new opportunities or new temptations?

Ed.

The Albanian issue is very important for Greece; still, its foreign policy apparatus has been quite timid as of lately, after earlier misguided hyperactivity. Since the traditional poles of the international system try to stay away from a potential Albanian morass, they nudge their regional partners (Greece, Italy) towards peace-keeping intervention so as to stabilise the situation in Albania; this might prove too much of a temptation for Greece to resist.

The uprising of the Albanian South and the antonomy demands

Y.DIMITRIADIS

Greece has applied a strange foreign policy against Albania, sticking with the falling Berisha regime to the point that it has made its own minority unpleasant to the insurgent South Albanians who had expected the minority would join them in their uprising against Berisha. Meanwhile, the revolt in the South has been gaining speed and autonomy demands are being voiced regularly-with the Greek minority in a marginalised role. Thus, while the uprising in the South is (and will be) attributed in a large measure to the Greek minority, in fact the Greek authorities have tried all along to distance themselves even from actions of humanitarian support to the minority - which feels biteer and left out in the cold.

Greece, a country with no strategy

Ch.LAZARIDIS

Greek foreign policy when faced with the Albanian problem has constantly been one step behind the events as they were unfolding in the nearby country. At the same time, Italy was taking initiatives to the point of negotiating with individual cities of the South so as to avoid a spillover of the refugee problem across the Adriatic. As things have been left to rot, the only real solution is for Greece to propose _ in close consultation with her European and Atlantic partners _ a security zone in the South of Albania. Such a zone should be declared as a temporary measure and run in close co-operation with other States, such as Italy, as well as with international and E.U. bodies and institutions.

Artificial States burn beautifully

C.HOLEVAS

One interesting aspect of the Albanian meltdown is that the unitary character of Albania has been revealed a fiction. Albania cracks under the strain of its own artificiality - North and South are radically different and, once the violence that kept them together has vanished, drift once more apart.

The same thing happened to Coat-Muslim Bosnia, the same goes for the FYROM; what with be the future of the major multiracial entity of the region that has been portraying ifself as a unitary State, i.e. Turkey?

ISSUE XVÉÉ

Midnight strikes for Albania

R.PESHQEPIA

Is it revolution or mob rule that we are witnessing in Albania? The real answer is «a little of each»; the Albanian uprising has economic roots (the savings lost in the collapsed «pyramid» schemes), political objectives (the downfall of the Berisha regime that has been establishing a totalitarian rule after the May 1996 elections), even criminal motives (looting used as compensation for the losses in «pyramid» schemes)..

The Berisha regime has all the trapping of an authoritarian system. The support that the West has been affording to Berisha emboldened him in that direction-especially so the fact that the electoral parody of 1996 has been largely condoned by western European countries that look at Albania with colonial condescendence. The uprising happened mainly in the Sout. One reason is that the South is more open and affluent and thus has lost far more in the «pyramid» schemes; another is that Sali Berisha and his cadre of supporters (but also most of the secret police) come from the North. These parameters make almost incoprehensible the position of the Greek Government towards the Berisha regime, a position of overall tolerance if not of support - that has not successful been in gaining some better treatment for the Greek minority in Albania.

Albania: a case of multiple collapses

C.HOLEVAS

The collapse of the political, social and financial system of post-communist Albania has brought along the collapse of several myths. Greece has accepted the electoral mischief of Berisha at the May 1996 elections, thinking that U.S. and E.U. approval would keep him undisputed in power - but his own people have condemned him. The notion of economic diplomacy has proved useless in a Balkan setting, while the European card has proved inexistant. Last but not least, the composite, non-unitary character of the Albanian State has been revealed: the financial collapse has brought to the surface the deep rift between North and South, a rift that is still widening.

Greece should enforce a more dynamic policy towards Albania. It should militate for democratic principles and human rights, all along demanding fair treatment for the Greek minority. The end result should be free elections. It should ask for financial help to Albania on the part of the E.U. , as well as for a E.U. pacification force to be sent. Greece should make it also clear that any menace to its minority will be met by all necessary measures.