In extreme northern Greece, the Metropolitan of Dryinoupolis Pogoniani and Konitsa, His Eminence Andreas, this week referred to the recent negative developments in the Himara district, a coastal region in south-central Albania that hosts an ancient and vibrant ethnic Greek community.
Among others, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan called on the government in Athens and political parties to set aside their bickering and to focus on the problem of the illegal expropriation of lands owed by ethnic Greeks in Himara.
The Church hierarch charged that once the lands are taken by the Albanian state they are then sold-off to what he called economic oligarchs in the neighboring country, many of whom are connected with the current government in Tirana.