PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS ADDRESSED GREEK EMIGRANTS IN BELGIUM Athens, 4 February 2005 (16:00 UTC+2)
Hellenic Republic President Kostis Stephanopoulos addressed Greek emigrants during the last day of his visit to Belgium.
Mr. Stephanopoulos was deeply moved when he referred to his origin saying that he comes from the Peloponese, Northern Epirus in south Albania and Cyprus and pointed out that he comes from two still occupied parts of Greece. He added that Europe is a new united motherland in which no nationality is lost.
He called on the Greeks to welcome the immigrants arriving in Greece like the hospitable Belgium did, stressing that there are an estimated 800,000 foreigners and the Greeks should welcome them with the same love the Belgians welcomed the Greeks when they emigrated there.
Upon his arrival at Athens' “Eleftherios Venizelos” International Airport after completing his visit to Belgium the Olympic Airlines employees held a special reception ceremony on the occasion of the fact that this was his last trip abroad as the President of the Hellenic Republic.
River rat & Cicero, US has built in Kosovo its biggest Balkans military base (Bondsteel Camp). It is not a matter of "wasting money" or time, but settling and advancing US interests in the region. Unlike Iraq or Afghanistan, Kosovo has been very peaceful for the Americans and other international troops, a sign of HOSPITALITY and welcome.
If you read the polls you will find out that Kosovo Albanians are the most pro-American in the whole Europe, with the Greeks having the most anti-American feelings.
Kosovo itself is called a conservative victory and an example Republicans and Democrats can use to tell the world how US is helping a predominantly Muslim province. This example works against those unfounded claims that "US is waging a war against Muslims".
It is helpful to read something out of the stereotypes.
Please read these three articles to see the other side of the medal
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/39/story_3926_1.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4010335.stm
http://www.aacl.com/AACL_JAN2005/Kosova_Religion_and_Propaganda.htm
Roman Catholicism Surplanting Orthodoxy in Kosovo
Kosovo's 60,000 Catholics, who make up about 4% of the province's population, are enjoying a period of long-awaited freedom and growth. At the same time, the once dominant Serbian Orthodox Church is under steady attack from ethnic Albanian Muslims here who identify the Serbian church with decades of government discrimination.
Because the vast majority of Kosovo Catholics are ethnic Albanians, there is little of the ethnic animosity that divides Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Albanians.
An improving Kosovo economy may also lure back some of the 40,000 Kosovar Catholics who make up Albanian-language parishes in Croatia, Austria, Germany, and Detroit, Sopi said.
The Vatican, too, would appear to have confidence in Kosovo's Catholics. In late June, it declared the province an apostolic administration and named Sopi apostolic administrator.
Bishop Sopi, a genial man with an authoritative bearing, said in an earlier interview that local Serbs' flight from Kosovo was a natural process.
"One thing must be clear: The Serbs did not just run to Serbia because the Albanians were driving them out," he said, adding that the Serbs "behaved themselves very badly for the last 10 years and especially during the war, so they have reason to fear for their lives."
During 78 days of NATO bombing and Serb attacks on Albanian Kosovars, Sopi remained in Kosovo along with the vast majority of his 36 priests and 70 nuns.
He said Catholics were not subject to discrimination for their faith.
Muslim leaders, however, say 217 mosques in the region have been damaged. Serbian Orthodox clergy cite 80 churches and monasteries that have been desecrated.
Bahtir Hamza, another Catholic taking a break during the 2 1/2-hour ordination service attended by dozens of clergy and three Catholic hierarchs from the Balkans, said he was a rarity in Kosovo: a Muslim who converted to Catholicism.
Since converting, Hamza, a 44-year-old writer, said he has encountered opposition from neighbors in his Muslim village to the idea of converting his home into a Roman Catholic Church.
According to Andreas Szolgyemy, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's religion adviser in Kosovo, Catholics and Muslims have long enjoyed close relations in the region. He related his experience attending two religious holidays last winter in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
"At midnight Mass Christmas, in the Catholic church, I would say that half the 2,000 or 3,000 people were Muslims," said Szolgyemy, adding that several weeks later, he went to a Muslim event attended by about 100,000 people marking the end of Ramadan. "I was told that 500 or 600 of the people there were Catholics."
As far as Greece president making this offensive claim which inflames the diplomatic relations, it is worth mentioning the continuous efforts of Greek deputies in the European Parliament, continually raising the ridiculous and unacceptable request for AUTONOMY of South Albania.
Kosovo status might be settled this year and Greece is trying to pressure from the south in order to prevent Kosovo going independent.
But its requests for south Albania are dangerous since are made from a very high official level and serve the interests of extremist Greek circles who advertise these kinds of illegal and offensive maps which cut the country in half
http://www.anemos.com/Diaspora/pics/eth/ne.jpg
Greece Government issues monthly pensions and gives special treatment (visa wise & monetarily) and status to those who claim to come from the small Greek minority.(North Epirotes) Because of this luring policy many poor Albanians have claimed to be "greeks". The Greek Government knows that its Greek minority is no more than 2%, because of the high immigration of Greeks towards Greece, Europe and North America; but continues to play a dirty game of "officially" increasing its well-known and small Greek minority in Albania.
We might say that official Greece is helping its close ally Serbia, and itself.
A member of EU like Greece can behave more European and not the old Balcanic fashion.
