The president of Phoenicia demanded that the Greek flag be removed from the city hall building. Albanialaments Bayram Begay during his visit to the region as a member of the Greek minority, the former president of Omonia, Leonidas Pappas.

At the same time, as Mr. Pappas notes in his post, while the villagers of Alikos and the students of the school in traditional costumes gathered in the square to greet the President of Albania, at some point the municipal police removed the Albanian and Greek flags from the monument to the Four Martyrs Republic, parents eventually take their children away.

“In the wild political climate of Albania, the national Greek minority has been and remains a model of legitimacy. However, it does not tolerate insults to its own symbols and acquired values ​​stemming from the country’s Constitution, the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe and other international conventions,” emphasizes Mr Pappas in his Facebook post.

“It was an honor for me to receive an invitation from the President of the Republic of Albania to take part in a dinner that he himself will host this afternoon with the intellectuals (quoted or not) of the Greek minority.

In the end, I refused to participate, because I consider his behavior offensive to the most law-abiding community in this country.

The protocol of the visit of Doctor of Medicine Bayram Bekay provided the following:

1. Visit to Phoenician Town Hall
2. Visit to the archaeological park of Phoenicia.
3. Laying wreaths at the Monument to the Four Martyrs of the Republic in Alikos Square, recognized by Presidential Decree (1994)
4. Lunch with intellectuals of the national Greek minority

The presidential entourage missed the visit to the town hall without any official explanation, but, as we were told, the president demanded to remove the Greek flag, which always hangs in the town hall building along with the Albanian one, as it is one of the recognized municipalities of the national Greek minority.

Residents of the village of Alikos and students of the school in traditional costumes gathered on the square to greet the President. At some point, we were surprised to see how the municipal police removed the Albanian and Greek flags from the monument. As expected, this caused an uproar among those present. Parents took their children away, refusing to honor a president who does not respect our symbols recognized by the Albanian state itself.

In the wild political climate of Albania, the national Greek minority has been and remains a model of legitimacy. However, it does not tolerate insults to its own symbols and acquired values ​​arising from the Constitution of the country, the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe and other international conventions.”