BY NATASHA TERLEXIS
ATHENS, Greece - "Save North Epirus," cried a headline in the right-wing daily Adésmeftos Típos. "Fears for North Epirus," wrote the conservative Apoyevmatiní in an article accusing the government of "standing by and watching." The lead article in the liberal daily Eleftherotipía was titled "Three Greek fears," referring to alleged worries for the safety of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania, securing the Greece-Albania border, and the possibility of thousands of new immigrants entering the country. These were some of the screaming headlines in major newspapers here on March 3.

"North Epirus" is the term used widely in the media here, especially in the conservative and rightist press, to describe the southern part of Albania, home to a large Greek- speaking minority, which, according to the Athens News, numbers 250,000 out of a population of 3.2 million. This terminology is one of the clearest signs of the expansionist visions of sections of the Greek bourgeoisie. Epirus is the name of the Greek province bordering Albania. "We must have dynamic intervention so that we can shape the developments," wrote George Kyrtsos, owner of the rightist daily Eléftheros Típos. "Now is the time for us to strengthen our role in the Balkans."

Tens of thousands of Greek-speaking Albanians, however, have taken part in the rebellion against the administration of Sali Berisha, a regime Athens has backed, dashing the hopes for intervention by Greek capital and sparking a steep plunge in the Athens stock market.

In the initial days of the anti-Berisha revolt, the insurgents were portrayed in the Greek media as armed drug traffickers with connections to the Italian Mafia and hoodlums likely to vent their anger against the Greek- speaking minority in southern Albania. The Albanian crisis has stayed on the front pages of all major newspapers for more than a week and has led most radio and TV news reports.

"Greece has vital interests [in the region] because of the Greek minority living there, which we must protect with all means possible," stated Miltiádis Evert, leader of the opposition New Democracy, the major conservative party.

The Greek government of the social democratic Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) hurriedly called for a European Union (EU) meeting "with the aim of adopting a plan of action for Albania," European Affairs Minister George Papandreou told reporters March 3.

"I believe these developments are negative," stated undersecretary for foreign affairs Yiánnos Kranidiótis the same day, speaking of the spreading rebellion in Albania. "There is a Greek element in Albania and we have every interest to support it.... We have friendly relations with Albania and there is no guarantee that this anomaly will not upset the political system of that country completely." Initially, the group Omonia, a political party claiming to represent the ethnic Greek minority of Albania with three members in the Albanian parliament, called on Greek-speaking Albanians to stay at home and "not get caught in the settling of accounts between the government forces and the rebels."

Many ethnic Greeks part of rebellion
"Greece must not forsake the minority," said Omonia leader George Lambobitiádis. The group insisted that ethnic Greeks were not involved in "the rioting," a claim that many news reports from the scene have proved false. The Greek consulate in Gjirokaster, a city now in the hands of the rebels, was shut down after its police guards abandoned their posts.

The 8th division of the Greek army, based in Ioánina, the provincial capital of Epirus near the Albanian border, was reinforced. Border patrols to stop Albanians trying to enter Greece have been beefed up. The Greek parliament, including the deputies of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), voted unanimously to express its concern over the fate of the minority.

The towns in southern Albania that are the center of the rebellion, however, are the very cities where most of the Greek-speaking Albanians live. Protesters interviewed by TV stations more often than not speak in Greek, whether they are ethnic Greeks or former immigrants.

"We are not afraid of the young people who have rebelled," one Greek-speaking Albanian crossing the border into Greece told Eleftherotipía. He asked to be anonymous fearing reprisal by Greek authorities. "They [the rebels] are not hitting the people. But we are afraid of the army and Berisha's police."

"Greeks and Albanians have the same enemy: Berisha. We are fighting together," was a common comment to Sky radio by several Albanians in downtown Athens March 7. "Now people are demanding more than just their money. They want democracy," said Toma Sava, an immigrant from Himara, southern Albania.

"This is a spontaneous revolt of the people," Thanásis Gótsis from Fieri, Albania, who is now living in Athens, said in an interview with the Militant. "Regardless of the political parties, like the Socialist Party, which are involved in it, nobody is in control. Most Albanians support this just movement," he stated, "although the lack of leadership is a problem and the results are uncertain."

During the interview, Gótsis said he was very concerned about the calls by some of the rebels for European Union intervention. Participating in the discussion, Kamani, a Kurdish student, stated, "Just like in Kurdistan, just because a people has illusions about help from the West, it doesn't mean that their cause is not just."

Although no deportation figures have been given, Militant reporters have witnessed increased harassment of Albanians by Greek police in the central squares of Athens. Kamani, traveling from the Greek island Crete to Athens in early March, reported seeing nearly 100 Albanian deportees on the boat. According to police commanders at the border, not only has the flow of immigrants into Greece not increased, the number has actually declined.

Two demonstrations of several hundred Albanians each have taken place in Athens so far. One was called by forces supporting the rebels, including supporters of the Socialist Party. They rallied outside the Albanian embassy in Athens March 2, angrily demanding Berisha's resignation. This was the first time Albanian immigrants without documents have demonstrated here.

The other action was organized by associations of ethnic Greek Albanians in Athens and included demands for Greek government intervention.

These demonstrations are only the tip of the iceberg of the real ferment and political polarization among Albanian immigrants in Greece. Fear of deportation still keeps most Albanians away from public meetings or rallies here. But dozens gather around the central kiosks in Athens every day, where Albanian-language newspapers arrive. Hands gesticulate excitedly and the name of Berisha echoes in the discussions.

There are signs that an increasing number of Albanians here identify with the rebellion. Unemployed Albanians, for example, who sing on a daily basis in the Athens city subway to raise money, were heard by this reporter proudly singing in their native language for the first time.

An estimated 350,000 Albanians live and work in Greece without work permits. They face the most degraded conditions and receive the lowest wages of any group of immigrants. They are routinely scapegoated in the big-business press for the rise in crime in Greece and, along with other immigrants, are fingered as the cause of unemployment.

Despite the slanders, the inescapable images of youth taking up arms, raising democratic demands, turning against the government's forces of repression, taking over towns, and beginning to organize their administration have not been lost on working people here.

Greek capitalists in gloom
For Greek capitalists, hopes of reviving their sagging profit rates through larger investments throughout the Balkans have been dealt a great blow. Greek companies there, including large development companies working on reconstructing the airport and the military hospital in Tirana, and a major tobacco company, did $320 million worth of business with Albania in 1996. Now all this is on hold. "In addition to the adverse political and economic situation they face," Eleftherotipía commented, "[investors] must also face the intense interest that businesses from other countries are showing."

"In the past three sessions," reported the March 4 Athens News, "the Athens stock market has lost an unprecedented 17 percent. More than a trillion drachmas [US$3.7 billion] have been wiped off its capitalization. Until last Wednesday [February 26], the bourse was in the midst of a bull run which had seen it rise 55 percent since the beginning of the year."

In an attempt to not be shut out by the rapid developments, the Greek government has toned down talk of danger for the Greek-speaking minority in Albania in recent days.

"We believe that the minority is not threatened... [I]t is a terrible political mistake to see the crisis in Albania on the basis of it being a minority issue," stated government spokesperson Dimítris Répas March 6. Athens joined the EU in calling for new elections and an interim government in Albania. Meanwhile, some politicians such as PASOK deputy Stélios Papathemeli's continue to call for military intervention.

According to Eleftherotipía, the Greek government has proposed to Tirana a disarmament plan, which includes opening camps in northern Greece, just across the border, where rebels could come and turn in their weapons. Athens has also pushed back a planned visit by Berisha to Greece to May or June. These plans, however, may prove nothing more than wishful thinking as the revolt has spread in southern Albania and the rebels are gaining confidence in their effort to oust the procapitalist regime in Tirana.  
 
 
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