The Albanian prime minister's anatomy of a crime
For the implementation of Law 96/2017 "On the Protection of National Minorities in the Republic of Albania" and "following a proposal by the Minister of Interior," the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, signed three Ministerial Decisions (Këshillit të Ministrave, dated 26/12/2024). These specific Ministerial – Prime Ministerial Decisions concern the "implementing law," which has been pending for eight years, while simultaneously further restricting the National Greek Minority:
(a) DECISION ON THE DETERMINATION OF CRITERIA, DOCUMENTATION, AND PROCEDURES FOR DATA COLLECTION FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES.
(b) DECISION ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE COMPOSITION, FUNCTIONS, AND PROCEDURES OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE EXAMINATION OF REQUESTS FOR THE RECOGNITION OF A NATIONAL MINORITY.
(c) DECISION ON THE MANNER OF USING THE LANGUAGE OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN RELATIONS BETWEEN PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL MINORITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS.
https://oiapedw.blogspot.com/2025/01/3.html
In Decision (a) on the Determination of Criteria, Documentation, and Procedures for Data Collection for the Identification of Persons Belonging to National Minorities, we observe the following:
From Article 2 of the decree, the questioning of the right to self-identification begins: A person who claims to belong to a national minority and requests recognition as such must submit a self-identification form...
However, the term "claims" is a legal term used in judicial cases, which casts doubt on the statements of a defendant or plaintiff. The correct term in this case should be "feels". A person feels that they are Ukrainian, Greek, or Afghan when they declare it to an official authority, not just in a casual conversation. They do not "claim" it. This is not a matter of recognizing citizenship, which is a formal act where one might claim allegiance to the political system of a country; rather, it is a voluntary declaration of belonging to a particular ethnicity.
In Article 3, it is stated that: This committee meets at least twice a year and whenever deemed necessary upon request by one-quarter (1/4) of its members.
In Article 4, it is stated that: The Committee accepts the self-identification and records the data in the relevant registry for national minorities within thirty (30) days from the submission of the self-identification form.
We ask: Why is this not an automatic registration process for a citizen of Albania to be included in the national community they have chosen? Why does the Committee need to convene? What do these 30 days signify? We will examine this further...
In Article 5a, it is explicitly stated: In exceptional cases, based on reasons that raise serious doubts about the accuracy of self-identified data, a further review of self-identification may be requested, with a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the committee members, in cases where:
(a) There is a significantly increased and unusual number of self-identifications within a six-month period.
In decision (a) regarding the determination of criteria, justifications, etc., we observe the following:
Article 2 of the decree begins by questioning the right to self-identification: "A person who claims to belong to a national minority and seeks to be recognized as such shall submit the self-identification form…" However, the term "claims" is a legal term used in court cases, which casts doubt on the statements of the accused or the plaintiff. The correct term in this case should be "feels." A person feels that they are Ukrainian, Greek, or Afghan when they declare it to an authority, not just in a casual conversation. They do not "claim" it. This is not about nationality recognition, which is a formal act where one may claim allegiance to a country’s political system. It is a voluntary declaration of belonging to an ethnicity.
Article 3 states that "this committee meets at least twice a year and whenever deemed necessary upon request by 1/4 of its members." Article 4 mentions that "the Committee accepts self-identification and records the details in the relevant list of national minorities within 30 days of submitting the self-identification form."
We ask: Why is this not an automatic process of registration/inclusion in the national community chosen by an Albanian citizen? Why does the Committee need to convene? What do these 30 days mean? We will see later…
Article 5a explicitly states: "In exceptional cases, based on reasons that raise serious doubts about the accuracy of self-identification data, further verification of self-identification may be requested with a two-thirds majority of the committee members in cases where:
a) There is a significantly increased and unusual number of self-identifications within a six-month period."
Here, the manipulation of the 30-day deadline continues, along with the power plays and government pressure on committee members so that two-thirds become the legal quorum to reject a self-identification request. What does an "unusual number" mean? The "unusual" number of people (which in itself acknowledges that tens of thousands of Albanian-speaking or Vlach-speaking individuals are Greek) who have been officially registered as Albanians or Aromanians but feel Greek or "claim" to be Greek? The two-thirds rule is clearly designed for political manipulation by Rama’s government.
Article 5b states that further verification of self-identification will be requested with a two-thirds majority of the committee in cases where: "The self-identifying individual resides in a local government unit that, in reality, does not exhibit distinct cultural, national, linguistic, religious, or traditional characteristics," and "this is demonstrated by relevant information, including, among other things, the lack of collective representation through a clear absence of active, continuous, and unified presence of collective representation activities, including associations of the respective national minority in the given local government unit, etc."
This means that the manipulations by the two-thirds of the Committee could challenge and reject the application of an individual who does not belong to the officially recognized minority zones or minority villages. Perhaps they may accept some individuals from Himara or Korça, where at least the Greek organization OMONOIA exists, but that’s as far as it goes. Even for these exceptions, a bureaucratic obstacle course follows.
Article 5c of the decree warns that further verification of self-identification will be requested with a two-thirds majority of the committee in cases where "there are changes in the personal details of the self-identifying individual compared to previous documents."
This means that the two-thirds majority of the Committee will be able to challenge and reject the application of an individual who, against their will, was forced to "change" their nationality. Hundreds of people who had migrated in the past were pressured by circumstances for favorable treatment or were coerced by authorities into "changing" their nationality. However, does that involuntary "self-identification" follow them for the rest of their lives if they wish to officially return to their national community?
Article 6 states that the Committee "may request, in cases where it initiates a verification process, information from the General Directorate of Civil Status to verify the accuracy of the submitted data, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1, Article 3, and point 1, Article 7 of Law No. 96/2017, ‘On the Protection of National Minorities in the Republic of Albania.’"
This refers to a service that records citizens and issues certificates, as stated on the e-Albania website:
For the period from 1974 to 2010, a "Personal Certificate According to Previous Records" will be provided by the competent civil status office of the municipality/administrative unit where the applicant was registered during the required period.
For the period after 2010, a "Personal Certificate According to Previous Records" will be issued by the National Civil Status Registry (RKGjC) from 2010 onwards.
In other words, these certificates are based on the records of local authorities before 1974 and on the records from 2010, which are built upon previous discriminatory registries!
https://e-albania.al/eAlbaniaServices/ServiceList.aspx?service_filter=INS&institution_id=10&service_type=Y
Article 7 states, on the one hand, that the General Directorate of Civil Status sends the verification request, and on the other hand, in 8a, that the registry office conducts checks to determine whether:
a) The person is registered in the relevant civil status register, which is managed by the civil status records office, where data related to ethnicity other than Albanian is recorded.
b) The same check applies if the person was born to at least one parent of non-Albanian descent and another ethnicity is recorded on their birth certificate.
If the person applying for national self-identification is registered with an Albanian ethnicity or has at least one Albanian parent, their application will be scrutinized by both the state and local administrative filter and will not be accepted...
Article 8 contains the following paragraphs, which clarify the verification process of the documents alongside the "cooking" of the decree:
c) In the birth certificate of the person, prior to 2011, an ethnic origin other than Albanian was specified.
d) In archived civil status documents from population censuses, for citizens belonging to an ethnic minority other than Albanian, or for their ancestors, there are records related to ethnicity other than Albanian.
e) Additional data referring to another ethnic origin may also be found in civil status documents, including marriage and death certificates.
This concerns the period before the fraudulent 2011 census, which was supposedly conducted according to European standards, during which there was the threat of fines and, of course, the cancellation of nationality declarations for allegedly false information, verified against local government records. Tens of thousands of Greeks had already been registered as Albanians since the dictatorship period in records that were never changed, despite some cases in Himara and Vlora being recognized by the Greek state for the granting of Greek citizenship. In the corrective Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic, issue number 243/17-2-2015, the residents of 107 villages were recognized as Greeks, eight more than the previously acknowledged 99 villages, including Himara, Svernets, and Arta.
Article 9 refers to the registry office, which presents the collected data regarding ethnicity to the committee. The committee reviews the documentation gathered under Article 8 of this decision, giving decisive weight to the individual's subjective choice. Factors such as language, religion, culture, or traditions provide a sufficient basis for self-identification. The documentation obtained under Articles 7 and 8 of this decision serves as an indicator to assist the committee in forming an opinion.
Which paragraph of the decree demonstrates the significance of subjective choice when the application is not automatically accepted, requiring time-consuming procedures that do not certify the subjectivity of self-identification? It is evident that certain provisions favor the regime, allowing it to present itself to the European Union as compliant with international law. However, through "nice" wording about subjectivity, tens of thousands of Albanian-speaking, Vlach-speaking Greeks who wish to officially join the Greek minority and who may not have a distinct religion or a Greek name will have to prove—despite documents and spoken language—that they are Greeks. Naturally, they will be rejected, as the legal alterations in civil registry records remain firmly established, strictly unchangeable, and under the supervision of the Albanian state...
Article 10 states that the committee, in cases where self-identification is not proven under Articles 7 and 8 of this decision, refers the matter to the General Directorate of Archives and other relevant authorities, provided they possess official documents that confirm the individual's affiliation with an ethnic minority.
Since when does self-identification need proof? Self-identification is the choice, attribution, and interpretation of one's characteristics for oneself—it is the subjective definition of oneself, according to the dictionary. There is no evidence beyond one's own interpretation of their characteristics. This is a central issue that the law undermines, as it has been designed to abolish national self-identification.
Article 12 states that the registry offices of provincial branches issue data related to the registration of citizens, based on the fundamental registers for the periods in which they were recorded. The processing of this information is carried out using advisory data from the fundamental registers, where citizen records with an ethnic origin other than Albanian are confirmed. The interested party may submit supporting documents or any other necessary material in support of their self-identification.
The decree continues with meaningless details, as Albanian citizens are called upon to prove what they feel and continue to be deprived of this right for 112 years! The matter is simple: self-identification and self-recognition do not have prerequisites.
Article 13: The committee, after examining the information received from the aforementioned institutions and from the individual undergoing the self-identification process, makes a decision on whether to confirm the identification within 60 (sixty) days from the start of the verification process...
In this article, the questioning of the self-identification declaration continues, extending the timeframe for the manipulation of the decision by two-thirds of the committee.
Article 16, which refers to appeals by citizens of the Republic of Albania against negative decisions of the committee, states the composition of the appeals committee:
The appeals committee is chaired by the representative of the ministry responsible for internal affairs and consists of:
a) A representative from the ministry responsible for internal affairs.
b) A representative of the Ombudsman.
c) A representative from the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination.
d) A representative appointed by the Committee on National Minorities.
e) A representative from a civil society organization dealing with the protection of human rights in relation to national minorities, proposed by the Committee on National Minorities.
In the case of an appeal, representatives (b), (c), (d), and (e) will simply watch as representative (a), the main figure of the system, speaks. Otherwise, they will face consequences…
Article 17 refers to the rights of a citizen who wishes to be recognized with a nationality different from that of the Albanian state:
Against the decision of the appeals committee, the individual has the right to file an appeal with the competent court for administrative disputes, in accordance with the provisions of Law 49/2012, "On the organization and functioning of administrative courts and the adjudication of administrative disputes."
However, this law has changed.
Article 18 explains who is now responsible:
The Ministry responsible for internal affairs, the committee, the General Directorate of Civil Status, the regional prefects, the regional registry offices, and other state authorities managing documents and official data related to the classification of Albanian citizens as part of a national minority are entrusted with implementing this decision.
Lawyers, money, appeals… Who will dare to go against the people of the system?
Thousands of poor and uneducated people in rural villages, in Korçë, Vlorë, Arta, Himarë, Delvinë, Sarandë, Gjirokastër, Leskovik, and elsewhere—will they go against the state?
Furthermore, this specific provision serves as a warning to any members of the Committee who might consider turning a blind eye in certain cases when granting ethnicity to individuals who have not been officially recognized as Greeks.
In the (b) DECISION ON THE DETERMINATION OF CRITERIA, DOCUMENTATION... OF THE EXAMINATION COMMITTEE, etc., we observe the following:
Article 1 of this decree explicitly states that an application “is submitted by a group of citizens constituting more than 1% of the total number of citizens holding Albanian nationality in the Republic of Albania and who claim to belong to a minority.”
We note that the 1% threshold of the total population restricts the possibilities of forming a recognized national community under Albanian law. Additionally, post-communist population censuses in Albania were flawed and never recognized by the official organization DEEM OMONIA, which denounced them as fraudulent. This creates a foundation for restricting minority rights.
In the latest 2023 census, the officially recorded ethnic Greek citizens in Albania were just 0.98% of the population (23,485 of Greek descent out of a total population of 2,402,113)!
Moreover, the legal terminology of “claim” that we mentioned earlier does not reflect the real sense of belonging to an ethnic group, is unacceptable, and opens the door to legally contesting the declaration of self-identification—which is unacceptable.
Article 3 is devastating in terms of escalating exclusion. It concerns the composition of the Committee's members, which consists of 16 members:
9 institutional representatives
4 representatives of minorities
3 members from civil society
The 9 institutional representatives are:
a) A representative from the General Directorate of Civil Status, under the Ministry responsible for civil registration
b) A representative from the Ministry responsible for local governance
c) A representative from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, responsible for legal matters
d) A representative from the Ministry of Social Protection
e) A representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
f) A representative from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage
g) A representative from the General Directorate of Archives
h) A representative from the Academy of Sciences
i) A representative from the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences
This represents a suffocating network of institutional control, acting as the gatekeepers of applications, relying on fraudulent records regarding who qualifies as a Greek minority member. Additionally, institutions dealing with history and heritage, which systematically appropriate ancient, Byzantine, and modern Greek heritage, are involved in certifying false claims aimed at restricting the Greek population to the minority zones established under Enver Hoxha's regime.
Furthermore, for those who apply but have their applications rejected, the Committee functions as a trap—essentially recording who among the "Albanians" wishes to be recognized as Greek.
As for the other committee members, they simply serve as a fig leaf for Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Article 5 of the decree concerns the members of the Technical Secretariat, which oversees the committee:
The Technical Secretariat is chaired by a representative from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It consists of four members, as follows:
a) Two representatives appointed by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
b) One representative appointed by the head of the Ministry responsible for Local Affairs
c) One representative appointed by the head of the Committee on National Minorities
This entire structure appears to be designed not to protect minority rights but to control and suppress them.
We observe that control is becoming even more restrictive in order to monitor even more strictly and, obviously, to record what the individual will request (or rather risk requesting) when they wish to belong to a national group different from that of the dominant state. Within this absurd pyramid of violating every notion of self-identification, the state bares its teeth to those who have the courage to request a change of nationality.
Article 6 states that “the representatives of the bodies designated in point 3 of this decision are of a high administrative level.” Article 7 refers to “documents to be submitted.” Article 8 mentions that “the Committee re-examines the request submitted in accordance with point 1 of this decision within 9 (nine) months.” Article 10 states that “an appeal may be lodged with the competent court for the resolution of administrative disputes in the event of rejection of the request for recognition of a national minority.” Finally, Article 11 affirms that “the Committee guarantees transparency in the implementation of its activities… through the publication of its activities on the official website of the Ministry responsible for Internal Affairs.”
This is a poorly digested repetition of the arrogance of control over which nationality each individual belongs to, based on official documents rather than on the nationality the applicant feels they belong to. It is further reinforced by the pretense of appeal (if the applicant continues to risk their daily life after applying) and by their public exposure on the official website of the Ministry.
Article 12 explains that, in the event of approval, it is sent as a “proposal to the Minister responsible for Internal Affairs, accompanied by a reasoned report.”
It becomes even clearer that it is ultimately the Minister himself who will approve the final decision of the Committee and the Technical Secretariat overseeing it. The pyramid grows even higher, and the control becomes even more suffocating.
Regarding Decision (c) on the Manner of Using the Language of National Minorities, among other things, we observe:
Article 2 states that “for the use of the minority language, a written request must be submitted by the group of citizens claiming to belong to a national minority to the basic local government unit in whose territory these individuals have traditionally resided or where they constitute 20% of the population of that unit.”
For the third time, the legislator refers to the legal term claim, which inherently negates the personal feelings of every citizen of the Republic of Albania, as well as their right to belong to an ethnic minority group. This is a dreadful repetition.
Article 3 of the decree states that “the decision of the municipal council, after being subjected to a legality check by the prefect of the region… etc.”
Approval by the local authorities for the establishment of an ethnic community that constitutes 20% of the population is not sufficient; it must also be accepted by the prefect. This is not merely a notification to the prefect but rather a request for their approval. Thus, the control escalates to the extent (an impossible situation for the Greek minority) that the counting of the members of a minority must reach 20% of the total population of a basic local government unit, according to Article 1.
Article 7 states that “in cases where the number of citizens belonging to a national minority exceeds at least 20% of the total population residing in that local government unit, according to the data of the last census conducted, they have the right, in addition to the Albanian language, to demand that the names of administrative units, streets, and other topographical markers be displayed in the language of the recognized minority.”
Thus, only the cases of the Municipality of Dropull and Finiq are indirectly recognized as minority areas, since the current prime ministerial decree legitimizes the fraudulent census, which is not recognized by DEEEM OMONOIA. The population census is one of the "keys" to this issue, as only in the minority zones illegally designated by the dictatorship was there a concentration of population sufficient to benefit from the aforementioned provisions.
As a result, in the Municipality of Përmet, which includes villages recognized as minority settlements, these provisions are not applied, as their population does not meet the required 20% threshold.
We ask:
Do we need specialized experts to understand yet another deviation by a petty dictator who rules over the peoples of Albania?
We say:
Indeed, legal experts are needed to appeal to the relevant European bodies (European Commission, ECHR, OSCE, etc.) against this prime ministerial decree, as well as against many other institutional deviations by Albanian governments since the political transition of 1991.
Indeed, the national center, which for years has been the target of attacks by this peculiar dictator both in Greek-Albanian relations and in the field of Northern Epirote rights, must veto any EU accession process for Albania in response to this (new) deviation and block any related funding.
According to the principles of self-determination, which is an established term for the subjective choice, attribution, and interpretation of one's own identity—a principle not upheld in this prime ministerial decree.
According to the principles of international organizations regarding every individual's right to freely self-identify in terms of ethnicity, faith, and ideas, as stipulated in the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which the Republic of Albania has signed.
We await the reactions of:
The responsible authorities of the Greek state,
The representatives of European institutions,
Greek Members of the European Parliament (from Greece and Cyprus), as well as others involved in human rights issues,
The relevant bodies of the international community (UN, OSCE),
The representatives of the Northern Epirots,
Other Epirots,
The Greek nation as a whole,
Political parties,
Human rights defenders, and others.
Initiative "E Ap Edo" Monitoring Group
For the rights of the indigenous and historic Epirotic Hellenism in Albania.
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