From the day after the municipal elections of 2015 to this day Fredi Beleris fought in every way and all his powers against the interests that want to ethnically cleanse in a silent way the Ethnic Greek Minority of Albania.

He earned respect for the international player through his serious, responsible and democratic attitude on the political scene in Albania.

He recently submitted his independent candidacy for the upcoming municipal elections for Himara, the place that has been targeted the most by the Albanian regime of Prime Minister Edi Rama with the support of almost all the Albanian political parties.

Mr. Beleris made a strategic choice -a message to local and foreign actors- choosing to respect the Albanian constitution that the Albanian government itself chooses to violate, and to go along as democratic institutions predict. He had to try or Himara would be in danger of remaining for another four years in the hands of those who implement government policies against the native Greek population in Southern Albania, better known as Northern Epirus.

The unprecedented support that Beleris receives from the people of Himara have transformed the upcoming defeat of the Socialist party candidate an irreversible fact.

Seeing this, the Albanian government resorted to the well-known undemocratic practices that only dictators use.

Since the determination of the people of Himara is such that fraud & intimidation are not enough for the candidate they promote to win the municipality, they decided shamelessly to impose him as mayor of Himara practically without elections in order not to lose their…”privileges” there. All they had to do was to declare Fredi Beleris’ candidacy void!

In order to support the decision of the Central Electoral Committee, they chose to accuse Beleris of things that have no legal value. But they are well aware that until their decision is lawfully abolished, the municipality of Himara will already be irrevocably assigned to their puppet-mayor, Giorgos Goros.

The unsubstantiated decision shows in yet a another way the nervousness on behalf of the Albanian government. This in itself is a first victory for the indigenous Greek minority of Albania.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its deep concern over the decision of the Albanian Central Elections Committee, which consists of representatives of the Albanian parties, to reject the candidacy of President of Omonoia, Himara, Dionysios Fredi-Beleri, for the post of Mayor in the upcoming municipal elections. According to available information, the decision has no legal grounds. We are closely monitoring developments and we stand ready to assist the representatives of the minority.

The question, however, is:

How are the bureaucrats of Brussels even considering making Albania a full member of the EU, especially if one takes under consideration that not only Albania does not respect the “Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities”, but they have resorted to murders of Greeks in their effort to intimidate the Greeks of Northern Epirus.

The latest case was that of Kostantinos Katsifas who was murdered last October by the Albanian Police Special Forces Unit in his village of Vouliarates causing a serious diplomatic incident between Greece and Albania.

The president of the Association of Northern Epirus Mr. Babis Karathanos, in an interview to Himara.gr, a news website dedicated on issues related to the Ethnic Greek Minority of Northern Epirus, gave a very short and comprehensive sum up of what the situation regarding the Greek minority in Albania is all about.