- Title: VARIOUS: FEATURE ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTS
- Date: 28th April 1996
- Summary: GREEK/ALBANIAN BORDER NEAR IOANNINA, PELOPONNESE PENINSULA, ATHENS, AND TIRANA, ALBANIA GREEK/ALBANIAN BORDER 1. MOUNTAINS LINING GREEK-ALBANIAN BORDER (NEAREST TOWN IS IOANNIA). 2. VARIOUS POLICE SEARCHING IN HILLS FOR ALBANIANS 3. POLICE CAPTURE ALBANIANS IN HILLS, FRISKING THEM 4. ALBANIANS GATHER THEIR THINGS 5. PO
- Embargoed: 13th May 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GREEK/ALBANIAN BORDER NEAR IOANNINA, PELOPONNESE PENINSULA, ATHENS, AND TIRANA, ALBANIA
- City:
- Country: Albania
- Reuters ID: LVA9WQHXSCM95511JT9JCBOHBM88
- Story Text: INTRO: As Albania's pyramid investment schemes crashed in recent weeks, many Albanians have fled south to Greece, trying to find work and a new life. But as Reuters Television's Deborah Kyvrikosaios reports, the Albanian exodus has been going on for nearly the entire decade.
------------------------------------------------------------- THEIR JOURNEY BEGINS HERE, ACROSS THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN THAT LINES THE GREEK-ALBANIAN BORDER, SOME 250 KILOMETRESSOUTH OF THE ALBANIAN CAPITAL OF TIRANA. THEY TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES ON FOOT, WITH A LOAF OF BREAD AND A BLOCK OF CHEESE, EVERY DAY POLICE AND SOLDIERS PATROL THE HILLS SEARCHING FOR THEM. POLICE FIND THEM HIDING AMIDST THE TREES, SLEEPING ON ROCKS OR CREEPING THROUGH THE BRUSH. SOMETIMES THEY ARE MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED A DAY, TRAVELING IN GROUPS OR ALONE. MANY HAVE MADE IT AND WORK ILLEGALLY AROUND THE COUNTRY, BUT FOR OTHERS THEIR FREEDOM IS SHORTLIVED. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER THEY ARE LOADED INTO POLICE VANS AND TAKEN BACK TO THE BORDER. THEY OFTEN COME BACK THE NEXT DAY, REFUSING TO GIVE UP UNTIL THEY CAN SLIP PAST THE HANDS OF POLICE.
AFTER THE FALL OF COMMUNISM IN ALBANIA IN 1990, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ILLEGAL ALBANIANS BEGAN POURING INTO THE COUNTRY, FORCING THE GOVERNMENT TO TIGHTEN SECURITY ALONG THE BORDER. SINCE THEN OVER ONE MILLION ILLEGALS HAVE BEEN DEPORTED.
THE RECENT COLLAPSE OF PYRAMID SCHEMES IN ALBANIA, WHERE THOUSANDS LOST THEIR LIFE SAVINGS, HAS SPARKED VIOLENT PROTESTS BETWEEN CITIZENS AND POLICE IN THE COUNTRY. IT IS THE MOST SERIOUS CRISIS FOR ALBANIAN PRESIDENT SALI BERISHA SINCE HE CAME TO POWER IN 1992.
HE HAS TRIED TO REASSURE THE PUBLIC, BUT CALLS FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S RESIGNATION HAVE EMERGED.
THE UNREST HAS CAUSED CONCERNS IN GREECE, AND FEAR OF A NEW WAVE OF MIGRANTS ARE CIRCULATING. EACH DAY AT THE GREEK- ALBANIAN BORDER, IMMIGRANTS CRAM TOGETHER IN THE LINE TO HAVETHEIR PASSPORTS STAMPED. THOUSANDS IN ALBANINA HAVE APPLIED FOR ENTRANCE TO GREECE. THEY ALL SAY THE SAME THING: WE HAVE LOST EVERYTHING, AND ARE COMING TO GREECE TO FIND JOBS, TO BEGIN BUILDING OUR FORTUNES ONCE AGAIN. MANY SAY THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING IN GREECE FOR YEARS AND SENDING THE MONEY BACK TO ALBANIA TO THEIR FAMILIES. THAT IS ALL GONE, AND SOME DON'T WANT TO RETURN AT ALL.
THIS MAN HAS BROUGHT HIS FAMILY. HE SAYS THERE IS NO FUTURE IN ALBANIA. WE CAN'T LIVE THERE, HE SAYS, THERE IS NO WORK.
NOTHING THEY SAY IS WORTH BELIEVING. NOTHING IS GOOD.
BUT A POSSIBLE NEW WAVE OF IMMIGRANTS HAS CAUSED A PANIC AMONG VILLAGES LINING THE BORDER. ALBANIAN IMMIGRANTS HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN A SERIES OF CRIMES AND CRIME RINGS IN GREECE. IN THIS VILLAGE RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN THE VICTIMS OF ROBBERIES. BEFORE THE INCREASED PRESENCE OF THE MILITARY MANY WOULD TAKE UP ARMS THEMSELVES TO DEFEND THEIR PROPERTY.
---------------- CAPTION: DIMITRIS BOTSOS, HEAD OF VILLAGE OF HARAVYI: "We used to sleep with the doors and windows open. Now we lock up.
Some people keep loaded guns by their beds." (GREEK) ---------------- THE CRIMES HAVE GIVEN THE REST OF ALBANIANS IN GREECE A BAD NAME, AND THEY ARE OFTEN THE SOURCE OF DISCRIMINATION. GAZMENT KAPLANI, AN ALBANIAN PHILOSOPHY STUDENT AT A GREEK UNIVERSITY, BELIEVES SUCH PROBLEMS COULD BE WIPED OUT IFIMMIGRANTS WERE MADE LEGAL.
----------------- GAZMENT KAPLANI, ALBANIAN VISA STUDENT: "As long as they are illegal, they risk the possibility of being trapped into dangerous circles, nor can they express themselves freely or integrate into society." (GREEK) ----------------- 350-THOUSAND ALBANIANS WORK ILLEGALLY IN GREECE, IN CONSTRUCTION, RESTAURANTS, OR ON FARMS PICKING FRUIT, SUCH AS 24-YEAR-OLD METI AND HIS FRIENDS. LIKE THE OTHERS, HE HAS BEEN ON THE RUN FROM POLICE. FOR FOUR YEARS HE HAS BEEN SENDING HIS MONEY BACK TO HIS PARENTS IN ALBANIA. HE HAS ALSO LOST HIS FORTUNE IN PYRAMID SCHEMES. AND SAYS BITTERLY THIS TIME HE WILL SEND IT TO HIS PARENTS TO KEEP. THE ORANGE GROVES ARE HIS HOME. HIDDEN FROM VIEW, THEY LIVE IN A MAKESHIFT TENT OF TARP AND OLD MATTRESSES UNDER THE TREES, RAIN OR SHINE. THEY SAY THEY WANT A REGULAR HOME, THEY WANT TO STOP RUNNING FROM POLICE. AND THEY WANT ONE DAY TO LIVE LIKE NORMAL CITIZENS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY.
----------------- CAPTION: METI, ALBANIAN IMMIGRANT: "I don't like living under the orange trees, I want a little house like other people." (ENGLISH) ----------------- REPORTER STANDUP: THE ISSUE OF ILLEGAL WORKERS IS JUST ONE OF THE PROBLEMS THAT CREATED TURBULENT RELATIONS BETWEEN GREECE AND ALBANIA IN THE PAST. LAST YEAR, HOWEVER, THE TWO COUNTRIES SIGNED A FRIENDSHIP TREATY AND NOW PLANS ARE UNDERWAY TO LEGALIZE THE IMMIGRANTS. THE GREEK GOVERNMENT SEES IT AS A WAY TO PROMOTE STABILITY IN THE REGION, AND GREECE HAS MADE PROPOSALS TO THE EUROPEAN UNION FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO BALKAN COUNTRIES.
------------------ CAPTION: FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN CONSTANTINE BIKAS: "Our estimate is that they send back home around $400 million per year. This is an important number if you take into consideration that Albanian GDP is something less than 3 billion per year. So these people play an important role in the social stability and prosperity in their country." (ENGLISH) ------------------ BUT MEANWHILE A NEW PLAN IS BEING DEVISED TO TIGHTEN SECURITY ALONG GREECE'S BORDER. IT WILL INCLUDE A COMMUNICATION NETWORK WITH AUTHORITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY'S FRONTIER, TO MONITOR THE PASSAGE OF ILLEGAL BALKAN IMMIGRANTS.
DEBORAH KYVRIKOSAIOS, REUTERS.
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