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Albanians or Vorioepirotes and Pontic Greeks 8 , or so called co-ethnic or omogheneis.
According to the State Council 9 the Greek ethnic origin can be granted on the basis of cultural
ancestry (sharing “common historical memories” and/or links with “historic homelands and
culture”), Greek descent (Greek Albanians have to prove that the birth place of their parents
or grandparents is in Northern Epirus), language, and religion (ibid.). By the Ministerial
Decision the Greek Albanians are after the recognition and confirmation of their Greek origin
granted with a Special Identity Card of omoghenis – Eidiko Deltio Tautotitas Omoghenous
(Tsitselikis 2003: 7, Kondis and Manda 1994: 20-21). This provides them with an ambiguous
but preferred status. They are people with Greek nationality and Albanian citizenship. Besides
the legal status this special card gives them the right to reside in Greece, permits them to work
there, grants them with special benefits (i.e. social security, health care, and education), and
allows them a “free” crossing of the Albanian-Greek border.
While the Greek migration policy defines the Greek origin on the basis of language, religion,
birth and predecessors from the region called Northern Epirus, the Albanian minority policy
defines the Greek origin according to the language, religion, birth and predecessors
originating from the areas once called “minority zones” (i.e. districts of Gjirokastër, Sarandë
and Delvinë). As people who claim to originate from Himarë/Himara area do not live within
the “minority zones” they are by the Albanian state not considered to be part of the Greek
minority.
The contestations in Himarë/Himara area increased when the post-communist
decollectivisation of property was made possible by Law 7501 on Land that passed in the
Albanian parliament on 19 July 1991 (see Appendix). The law stated that the land, which was
once taken from private owners by the communist government and managed by the
agricultural production cooperatives, should be divided equally among the members of
cooperative. This meant that each member of cooperative should get a portion of the land,
with the size depending on the whole size of the land that used to belong to a particular
agricultural production cooperative unit. The ownership, which existed before communism,
was nullified. This kind of division was considered to be the fairest one by the new
8 In referring to Glytsos (1995), Triandafyllidou and Veikou define Pontic Greeks as “ethnic Greeks who either
emigrated from areas of the Ottoman empire (the southern coast of the Black Sea in particular) to the former
Soviet Union at the beginning of the 20 th century or left Greece in the 1930s and 1940s for political reasons”
(2002: 191).
9 State Council (no. 2756/1983) is the Supreme Administrative Court of Justice in Greece (Triandafyllidou and
Veikou 2002: 204).
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