The first Greek prime minister who in January 1991 – after the fall of the communist regime in Albania – visited this Greek minority village in the south.
In the presence of the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, the bust of the former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis was unveiled today in the village of Dervitsani, the head village of the Greek minority region of Dropolis.
In addition to the bust, the renovated village square will henceforth bear the name of Konstantinos Mitsotakis.
At today’s ceremony, Edi Rama was accompanied by the country’s Minister of Culture Mirela Koumbaros, while the Greek Prime Minister was represented by New Democracy MP Dimitris Avramopoulos. The ambassador of Greece in Tirana, Konstantina Kamitsi, was also present.
The bust of Constantinos Mitsotakis was created by the Albanian sculptor Ardian Dule, who was an immigrant in Greece for several years.
The whole initiative on behalf of the Albanian prime minister comes to pay tribute to Konstantinos Mitsotakishim first Greek prime minister who, in January 1991 and immediately after the fall of the communist regime in Albania, visited this Greek minority village in the south. There, in the same square, he was welcomed with unprecedented enthusiasm by tens of thousands of Greek minorities excluded by the Hoxha regime for more than forty years.
Last year in December, the same village was visited by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in the capacity of the Prime Minister of Greece and he. During that visit, the Albanian prime minister had promised his Greek counterpart that the specific square of Dervitsani would be named after his father and a bust would be placed there.
In his greeting, the prime minister of Albania referred extensively to the life and work of Constantinos Mitsotakis, while he did not avoid referring to the current heavy climate of bilateral relations, which he attributed “to electoral political expediencies”as he said.
He characterized the specific situation as “disagreements and quarrels of brothers living in separate houses” and expressed his optimism that in today’s democratic times, such situations “not only pass but strengthen the ties between our two countries and peoples”.
Mr. Avramopoulos commemorated the work of Constantinos Mitsotakis, making special mention of his role in the progress of Greece and bilateral relations. He pointed out the role of the National Greek Minority in Albania and the Albanian immigrants in Greece in the improvement of relations between the two countries and emphasized the necessity of Albania’s integration into the European Union on the condition, as he said, of respect for human rights and rule of law.
Source: Skai
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