With everyone’s thoughts and wishes to Archbishop of Tirana, Dirrach and all Albania Mr. Anastasio the successful event he organized, under his auspices, took place European People’s Partythe ND MEP, Fredis Beleris, with the theme “Northern Epirus and Cypriot Hellenism meet in Ioannina”, in the presence of hundreds of citizens who flooded the main hall of the Grand Serai Hotel. The event was attended by the MEP of the Democratic Alarm (DISY) and the EPP, as keynote speakers. Michalis Hatzipantelathe t. Minister of State, Stavros Papastavrou and the ND Member of Parliament, Angel Syrigos.

THE MEP of ND and EPP, Mr. Fredis Beleris, initiallynoted that “Today, however, you will allow me to begin differently than I would have liked. Let me start with the heavy shadow that hovers over our country and has settled these days at the hospital of Evangelismos, which I visited yesterday. That is, where the archbishop of Albania, Anastasios, is fighting his own battle. An enlightened cleric and man who raised the Autocephalous Church of Albania from the ashes. I had the honor of having him visit me in the cell on August 15, 2023 at the most difficult moment of my life. From that moment I didn’t feel alone for a minute, I had company not only with the image he gave me, but also with his wise words full of love, not only for me, but also for those who were unjustly holding me prisoner”.

Then, regarding Albania’s European path, he emphasized: “Now the ball is in Mr. Rama’s court. The EU, our common home, has rules. In order to travel this European path, Albania should adopt the model of Cyprus, which opened the accession funds and proceeded relying on its own strengths. Not as I wish, but with respect towards her people and their demands. And not in a way that would alter their will or awaken their anti-Western sentiments. And above all without cold war logic. Without the logic of the puppet of larger states which is only likened to a pawn on the chessboard. If Albania does not take the required steps, the watchdogs know. We are the only nation in the European Union that has two signatures, two states, but a common path and a single thought. We have always functioned as one and will continue to do so. Hellenism, today, is much stronger and no one can play with it.”
The MEP of DIS.SY. and of the EPP, Michalis Hatzipantelain turn, pointed out: “Frendis does not have only one support and fellow traveler in the European People’s Party in the European Parliament. In Brussels, he does not have only one supporter, whatever his positions for the good of the Greek citizens. Fredis Beleris and the Hellenism of Northern Epirus, have a brotherly hand to hold. My own hand, from the Hellenism of Cyprus, to claim our rights together. We will upset Edi Rama, but there will NOT be a smooth European path for Albania, without ensuring the natural and ethnic minority in its places. There will be no accession process without increasing Greek influence in Albania! We will join hands, so that Cyprus also helps Greece in the strategic use of Albania’s accession negotiations to the European Union”.

T. Minister of State, Stavros Papastavrou, said that “Our thoughts and prayers, today, are to His Beatitude the Archbishop of Albania, Mr. Anastasio. I remember 33 years before our first meeting, when he had returned from his missionary work in Africa and took on the difficult task of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Albania.

As he himself has written, “In the second half of the 20th century, the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania reached the gates of Hades.” He did not pass through these gates thanks to the spiritual strength of the Archbishop who was and is for all Christians a beacon of faith and love”.
Then, he listed the common characteristics of Northern Epirus and Cypriot Hellenism, which are the “national identity, the struggle for freedom and the unlimited support of Greece” and emphasized in particular the belief in the power of Hellenism, saying: “The belief in our best self, in our determined and strong self, to the one who faces stronger forces and multiple adversities and neither gives up nor gives up, but continues and struggles. The belief in the predominance of light over darkness. The faith in our Homeland, the faith in our Orthodox Church and in Christianity, which especially in the northern continental Hellenism, despite the persecutions, the horrors, the conversion of holy temples into warehouses and stables, did not manage to bend it.
And this faith is the cornerstone for every victorious struggle of Hellenism and the course of our Nation through time. In an era of geopolitical instability and global uncertainties, technological developments that even the most informed find it difficult to understand and follow, faith is our compass for tomorrow”.

Finally, O ND MP, Angelos Syrigosadded that: “In 1945 two areas with a solid Greek element remained outside the borders of the Greek state: Cyprus and Northern Epirus. Today, the European Union offers security to the Republic of Cyprus crippled by the invasion. Tomorrow he will ensure the rights of the Northerners in Albania’s European path. And this course passed through Greece.”
The “present” was given, among others, by the ND Member of Parliament and pr. Minister, Mr. Maria Kefala, the Mayor of Ioannito, Mr. Thomas Begas, the Secretary of the Decentralized Administration of Epirus – Western Macedonia, Mr. Seraphim Liapis the pr. Minister, Mr. Lefteris Oikonomou, as well as representatives of the local government and agencies of the region.