Albania’s ethnic Greeks concerned over community’s future

Members of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania lament their community’s dwindling numbers, saying that unless incentives are given to young people to return to their ancestral villages the community will eventually disappear.

Asked by Kathimerini what future lies ahead for the six mostly Greek-speaking villages in the Pogon (Pogoni) commune, locals have the same answer: “None, unless the young come back.”

Migrants in Greece may send remittances back to their parents and fix up their houses, but they are not interested in going back and working in the fields or opening their own businesses, they said.

The ethnic Greek presence has been reduced to the elderly who did not want or were not able to leave their ancestral homes. “Before ’91 our 41 villages were full of people, now unfortunately they are empty. We hope that the young people will start returning and Greece can help us in this,” the mayor of Dropolis told Kathimerini.