Greece Plans to Expel Albanians

Tension rose between Albania and Greece on Tuesday as the Greek government said it will expel all of the 150,000 Albanians estimated to be in Greece illegally and Tirana asked the United Nations to intervene.

The growing dispute underlined the fragility of borders in the southern Balkans, where ethnic minorities blur the frontier lines dividing Albania, Macedonia (the former Yugoslav republic), Bulgaria and Greece.

Aides to Albanian President Sali Berisha said he sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali condemning the expulsions, which began Friday after Albania deported a Greek Orthodox priest accused of promoting anti-Albanian propaganda.

“I am asking for the intervention of your authorities and the organization you represent in order that this situation come to an end as soon as possible,” Berisha said.

In an outpouring of angry rhetoric redolent of Balkan feuds in the 1950s, the Albanian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced a Greek protest demonstration outside its Athens embassy, saying it was politically motivated from the top.

Some estimates put the number of Albanian illegal immigrants in Greece as high as 300,000. They come south in order to earn enough to live and send money home to Albania, Europe’s poorest country.

Greek police began a countrywide roundup of illegal Albanians on Saturday and said Tuesday that they had already detained 12,600.