Greek PM warns repercussions for Tirana over the arrest of Greek minority candidate

In an interview on Sunday, Greek PM, Kyriakos Mitsotakis has spoken about elections in his country, the impact of elections in Turkey and relations with Albania after the arrest of Greek minority candidate, Fredi Beleri by Albanian authorities.

Mitsotakis considered the arrest of the candidate for mayor of Himara two days ago unacceptable and warned that there could be repercussions if authorities in Tirana continue like this.

“I travelled to Himare a while ago and stressed the fact that Greece will help the ethnic minority there. Albania should know that this will have an effect on bilateral relations and also on Albania’s path towards Europe. I will not tolerate such things against our ethnic minority there,” Mitsotakis said.

Opposition candidate for mayor in Himara, Fredi Beleri has been arrested by police in the early hours of Friday morning.

Beleri, who also represents the Greek community in the southern municipality, is suspected of vote-buying. At the moment police arrested him, Beleri was in his restaurant in Himara.

During a televised interview on Thursday, Prime Minister Edi Rama accused the opposition candidate of vote buying. Rama also alleged that the opposition candidate had hired men to threaten Albanian migrants in Greece to vote for him in Sunday's municipal elections.

The opposition candidate, Fredi Beleri has recently been under fire following his statements that he will Hellenize Himara in case he's elected mayor of this town.