Northern Epirus
Northern Epirus ( Albanian Epir / -ii Veriut or Epir / -i Verior ; Greek Βόρεια Ήπειρος Vória Í̱piros ) is the Greek term for an area of Albania that extends between the Korça - Himara line and the Greek border . In some areas there is a Greek-speaking minority there .
In 1913 the historical region of Epirus was divided between Greece and Albania. The Greek population in the now Albanian north proclaimed a separate Republic of Autonomous Epirus in 1914 , which was to be united with Greece as soon as possible. Greece occupied the area in the same year. After the First World War , Northern Epirus finally fell to the Albanian state.
history
Historical background
| religion | population |
|---|---|
| Orthodox | 128,000 |
| Muslims | 95,000 |
After 1900, two national movements competed for Epirus, and both claimed the entire country from Himara in the north to Preveza in the south, from the Ionian Sea in the west to Lake Prespa in the east. In most areas, however, Greeks and Albanians , Christians and Muslims lived side by side. There were also a number of ethnic minorities: the Wallachians spread across the country , the small Turkish community in Ioannina, and finally the Jewish community in Korça.
In 1908 the Young Turks took power in Constantinople . This reform-oriented movement initially had supporters among the Albanians in Epirus, not least because protection from the growing armed resistance of the Greeks was promised. At that time, irregulars tried to instigate an uprising in Epirus in order to speed up the connection of the province to the Greek motherland. But when the Young Turks embarked on an aggressively nationalist course the following year, the Albanians distanced themselves from them. Weakened by uprisings in most European provinces and by the war in Libya , the Ottoman military and gendarmerie increasingly lost control in Epirus in the course of 1911. Greek and Albanian freedom fighters operated in different regions.
At the end of 1912, Albania's independence was proclaimed and internationally recognized. The northern parts of the Epirus region , which were initially still under Ottoman rule and were partly settled by Greeks, were occupied by Greek troops in spring 1913; The Greek government installed the former Foreign Minister Georgios Christakis-Zografos as Governor General . There were acts of violence against the local Albanian population and Albanian villages were set on fire by individual Greek troops.
While in 1913 an international commission was supposed to determine the border course of the future states, there were propaganda attempts by the Greek government in many places to influence the commissioners in their work. This is how Captain Leveson Gower reports:
“During the night the border commission reached a village where a Greek-speaking man was waiting for them and where they heard the bells of a church that appeared to be Orthodox. No doubt they would hold such uncontested evidence to be true. Unfortunately, however, a kavasis (armed guard) came into the village and assured the commission that there is neither a Greek foot nor a church in the village. It was discovered that the Greeks had hurriedly set a bell on the top of a tree and struck it hard to crush the European representatives. "
Finally, in December 1913, the great powers England, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy and Russia laid down the borders of the new state in the peace treaty of London in such a way that the northern parts of the Epirus region fell to Albania.
Autonomy Movement (1914)
Independent State: Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus
At the end of January 1914, the great powers asked Greece to withdraw its troops from northern Epirus. The threat that the Greek claims on Lesbos , Chios and Samos would not be recognized was used as a means of pressure . After the departure of Greece, a provisional government for Northern Epirus was set up by Greek residents on February 28, 1914, which proclaimed the independent Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus the following day . Georgios Christakis-Zografos acted as prime minister . The capital of the new state was Gjirokastra , furthermore , Himara , Kolonja , Përmet and Saranda belonged to the controlled area. Own stamps were issued in March. Militarily, the new state was able to assert itself against the unstable Albania with the help of volunteers from Greece (especially from Crete).
Corfu Protocol - Nominal Autonomy within Albania
At the end of April 1914, Albania agreed to negotiations on the future status of Northern Epirus. In May 1914, Greece, Albania and the great powers signed the Corfu Protocol , which, although the end of the full state independence of Northern Epirus, provided for extensive autonomy - under the sovereignty of Albania. Northern Epirus was given the right to equip its own armed forces, and Greek was established as the official language. As before, own postage stamps were issued. The privileges of the Greek Orthodox parishes were confirmed; these parishes were subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . Their school lessons were planned to be in Greek.
First World War and the interwar period (1915–1939)
At the end of 1914, northern Epirus was occupied by Greek troops and annexed to Greece in 1915. After the First World War , Greece was unable to assert itself with its demands for northern Epirus. The League of Nations , into which Albania was admitted in 1920, urged Italy and Greece to recognize the borders of Albania, which happened in 1923.
In a case before the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague , residents of Northern Epirus successfully invoked the Corfu Protocol and forced the reintroduction of Greek schools in 1935.
Second World War (1939–1945)
In 1939, northern Epirus with all of Albania was occupied by fascist Italy. In October 1940, the Italian troops formed in northern Epirus to attack Greece. The Greeks were able to repel the attack and in December 1940 they managed to advance to Himara , Gjirokastra and Korça . After Greece had been defeated with the help of the German Wehrmacht in May 1941, Northern and Southern Epirus came under the Italian occupation regime .
Communist dictatorship (1945–1991)
In 1944 Albania was liberated from foreign fascist rule and a communist dictatorship was established under Enver Hoxha . The pre-war borders were restored. In 1965 all Orthodox churches were closed and religious practice was banned. Albania was proclaimed the first atheist state in the world. Members of the family were only allowed to use their mother tongue in designated minority areas (in the area of Gjirokastra and Saranda ). Of the 79 elementary schools of the Greek minority that existed in 1946, most of them were closed over the years. For the first four years of elementary school, the language of instruction was both Greek and Albanian. However, the Greek schoolbooks were only translations of the Albanian teaching materials, so that minority history, geography and culture were excluded from the subject. From the 5th grade and in all secondary educational institutions, Albanian was the only language of instruction. The free use of the Greek language was also hindered by the lack of contact with Greece, as the Albanian-Greek border was hermetically sealed.
Transformation process
Even if the governments of Albania and Greece are appeasing, there are still a few nationalist splinter groups who are striving for a “liberation” of the northern Epirus and the Greeks living there. In 1994, a raid by the Liberation Front for Northern Epirus, operating from Greece, on a barracks in Albania caused a stir . In 1999 a self-proclaimed “The Government of Epirus in Exile” was founded in the USA, but this is not recognized by any state and has more of an association character.
The Greek minority in Albania and the Northern Epirus question
It is generally recognized that the number of almost 60,000 ethnic Greeks in Albania determined in 1989 was set too low, but conversely, Greece's demand for 250,000 to 400,000 members of the Greek minority as an update of old religious statistics was just as unreal. Observers from western countries, taking into account the election results from 1991–1992, assumed a figure of just over 100,000 to 200,000 people. Around 40 to 70 percent of Greeks emigrated from Albania as a result, so that the number is likely to be much lower today. Despite the strong economically motivated emigration movement to Greece , the Greeks are still the numerically largest minority in Albania. Greeks mainly live in the southern Albanian counties of Saranda , Delvina , Gjirokastra and Vlora , but many of the villages that were once mainly inhabited by Greeks are now orphaned or only inhabited by elderly people.
The Greeks were officially recognized as an ethnic group as early as communist times and do not suffer any direct disadvantages in today's Albania. In the 1990s there were repeated tensions between Greece and Albania around minority issues (see also: Çamen ). These problems are largely resolved today. As long as there are enough students for Greek-speaking classes, there are Greek school lessons. And at the University of Gjirokastra , courses are offered in Greek, there are Greek radio broadcasts, and Greek can be communicated with the local authorities. Villages with a Greek majority are bilingual. In Himara in particular , there are repeated political tensions between politicians of Greek origin and the Albanian authorities.
As an organization of the Greeks in Albania, the Democratic Union of the Greek Minority ( Omonoia for short ) was founded in 1991 . In the following period there were tensions between Greece and Albania, which had their causes both in foreign policy (Albania's credit blockade by Greece, attack by Greek militants on Albanian military facilities , repatriation of Albanian labor emigrants) and domestic (school and church disputes).
Almost all of these disputes have been resolved since 1995, to which the economic aid granted by Greece and, conversely, the full recognition of the minority status of the Greek part of the population by the Albanian government have contributed.
In 2011 the national census counted 24,243 ethnic Greeks. However, only 15,196 people gave Greek as their mother tongue.
See also
literature
- Tom J. Winnifrith: Badlands - Borderlands. A History of Southern Albania / Northern Epirus . Duckworth, London 2002, ISBN 0-7156-3201-9 (English).
- Valeria Heuberger, Arnold Suppan , Elisabeth Vyslonzil: Focus on Eastern Europe: Minorities in the crossfire of nationalism. Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-486-56182-0 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- Katrin Boeckh: From the Balkan Wars to the First World War: Small State Policy and Ethnic Self-Determination in the Balkans . Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-486-56173-1 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- Angelika Nussberger , Wolfgang Stoppel: Protection of minorities in Eastern Europe (Albania). University of Cologne 2001, p. 75 ( online [PDF; 508 kB ]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Stoppel Minority Protection in Eastern Europe (Albania), 2001. University of Cologne. P. 11 (PDF; 521 kB)
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↑ Besides the Greeks also Albanians and Aromanians. Petsalis-Diomidis estimates 25,000 Aromanians in the southern part of the country alone.
The Greek side rejected the mother tongue as a criterion for ethnicity and considered all Orthodox believers to be Greeks. Often reference is also made to the commitment of those speaking other languages to the Greek nation. Then z. B. of the Albanophone Greeks. - ↑ Mostly Albanians, about a few thousand Turks nationwide, emigrated in 1913/14.
- ↑ Miranda Vickers: Shqiptarët - Një histori modern . Bota Shqiptare, 2008, ISBN 978-99956-11-68-2 , pp. 130-131 (English: The Albanians - A Modern History . Translated by Xhevdet Shehu).
- ^ Richard Clogg. History of Greece in the 19th and 20th centuries. A demolition. Cologne 1997. p. 153.
- ↑ Mark Mazower . Inside Hitler's Greece. The Experience of Occupation, 1941-44. New Haven 1993. ISBN 0-300-06552-3 . P. 21.
- ↑ Konrad Clewing: Albanian speakers and Albanians in Greece and Greeks in Albania , in: pogrom - threatened völker Heft 2/2001 . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 5, 2011 ; Retrieved October 24, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c Wolfgang Stoppel: Rights and protection of national minorities in Albania . K&B, Tirana 2003, ISBN 99927-777-9-6 .
- ^ The Greeks: the land and people since the war. James Pettifer. Penguin, 2000. ISBN 0-14-028899-6 .
- ↑ Vassilis Nitsiakos: On the Border . LIT, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10793-0 .
- ↑ Censusi i Popullsisë dhe Banesave 2011. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: Instituti i Statisticsës . 2012, archived from the original on November 14, 2014 ; Retrieved September 8, 2014 (Albanian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
