Albanian-Greek relations
Map indicating locations of Albania and Greece

Albania
Greece

Albania-Greece relations are diplomatic relations between Albania and Greece.[1] They are impacted by the presence of Albanian immigrants in Greece, the Greek minority in Albania, historical and cultural ties,[2] and the high-level contacts between the governments of Albania and Greece.

Both countries are members of international organizations such as the Council of Europe and NATO. They also share common political views about the Balkans and the rest of the world. As a part of the 2004 EU-Western Balkans Summit of Thessaloniki, Greece proposed "Agenda 2014,"[3] which promoted the integration of all the Western Balkan states into the European Union.[4] On June 24 June 2014, under the Greek EU Presidency, Albania was granted official EU candidate status;[5][6] the grant coincided with the 10th anniversary of "Agenda 2014."

Greece is Albania's 15th largest foreign investor.[7] Along with Italy, Greece has supported Albanian Euro-Atlantic integration efforts, such as Albania's entry into NATO in 2009.[8] Cooperation between the two governments and business sectors exists in fields involving energy, military, tourism and culture, with bilateral projects such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and hydroelectric power plants being implemented. Greece has also been Albania's largest donor, as well as the leading donor for the National Theater of Albania.[9]

Modern diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1971 and are currently regarded as positive.[10] The two peoples share common traditions, culture, history, and inter-ethnic relations; despite this, diplomatic tensions relating to the Greek communities in Albania and vice versa continue to play a role in how both countries and people view one another.[11] Current issues in the diplomatic ties of the two NATO states include the abolition of the status of war between Greece and Albania, which still exists after the Greco-Italian War in 1940,[12][13][14] and the human rights issues that the Greek minority faces in Albania.[15][16] Despite some factors, and contrary to media portrayal, Albanians and Greeks continue to maintain relations in their respective countries with a push by academics, cultural groups, NGO's, ethnic minorities, mixed families, and other non-state actors to create closer and stronger social and political ties.[17][18][19]

History

Both countries and peoples claim autochthonous status in their respective countries and the wider Balkan region, which has led to shared kinship as well as contested claims throughout history.

As a result of the close proximity of the two countries and peoples, European genetic research has shown a significant degree of genetic similarity between Albanians and Greeks, as well as other southern European populations such as southern Italians and Cypriots.[20]

Since the nineteenth century, both countries have been separate nation-states, but for at least twenty-two centuries, Albania and Greece belonged to the same state in different forms.[21] The ancient Greek and Illyrian tribes that inhabited both countries were Indo-European tribes that intermarried with pre-Hellenic populations after arriving in the Balkans about four thousand years ago. Multiple migration events occurred then, as they have more recently, between both countries and peoples, with Greek colonies being established along the coast of Illyria, which corresponds to modern day coastal Albania.

In the Middle Ages, Albanians, particularly those in the population group Arvanites, migrated across Greece, establishing themselves throughout the country and playing a role in the Greek War for Independence and establishment of the modern Greek state.[22] In addition, other Christian Albanians also took part in the Greek struggle against the Ottoman Empire.[23]

Foreign Minister of Albania Edmond Panariti (left) and Foreign Minister of Greece Dimitris Avramopoulos (right) in October 2012.

After the Albanian Declaration of Independence was made in 1912, land division between Albania and Greece was solved under the force of the Great Powers (Austria-Hungary and Italy) with the Florence Protocol. Relations did not improve until the 1939 occupation of Albania by Italy. Greek and Albanian forces came into conflict during the Greco-Italian War, despite how during the Axis Occupation of Greece, the Greek and Albanian resistance groups were in close contact, exchanging information about the Nazi occupation forces.[24]

The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, being an ally of the Soviet Union, was involved in the Greek Civil War (1946–1949) by supporting the communist-led Greek Democratic Army. Leskovik, in southern Albania, became its headquarters for some time. Several invasions were mounted from Albanian soil into the Greek region of Grammos, with communist guerrillas going back to Albania after each operation.[25] Negotiations leading up to the re-establishment of full diplomatic relations started in 1953, and a trade agreement was reached in Paris in 1966.[26] The trade agreement, however, was not implemented due to the absence of a payment agreement.[26] In 1970, a new trade agreement was also reached in Paris, leading to the establishment of telegraphic and telephone lines, the opening of trade bureaus in Athens and Tirana, and the first truck with Albanian goods after World War II reaching Greece over Yugoslavia in early April of the same year.[26] Following a lapse lasting more than 30 years, the two countries re-established diplomatic relations on May 6 May 1971, in a period when economic cooperation and strategic calculations made Enver Hoxha and the right-wing Greek military junta of 1967–1974 explore paths of cooperation.[27][26]

Confederation aspirations

There had been numerous discussions, research, and attempts by Albanians and Greeks to form a confederation during the Ottoman period.[28] In the 19th century, there were plans to create a Greek-Albanian confederation, which was revived from earlier 18th-century plans. In 1907, a special protocol and memorandum of understanding were signed by Neoklis Kazazis and Ismail Kemal, the first prime minister of Albania. Furthermore, Arvanite author Aristides Kollias states in his book "The Proclamation of the Association of Arvanites" that "from 1881 to 1907, we have sustained efforts and repeated consultations between Greeks and Albanians to create a Greek-Albanian state." In addition, Thanos Paleologos-Anagnostopoulos stated in his book "Greece and Albania in the Early 20th Century (1995)" stated that Ismail Qemali, a philhellene, worked with numerous Greek politicians and lobbyists, including Arvanite leaders, on a possible Greek-Albanian federation, one that "maintains national and religious independence of the two peoples."[29] Likewise, Neoklis Kazazis saw this as a way of Greece quashing Italian influence in the region.[30]

1990s

Greek PM Papandreou meets Unity for Human Rights Party leader Vangjel Dule and Omonoia leader Vasil Bollano.

After the fall of communism in Albania in 1992, a large number of economic refugees and immigrants from Albania (and other formerly Communist countries including Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine) arrived in Greece, mostly as illegal immigrants, to seek employment. Albanians in Greece comprise 60–65% of the total number of immigrants in Greece. According to the 2001 census, there are officially 443,550 holders of Albanian citizenship in Greece.[31][32]

In the 1990s, Greece preferred and assisted Fatos Nano as Albanian leader due to his being Orthodox over Sali Berisha, a Muslim, as Nano was seen as being friendlier to Greek interests.[33] During the Albanian Rebellion of 1997, Greece participated in the multinational peacekeeping and humanitarian Operation Alba. Also, before Operation Alba, Greece participated in "Operation Kosmas" on March 15, 1997, which was the evacuation of 240 foreign dignitaries from Albania. Today, both nations have described their relations as 'excellent', with Albania considering Greece one of its'strongest and most important allies', as both are NATO member states and are enjoying close relations nowadays.[10] Greece opposed the route of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline passing through Albanian territory, as it would allow Albania to become transmission hub for gas in the Western Balkans.[34]

Modern relations

On August 12, 2010, ethnic tensions soared after ethnic Greek shopkeeper Aristotelis Goumas was killed when his motorcycle was hit by a car driven by three Albanian youths with whom Goumas allegedly had an altercation when they demanded that he not speak Greek to them in his store.[35][36] Outraged locals blocked the main highway between Vlore and Saranda and demanded reform and increased local Himariote representation in the local police force.[36] The incident was condemned by both the Greek and Albanian governments, and three suspects are currently in custody awaiting trial.[36]

After the football game between Serbia v Albania (UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying), Albanian nationalists carrying flags and nationalist banners attacked local ethnic Greeks, attacked houses, and smashed car windows.[37][38] The incident triggered diplomatic intervention from Greece, with the Greek foreign ministry sending a démarche to the foreign ministry of Albania and demanding the trial of those responsible for the attacks.[39] The Albanian foreign minister stated that the "quick and efficient reaction of the state police identified the responsible people".[37]

Greece is the 15th largest foreign investor in Albania, with 217 million euros.[7]

During the massive wildfires in August 2017, which have raged in Albania for weeks, Albanian authorities asked support from Greece. Greece sent two Canadair CL-415 aircraft[40][41] and seven fire engines with their crew to assist Albania.[42]

After the 2019 Albania earthquake, Greece sent two earthquake expert ΕΜΑΚ (Special Units for Disaster Management) units consisting of 40 members, search and rescue dogs, a convoy of trucks[43] and one C-130 airplane with food parcels.[44][45][46][47] In addition, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias traveled to Tirana.[48] Furthermore, Greek doctors and medicines were sent in order to help and support the civilians.[49] Moreover, the Greek army sent three military mobile kitchens together with their personnel.[50] Also, a team of sixteen civil engineers sent to Albania.[51] The Hellenic Red Cross sent more than 200 tons of basic necessities.[52]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greece donated 20,000 vaccines to Albania.[53]

Greek minority of Albania

The status of the Greek minority in Albania is one of the unresolved issues existing between both countries. The former communist regime had granted limited rights to the Greek minority within a specifically designated minority zone consisting of 99 villages. Since the fall of communism, issues relating to the treatment of the Greek minority have frequently caused tension in relations between Greece and Albania. Current issues primarily involve respect for property rights, access to Greek language education outside the "minority zone", accurate census figures, and occasional violent incidents targeting the Greek minority.[54][55][56][57] The position of the Greek government is that issues facing the Greek minority need to be resolved as a condition for Albania's accession to the European Union.[58][59]

In 1992, Greece proposed to Albania for a UN delegation to visit the minority areas and also for Greece to establish a consulate in the region; both proposals were rejected by Albania.[60] In December 2022, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the town of Himara, becoming the first Greek Prime Minister to do so, as well as the villages of Dervican and Livadhe. He received a warm welcome from the local inhabitants and stressed that Albania must support their rights, while also expressing support for Albania's EU integration.[61][62][63]

But the situation started to complicate in the May 14, 2023, local elections in Albania, when just 3 days before the elections, Alfred Dhionisios Beleri (part of the Greek minority in Albania), the candidate of the Democratic Party for the municipality of Himara (the Greek minority), was arrested due to vote-buying. He was caught on camera with his supporter, Pandeli Kokaveshi, giving a person money and a ballot paper. Before this, he said that Himara would be part of Big Greece. This declaration caused many Albanians to criticize him. After vote numbering, he won the elections in Himara from prison. Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias said that Beleri must take office and be sworn in as mayor of Himara. But Ota Xhaçka, the Albanian Foreign Minister, told the Greek government that justice is doing its job and no one should put pressure on it. But later, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Albania is breaking the rule of law by putting someone of the Greek minority illegally in prison and threatened that Greece is going to block Albania's EU integration. His Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, said that Greece should stop making nonsense threats because it will worsen relations between Albania and Greece. Later, Olta Xhaçka and Nikos Dendias met in Brussels and talked about this situation, but no agreement was founded.

In the Berlin Process' Summit held this October in Tirana, Albania, Mitsotakis expressed dissatisfaction with the rule of law in Albania and demanded Beleri's immediate release from prison and his swearing in as the mayor of Himara. Rama didn't comment. Now, according to Greek media, Mitsotakis will implement his threat to Albania by not signing the opening of the second chapter of negotiations for membership in the EU for Albania and North Macedonia. Let's remember that for this, all member states of the EU, without exception, have to approve it. If just one member state doesn't approve this, EU integration for these countries will be blocked, as Bulgaria vetoed North Macedonia before the opening of negotiations. That also blocked Albania, because Albania and North Macedonia go together on the road for EU membership.

Military cemeteries of fallen Greek soldiers

In January 2018, following an agreement between the Greek and Albanian foreign ministers, a systematic effort to recover the bodies of fallen Greek soldiers from the Greco-Italian War was undertaken between the two countries.[64][65][66] It is estimated that between 6,800 and 8,000 fallen Greek soldiers were hastily buried on location following their deaths in battle, and their remains were not properly identified.[65] Work by joint Greek-Albanian teams began on January 22 January in the Kelcyre Gorge, site of the Battle of Kleisoura Pass. A small number of Cham Albanian activists tried to disrupt the work but were removed by Albanian police.[65] The remains of the Greek soldiers will be buried in the Greek military cemeteries in the Kelcyre Gorge and in the Greek minority village of Bularat (Vouliarates) near the Greek-Albanian border.[66] In 2021, the remains of three WWII Greek soldiers were looted near the village of Vodhinë.[67]

Cham issue

The Cham issue refers to a controversy that has been raised by Albania since the 1990s over the repatriation of the Cham Albanians, who were expelled from the Greek region of Epirus between 1944 and 1945 at the end of World War II, citing the collaboration of the majority of them with the occupying forces of the Axis powers.[68][69] While Albania presses for the issue to be reopened, Greece considers the matter closed. However, it was agreed to create a bilateral commission, only about the property issue, as a technical problem. The commission was set up in 1999, but has not yet functioned.[70]

Kosovo Issue

Albania was one of the first countries to recognize Kosovo as an independent state, meanwhile Greece maintains a neutral position on the issue, stating that it would make a decision whether to recognise independent Kosovo or not after examining the issue in depth and that its decision would come as a result of close cooperation with European and neighboring countries, bearing in mind Serbia's role in maintaining regional stability.[71]

Since the election of Albin Kurti as Prime Minister of Kosovo, there have been a significant developments in relations between Kosovo and Greece. The Greek Foreign Minister has made several visits to Kosovo,[72] and Greece has expressed keen interest in the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

Diplomatic missions

Albania maintains an embassy in Athens and consulates in Ioannina and Thessaloniki. Greece maintains an embassy in Tirana and consulates in Gjirokastër and Korçë.

Bilateral relations and cooperation

The two socialist leaders of Albania and Greece in 2011, Edi Rama and George Papandreou

The relations have significantly improved since 1991; Greece and Albania signed a Friendship, Cooperation, Good Neighborliness, and Security Agreement on March 21 March 1996.

Greece is a staunch supporter of the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Republic of Albania, and since Albania's NATO entry in May 2009, Albanian-Greek relations have been developing on all fronts. The relations, particularly after the election victory of Edi Rama in 2013, have seen massive improvement and warming of relations between the two nations[73] for a short period of time, with the Albanian Chief of Foreign Policy, Ralf Gjoni, describing the diplomatic relations between the two countries as "excellent.". However, during the year 2014, only a year after Rama's election, Albanian and Greek relations deteriorated and became increasingly strained due to Rama's refusal of the agreement that defined the maritime borders and set the Exclusive Economic Zone between the two countries, which Albania's previous government signed with Greece in 2009.[74] Despite the difficulties in relations between the two countries, Greece, is regarded as Albania's most important European Union ally and partner.[75]

Both states are cooperating in many fields, such as political, judicial, energy, and tourism. There are regular high-level visits between the two countries and frequent contacts between the two countries' governments, parliaments, and local authorities on various matters concerning individual sectors and mutual interests. Big projects currently running between the two countries include the touristic development of the Ionian coastline shared between the two countries and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). Official meetings between the two governments and the parliaments are frequent, and the armies of both states are conducting co-training in a regular basis as part of the NATO training programme for the modernization of the Albanian Army Forces.

Under the Greek EU Presidency, Albania was granted official EU candidate status which coincides with the 10th anniversary of the "Agenda 2014" proposed by the Greek Government for boosting the integration of Albania and all the Western Balkan states into the European Union.

In March 2023, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis personally attended Albanian PM Edi Rama's artistic exhibition held in Athens. Delegations from the two governments also held a working meeting aimed at enhancing the relations between the two countries.[76]

Notable visits

Guest Host Place of visit Date of visit
Greece Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias Albania Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati Tirana, Albania July 2015
Albania Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati Greece Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias Athens, Greece May 2016

State visit by Nikos Kotzias

In July 2015, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias visited Albania for two days (14–16) as part of his Western Balkans tour.[77] During his visit, both nations reaffirmed their close ties, saying there are no open issues or taboo topics between the two. They agreed the sea issue would be sorted out in due course, but both ministers stressed the close, strategic, and friendly ties of the people. Kotzias made note of the Greek National Minority, Albanians in Greece, and their common past and future as bridges to sustainable, strong and fruitful relations.[78]

Bilateral agreement on maritime borders

The long-standing dispute between Albania and Greece over the division of maritime borders was an obstacle to Albanian aspirations for European integration. Negotiations between the two parties began in earnest in 2007, culminating in the Agreement of 2009 entitled “On the delimitation of their respective areas, the continental shelf, and other maritime areas belonging to international law.”. Following the Agreement, Greece expressed its firm support for the integration of Albania into the European Union together with other Balkan countries. However, the Constitutional Court of Albania declared in 2010 that the Agreement of 2009 was incompatible with the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.[79]

See also

References

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  65. 1 2 3 "Ιστορική στιγμή: Ξεκίνησε η εκταφή των Ελλήνων πεσόντων του '40 στο μέτωπο της Αλβανίας". 22 January 2018.
  66. 1 2 "Αρχίζει η εκταφή των Ελλήνων στρατιωτών πεσόντων στα βουνά της Αλβανίας". 21 January 2018.
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  72. ↑ "Dendias and Rama are by far the most frequent political guests of Pristina". Kosovo Online. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  73. ↑ Maria Papathanasiou (4 November 2013). "Karolos Papoulias visits Albania". Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  74. ↑ Kathimerini Newspaper: Albania-Greece EEZ agreement to suffer setback, strain relations.
  75. ↑ "Greece supports EU candidate status for Albania". Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  76. ↑ "Albanian Premier Meets Mitsotakis". Albanian Daily News. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
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  79. ↑ Mehmetaj, Jonida; Meçaj, Stela (2022). "Dispute between Albania and Greece over the Delimitation of Maritime Zones". Lex Portus. 8 (3). doi:10.26886/2524-101X.8.3.2022.1. S2CID 250238402.

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