Albanians and Greeks, a difficult relationship

 

James Pettifer: The Northern Epirus begins from Shkumbini Walley




Pettifer: "About 200 thousand Greek- living in Albania and form the majority of the population in many southern areas"

A recent comment on the "Day" Newspaper, British publicist James Pettifer, who often analyzes, Albanian Greek relations which expresses that in Albania, of Shkumbini River to the south, live about 200 thousand Greek speakers.

The article of the "Dita" Newspaper, one of the most read newspapers in Albania today, examines the fact of not knowing of the last Census in Albania, for which Greece, does not officially recognize.
 
"At the core of many problems is the fact that Greece has historically claimed large areas of Albanian territory, and went so far as SHKUMBINI valley in central Albania. What today is called Northern Epirus southern Albania ( Northern Epirus ) by many Greeks and Greece in 1914 was granted the renewal, when the great powers were trying to come right after the Second Balkan War. About 200 thousand Greek- living in Albania and form the majority of the population in many southern areas, mainly in the river valley Dropulli.
 While the decision of 1914 surveys were revoked by the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris in 1921, when Powers felt that the only way to end the anarchy in Albania was to establish a state based in Tirana, many Greeks, not all of the extreme right, burned after the return of these territories, and their involvement in Greece. This project is the first with an understandable horror of all Albanian government in Tirana - communist and post-communist" noted Pettifer.

In addition the article continues to claim the data of the albanian part about the greek minority size in Albania.

"The issue of numbers and origin of the Greeks in Albania is itself highly questionable. Albanians claim that the Greeks were brought as contract workers from Turkish Beys in times of Ottoman rule . The Greeks claim that there was always a Greek colony in the region since the initial movements of prehistoric tribes . Professor Sederholm - of Finland , in charge of the investigation of the League of Nations on the issue in the years 1921-23 , estimated the total number of Greek speakers was only 35 to 40 thousand people , but his definition for the Greek could have been more close. At the time of the invasion of Albania from Italy in April 1939, a minority Albanians Greeks knew of only about 20 thousand people , but by the time it finally arrived Greeks had their own schools , completely self-contained representation in local councils and members in the Parliament - until those rights were removed by King Zog after 1934",  noted the newspaper "Dita.

Original article in Albanian:

http://gazetadita.al/shqiptaret-dhe-greket-nje-marredhenie-e-veshtire/