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Kosovo e Shqiperia
'''Greater Albania'''<ref>http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2811%29MD.pdf,"as {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510022534/https://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07(11)MD.pdf, |date=10 May 2018 }} Albanians continue mobilizing their ethnic presence in a cultural, geographic and economic sense, they further the process of creating a Greater Albania. "</ref> is an ] concept of lands that are considered to form the national homeland by many Albanians,<ref>{{cite news|last=Likmeta|first=Besar|title=Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania'|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/survey-greater-albania-remains-popular|accessdate=27 June 2013|date=17 November 2010|agency=]|quote=The poll, conducted by Gallup in cooperation with the European Fund for the Balkans, showed that 62 per cent of respondents in Albania, 81 per cent in Kosovo and 51.9 per cent of respondents in Macedonia supported the formation of a Greater Albania.}}</ref> based on claims on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas. In addition to the existing ], the term incorporates claims to regions in the neighbouring states, the areas include ] and the ] of ], territories in southern ], northwestern ] (the Greek regional units of ] and ], referred by Albanians as ], and other territories that were part of the ] during the Ottoman Empire),<ref name="Merdjanova147"/><ref name="Kola15">{{harvnb|Kola|2003|p=15}}.</ref><ref name="Seton-Watson189"/><ref name="Austin237"/><ref name="Vaknin102103"/> and a part of western ].

The unification of an even larger area into a unique territory under Albanian authority had been theoretically conceived by the ], an organization of the 19th century whose goal was to unify the Albanian inhabited lands (and other regions, mostly from the region of Macedonia, Epirus and Montenegro) into a single autonomous ] within the ].<ref name="Jelavich361365">{{harvnb|Jelavich|1983|pp=361–365}}.</ref> However, the concept of a Greater Albania, as in greater than Albania within its 1913 borders, was implemented only under the ] and ] occupation of the ] during ].<ref name="Zolo24"/> The idea of unification, has roots in the events of the ] in 1913, when roughly half of the predominantly Albanian territories and 40% of the population were left outside the new country's borders,<ref name="Bugajski675">{{harvnb|Bugajski|2002|p=675}}."Roughly half of the predominantly Albanian territories and 40% of the population were left outside the new country's borders"</ref> something that Albanians have tended to regard as an injustice imposed by the Great Powers.

According to the ''Gallup Balkan Monitor'' 2010 report, the idea of a Greater Albania is supported by the majority of Albanians in Albania (63%), Kosovo (81%) and the Republic of Macedonia (53%), although the same report noted that most Albanians thought this unlikely to happen.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227084847/http://www.balkan-monitor.eu/files/BalkanMonitor-2010_Summary_of_Findings.pdf |date=27 December 2012 }}, 2010</ref><ref>Balkan Insight ''Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania' '', 17 Nov 2010 </ref>

In a survey carried out by ] (UNDP), published in March 2007, only 2.5% of the Albanians in Kosovo thought unification with Albania is the best solution for Kosovo. Ninety-six percent said they wanted Kosovo to become independent within its present borders.<ref>UNDP: Early Warning Report. March 2007, p. 16 ( {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518102355/http://www.kosovo.undp.org/repository/docs/EWR15FinalENG.pdf |date=18 May 2015 }}</ref>

==Terminology==
'''Greater Albania''' is a term used mainly by the Western scholars, politicians, etc.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} Albanian nationalists dislike the expression "Greater Albania" and prefer to use the term "Ethnic Albania".<ref name="Judah120"/> '''Ethnic Albania''' ({{lang-sq|Shqipëria Etnike}}) is a term used primarily by ] to denote the territories claimed as the traditional homeland of ethnic Albanians, despite these lands also being inhabited by many non-Albanians.<ref name="BogdaniLoughlin230"/> Those that use the second term refer to an area which is smaller than the four Ottoman vilayets, while still encompassing Albania, Kosovo, western Macedonia, Albanian populated areas of Southern Serbia and parts of Northern Greece (]) that had a historic native Albanian population.<ref name="Judah120"/> Albanian nationalists ignore that within these regions there are also sizable numbers of non-Albanians.<ref name="Judah120">{{harvnb|Judah|2008|p=120}}.</ref> Another term used by Albanians, is "Albanian national reunification" ({{lang-sq|Ribashkimi kombëtar shqiptar}}).<ref>{{cite news|title=Alternativat e ribashkimit kombëtar të shqiptarëve dhe të Shqipërisë Etnike..!|url=http://gazetaditore.com/2012/12/10/alternativat-e-ribashkimit-kombetar-te-shqiptareve-dhe-te-shqiperise-etnike/|accessdate=1 January 2013|newspaper=Gazeta Ditore|date=10 December 2012|language=Albanian|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://archive.is/20130124112221/http://gazetaditore.com/2012/12/10/alternativat-e-ribashkimit-kombetar-te-shqiptareve-dhe-te-shqiperise-etnike/|archivedate=24 January 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==History==

===Under the Ottoman Empire===
], ], ] and ]), proposed as ], by the ] in 1878.]]
{{See also|League of Prizren}}
Prior to the ] of the beginning of the 20th century, Albanians were subjects of the ].
The Albanian independence movement emerged in 1878 with the ] (a council based in Kosovo) whose goal was cultural and political autonomy for ethnic Albanians inside the framework of the Ottoman Empire. However, the Ottomans were not prepared to grant The League's demands. Ottoman opposition to the League's cultural goals eventually helped transform it into an Albanian national movement.

Albanian nationalism overall was a reaction to the gradual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and a response to Balkan and Christian national movements that posed a threat to an Albanian population that was mainly Muslim.<ref name="PutoMaurizio183"/> Efforts were devoted to including vilayets with an Albanian population into a larger unitary Albanian autonomous province within the Ottoman state while Greater Albania was not considered a priority.<ref name="PutoMaurizio183"/><ref name="ShawShaw288"/><ref name="Kostov40">{{harvnb|Kostov|2010|p=40}}. "These scholars did not have access to many primary sources to be able to construct the notion of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians yet, and Greater Albania was not a priority. The goal of the day was to persuade the Ottoman officials that Albanians were a nation and they deserved some autonomy with the Empire. In fact, Albanian historians and politicians were very moderate compared to their peers in neighbouring countries.</ref> Albanian nationalism during the late Ottoman era was not imbued with separatism that aimed to create an Albanian nation-state, though Albanian nationalists did envisage an independent Greater Albania.<ref name="Austin237"/><ref name="PutoMaurizio183"/><ref name="Goldwyn276">{{harvnb|Goldwyn|2016|p=276}}.</ref> Albanian nationalists were mainly focused on defending rights that were sociocultural, historic and linguistic within existing countries without being connected to a particular polity.<ref name="PutoMaurizio183">{{harvnb|Puto|Maurizio|2015|p=183}}."Nineteenth-century Albanianism was not by any means a separatist project based on the desire to break with the Ottoman Empire and to create a nationstate. In its essence Albanian nationalism was a reaction to the gradual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and a response to the threats posed by Christian and Balkan national movements to a population that was predominantly Muslim. In this sense, its main goal was to gather all ‘Albanian’ vilayet's into an autonomous province inside the Ottoman Empire. In fact, given its focus on the defence of the language, history and culture of a population spread across various regions and states, from Italy to the Balkans, it was not associated with any specific type of polity, but rather with the protection of its rights within the existing states. This was due to the fact that, culturally, early Albanian nationalists belonged to a world in which they were at home, though poised between different languages, cultures, and at times even states."</ref><ref name="ShawShaw288">{{harvnb|Shaw|Shaw|1977|p=288}}.</ref>

=== Balkan Wars and Albanian Independence (1912–1913) ===
The imminence of collapsing Ottoman rule through military defeat during the Balkan wars pushed Albanians represented by ] to ] (28 November 1912) in ] from the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Gawrych197200" /> The main motivation for independence was to prevent Balkan Albanian inhabited lands from being annexed by Greece and Serbia.<ref name="Gawrych197200">{{harvnb|Gawrych|2006|pp=197–200}}.</ref><ref name="Fischera19">{{harvnb|Fischer|2007a|p=19}}.</ref> Italy and Austria-Hungary supported Albanian independence due to their concerns that Serbia with an Albanian coast would be a rival power in the Adriatic Sea and open to influence from its ally Russia.<ref name="Vickers6976">{{harvnb|Vickers|2011|pp=69–76}}.</ref><ref name="Tanner168172">{{harvnb|Tanner|2014|pp=168–172}}.</ref><ref name="Despot137">{{harvnb|Despot|2012|p=137}}.</ref><ref name="Kronenbitter85">{{harvnb|Kronenbitter|2006|p=85}}.</ref><ref name="Ker-Lindsay89">{{harvnb|Ker-Lindsay|2009|pp=8–9}}.</ref><ref name="Jelavich100103">{{harvnb|Jelavich|1983|pp=100–103}}.</ref><ref name="Guy453">{{harvnb|Guy|2007|p=453}}.</ref><ref name="Fischera21">{{harvnb|Fischer|2007a|p=21}}.</ref> Apart from geopolitical interests, some Great powers were reluctant to include more Ottoman Balkan Albanian inhabited lands into Albania due to concerns that it would be the only Muslim dominated state in Europe.<ref name="Volkan237">{{harvnb|Volkan|2004|p=237}}.</ref> Russo-French proposals were for a truncated Albania based on central Albania with a mainly Muslim population, which was also supported by Serbia and Greece who considered that only Muslims could only be Albanians.<ref name="Guy454">{{harvnb|Guy|2007|p=454}}. "Benckendorff, on the other hand, proposed only a truncated coastal strip to form a central Muslim dominated Albania, in accordance with the common view amongst Slavs, and also Greeks, that only Muslims could be considered Albanian (and not even Muslims necessarily)."</ref> As more Albanians became part of the Serbian and Greek states, Albanian scholars with nationalistic perspectives interpret the declaration of independence as a partial victory for the Albanian nationalist movement.<ref name="Gingeras31">{{harvnb|Gingeras|2009|p=31}}.</ref>

=== World War II ===
{{see also|Albanian Kingdom (1939–43)|World War II in Albania}}
]

On 7 April 1939, Italy headed by ] after prolonged interest and overarching sphere of influence during the interwar period ].<ref name="Fischer52125">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=5, 21–25}}.</ref> Italian fascist regime members such as Count ] pursued Albanian irredentism with the view that it would earn Italians support among Albanians while also coinciding with Italian war aims of Balkan conquest.<ref name="Fischer7071">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=70-71}}.</ref> The Italian annexation of Kosovo to Albania was considered a popular action by Albanians of both areas.<ref name="Fischer88260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=88,260}}.</ref>
Western Macedonia was also annexed by Italy to their protectorate of Albania.<ref name="Hall183">{{harvnb|Hall|2010|p=183}}.</ref><ref name="Judah47">{{harvnb|Judah|2008|p=47}}.</ref> In newly acquired territories, non-Albanians had to attend Albanian schools that taught a curriculum containing nationalism alongside fascism and were made to adopt Albanian forms for their names and surnames.<ref name="Rossos185186"/> Members from the landowning elite, liberal nationalists opposed to communism with other sectors of society in Albania came to form the ] organisation and the collaborationist government under the Italians which all as nationalists sought to preserve Greater Albania.<ref name="Fischer115116260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=115-116, 260}}.</ref><ref name="Ramet141142">{{harvnb|Ramet|2006|pp=141-142}}.</ref><ref name="Rossos185186">{{harvnb|Rossos|2013|pp=185-186}}.</ref>

Many Kosovo Albanians were preoccupied with driving out the ], particularly the post-1919 ],{{sfn|Fischer|1999|p=237}} often settled on confiscated Albanian land (although the Albanians themselves had confiscated land and brutally abused during the last Ottoman years, as is well-documented).{{sfn|Denitch|1996|p=118}} Albanians saw Serbian and Yugoslav rule as foreign,{{sfn|Denitch|1996|p=118}} and according to Ramet they felt that anything would be better than the chauvinism, corruption, administrative hegemonism and exploitation they had experienced under the Serbian authorities.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=114}} Albanians collaborated broadly with the Axis occupiers, who had promised them a Greater Albania.{{sfn|Denitch|1996|p=118}} Collapse of Yugoslav rule resulted in actions of revenge being undertaken by Albanians, some joining the local '']'' militia that burned Serbian settlements and killed Serbs while interwar Serbian and Montenegrin colonists were expelled into ] proper.<ref name="Judah27">{{harvnb|Judah|2002|p=27}}.</ref><ref name="Ramon262"/><ref name="Judah47"/> The aim of these actions were to create a homogeneous Greater Albanian state.<ref name="Ramon262">{{harvnb|Ramón|2015|p=262}}.</ref> Italian authorities in Kosovo allowed the use of the Albanian language in schools, university education and administration.<ref name="Fontana92">{{harvnb|Fontana|2017|p=92}}.</ref> The same nationalist sentiments among Albanians which welcomed the addition of Kosovo and its Albanians within an enlarged state also worked against the Italians as foreign occupation became increasingly rejected in Albania.<ref name="Fischer260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|p=260}}.</ref> An attempt to get Kosovan Albanians to join the resistance, a meeting in Bujan (1943-1944), northern Albania was convened between Balli Kombëtar members and Albanian communists that agreed to common struggle and maintenance of the newly expanded boundaries.<ref name="Judah2930"/> The deal was opposed by Yugoslav partisans and later rescinded resulting in limited Kosovan Albanian recruits.<ref name="Judah2930">{{harvnb|Judah|2002|pp=29-30}}.</ref> Some Balli Kombëtar members such as ] became partisans with the view that Kosovo would become part of Albania.<ref name="Judah30"/> With the end of the war, some of those Kosovan Albanians felt betrayed by the return of Yugoslav rule and for several years Albanian nationalists in Kosovo resisted both the partisans and later the new Yugoslav army.<ref name="Denitch118">{{harvnb|Denitch|1996|p=118}}.</ref><ref name="Judah30">{{harvnb|Judah|2002|pp=30}}.</ref><ref name="Turnock447">{{harvnb|Turnock|2004|pp=447}}.</ref> Albanian nationalists viewed their inclusion within Yugoslavia as an occupation.<ref name="BatkovskiRajkocevski95">{{harvnb|Batkovski|Rajkocevski|2014|p=95}}.</ref>

The ] became the ruling party of the Italian Protectorate of Albania in 1939 and the prime minister ] approved the possible administrative union of Albania and Italy, because he wanted the Italian support in order to get the union of ], ] and other "Albanian irredentism" into ''Greater Albania''. Indeed, this unification was realized after the ] occupation of ] and ] from spring 1941. The Albanian fascists claimed in May 1941 that nearly all the Albanian populated territories were united to Albania.<ref name="Zolo24">{{harvnb|Zolo|2002|p=24}}. "It was under the Italian and German occupation of 1939-1944 that the project of Greater Albania... was conceived."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/226.gif|title=see map|author=|date=|website=transindex.ro|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226114618/http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/226.gif|archivedate=26 February 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Between May 1941 and September 1943, ] placed nearly all the land inhabited by ethnic Albanians under the jurisdiction of an Albanian quisling government. That included the region of Kosovo, parts of the Republic of Macedonia and some small border areas of ]. In ] an Albanian high commissioner, ], was appointed by the Italians; but the area remained under the control of the Italian military command in ] and so technically remained a region of ].

When the Germans occupied the area and substituted the Italians, they maintained the borders created by Mussolini, but after ] the Albanian borders were returned by the ] to the pre-war status.
]

=== Yugoslav Wars ===
{{main|Insurgency in Kosovo (1992–98)|Kosovo War|Insurgency in the Preševo Valley|2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia}}
The ] (KLA) was an ethnic-Albanian ] organisation which sought the separation of Kosovo from ] during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a ''Greater Albania'', encompassing Kosovo, Albania, and the ethnic Albanian minority of neighbouring ]. The KLA found great moral and financial support among the Albanian diaspora.<ref>{{cite web|title=State-building in Kosovo. A plural policing perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YS15BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|publisher=Maklu|date=5 February 2015|p=53}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Liberating Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and U. S. Intervention |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5sa90AEvi0C&pg=PA69|publisher=]|date=2012|p=69}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Dictionary of Genocide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgGA91skoP4C&pg=PA249|publisher=]|date=2008|p=249}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/Kosovo-Liberation-Army|publisher=]|date=14 September 2014|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906171517/http://www.britannica.com/topic/Kosovo-Liberation-Army|archivedate=6 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Albanian Insurgents Keep NATO Forces Busy|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,101938,00.html|publisher=]|date=6 March 2001|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226173544/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,101938,00.html|archivedate=26 December 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

KLA Commander ] insisted:<ref>{{cite web|title=Liberating Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and U. S. Intervention |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5sa90AEvi0C&lpg=PA69&dq=greater%20albania%20kla&hl=sr&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q&f=false|publisher=]|date=2012|p=69}}</ref>
{{cquote|There is ''de facto'' Albanian nation. The tragedy is that European powers after ] decided to divide that nation between several Balkan states. We are now fighting to unify the nation, to liberate all Albanians, including those in Macedonia, Montenegro, and other parts of Serbia. We are not just a liberation army for Kosovo.}}

By 1998 the KLA’s operations had evolved into a significant armed insurrection. According to the report of the ], the "Kosovo Liberation Army ... attacks aimed at trying to 'cleanse' Kosovo of its ethnic Serb population." The ] estimated the figure at 55,000 refugees who had fled to ] and ], most of whom were ].<ref name="Allan178">{{harvnb|Allan|Zelizer|2004|p=178}}.</ref>

Its campaign against ] security forces, police, government officers and ethnic Serb villages precipitated a major ] crackdown which led to the ] of 1998–1999. Military intervention by Yugoslav security forces led by ] and Serb paramilitaries within Kosovo prompted an exodus of Kosovar Albanians and a refugee crisis that eventually caused ] to intervene militarily in order to stop what was widely identified as an ongoing campaign of ].<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203092331/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword-03.htm |date=3 December 2012 }}. Hrw.org. Retrieved on 14 March 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE3D81F31F937A15750C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | title=Conflict In The Balkans: The Overview; Nato Authorizes Bomb Strikes; Primakov, In Air, Skips U.S. Visit | first=Jane | last=Perlez | date=24 March 1999 | accessdate=4 April 2010}}</ref>

The war ended with the ], with Yugoslav forces agreeing to withdraw from Kosovo to make way for an international presence.<ref name="chrono">{{cite web|title=Kosovo war chronology|publisher=]|url=https://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/timeline.shtml|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828081512/http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/timeline.shtml|archivedate=28 August 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/11/balkan-wars|accessdate=26 February 2013|title=The Balkan wars: Reshaping the map of south-eastern Europe|work=]|date=2012-11-09|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104110319/http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/11/balkan-wars|archivedate=4 January 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Kosovo Liberation Army disbanded soon after this, with some of its members going on to fight for the ] in the ]<ref name="Kosovo one year on">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/676196.stm|work=BBC|title=Kosovo one year on|date=16 March 2000|accessdate=4 April 2010|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420195312/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/676196.stm|archivedate=20 April 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and others joining the ] (NLA) and ] (ANA) during ].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kla-veterans-linked-to-latest--bout-of-violence-in-macedonia-686995.html|work=The Independent|location=London|title=KLA veterans linked to latest bout of violence in Macedonia|first=Justin|last=Huggler|date=12 March 2001|accessdate=4 April 2010|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171014105217/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kla-veterans-linked-to-latest--bout-of-violence-in-macedonia-686995.html|archivedate=14 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== 2000s–present ===
Political parties advocating and willing to fight for a Greater Albania emerged in Albania during the 2000s.<ref name="Stojarova49" /> They were the National Liberation Front of Albanians (KKCMTSH) and Party of National Unity (PUK) that both merged in 2002 to form the United National Albanian Front (FBKSh) which acted as the political organisation for the ] (AKSh) militant group and consisted of some disaffected KLA and NLA members.<ref name="BanksMullerOverstreet22" /><ref name="Stojarova49" /> Regarded internationally as terrorist both have gone underground and its members have been involved in various violent incidents in Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia during the 2000s.<ref name="BanksMullerOverstreet22">{{harvnb|Banks|Muller|Overstreet|2010|p=22}}.</ref><ref name="Schmid401">{{harvnb|Schmid|2011|p=401}}.</ref><ref name="KoktsidisDam180">{{harvnb|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|p=180}}.</ref> In the early 2000s, the ] (UCC) was a reported paramilitary formation that intended to be active in northern Greek region of ].<ref name="Vickers1213">{{harvnb|Vickers|2002|p=12-13}}.</ref><ref name="Stojarova96">{{harvnb|Stojarová|2016|p=96}}.</ref> Political parties active only in the political scene exist that have a nationalist outlook are the monarchist ] (PLL), the ] (PBKSh) alongside the Balli Kombëtar, a party to have passed the electoral threshold and enter parliament.<ref name="Stojarova49" /><ref name="Austin246" /> These political parties, some of whom advocate for a Greater Albania have been mainly insignificant and remained at the margins of the Albanian political scene.<ref name="Austin246" /> The Kosovo question has limited appeal among Albanian voters and are not interested in electing parties advocating redrawn borders creating a Greater Albania.<ref name="Stojarova49">{{harvnb|Stojarova|2010|p=49}}.</ref> Centenary Albanian independence celebrations in 2012 generated nationalistic commentary among the political elite of whom prime-minister ] referred to Albanian lands as extending to ], northern Greece and ], southern Serbia angering Albania's neighbors.<ref name="Endresen208b">{{harvnb|Endresen|2016|p=208}}.</ref> In Kosovo, a prominent left wing nationalist movement turned political party ] (Self Determination) has emerged who advocates for closer Kosovo-Albania relations and pan-Albanian self determination in the Balkans.<ref name="Schwartz111112">{{harvnb|Schwartz|2014|pp=111-112}}.</ref><ref name="Venner75">{{harvnb|Venner|2016|p=75}}.</ref> Another smaller nationalist party, the Balli Kombetar Kosovë (BKK) sees itself as an heir to the original Second World War organisation that supports Kosovan independence and pan-Albanian unification.<ref name="Stojarova49" /> Greater Albania remains mainly in the sphere of political rhetoric and overall Balkan Albanians view EU integration as the solution to combat crime, weak governance, civil society and bringing different Albanian populations together.<ref name="Merdjanova49">{{harvnb|Merdjanova|2013|p=49}}.</ref><ref name="Austin246">{{harvnb|Austin|2004|p=246}}.</ref>

== Political uses of the concept ==
The Albanian question in the Balkan peninsula is in part the consequence of the decisions made by Western powers in late 19th and early 20th century. The ] and the ] assigned Albanian inhabited territories to other States, hence the reaction of the League of Prizren.<ref name="Jelavich361">{{harvnb|Jelavich|1983|pp=361}}.</ref> One theory posits that the ], ], ], and ] wanted to maintain a brittle balance in Europe in the late 19th century.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}

The degree to which different groups are working towards.and what efforts such groups are undertaking in order to achieve a Greater Albania is disputed. There seems no evidence that anything more than a few unrepresentative extremist groups are working towards this cause; the vast majority of Albanians want to live in peace with their neighbors. However, they also want the human rights of the Albanian ethnic populations in Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Greece to be respected. An excellent example is the friendly relationship between the ] and the support towards the integration of the Albanian population in Republic of Macedonia. There is Albanian representation in government, the national parliament, local government, and the business sector, and no evidence of systematic discrimination on an ethnic or religious basis against the Albanian (or indeed any other minority) population.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}

In 2000, the then-] Madeleine Albright said that the international community would not tolerate any efforts towards the creation of a Greater Albania.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/648630.stm | work=BBC News | title=Albright warns Albania against expansion | date=19 February 2000 | deadurl=no | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022105856/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/648630.stm | archivedate=22 October 2014 | df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2004, the ] movement was formed in ], which opposes foreign involvement in Kosovan affairs and campaigns instead for the sovereignty the people, as part of the right of self-determination. Vetëvendosje obtained 12.66% of the votes in an election in December 2010, and the party manifesto calls for a referendum on union with Albania.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lëvizja Vetëvendosje |url=http://vetevendosje.org/repository/docs/Programme_Politique_Version_Courte.pdf |publisher=Lëvizja Vetëvendosje |accessdate=1 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}{{dead link|date=April 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In 2012, the ] ({{lang-sq|Aleanca Kuq e Zi}}) was established as a political party in Albania, the core of its program is national unification of all Albanians in their native lands.<ref>{{cite web|title=Aleanca Kuq e Zi|url=http://www.aleancakuqezi.al|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017163330/http://www.aleancakuqezi.al/|dead-url=yes|archive-date=17 October 2011|accessdate=1 January 2013}}</ref>

In 2012, as part of the celebrations for ], Prime Minister Sali Berisha spoke of "Albanian lands" stretching from ] in Greece to ] in Serbia, and from the Macedonian capital of ] to the Montenegrin capital of ], angering Albania's neighbors. The comments were also inscribed on a parchment that will be displayed at a museum in the city of Vlore, where the country’s independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared in 1912.<ref>''Albania celebrates 100 years of independence, yet angers half its neighbors'' Associated Press, November 28, 2012.</ref>

==Areas==
{{hatnote|This is a table of irredentist claims, with approximate total population numbers, Albanian population, and area.}}
{| class="wikitable"
! State/region/community
! Territory
! Area <small>(km²)</small>
! Total population
! Albanians
|-
| ]<br>{{small|(Albanians proper)}}
| {{flag|Albania}}
| align=center|28,748
| align=center|2,821,977<ref name="Population and Housing Census 2011">{{cite web|title=Population and Housing Census 2011|url=http://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/population/publications/books/2012/main-results-of-population-and-housing-census-2011.aspx|publisher=INSTAT (Albanian Institute of Statistics)|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803171148/http://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/population/publications/books/2012/main-results-of-population-and-housing-census-2011.aspx|archivedate=3 August 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| align=center|2,312,356<br>{{small|(82% of total state pop.)}}
|-
| ]<br>{{small|(])}}
| {{flag|Republic of Kosovo}}{{ref label|status|a|}}
| align=center|10,908
| align=center|1,739,825<br>{{small|(])}}
| align=center|1,616,869<br>{{small|(92% of total state pop.)}}
|-
| ], ] and ]<br>{{small|(])}}
| {{flag|Montenegro}}: ] area (Malësia), Kraja region, ], ], and ] municipalities
| align=center|1,173–1,400 <!--?+255+486+432-->
| align=center|N/A
| align=center|25,000
|-
| Western Republic of Macedonia<br>{{small|(])}}
| {{flag|Republic of Macedonia}}: Western and north-western areas
| align=center|2,500–4,500
| align=center|N/A
| align=center|509,083 (2002 census)
|-
| ]<br>{{small|(])}}
| {{flag|Serbia}}: ], ] and partially ] municipalities
| align=center|725–1,249
| align=center|88,966<br>{{small|(2002 census data)}} <!--2002: 34,904+43,302+10,760-->
| align=center|57,595<br>{{small|(65% of Preševo Valley)}} <!--2002: 31,098+23,681+2,816-->
|-
| ]/]<br>{{small|(])}}
| {{flag|Greece}}: ] and ] (northern historical ])
| align=center|N/A
| align=center|N/A
| align=center|N/A
|}

===Kosovo===
{{Main|Albanians in Kosovo|Republic of Kosovo|Kosovo's unification with Albania}}

Kosovo has an overwhelmingly Albanian majority, estimated to be around 92%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kv.html|last=CIA|accessdate=27 July 2010|title=The World Factbook|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306223735/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kv.html|archivedate=6 March 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Montenegro===
{{Main|Albanians in Montenegro}}

The irredentist claims in Montenegro are in the border areas, including ], ], ] (]), ], and ] (]).<ref name="Petranović2002">{{cite book|author=Branko Petranović|title=The Yugoslav Experience of Serbian National Integration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SoVpAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=East European Monographs|isbn=978-0-88033-484-6|quote=... unite with Albania, and to form the second Albanian state outside Yugoslavia, which would gather the Albanians of Kosovo and Metohija, western Macedonia and the border regions of Montenegro from Plav, Gusinje and Rozaje, through Tuzi, near the Montenegrin capital, the hinterland of Lake Skadar (Krajina) up to Ulcinj.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Kenneth Morrison|title=Nationalism, Identity and Statehood in Post-Yugoslav Montenegro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZw8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|date=11 January 2018|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4742-3520-4|p=36|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510022533/https://books.google.com/books?id=GZw8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|archivedate=10 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> According to the 2011 census, the Albanian proportion in those municipalities are following: Ulcinj–14,076 (70%), Tuzi–2,383 (50%), Plav–(19%), Rožaje–188 (2%). The claim on the Sandžak area, where the Albanian community is small and the Bosniak community is the majority, is based on the Albanian state borders in World War II and presence in the late Ottoman period.

===Republic of Macedonia===
{{See also|Albanians in Republic of Macedonia|2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia}}

The western part of the Republic of Macedonia is an area with a large ethnic Albanian minority. The Albanian population in Republic of Macedonia make up 25% of the population, numbering 509,083 in the 2002 census.<ref name=Statisticaloffice>Macedonian Census (2002), {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327022959/http://www.stat.gov.mk/publikacii/knigaX.pdf |date=27 March 2014 }}'', The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 62.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mk.html|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|author=|date=|website=www.cia.gov|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091114103245/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mk.html|archivedate=14 November 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Cities with Albanian majorities or large minorities include ] (Tetova), ] (Gostivari), ] (Struga) and ] (Diber).<ref>Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization, Yearbook 1995
Page 41 By Mary Kate Simmons {{ISBN|90-411-0223-X}}</ref>

In the 1980s, Albanian irredentist organizations appeared in Macedonia, particularly Vinica, Kicevo, Tetovo and Gostivar.<ref name="Ramet1995">{{cite book|author=Sabrina P. Ramet|title=Social Currents in Eastern Europe: The Sources and Consequences of the Great Transformation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3HTHpikwq4C&pg=PA203|year=1995|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-1548-3|pages=203–|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510022533/https://books.google.com/books?id=F3HTHpikwq4C&pg=PA203|archivedate=10 May 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1992, Albanian activists in Struga proclaimed also the founding of the ] ({{lang-sq|Republika e Iliridës}})<ref name="Ramet80">{{harvnb|Ramet|1997|p=80}}.</ref> with the intention of autonomy or federalization inside the Republic of Macedonia. The declaration had only a symbolic meaning and the idea of an autonomous State of Ilirida is not officially accepted by the ethnic Albanian politicians in the Republic of Macedonia.<ref name="Bugajski116">{{harvnb|Bugajski|1994|pp=116}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1100499.html|title=Macedonia: Authorities Allege Existence Of New Albanian Rebel Group|author=|date=|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712072345/https://www.rferl.org/a/1100499.html|archivedate=12 July 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Preševo Valley===
{{Main|Albanians in Serbia}}

The irredentist claims in ] (excluding Kosovo) are in the southern ], including municipalities of ] ({{lang-sq|Preshevë}}), ] ({{lang-sq|Bujanoc}}) and partially ] ({{lang-sq|Medvegjë}}), where there is an Albanian community. In 2001, the Albanians were estimated to have numbered 70,000 in the area.<ref name="Presevo valley tension">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1043583.stm|title=Presevo valley tension|date=2 February 2001|last=Partos|first=Gabriel|work=]|accessdate=14 January 2015|quote=Initially, the guerrillas' publicly acknowledged objective was to protect the local ethnic Albanian population of some 70,000 people from the repressive actions of the Serb security forces.|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023192256/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1043583.stm|archivedate=23 October 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> According to the 2002 census, the Albanian proportion in those municipalities were following: Preševo–31,098 (89%), Bujanovac–23,681 (55%), Medveđa–2,816 (26%).

Following the ] (1998–99), the Albanian separatist ] ({{lang-sq|Ushtria Çlirimtare e Preshevës, Medvegjës dhe Bujanocit}}, UÇPMB), fought an insurgency against the Serbian government, aiming to seceding the Preševo Valley into Kosovo.<ref name="ReuvenyThompson2010">{{cite book|author1=Rafael Reuveny|author2=William R. Thompson|title=Coping with Terrorism: Origins, Escalation, Counterstrategies, and Responses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkeKIYW0sXkC&pg=PA185|date=5 November 2010|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-3313-4|pages=185–}}</ref>

===Greece===
{{Main|Chameria|Cham Albanians}}

The irredentist claim in Greece are ], parts of ], the historical ].<ref name="Merdjanova147">{{harvnb|Merdjanova|2013|p=147}}.</ref>{{qn|date=April 2014}}<ref name="Kola15"/><ref name="Seton-Watson189">{{harvnb|Seton-Watson|1917|p=189}}.</ref>{{qn|date=April 2014}}<ref name="Austin237">{{harvnb|Austin|2004|p=237}}.</ref>{{qn|date=April 2014}}<ref name="Vaknin102103">{{harvnb|Vaknin|2000|pp=102-103}}.</ref>{{qn|date=April 2014}}

The coastal region of ] in northwestern ] referred to by Albanians as '']'' is sometimes included in Greater Albania.<ref name="BogdaniLoughlin230">{{harvnb|Bogdani|Loughlin|2007|pp=230}}.</ref> According to the 1928 census held by the Greek state, there were around 20,000 Muslim Cams in ]. They were forced to seek refuge in Albania at the end of World War II after a large part of them ] and committed a number of crimes together with the Nazis during the 1941–1944 period.<ref name="Meyer702">{{harvnb|Meyer|2008|p=702}}.</ref> In the first post-war census (1951), only 123 Muslim Çams were left in the area. Descendants of the exiled Muslim Chams (they claim that they are now up to 170,000 now living in Albania) claim that up to 35,000 Muslim Çams were living in southern Epirus before World War II. Many of them are currently trying to pursue legal ways to claim compensation for the properties seized by Greece. For Greece the issue "does not exist".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-02-22 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626234836/http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |archivedate=26 June 2008 |df=dmy-all }} Despite the Cham-induced controversy, during a visit to Albania in mid-October 2004, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos stated at a news conference that the Cham issue did not exist for Greece and that claims for the restoration of property presented by both the Cham people and the Greek minority in Albania belonged to a past historical period which he considered closed. "I don't know if it is necessary to find a solution to the Cham issue, as in my opinion it does not need to be solved," he said. "There have been claims from both sides, but we should not return to these matters. The question of the Cham properties does not exist," he said. When speaking of claims from both sides, Stephanopoulos was referring (also) to the Greek claims over Northern Epirus, which include a considerable part of southern Albania.</ref>

==International Crisis Group research==
] researched the issue of Pan-Albanianism and published a report titled "Pan-Albanianism: How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?" on February 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-02-22 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626234836/http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |archivedate=26 June 2008 |df=dmy-all }} "Cham demonstrators was enough to galvanise Greece into defensive mode. The country embarked upon a series of military and diplomatic initiatives, which suggested a fear of Pan-Albanian expansion towards north-western Greece. Serbian and Macedonian media reports were claiming that new Pan-Albanian organisations were planning to expand their operations into north-western Greece to include Meanwhile, Chameria in their plans for the unification of "all Albanian territories." international observers were concerned that Kosovo politicians might start speculating with the Cham issue. The report observed that the "notions of pan-Albanianism are far more layered and complex than the usual broad brush characterisations of ethnic Albanians simply bent on achieving a greater Albania or a greater Kosovo." Furthermore, the report stated that amongst Albanians, "violence in the cause of a greater Albania, or of any shift of borders, is neither politically popular nor morally justified."</ref>

The International Crisis Group advised in the report the Albanian and Greek governments to endeavour and settle the longstanding issue of the Chams displaced from Greece in 1945, before it gets hijacked and exploited by extreme nationalists, and the Chams' legitimate grievances get lost in the struggle to further other national causes. Moreover, the ICG findings suggest that Albania is more interested in developing cultural and economic ties with Kosovo and maintaining separate statehood.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509145704/http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=2523 |date=9 May 2007 }}</ref>

==See also==
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]

==Footnotes==
{| style="margin-left:13px; line-height:150%"
|align="right" valign="top"|a.
|{{note|status}}{{Kosovo-note}}
|}

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

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*{{cite book|last=Judah|first=Tim|title=Kosovo: What everyone needs to know|year=2008|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjTRCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120&dq=Albanian+nationalists&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20nationalists&f=false|isbn=9780199704040|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Ker-Lindsay|first=James|title=Kosovo: the path to contested statehood in the Balkans|year=2009|location=London|publisher=IB Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AD4BAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=Albanian+independence+Russia+Austria-Hungary&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20independence%20Russia%20Austria-Hungary&f=false|isbn=9780857714121|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Kola|first=Paulina|title=The Search for Greater Albania|year=2003|location=London|publisher=C. Hurst & Co.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_LV5RJe_EkC&pg=PA9&dq=greater+albania+four+vilayets&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dkBJU4uCB6SQ5ASisoCAAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=greater%20albania%20four%20vilayets&f=false|isbn=9781850655961|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Kostov|first=Chris|title=Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto 1900-1996|year=2010|location=Oxford |publisher=Peter Lang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-1m1FLtrvsC&pg=PA39&dq=Serb+historians+illyrians&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Rilindja&f=false|isbn=9783034301961|ref=harv}}
*{{cite journal|last=Koktsidis|first=Pavlos Ioannis|last2=Dam|first2=Caspar Ten|title=A success story? Analysing Albanian ethno-nationalist extremism in the Balkans|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20589/EEQPavlosCasparJune2008.pdf?sequence=1|journal=East European Quarterly|volume=42|issue=2|year=2008|pages=161-190|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Kronenbitter|first=Günter|chapter=The militarization of Austrian Foreign Policy on the Eve of World War I|pages= |editor1-last=Bischof|editor1-first=Günter|editor2-last=Pelinka|editor2-first=Anton|editor3-last=Gehler|editor3-first=Michael|title=Austrian Foreign Policy in Historical Context|year=2006|location=New Brunswick|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412817684|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNppUW0oVF8C&pg=PA85&dq=Albanian+independence+Russia+Austria-Hungary&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20independence%20Russia%20Austria-Hungary&f=false|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Meyer|first=Hermann Frank|title=Blutiges Edelweiß: Die 1. Gebirgs-division im zweiten Weltkrieg|year=2008|location=Berlin |publisher=Links Verlag|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Hpr-PK39UkC&dq=|isbn=9783861534471|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last1=Puto|first1=Artan|last2=Maurizio|first2=Isabella|chapter=From Southern Italy to Istanbul: Trajectories of Albanian Nationalism in the Writings of Girolamo de Rada and Shemseddin Sami Frashëri, ca. 1848–1903|pages=|editor1-last=Maurizio|editor1-first=Isabella|editor2-last=Zanou|editor2-first=Konstantina |title=Mediterranean Diasporas: Politics and Ideas in the Long 19th Century|year=2015|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781472576668|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2TdCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT235&dq=Albanian+nationalism&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20nationalism&f=false|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Merdjanova|first=Ina|title=Rediscovering the Umma: Muslims in the Balkans between nationalism and transnationalism|year=2013|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AA6ZsZhwU5oC&pg=PA147&dq=greater+albania+janina&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Rz9JU6e7Bqf8ywPxqYGwDw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=greater%20albania%20janina&f=true|isbn=9780190462505|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina P.|title=Whose Democracy? Nationalism, Religion, and the Doctrine of Collective rights in post-1989 eastern Europe|year=1997|location=Lanham|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GghxFpyBH7MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Whose+Democracy?+Nationalism,+Religion,+and+the+Doctrine+of+Collective+rights+in+post-1989+eastern+Europe&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9-oW1rfHRAhULmJQKHULCDQQQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=Ilirida&f=false|isbn=9780847683246|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina P.|title=The three Yugoslavias: State-building and legitimation, 1918–2005|year=2006|location=Bloomington|publisher=Indiana University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC&pg=PA322&dq=Serbian+historiography+tito&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Serbian%20historiography%20tito&f=false|isbn=978-0-253-34656-8|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Ramón|first=Juan Corona|chapter=Kosovo: Estado actual de una balcanización permanente|pages=259-272|editor1-last=Weber|editor1-first=Algora|editor2-last=Dolores|editor2-first=María|title=Minorías y fronteras en el mediterráneo ampliado. Un desafío a la seguridad internacional del siglo XXI|year=2015|location=Madrid|publisher=Dykinson|isbn=9788490857250|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_hwJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA262&dq=Vulnetari++kosovo&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Vulnetari%20%20kosovo&f=false|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Rossos|first=Andrew|title=Macedonia and the Macedonians: A history|year=2013|location=Stanford|publisher=Hoover Institution Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeGoAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT179&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20form&f=false|isbn=9780817948832|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Schmid|first=Alex P.|title=The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research|year=2011|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PXpFxKRsHgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Routledge+Handbook+of+Terrorism+Research&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih8r7etPHRAhXDmJQKHdkQCbQQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=401&f=false|isbn=9781136810404|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Stephan|chapter=‘Enverists’ and ‘Titoists’ – Communism and Islam in Albania and Kosova, 1941–99: From the Partisan Movement of the Second World War to the Kosova Liberation War|pages=86-112|editor1-last=Fowkes|editor1-first=Ben|editor2-last=Gökay|editor2-first=Bülent |title=Muslims and Communists in Post-transition States|year=2014|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317995395|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IT_JBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT90&dq=Vet%C3%ABvendosje+nationalist&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Vet%C3%ABvendosje%20nationalist&f=false|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Seton-Watson|first=Robert William|title=The Rise of Nationality in the Balkans|year=1917|location=New York|publisher=E. P. Dutton and Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvUSAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139&dq=greater+albania+four+vilayets&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dkBJU4uCB6SQ5ASisoCAAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=greater%20albania%20four%20vilayets&f=false|isbn=9785877993853|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last1=Shaw|first1=Stanford J.|last2=Shaw|first2=Ezel Kural|title=History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume 2, Reform, Revolution, and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey 1808-1975|year=1977|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIET_7ji7YAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=History+of+the+Ottoman+Empire+and+Modern+Turkey:+Volume+2,+Reform&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQ3eiit7zRAhWDF5QKHeLFBRwQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20nationalists&f=false|isbn=9780521291668|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Stojarova|first=Vera|chapter=Nationalist parties and the party systems of the Western Balkans|pages=42-58|editor1-last=Stojarova|editor1-first=Vera|editor2-last=Emerson|editor2-first=Peter|title=Party politics in the Western Balkans|year=2010|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135235857|url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mfMiAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA42&dq=Balli+Komb%C3%ABtar+nationalism+kosovo&ots=X3vvAmEoBS&sig=wnWRBbbpS7nH1MDlebQ2a_EjXOE#v=onepage&q=Balli%20Komb%C3%ABtar%20nationalism%20kosovo&f=false|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Stojarová|first=Vera|title=The far right in the Balkans|year=2016|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vcTXDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Far+Right+in+the+Balkans&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiG6uLohfPSAhXGE7wKHVucAi8Q6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&q=Ushtria%20%C3%87lirimtare%20e%20%C3%87am%C3%ABris%C3%AB&f=false|isbn=9781526117021|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Tanner|first=Marcus|title=Albania's mountain queen: Edith Durham and the Balkans|year=2014|location=London|publisher=I.B.Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0iZdAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA170&dq=Albanian+independence+Russia+Austria-Hungary&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Albanian%20independence%20Russia%20Austria-Hungary&f=false|isbn=9781780768199|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Turnock|first=David|title=The economy of East Central Europe, 1815-1989: Stages of transformation in a peripheral region|year=2004|location=London|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbiEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA447&dq=Balli+Komb%C3%ABtar+Macedonia&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Balli%20Komb%C3%ABtar%20Macedonia&f=false|isbn=9781134678761|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Vaknin|first=Samuel|title=After the Rain: How the West Lost the East|year=2000|location=Skopje|publisher=Narcissus Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k51tYdONm3oC&pg=PT2&dq=greater+albania+four+vilayets&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q=Janina&f=false|isbn=9788023851731|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Venner|first=Mary|title=Donors, Technical Assistance and Public Administration in Kosovo|year=2016|location=Oxford |publisher=
Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_h_GDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT99&dq=Vet%C3%ABvendosje+nationalist&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Vet%C3%ABvendosje%20nationalist&f=false|isbn=9781526101211|ref=harv}}
*{{cite report|last=Vickers|first=Miranda|title=The Cham Issue - Albanian National & Property Claims in Greece|url=http://www.da.mod.uk/Publications/categoryid/66/the-cham-issue-albanian-national-property-claims-in-greece-1131|location=Swindon|publisher=Defence Academy of the United Kingdom|date=2002|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Vickers|first=Miranda|title=The Albanians: A modern history|year=2011|location=London|publisher=IB Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtQABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=The+Albanians:+A+Modern+History+hapless&source=bl&ots=ISbHF8W8AY&sig=zRFSC7cIFFNkzZU1oEXZ7Wpat5I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiF4JDqjNnNAhXEmpQKHa0qCqUQ6AEINDAE#v=onepage&q=The%20Albanians%3A%20A%20Modern%20History%20hapless&f=false|isbn=9780857736550|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Zolo|first=Danilo|title=Invoking humanity: War, law and global order|year=2002|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50XUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66&dq=Invoking+humanity:+war,+law,+and+global+order&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi94_yrrKvTAhXFkpQKHaTBCj0Q6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&q=Greater%20Albania&f=false|isbn=9780826456564|ref=harv}}

{{refend|2}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Greater Albania}}
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*
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*, '']'', 18 January 2007

==Further reading==
*Canak, Jovan M. ''Greater Albania: concepts and possibile consequences''. Belgrade: Institute of Geopolitical Studies, 1998.
*Jaksic G. and Vuckovic V. ''Spoljna politika srbije za vlade''. Kneza Mihaila, Belgrade, 1963.
*Dimitrios Triantaphyllou. ''The Albanian Factor''. ELIAMEP, Athens, 2000.
* {{cite book
|last=Mandelbaum
|first=Michael
|last2=
|first2=
|last3=
|first3=.
|year=1998
|title=The new European diasporas: national minorities and conflict in Eastern Europe
|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoHQ3OgU8bMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+new+European+diasporas:+national+minorities+and+conflict+in+Eastern+Europe&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
}}

{{Irredentism}}
{{Pan-nationalist concepts}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2011}}

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Revision as of 15:58, 22 October 2018

Albanians in Albania and neighboring countries

Greater Albania is an irredentist concept of lands that are considered to form the national homeland by many Albanians, based on claims on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas. In addition to the existing Republic of Albania, the term incorporates claims to regions in the neighbouring states, the areas include Kosovo and the Preševo Valley of Serbia, territories in southern Montenegro, northwestern Greece (the Greek regional units of Thesprotia and Preveza, referred by Albanians as Chameria, and other territories that were part of the Vilayet of Yanina during the Ottoman Empire), and a part of western Republic of Macedonia.

The unification of an even larger area into a unique territory under Albanian authority had been theoretically conceived by the League of Prizren, an organization of the 19th century whose goal was to unify the Albanian inhabited lands (and other regions, mostly from the region of Macedonia, Epirus and Montenegro) into a single autonomous Albanian Vilayet within the Ottoman Empire. However, the concept of a Greater Albania, as in greater than Albania within its 1913 borders, was implemented only under the Italian and Nazi German occupation of the Balkans during World War II. The idea of unification, has roots in the events of the Treaty of London in 1913, when roughly half of the predominantly Albanian territories and 40% of the population were left outside the new country's borders, something that Albanians have tended to regard as an injustice imposed by the Great Powers.

According to the Gallup Balkan Monitor 2010 report, the idea of a Greater Albania is supported by the majority of Albanians in Albania (63%), Kosovo (81%) and the Republic of Macedonia (53%), although the same report noted that most Albanians thought this unlikely to happen.

In a survey carried out by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), published in March 2007, only 2.5% of the Albanians in Kosovo thought unification with Albania is the best solution for Kosovo. Ninety-six percent said they wanted Kosovo to become independent within its present borders.

Terminology

Greater Albania is a term used mainly by the Western scholars, politicians, etc. Albanian nationalists dislike the expression "Greater Albania" and prefer to use the term "Ethnic Albania". Ethnic Albania (Template:Lang-sq) is a term used primarily by Albanian nationalists to denote the territories claimed as the traditional homeland of ethnic Albanians, despite these lands also being inhabited by many non-Albanians. Those that use the second term refer to an area which is smaller than the four Ottoman vilayets, while still encompassing Albania, Kosovo, western Macedonia, Albanian populated areas of Southern Serbia and parts of Northern Greece (Chameria) that had a historic native Albanian population. Albanian nationalists ignore that within these regions there are also sizable numbers of non-Albanians. Another term used by Albanians, is "Albanian national reunification" (Template:Lang-sq).

History

Under the Ottoman Empire

The four Ottoman vilayets (Kosovo, Scutari, Monastir and Janina), proposed as Albanian vilayet, by the League of Prizren in 1878.
See also: League of Prizren

Prior to the Balkan wars of the beginning of the 20th century, Albanians were subjects of the Ottoman Empire. The Albanian independence movement emerged in 1878 with the League of Prizren (a council based in Kosovo) whose goal was cultural and political autonomy for ethnic Albanians inside the framework of the Ottoman Empire. However, the Ottomans were not prepared to grant The League's demands. Ottoman opposition to the League's cultural goals eventually helped transform it into an Albanian national movement.

Albanian nationalism overall was a reaction to the gradual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and a response to Balkan and Christian national movements that posed a threat to an Albanian population that was mainly Muslim. Efforts were devoted to including vilayets with an Albanian population into a larger unitary Albanian autonomous province within the Ottoman state while Greater Albania was not considered a priority. Albanian nationalism during the late Ottoman era was not imbued with separatism that aimed to create an Albanian nation-state, though Albanian nationalists did envisage an independent Greater Albania. Albanian nationalists were mainly focused on defending rights that were sociocultural, historic and linguistic within existing countries without being connected to a particular polity.

Balkan Wars and Albanian Independence (1912–1913)

The imminence of collapsing Ottoman rule through military defeat during the Balkan wars pushed Albanians represented by Ismail Qemali to declare independence (28 November 1912) in Vlorë from the Ottoman Empire. The main motivation for independence was to prevent Balkan Albanian inhabited lands from being annexed by Greece and Serbia. Italy and Austria-Hungary supported Albanian independence due to their concerns that Serbia with an Albanian coast would be a rival power in the Adriatic Sea and open to influence from its ally Russia. Apart from geopolitical interests, some Great powers were reluctant to include more Ottoman Balkan Albanian inhabited lands into Albania due to concerns that it would be the only Muslim dominated state in Europe. Russo-French proposals were for a truncated Albania based on central Albania with a mainly Muslim population, which was also supported by Serbia and Greece who considered that only Muslims could only be Albanians. As more Albanians became part of the Serbian and Greek states, Albanian scholars with nationalistic perspectives interpret the declaration of independence as a partial victory for the Albanian nationalist movement.

World War II

See also: Albanian Kingdom (1939–43) and World War II in Albania
The Italian Protectorate of Albania established by Italy in August 1941.

On 7 April 1939, Italy headed by Benito Mussolini after prolonged interest and overarching sphere of influence during the interwar period invaded Albania. Italian fascist regime members such as Count Galeazzo Ciano pursued Albanian irredentism with the view that it would earn Italians support among Albanians while also coinciding with Italian war aims of Balkan conquest. The Italian annexation of Kosovo to Albania was considered a popular action by Albanians of both areas. Western Macedonia was also annexed by Italy to their protectorate of Albania. In newly acquired territories, non-Albanians had to attend Albanian schools that taught a curriculum containing nationalism alongside fascism and were made to adopt Albanian forms for their names and surnames. Members from the landowning elite, liberal nationalists opposed to communism with other sectors of society in Albania came to form the Balli Kombëtar organisation and the collaborationist government under the Italians which all as nationalists sought to preserve Greater Albania.

Many Kosovo Albanians were preoccupied with driving out the Serb minority, particularly the post-1919 Serbian and Montenegrin colonists, often settled on confiscated Albanian land (although the Albanians themselves had confiscated land and brutally abused during the last Ottoman years, as is well-documented). Albanians saw Serbian and Yugoslav rule as foreign, and according to Ramet they felt that anything would be better than the chauvinism, corruption, administrative hegemonism and exploitation they had experienced under the Serbian authorities. Albanians collaborated broadly with the Axis occupiers, who had promised them a Greater Albania. Collapse of Yugoslav rule resulted in actions of revenge being undertaken by Albanians, some joining the local Vulnetari militia that burned Serbian settlements and killed Serbs while interwar Serbian and Montenegrin colonists were expelled into Serbia proper. The aim of these actions were to create a homogeneous Greater Albanian state. Italian authorities in Kosovo allowed the use of the Albanian language in schools, university education and administration. The same nationalist sentiments among Albanians which welcomed the addition of Kosovo and its Albanians within an enlarged state also worked against the Italians as foreign occupation became increasingly rejected in Albania. An attempt to get Kosovan Albanians to join the resistance, a meeting in Bujan (1943-1944), northern Albania was convened between Balli Kombëtar members and Albanian communists that agreed to common struggle and maintenance of the newly expanded boundaries. The deal was opposed by Yugoslav partisans and later rescinded resulting in limited Kosovan Albanian recruits. Some Balli Kombëtar members such as Shaban Polluzha became partisans with the view that Kosovo would become part of Albania. With the end of the war, some of those Kosovan Albanians felt betrayed by the return of Yugoslav rule and for several years Albanian nationalists in Kosovo resisted both the partisans and later the new Yugoslav army. Albanian nationalists viewed their inclusion within Yugoslavia as an occupation.

The Albanian Fascist Party became the ruling party of the Italian Protectorate of Albania in 1939 and the prime minister Shefqet Verlaci approved the possible administrative union of Albania and Italy, because he wanted the Italian support in order to get the union of Kosovo, Chameria and other "Albanian irredentism" into Greater Albania. Indeed, this unification was realized after the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece from spring 1941. The Albanian fascists claimed in May 1941 that nearly all the Albanian populated territories were united to Albania.

Between May 1941 and September 1943, Benito Mussolini placed nearly all the land inhabited by ethnic Albanians under the jurisdiction of an Albanian quisling government. That included the region of Kosovo, parts of the Republic of Macedonia and some small border areas of Montenegro. In Chameria an Albanian high commissioner, Xhemil Dino, was appointed by the Italians; but the area remained under the control of the Italian military command in Athens and so technically remained a region of Greece.

When the Germans occupied the area and substituted the Italians, they maintained the borders created by Mussolini, but after World War II the Albanian borders were returned by the Allies to the pre-war status.

Distribution of Albanians in the Balkans.

Yugoslav Wars

Main articles: Insurgency in Kosovo (1992–98), Kosovo War, Insurgency in the Preševo Valley, and 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was an ethnic-Albanian paramilitary organisation which sought the separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a Greater Albania, encompassing Kosovo, Albania, and the ethnic Albanian minority of neighbouring Republic of Macedonia. The KLA found great moral and financial support among the Albanian diaspora.

KLA Commander Sylejman Selimi insisted:

There is de facto Albanian nation. The tragedy is that European powers after World War I decided to divide that nation between several Balkan states. We are now fighting to unify the nation, to liberate all Albanians, including those in Macedonia, Montenegro, and other parts of Serbia. We are not just a liberation army for Kosovo.

By 1998 the KLA’s operations had evolved into a significant armed insurrection. According to the report of the USCRI, the "Kosovo Liberation Army ... attacks aimed at trying to 'cleanse' Kosovo of its ethnic Serb population." The UNHCR estimated the figure at 55,000 refugees who had fled to Montenegro and Central Serbia, most of whom were Kosovo Serbs.

Its campaign against Yugoslav security forces, police, government officers and ethnic Serb villages precipitated a major Yugoslav military crackdown which led to the Kosovo War of 1998–1999. Military intervention by Yugoslav security forces led by Slobodan Milošević and Serb paramilitaries within Kosovo prompted an exodus of Kosovar Albanians and a refugee crisis that eventually caused NATO to intervene militarily in order to stop what was widely identified as an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The war ended with the Kumanovo Treaty, with Yugoslav forces agreeing to withdraw from Kosovo to make way for an international presence. The Kosovo Liberation Army disbanded soon after this, with some of its members going on to fight for the UÇPMB in the Preševo Valley and others joining the National Liberation Army (NLA) and Albanian National Army (ANA) during the armed ethnic conflict in Macedonia.

2000s–present

Political parties advocating and willing to fight for a Greater Albania emerged in Albania during the 2000s. They were the National Liberation Front of Albanians (KKCMTSH) and Party of National Unity (PUK) that both merged in 2002 to form the United National Albanian Front (FBKSh) which acted as the political organisation for the Albanian National Army (AKSh) militant group and consisted of some disaffected KLA and NLA members. Regarded internationally as terrorist both have gone underground and its members have been involved in various violent incidents in Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia during the 2000s. In the early 2000s, the Liberation Army of Chameria (UCC) was a reported paramilitary formation that intended to be active in northern Greek region of Epirus. Political parties active only in the political scene exist that have a nationalist outlook are the monarchist Legality Movement Party (PLL), the National Unity Party (PBKSh) alongside the Balli Kombëtar, a party to have passed the electoral threshold and enter parliament. These political parties, some of whom advocate for a Greater Albania have been mainly insignificant and remained at the margins of the Albanian political scene. The Kosovo question has limited appeal among Albanian voters and are not interested in electing parties advocating redrawn borders creating a Greater Albania. Centenary Albanian independence celebrations in 2012 generated nationalistic commentary among the political elite of whom prime-minister Sali Berisha referred to Albanian lands as extending to Preveza, northern Greece and Preševo, southern Serbia angering Albania's neighbors. In Kosovo, a prominent left wing nationalist movement turned political party Vetëvendosje (Self Determination) has emerged who advocates for closer Kosovo-Albania relations and pan-Albanian self determination in the Balkans. Another smaller nationalist party, the Balli Kombetar Kosovë (BKK) sees itself as an heir to the original Second World War organisation that supports Kosovan independence and pan-Albanian unification. Greater Albania remains mainly in the sphere of political rhetoric and overall Balkan Albanians view EU integration as the solution to combat crime, weak governance, civil society and bringing different Albanian populations together.

Political uses of the concept

The Albanian question in the Balkan peninsula is in part the consequence of the decisions made by Western powers in late 19th and early 20th century. The Treaty of San Stefano and the 1878 Treaty of Berlin assigned Albanian inhabited territories to other States, hence the reaction of the League of Prizren. One theory posits that the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Austro-Hungary wanted to maintain a brittle balance in Europe in the late 19th century.

The degree to which different groups are working towards.and what efforts such groups are undertaking in order to achieve a Greater Albania is disputed. There seems no evidence that anything more than a few unrepresentative extremist groups are working towards this cause; the vast majority of Albanians want to live in peace with their neighbors. However, they also want the human rights of the Albanian ethnic populations in Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Greece to be respected. An excellent example is the friendly relationship between the Republic of Montenegro and the support towards the integration of the Albanian population in Republic of Macedonia. There is Albanian representation in government, the national parliament, local government, and the business sector, and no evidence of systematic discrimination on an ethnic or religious basis against the Albanian (or indeed any other minority) population.

In 2000, the then-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that the international community would not tolerate any efforts towards the creation of a Greater Albania.

In 2004, the Vetëvendosje movement was formed in Kosovo, which opposes foreign involvement in Kosovan affairs and campaigns instead for the sovereignty the people, as part of the right of self-determination. Vetëvendosje obtained 12.66% of the votes in an election in December 2010, and the party manifesto calls for a referendum on union with Albania.

In 2012, the Red and Black Alliance (Template:Lang-sq) was established as a political party in Albania, the core of its program is national unification of all Albanians in their native lands.

In 2012, as part of the celebrations for 100th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania, Prime Minister Sali Berisha spoke of "Albanian lands" stretching from Preveza in Greece to Presevo in Serbia, and from the Macedonian capital of Skopje to the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, angering Albania's neighbors. The comments were also inscribed on a parchment that will be displayed at a museum in the city of Vlore, where the country’s independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared in 1912.

Areas

This is a table of irredentist claims, with approximate total population numbers, Albanian population, and area.
State/region/community Territory Area (km²) Total population Albanians
Albania
(Albanians proper)
 Albania 28,748 2,821,977 2,312,356
(82% of total state pop.)
Kosovo
(Kosovo Albanians)
 Republic of Kosovo 10,908 1,739,825
(2011 census)
1,616,869
(92% of total state pop.)
Malësia, Kraja and Sandžak
(Albanian community in Montenegro)
 Montenegro: Tuzi area (Malësia), Kraja region, Ulcinj, Plav and Gusinje, and Rožaje municipalities 1,173–1,400 N/A 25,000
Western Republic of Macedonia
(Albanian community in Macedonia)
 Republic of Macedonia: Western and north-western areas 2,500–4,500 N/A 509,083 (2002 census)
Preševo Valley
(Albanian community in Serbia proper)
 Serbia: Preševo, Bujanovac and partially Medveđa municipalities 725–1,249 88,966
(2002 census data)
57,595
(65% of Preševo Valley)
Epirus/Chameria
(Cham Albanians)
 Greece: Thesprotia and Preveza (northern historical Epirus) N/A N/A N/A

Kosovo

Main articles: Albanians in Kosovo, Republic of Kosovo, and Kosovo's unification with Albania

Kosovo has an overwhelmingly Albanian majority, estimated to be around 92%.

Montenegro

Main article: Albanians in Montenegro

The irredentist claims in Montenegro are in the border areas, including Kraja, Ulcinj, Tuzi (Malësia), Plav and Gusinje, and Rožaje (Sandžak). According to the 2011 census, the Albanian proportion in those municipalities are following: Ulcinj–14,076 (70%), Tuzi–2,383 (50%), Plav–(19%), Rožaje–188 (2%). The claim on the Sandžak area, where the Albanian community is small and the Bosniak community is the majority, is based on the Albanian state borders in World War II and presence in the late Ottoman period.

Republic of Macedonia

See also: Albanians in Republic of Macedonia and 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia

The western part of the Republic of Macedonia is an area with a large ethnic Albanian minority. The Albanian population in Republic of Macedonia make up 25% of the population, numbering 509,083 in the 2002 census. Cities with Albanian majorities or large minorities include Tetovo (Tetova), Gostivar (Gostivari), Struga (Struga) and Debar (Diber).

In the 1980s, Albanian irredentist organizations appeared in Macedonia, particularly Vinica, Kicevo, Tetovo and Gostivar. In 1992, Albanian activists in Struga proclaimed also the founding of the Republic of Ilirida (Template:Lang-sq) with the intention of autonomy or federalization inside the Republic of Macedonia. The declaration had only a symbolic meaning and the idea of an autonomous State of Ilirida is not officially accepted by the ethnic Albanian politicians in the Republic of Macedonia.

Preševo Valley

Main article: Albanians in Serbia

The irredentist claims in Serbia proper (excluding Kosovo) are in the southern Preševo Valley, including municipalities of Preševo (Template:Lang-sq), Bujanovac (Template:Lang-sq) and partially Medveđa (Template:Lang-sq), where there is an Albanian community. In 2001, the Albanians were estimated to have numbered 70,000 in the area. According to the 2002 census, the Albanian proportion in those municipalities were following: Preševo–31,098 (89%), Bujanovac–23,681 (55%), Medveđa–2,816 (26%).

Following the Kosovo War (1998–99), the Albanian separatist Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (Template:Lang-sq, UÇPMB), fought an insurgency against the Serbian government, aiming to seceding the Preševo Valley into Kosovo.

Greece

Main articles: Chameria and Cham Albanians

The irredentist claim in Greece are Chameria, parts of Epirus, the historical Vilayet of Janina.

The coastal region of Thesprotia in northwestern Greece referred to by Albanians as Çamëria is sometimes included in Greater Albania. According to the 1928 census held by the Greek state, there were around 20,000 Muslim Cams in Thesprotia prefecture. They were forced to seek refuge in Albania at the end of World War II after a large part of them collaborated and committed a number of crimes together with the Nazis during the 1941–1944 period. In the first post-war census (1951), only 123 Muslim Çams were left in the area. Descendants of the exiled Muslim Chams (they claim that they are now up to 170,000 now living in Albania) claim that up to 35,000 Muslim Çams were living in southern Epirus before World War II. Many of them are currently trying to pursue legal ways to claim compensation for the properties seized by Greece. For Greece the issue "does not exist".

International Crisis Group research

International Crisis Group researched the issue of Pan-Albanianism and published a report titled "Pan-Albanianism: How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?" on February 2004.

The International Crisis Group advised in the report the Albanian and Greek governments to endeavour and settle the longstanding issue of the Chams displaced from Greece in 1945, before it gets hijacked and exploited by extreme nationalists, and the Chams' legitimate grievances get lost in the struggle to further other national causes. Moreover, the ICG findings suggest that Albania is more interested in developing cultural and economic ties with Kosovo and maintaining separate statehood.

See also

Footnotes

a. Template:Kosovo-note

References

Citations

  1. http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2811%29MD.pdf,"as Archived 10 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine Albanians continue mobilizing their ethnic presence in a cultural, geographic and economic sense, they further the process of creating a Greater Albania. "
  2. Likmeta, Besar (17 November 2010). "Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania'". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 27 June 2013. The poll, conducted by Gallup in cooperation with the European Fund for the Balkans, showed that 62 per cent of respondents in Albania, 81 per cent in Kosovo and 51.9 per cent of respondents in Macedonia supported the formation of a Greater Albania.
  3. ^ Merdjanova 2013, p. 147.
  4. ^ Kola 2003, p. 15.
  5. ^ Seton-Watson 1917, p. 189.
  6. ^ Austin 2004, p. 237.
  7. ^ Vaknin 2000, pp. 102–103.
  8. Jelavich 1983, pp. 361–365.
  9. ^ Zolo 2002, p. 24. "It was under the Italian and German occupation of 1939-1944 that the project of Greater Albania... was conceived."
  10. Bugajski 2002, p. 675."Roughly half of the predominantly Albanian territories and 40% of the population were left outside the new country's borders"
  11. Gallup Balkan Monitor Archived 27 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 2010
  12. Balkan Insight Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania' , 17 Nov 2010
  13. UNDP: Early Warning Report. March 2007, p. 16 (Online text) Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Judah 2008, p. 120.
  15. ^ Bogdani & Loughlin 2007, pp. 230.
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  17. ^ Puto & Maurizio 2015, p. 183."Nineteenth-century Albanianism was not by any means a separatist project based on the desire to break with the Ottoman Empire and to create a nationstate. In its essence Albanian nationalism was a reaction to the gradual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and a response to the threats posed by Christian and Balkan national movements to a population that was predominantly Muslim. In this sense, its main goal was to gather all ‘Albanian’ vilayet's into an autonomous province inside the Ottoman Empire. In fact, given its focus on the defence of the language, history and culture of a population spread across various regions and states, from Italy to the Balkans, it was not associated with any specific type of polity, but rather with the protection of its rights within the existing states. This was due to the fact that, culturally, early Albanian nationalists belonged to a world in which they were at home, though poised between different languages, cultures, and at times even states."
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  19. Kostov 2010, p. 40. "These scholars did not have access to many primary sources to be able to construct the notion of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians yet, and Greater Albania was not a priority. The goal of the day was to persuade the Ottoman officials that Albanians were a nation and they deserved some autonomy with the Empire. In fact, Albanian historians and politicians were very moderate compared to their peers in neighbouring countries.
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  25. Despot 2012, p. 137.
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  31. Volkan 2004, p. 237 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFVolkan2004 (help).
  32. Guy 2007, p. 454. "Benckendorff, on the other hand, proposed only a truncated coastal strip to form a central Muslim dominated Albania, in accordance with the common view amongst Slavs, and also Greeks, that only Muslims could be considered Albanian (and not even Muslims necessarily)."
  33. Gingeras 2009, p. 31.
  34. Fischer 1999, pp. 5, 21–25.
  35. Fischer 1999, pp. 70–71.
  36. Fischer 1999, pp. 88, 260.
  37. Hall 2010, p. 183.
  38. ^ Judah 2008, p. 47.
  39. ^ Rossos 2013, pp. 185–186.
  40. Fischer 1999, pp. 115–116, 260.
  41. Ramet 2006, pp. 141–142.
  42. Fischer 1999, p. 237.
  43. ^ Denitch 1996, p. 118.
  44. Ramet 2006, p. 114.
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  46. ^ Ramón 2015, p. 262.
  47. Fontana 2017, p. 92.
  48. Fischer 1999, p. 260.
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  50. ^ Judah 2002, pp. 30.
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  52. Turnock 2004, pp. 447.
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  69. ^ Banks, Muller & Overstreet 2010, p. 22.
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  71. Koktsidis & Dam 2008, p. 180.
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  73. Stojarová 2016, p. 96.
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  75. Endresen 2016, p. 208.
  76. Schwartz 2014, pp. 111–112.
  77. Venner 2016, p. 75.
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  86. Branko Petranović (2002). The Yugoslav Experience of Serbian National Integration. East European Monographs. ISBN 978-0-88033-484-6. ... unite with Albania, and to form the second Albanian state outside Yugoslavia, which would gather the Albanians of Kosovo and Metohija, western Macedonia and the border regions of Montenegro from Plav, Gusinje and Rozaje, through Tuzi, near the Montenegrin capital, the hinterland of Lake Skadar (Krajina) up to Ulcinj.
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  96. Rafael Reuveny; William R. Thompson (5 November 2010). Coping with Terrorism: Origins, Escalation, Counterstrategies, and Responses. SUNY Press. pp. 185–. ISBN 978-1-4384-3313-4.
  97. Meyer 2008, p. 702.
  98. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Despite the Cham-induced controversy, during a visit to Albania in mid-October 2004, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos stated at a news conference that the Cham issue did not exist for Greece and that claims for the restoration of property presented by both the Cham people and the Greek minority in Albania belonged to a past historical period which he considered closed. "I don't know if it is necessary to find a solution to the Cham issue, as in my opinion it does not need to be solved," he said. "There have been claims from both sides, but we should not return to these matters. The question of the Cham properties does not exist," he said. When speaking of claims from both sides, Stephanopoulos was referring (also) to the Greek claims over Northern Epirus, which include a considerable part of southern Albania.
  99. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Cham demonstrators was enough to galvanise Greece into defensive mode. The country embarked upon a series of military and diplomatic initiatives, which suggested a fear of Pan-Albanian expansion towards north-western Greece. Serbian and Macedonian media reports were claiming that new Pan-Albanian organisations were planning to expand their operations into north-western Greece to include Meanwhile, Chameria in their plans for the unification of "all Albanian territories." international observers were concerned that Kosovo politicians might start speculating with the Cham issue. The report observed that the "notions of pan-Albanianism are far more layered and complex than the usual broad brush characterisations of ethnic Albanians simply bent on achieving a greater Albania or a greater Kosovo." Furthermore, the report stated that amongst Albanians, "violence in the cause of a greater Albania, or of any shift of borders, is neither politically popular nor morally justified."
  100. Pan-Albanianism: How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?, Europe Report N°153, 25 February 2004 Archived 9 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

External links

Further reading

  • Canak, Jovan M. Greater Albania: concepts and possibile consequences. Belgrade: Institute of Geopolitical Studies, 1998.
  • Jaksic G. and Vuckovic V. Spoljna politika srbije za vlade. Kneza Mihaila, Belgrade, 1963.
  • Dimitrios Triantaphyllou. The Albanian Factor. ELIAMEP, Athens, 2000.
  • Mandelbaum, Michael (1998). The new European diasporas: national minorities and conflict in Eastern Europe. Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York. {{cite book}}: |first3= has numeric name (help); |first3= missing |last3= (help)
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