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Northern Epirus (Greek: Βόρειος Ήπειρος Vorios Ipiros) is the name by which is called the region of southern Albania which is home to ethnic Greeks. The fustanella, a significant component of traditional Greek and Albanian dress, originated in this region and the ancestors of the Arvanites – an Orthodox Christian Albanian-speaking Greek-identifying community in Greece – migrated from this region to present-day Greece in the Middle Ages. The region is traditionally considered terra irredenta by Greek nationalists, and usage of the name "Northern Epirus" may be found offensive by Albanians.
Greek and Aromanian minorities
In Albania, Greeks are considered a "national minority", and Aromanians (referred to as Vlachs) a "linguistic minority". In Albania, many Aromanians (sometimes referred to by Greeks as Arvanitovlachs) self-identify as Greeks, and after the collapse of the communist regime in Albania, links were established between the Vlachs of Albania and the Vlachs of Greece, especially those among the former who claim a Greek identity: they are invited by Vlachs of Greece to their festivals, and receive help from them to rebuild churches or in the form of other necessary assistance to Vlach villages in Albania.
There are no reliable statistics on the size of any ethnic minorities in Albania, although conducting a satisfactory census of ethnic minorities is one of Albania's commitments to the European Union. According to data presented to the 1919 Paris Conference, the Greek minority numbered 120,000, and last census to include data on ethnic minorities conducted in 1989 under the communist regime cites only 58,785 Greeks, although the total population of Albania had tripled in the meantime. The last census to include data on linguistic minorities held in 1955, recorded 4,249 Vlachs/Aromanians. Sources from the Greek minority have claimed that there are up to 500,000 Greeks in Albania, or 12% of the total population at the time (from the "Epirot lobby" of Greeks with family roots in Albania).
In a 1995 ethnological study the number of ethnic Greeks in Northern Epirus alone, are estimated at 40,000 with a 15,000 strong Aromanian population, while in the rest of the country there are further 20,000 Greeks and 35,000 Aromanians. The UNPO estimates the Greek minority at approximately 70,000 people. Other independent sources estimate that the number of Greeks in Northern Epirus is 117,000 (about 3.5% of the total population) a figure close to the estimate provided by The World Factbook (2006) (about 3%). To that figures it should be added the number of Greeks from North Epirus residing in Greece which surround the 200,000.
Tensions between Greece and Albania over the treatment of the Greek minority persisted well after the end of the Second World War, the formal state of war between the two countries being lifted only as late as 1987. Relations reached a low point after the fall of Albania's Communist régime in 1991. In 1993 Albania deported the Greek Orthodox Archimandrite of Gjirokastër for what it described as seditious behaviour. The crisis in relations was exacerbated in late August of 1994, when an Albanian court sentenced five members (a sixth member was added later) of the ethnic Greek political party "Omonoia" to prison terms on charges of undermining the Albanian state. Greece responded by freezing all EU aid to Albania, sealing its border with Albania, and between August-November 1994, expelling over 115,000 illegal Albanian immigrants, a figure quoted in the US Department of State Human Rights Report and given to the American authorities by their Greek counterpart. In December 1994, however, Greece began to permit limited EU aid to Albania, while Albania released two of the Omonia defendants and reduced the sentences of the remaining four. In more recent years, tensions have surrounded the participation of candidates of the ethnic Greek Unity for Human Rights Party in Albanian elections. In 2000, the Albanian municipal elections were criticised by international human rights groups for "serious irregularities" reported to have been directed against ethnic Greek candidates and parties. The most recent municipal elections held in February 2007 saw the participation of a number of ethnic Greek candidates, with Vasilis Bolanos being re-elected mayor of the southern town of Himara despite the governing and opposition Albanian parties fielding a combined candidate against him. Greek observers have expressed concern at the "non-conformity of procedure" in the conduct of the elections.
A big number of villages of Northern Epirus use Greek as the predominant language. There have been many small incidents between the Greek minorities and Albanian authorities over issues such as the alleged involvement of the Greek government in local politics, the raising of the Greek flag on Albanian territory, and the language taught in state schools of the region; however, these issues have for the most part been non-violent. Today, relations have significantly improved: Greece and Albania signed a Friendship, Cooperation, Good Neighbourliness and Security Agreement on 21st March 1996. Additionally, Greece is Albania's main foreign investor, having invested more than 400 million dollars in Albania; Albania's second largest trading partner, with Greek products accounting for some 21% of Albanian imports, and 12% of Albanian exports coming to Greece; and Albania's fourth largest donor country, having provided aid amounting to 73.8 million euros.
Famous Greeks from Northern Epirus
See also
Further Reading
- Research Foundation
- Hellenism Through Time
- Greeks in Albania
- Citizenship for Northern Epirotes
- Greek minority in southern Albania
- Northern Epirus Association
References and Notes
- ^ "OSCE report on Albania" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - "Greek Helsinki Monitor report on the Vlachs of Greece".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Bilateral relations between Greece and Albania".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - "Country Studies US: Greeks and Other Minorities".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - Winnifrith, T., J. (1995). "Southern Albania, Northern Epirus: Survey of a Disputed Ethnological Boundary".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "UNPO".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - Jelokova Z., Mincheva L., Fox J., Fekrat B. (2002). "Minorities at Risk (MAR) Project : Ethnic-Greeks in Albania". Center for International Development and Conflict Management, MAR Project, University of Maryland, College Park.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); External link in|publisher=|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - CIA World Factbook (2006). "Albania".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - The CIA World Factbook (1993) provided a figure of 8% for the Greek minority in Albania.
- Greek Helsinki Monitor: Greeks of Albania and Albanians in Greece, September 1994.
- Human Rights Watch Report on Albania
- Erlis Selimaj (2007-02-19). "Albanians go to the polls for local vote". Southeast European Times. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
- Greek Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Bilateral relations between Greece and Albania.