Northern Epirus
Northern Epirus is a term used for specific parts of southern Albania which were first claimed by the Kingdom of Greece in the Balkan Wars and later were associated with the Greek minority in Albania and Greece-Albania diplomatic relations in the region. First used by Greece in 1913, upon the creation of the Albanian state following the Balkan Wars, it was originally used in a political and diplomatic context rather than a clearly defined geographical one. Today, the term is used mostly by Greeks and is associated with the existence of a substantial ethnic Greek minority in the region and had acquired in the past irredentist connotations.
With the outbreak of the First Balkan War and the Ottoman defeat, the Greek army entered the region and claimed it. The term started to be used by the Kingdom of Greece in 1913, upon the creation of the Albanian state following the Balkan Wars, and the area's incorporation into the latter. In the spring of 1914, the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus was proclaimed by ethnic Greeks and pro-Greek parts of the population with official support by Greece and recognized by the Albanian government, though it proved short-lived as the First World War started. Greece held the area between 1914 and 1916 and unsuccessfully tried to annex it in March 1916. In 1917 Greek forces were driven from the area by Italy, in accordance with a general consensus in the Entente, and as a result Italy took over most of southern Albania and part of northwestern Greece. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 awarded the area to Greece, however the area reverted to Albanian control in November 1921, following Greece's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War and local politics like the creation of the Albanian Autonomous Province of Korçë under French-Albanian administration. During the interwar period, Greece and Albania followed a détente while Greece officially recognized Albanian control over the region and focused more on promoting minority rights for Greek language and culture. The situation of the Greeks in Albania during this period was influenced by the fluctuations in the relations between the two countries, which was also linked with Greece's treatment of its Cham minority.
Following Italy's invasion of Greece from the territory of Albania in 1940 and the successful Greek counterattack, the Greek army briefly held the region for a six-month period until the German invasion of Greece in 1941. In 1941-1944, many Greeks in Albania, in particular from Dropull and Finiq, participated in the Albanian national-liberation struggle against the Nazi occupation and many individuals like Kiço Mustaqi, the last Minister of Defence of the Communist era in Albania, were later part the upper administrative class of the one-party state established by Enver Hoxha. Tensions with Greece remained high during the Cold War, largely due to Greece's territorial claims and its claims about the treatment of the Greek minority. A Greek minority area was recognized by the Hoxha regime, which followed the pre-war delimitation of the minority areas consisting of 99 villages but leaving out three villages in the Himara region which were previously included in the minority area by King Zog of Albania. People outside the official minority zone received no education in the Greek language, which remained a point of contention until the post-Communist period when it was resolved.
In 1984, during a speech in the Greek region of Epirus, the Greek PM Andreas Papandreou declared that the inviolability of European borders as stipulated in the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, to which Greece was a signatory, applied to the Greek-Albanian border. The most significant change occurred on 28 August 1987, when the Greek Cabinet lifted the state of war that had been declared since November 1940. In 1996 Greece and Albania signed a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, Good Neighborliness and Security, which brought an official ending to the Northern Epirus issue for Greece. Peripheral segments in Greece and, particularly, in the Greek Diaspora continue to push the Northern Epirus thesis and maintain an online populist discourse. In the 21st century, education in Greek is available throughout Albania without any geographical limitation, although the property rights of the Greek minority remain an issue.
Name and definition
The Greek toponym Epirus, meaning "mainland" or "continent", first appears in the work of Hecataeus of Miletus in the 6th century BC and is one of the few Greek names from the view of an external observer with a maritime-geographical perspective. Although not originally a native Epirote name, it later came to be adopted by the inhabitants of the area. The term Epirus is used both in the Albanian and Greek language, but in Albanian refers only to the historical and not the modern region. The term Northern Epirus rather than a clearly defined geographical term, is a political and diplomatic term applied to southern Albania. In other words, it is the territory of southern Albania that Greece tried to annex in the 1913–1920 period. It is a term used only by Greeks, and it presupposes the existence of Southern Epirus, which is the part of Epirus under Greek sovereignty. The term "Northern Epirus" was first used in official Greek correspondence in 1886, to describe the northern parts of the Janina Vilayet. The term started to be used by Greece in 1913, upon the creation of the Albanian state following the Balkan Wars, and the incorporation into the latter of territory that was regarded by many Greeks as geographically, historically, culturally, and ethnologically connected to the Greek region of Epirus since antiquity. In the 1913–1990s period, there were three Greek views about the definition of Northern Epirus. The most expansive one defined it as the territory up to the Shkumbin river; this includes about half of Albania and eight of its largest cities. Another definition, the middle position, includes the territory up to the Ceraunian Mountains in the north. The least expansive definition includes the southernmost tip of Albania, where the Greek population is overwhelming, especially in the officially recognized 99 Greek minority villages.In antiquity, the northern border of the historical region of Epirus was the Gulf of Oricum,
or alternatively, the mouth of the Aoös river, immediately to the north of the Bay of Aulon. The northern boundary of Epirus was unclear both due to political instability and the coexistence of Greek and non-Greek populations, notably Illyrians, such as in Apollonia. From the 4th century BCE onward, with a degree of certainty, the boundaries of Epirus included the Ceraunian mountains in the north, the Pindus mountains in the east, the Ionian Sea in the West, and the Ambracian Gulf in the south.
History
Ottoman period
The local Ottoman authority was mainly exercised by Muslim Albanians. There were specific parts of Epirus that enjoyed local autonomy, such as Himarë, Droviani, or Moscopole. In spite of the Ottoman presence, Christianity prevailed in many areas and became an important reason for preserving the Greek language, which was also the language of trade. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, inhabitants of the region participated in the Greek Enlightenment. One of the leading figures of that period, the Orthodox missionary Cosmas of Aetolia, traveled and preached extensively in northern Epirus, founding the Acroceraunian School in Himara in 1770. It is believed that he founded more than 200 Greek schools until his execution by Turkish authorities near Berat. In addition, the Moscopole printing house, the first in the Balkans after that of Constantinople, was founded in Moscopole. From the mid-18th century trade in the region was thriving and a great number of educational facilities and institutions were founded throughout the rural regions and the major urban centers as benefactions by several Greek entrepreneurs of the region. In Korçë a special community fund was established that aimed at the foundation of Greek cultural institutions.During this period a number of uprisings against the Ottoman Empire periodically broke out. In the Orlov Revolt several units of Riziotes, Chormovites and Himariotes supported the armed operation. Some Greeks from the area took also part in the Greek War of Independence : many locals revolted, organized armed groups and joined the revolution. The most distinguished personalities were the engineer Konstantinos Lagoumitzis from Hormovo and Spyromilios from Himarë. The latter was one of the most active generals of the revolutionaries and participated in several major armed conflicts, such as the Third Siege of Missolonghi, where Lagoumitzis was the defenders' chief engineer. Spyromilios also became a prominent political figure after the creation of the modern Greek state and discreetly supported the revolt of his compatriots in Ottoman-occupied Epirus in 1854. Another uprising in 1878, in the Saranda-Delvina region, with the revolutionaries demanding union with Greece, was suppressed by the Ottoman forces, while in 1881, the Treaty of Berlin awarded to Greece the southernmost parts of Epirus.
According to the Ottoman "Millet" system, religion was a major marker of ethnicity, and thus all Orthodox Christians were classified as "Greeks", while all Muslims were considered "Turks". However, 'Albanian' was one of the few ethnic markers normally used, besides the regular religious labels, for the identification of people in official record of the Ottoman state. The mountainous country in the western Balkans which was inhabited by Albaians was referred to as 'Arnavudluk', including not only the area now forming the state of Albania but also neighbouring parts of Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Montenegro. The dominant view in Greece considers Orthodox Christianity an integral element of the Hellenic heritage, as part of its Byzantine past. Thus, official Greek government policy from c. 1850 to c. 1950, adopted the view that speech was not a decisive factor for the establishment of a Greek national identity.