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The term Greater Albania or Great Albania refers to land which is outside the borders of Republic of Albania that Albanian nationalists claim as their own. All the places claimed, except Epirus (Chameria), have an Albanian majority. The equivalent phrase in Albanian - "Shqipëria e Madhe" - is rarely used, usually only in translations. The term notes a desire for territorial expansion. Albanians themselves use the term ethnic Albania party because the term "Greater Albania" has negative connotations and partly because of ethnic Albanian majority in those regions.

Albanians under Ottoman Turkey

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.

Ethnic Albania

Ethnic Albania is a term used primarily by Albanian nationalists to denote the territories claimed as the traditional homeland of the ethnic Albanians. These territories include Albania, Kosovo, and parts of Republic of Macedonia (with some referring to as Ilirida) and Montenegro (Malësia, Ulcinj, etc.). Parts of the Epirus region of Greece referred to by Albanians as Çamëria are also sometimes included in this definition.

World War II

During World War II, with the fall of Yugoslavia in 1941, Italians placed the land inhabited by ethnic Albanians under the jurisdiction of an Albanian quisling government. That included Kosovo, parts of Macedonia and Montenegro.

Current status

The current status talks on the future of Kosovo - and possible independence - could be interpreted as a degree of success in the creation of a Greater Albania (were such territory to be annexed to Albania or federated with the state), although the United Nations (UN) has stated that if as a result Kosovo becomes independent, annexation to another state would not be possible. In a survey carried out by United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, and published in March 2007 only 2.5 % of the Albanians in Kosovo thinks unification with Albania is the best solution for Kosovo. 96% say they want Kosovo to become independent within present borders.

Territories claimed

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List of Albanian exonyms

• Kosovo/Kosova in southern Serbia.

Kosovo presently has an overwhelmingly Albanian majority - estimated to be around 90%.

• Southern Malësia and eastern Montenegro/Mali i Zi with Ulcinj/Ulqini municipality on the coast, Tuzi area near Podgorica, and parts of the Plav/Plava, Gusinje/Guci and Rožaje/Rozhajë municipalities.

• Southern Epirus/Çamëria in Greece:

The territory was part of the newly-formed Albanian state that proclaimed independence on November 28, 1912 but it was annexed to Greece following the Conference of Ambassadors of London in 1913. After the capitulation of Italy in 1943 some of the Çams joined forces with the German occupation army, forming a special Çam Unit. Only few of the Çams (300-500) joined Ethniko Apeleftherotiko Metopo. EAM had about 2,500,000 members in 1944. After the war, many of the Albanians in Epirus were forced to leave Greece by EDES (an extreme right-wing Greek nationalist partisan organisation) in 1944. Their number was estimated up to 350,000 people before the war . They call themselves Çam (Cham) after the Albanian word for Epirus: Çamëria. Many of them are currently trying to pursue legal ways to claim compensation for the properties seized by Greece. Nowadays only immigrant Albanians live in the area as a result of the fall of the communist regime in Albania in the late 1980s.

• Western part of 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 Macedonia is variously estimated to make up between 25%-40% of the population. Cities with Albanian majorities or large minorities include Tetovo/Tetova, Gostivar/Gostivari, Struga, Debar/Dibra and Kumanovo/Kumanova. Historically, Skopje/Shkupi, Bitola/Manastiri and Ohrid/Ohri were once cities with a prominent Albanian presence.

• The Preševo Valley/Lugina e Preshevës or Eastern Kosovo/Kosova Lindore in southern Serbia: the municipalities of Preševo/Presheva, Bujanovac/Bujanovci and part of the municipality of Medveđa/Medvegja

According to the 2002 census, Preševo had an overwhelming Albanian ethnic majority with over 90%. Bujanovcac around 54.69% and Medveđa 48.17%. Tense relations between Serbian ethnics and Albanians and also the increased hatred after the Kosovo War, resulted in military actions after the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac, UÇPMB, was formed. Although without clear intentions of a greater Albania, one of UÇPMB's roles was to secede these municipalities from Yugoslavia and join them to a future independent Kosovo.

Political uses of the concept

The Albanian problem in the Balkan peninsula is in part the consequence of the decisions made by Western Powers. One theory posits that England, France, Germany, and Austro-Hungary wanted to maintain a brittle balance in Europe in the late 19th century following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

We spent the 1990s worrying about a Greater Serbia. That's finished. We are going to spend time well into the next century worrying about a Greater Albania.

— Christopher R. Hill, US Ambassador to F.Y.R.O.M., 1999

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, it must be noted that they also want the human rights of the Albanian ethnic populations in 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 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 other countries, such as Serbia, Greece, and Macedonia, politicians and ethnic leaders have often used the idea of a 'Greater Albania' to generate ethnic hatred and fear of Albanian political activities, and to justify policies that undermine political and human rights of Albanian minorities.

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. Their report concludes 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 states that amongst Albanians "violence in the cause of a greater Albania, or of any shift of borders, is neither politically popular nor morally justified." International Crisis Group advises the Albanian and Greek governments to endeavour and settle the long-standing 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, whilst maintaining separate statehood.

See also

• Chauvinism
• Extremism
• History of Albania
• History of the Balkans
• Irredentism
• United Macedonia
• Etno Engjujt — an ethnic Albanian rap-group who support the concept.

External links

• Albanian history by Robert Elsie
• Albanian Canadian League Information Service (ACLIS)
• Perspective: Albania and Kosova by Van Christo
• High Albania by M. Edith Durham
• Albanian Identities by Antonina Zhelyazkova
• The Kosovo Chronicles by Dusan Batakovic
• Albania and Kosovo | What happened to Greater Albania?, The Economist, 18 January 2007

References

1. UNDP: Early Warning Report page 16, March 2007 http://www.kosovo.undp.org/repository/docs/EWR15FinalENG.pdf
2. http://samvak.tripod.com/pp56.html
3. Pan-Albanianism: How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?, Europe Report N°153, 25 February 2004

• Velika Albanija: "Greater Albania" : concepts and possibile consequences; ed Jovan M. Canak, Belgrade: Institute of Geopolitical Studies, 1998
• Archivo storico, Ministero degli Affari Esteri (Italy)
• Sottosegretario di Stato per gli Affari Albanesi (State Undersecretary for Albanian Affairs) of Italy (1939-1943)
• Jaksic G., Vuckovic V.: Spoljna politika srbije za vlade, Kneza Mihaila, Belgrade, 1963
• Dimitrios Triantaphyllou: The Albanian Factor, ELIAMEP, Athens, 2000

• History of Albania
• Irredentism
• Politics of Albania
• Nationalism by country or region
• Political movements
• Pan movements
• Albanian separatism