Page 44 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

intenzivno priseljevanje albanskih delavcev v Grčijo sta v zadnjih desetletjih na včasih presenetljive nači-
ne postavila pod vprašaj njihov spomin v lokalni družbi.
Ključne besede: Albanija, Grčija, meja, pokrajina, spomini

This text is dedicated to the memory of Michalis border to the town of Preveza, and part of Mace-
Pasiakos (1959-2023), a wonderful person, a free donia around the towns of Kastoria and Florina
thinker, an open mind and a researcher of the (De Rapper 1998, 621–624). This latent dispute
nooks and crannies of the history of his region, between these two states has been present for a
Thesprotia, which he knew better than any- long time in people’s imaginaries today, as can
one, the most generous person who never hesitat- be seen from the streets dedicated to “Northern
ed to share with me his knowledge with as much Epirus” in many Greek towns, or to “Chameria”
warmth and kindness as he offered hospitali- in Albanian towns.
44 ty at his home in Sagiada, food from his garden This issue became one the main sources of
and a meal at his table. The contents of this text tension between the two countries in the first
owe much to his erudition, like a precious gift he decade of the post-Cold War era. In the spring ti
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
would have entrusted to a visiting outsider. of 1993, the expulsion by Albanian authorities
of Archimandrite Chrysostomos, accused of
preaching enosis (unification) between Southern
May his name never be forgotten. Albania (“Northern Epirus” in Greek national- ta

הכרבל קידצ רכז ist vocabulary) and the Greek “motherland”, led
to violent incidents against Greek-speaking mi-
Introduction nority groups and, in response, to the mass ex-
pulsion of Albanian migrants who lived and
he border between Greece and Albania worked in Greece. The following year, violent ac- di
has a chequered history. Two hundred tions were even carried out by a group that took
Tand eighty-two kilometres long, it was the same name as the Greek-speaking resistance
fixed by the European “Great Powers” with the in Albania during World War II: MAVI for
signing of the Treaty of Florence in 1913, a cod- Μέτωπο Απελευθέρωσης Βορείου Ηπείρου (Front
icil to the Treaty of London. However, between for the Liberation of Northern Epirus). In addi-
the two states, the delineation of this border tion to the car bomb attack that killed the Alba-
seems to raise several questions. The treaty ceded nian ambassador in Athens in 1984, this group here
to Albania a territory claimed and conquered by claimed responsibility for an attack on an Alba-
Greece during the Balkan wars, Northern Epi- nian border post, which resulted in the deaths
rus, but some Christian Epirotes rejected this of two Albanian soldiers near the village of Pe-
international decision and formed an autono- shkëpi in 1994, in the Gjirokastër region. While
mous government calling for it to be attached Greek domestic security quickly put an end to
to the Greek state. At the same time, voices were the activities of this group, some ecclesiastical
raised in Albania to claim certain regions that authorities expressed support for it, demonstrat-
had remained in Greece, inspiring the irreden- ing the sympathy that this type of stance could
tist and nationalist idea of a “Greater Albania”. garner among some segments of Greek pub-
In fact, the establishment of the borders of the lic opinion (Michas 2000). After this period of
new Albanian state left outside them a large part high tension, the period that began in 1995 ap-
of the Albanian-populated territories that had pears to be one of normalization, likely a con- studiauniversitatis
been claimed by Albanian nationalists since the sequence of the isolation that these diplomatic
League of Prizren in 1878: within Greek terri- positions had led Greece into regarding the Yu-
tory, these were the Chameria region, from the goslav wars. Furthermore, starting with the sign-