Page 45 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

ing of the Dayton Accords, conditions were cre- Albanian media, included the area that Albania
ated for the establishment of bilateral relations had previously ceded to Greece. On March 22,
between Greece and Balkan countries, provided 2016, during a meeting in Athens aimed at open-
that any sensitive issues were resolved. In 1995, ing negotiations to end the state of war still in ef-
the visit to Albania by the Minister of Foreign fet since 1940 in certain aspects between the two
Affairs, Karolos Papoulias, as well as the release countries, the foreign ministers of both coun-
of the leaders of the Greek Party of Albania sus- tries identified the issue of territorial waters as
pected of covering the activities of MAVI in the one of the obstacles to progress in the dialogue.
country, showed signs of easing tensions between On June 6, 2016, during a joint conference in Ti-
the two neighbours. During the tenure of Kon- rana, these same ministers listed the points of
stantinos Simitis (1996-2004), Greece even de- tension between their countries: (1) the ongoing
fined a new political doctrine in the region, pre- state of war, (2) the issue of territorial waters, (3)
senting itself as the advocate of regional stability Athens’ accusation of discrimination against the 45
through the use of the capabilities provided by
ti its status as an EU member. Diplomatically, this Greek-speaking minority in Southern Albania,
and (4) the fate of Albanian Muslim Albanians
led the Greek government to adopt a more con-
sensus-based approach during the Kosovo crisis, (the Chams) expelled from Greece in 1944-45
on charges of collaborating with the Italian and
ta operations in 1999, and especially participating German occupation armies.
providing logistical support during the military
The latter issue is perhaps one of the most
in KFOR and post-war reconstruction programs
tangible reasons for the continuation of the state
in Serbia thereafter.
of war, as there is no longer an agreement be-
However, simultaneously with the devel-
di opment of the economic crisis in Greece from tween the two countries regarding the fate of tales from the greek-albanian borderland ...
their properties or the possible compensation for
2008, tensions have been rekindled between
the refugees. Since 2011, a party (the PDIU of
Greece and its neighbouring countries, demon-
strating how these geopolitical border issues are Shpetim Idrizi, which has had 4 seats in the Al-
here signed an agreement on the delimitation of their ted by Greece against this group and demanding
banian parliament since 2013) has been advocat-
also sensitive to the broader context of region-
ing for the recognition of the wrongs commit-
al stability. In April 2009, Greece and Albania
reparations. These activists march to the Greek
territorial waters, in which Albania pledged to
border every year to demonstrate their support
cede 225 square kilometres of continental shelf
for a resolution by the Albanian parliament on
to Greece. This agreement was annulled in Janu-
this matter. The resurgence of this issue on the
ary 2010 by the Albanian Constitutional Court
because it was deemed contrary to the nation’s
studiauniversitatis
by European Enlargement Commissioner Jo-
interests due to the alleged presence of hydro- international agenda even led to a statement
carbon deposits in the area ceded to Greece. De- hannes Hahn, who in September 2016 identified
spite this, Greece did not oppose Albania’s inte- the fate of Albanian speakers in Greece as one of
gration into NATO in 2008 or the signing of an the unresolved issues between the two countries,
ASA with the European Union in April 2009. triggering anger in Athens, which considers the
Nevertheless, the renegotiation of this agree- matter closed, occasionally accusing Albania of
ment could add fuel to the fire between Athens irredentism on these borderlands. In the years
and Tirana, and Albanian authorities seem to be that followed, tensions continued to escalate, to
pressuring Athens to renegotiate or seek inter- the point that in May 2023, Greece even threat-
national arbitration. In 2014, tensions escalated ened Albania with complicating its accession to
when Greek authorities opened up maritime ex- the European Union if this issue was not quick-
ploration in the Ionian Sea, which, according to ly resolved.