View source for Greater Albania

{{Short description|Nationalist concept to annex "traditionally Albanian" territories}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

[[File:Map_of_Independent_Albania.png|thumb|Proposal of 4 autonomous "Albanian vilayets" within the [[Ottoman Empire]] by the [[League of Prizren]], as agreed after the [[Albanian revolt of 1912]]]]
'''Greater Albania''' ({{langx|sq|Shqipëria e Madhe}}) is an [[irredentist]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Dennison I. Rusinow|year=1978|title=The Yugoslav Experiment 1948–1974|publisher=University of California Press|location=Los Angeles, California|isbn=978-0-52003-730-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kChoC2FaS7EC|page=245}}</ref> and  [[Albanian nationalism|nationalist]] concept that seeks to annex the lands that many Albanians consider to form their national homeland.<ref>{{cite news|last=Likmeta|first=Besar|title=Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania'|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/survey-greater-albania-remains-popular|access-date=27 June 2013|date=17 November 2010|agency=[[Balkan Insight]]|quote=The poll, conducted by Gallup in cooperation with the European Fund for the Balkans, showed that 62 per cent of respondents in Albania, 81 per cent in Kosovo and 51.9 per cent of respondents in Macedonia supported the formation of a Greater Albania.}}</ref> It is based on claims on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas. In addition to the existing [[Albania]], the term incorporates claims to regions in the neighbouring states, the areas include [[Kosovo]], the [[Preševo Valley]] of [[Serbia]], territories in southern [[Montenegro]], northwestern [[Greece]] (the Greek regional units of [[Thesprotia]] and [[Preveza (regional unit)|Preveza]], referred by Albanians as [[Chameria]], and other territories that were part of the [[Vilayet of Yanina]] during the Ottoman Empire),<ref name="Merdjanova147"/><ref name="Kola15">{{harvnb|Kola|2003|p=15}}.</ref><ref name="Seton-Watson189"/><ref name="Austin237"/><ref name="Vaknin102103"/> and a western part of [[North Macedonia]]. The combination of the populations of these countries and territories of other countries sustaining large ethnic Albanian communities enumerate to over 4 million people.

The unification of an even larger area into a single territory under Albanian authority had been theoretically conceived by the [[League of Prizren]], an organization of the 19th century whose goal was to unify the Albanian inhabited lands (and other regions, mostly from the regions of Macedonia and Epirus) into a single autonomous [[Albanian Vilayet]] within the [[Ottoman Empire]],<ref name="Jelavich361365">{{harvnb|Jelavich|1983|pp=361–365}}</ref> which was briefly achieved ''de jure'' in September 1912. The concept of a Greater Albania, as in greater than Albania within its 1913 borders, was conceived and implemented under the [[Albanian under Italy|fascist Italian]] and [[Albania under Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] occupation of the [[Balkans]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="Zolo24"/> The idea of unification has roots in the events of the [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]] in 1913, when roughly 50% of the predominantly Albanian territories and 40% of the population were left outside the new country's borders.<ref name="Bugajski675">{{harvnb|Bugajski|2002|p=675}}."Roughly half of the predominantly Albanian territories and 40% of the population were left outside the new country's borders"</ref>

==Terminology==
Albanian nationalists dislike the expression "Greater Albania" and prefer to use the term "Ethnic Albania".<ref name="Judah120"/> '''Ethnic Albania''' ({{langx|sq|Shqipëria Etnike}}) is a term used primarily by [[Albanian nationalism|Albanian nationalists]] to denote the territories claimed as the traditional homeland of ethnic Albanians, despite these lands also being inhabited by many non-Albanians.<ref name="BogdaniLoughlin230"/> Those that use the second term refer to an area which is smaller than the four Ottoman vilayets, while still encompassing Albania, Kosovo, western North Macedonia, Albanian populated areas of Southern Serbia and parts of Northern Greece ([[Chameria]]) that had a historic native Albanian population.<ref name="Judah120"/> Albanian nationalists ignore that within these regions there are also sizable numbers of non-Albanians.<ref name="Judah120">{{harvnb|Judah|2008|p=120}}.</ref> Another term used by Albanians is "Albanian national reunification" ({{langx|sq|Ribashkimi kombëtar shqiptar}}).<ref>{{cite news|title=Alternativat e ribashkimit kombëtar të shqiptarëve dhe të Shqipërisë Etnike..!|url=http://gazetaditore.com/2012/12/10/alternativat-e-ribashkimit-kombetar-te-shqiptareve-dhe-te-shqiperise-etnike/|access-date=1 January 2013|newspaper=Gazeta Ditore|date=10 December 2012|language=sq|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124112221/http://gazetaditore.com/2012/12/10/alternativat-e-ribashkimit-kombetar-te-shqiptareve-dhe-te-shqiperise-etnike/|archive-date=24 January 2013}}</ref>

==History==
===Under the Ottoman Empire===
{{See also|League of Prizren}}
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.

Albanian nationalism overall was a reaction to the gradual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and a response to Balkan and Christian national movements that posed a threat to an Albanian population that was mainly Muslim.<ref name="PutoMaurizio183"/> Efforts were devoted to including vilayets with an Albanian population into a larger unitary Albanian autonomous province within the Ottoman state while Greater Albania was not considered a priority.<ref name="PutoMaurizio183"/><ref name="ShawShaw288"/><ref name="Kostov40">{{harvnb|Kostov|2010|p=40}}. "These scholars did not have access to many primary sources to be able to construct the notion of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians yet, and Greater Albania was not a priority. The goal of the day was to persuade the Ottoman officials that Albanians were a nation and they deserved some autonomy with the Empire. In fact, Albanian historians and politicians were very moderate compared to their peers in neighbouring countries.</ref> Albanian nationalism during the late Ottoman era was not imbued with separatism that aimed to create an Albanian nation-state, though Albanian nationalists did envisage an independent Greater Albania.<ref name="Austin237"/><ref name="PutoMaurizio183"/><ref name="Goldwyn276">{{harvnb|Goldwyn|2016|p=276}}.</ref> Albanian nationalists were mainly focused on defending rights that were sociocultural, historic and linguistic within existing countries without being connected to a particular polity.<ref name="PutoMaurizio183">{{harvnb|Puto|Maurizio|2015|p=183}}."Nineteenth-century Albanianism was not by any means a separatist project based on the desire to break with the Ottoman Empire and to create a nationstate. In its essence Albanian nationalism was a reaction to the gradual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and a response to the threats posed by Christian and Balkan national movements to a population that was predominantly Muslim. In this sense, its main goal was to gather all 'Albanian' vilayet's into an autonomous province inside the Ottoman Empire. In fact, given its focus on the defence of the language, history and culture of a population spread across various regions and states, from Italy to the Balkans, it was not associated with any specific type of polity, but rather with the protection of its rights within the existing states. This was due to the fact that, culturally, early Albanian nationalists belonged to a world in which they were at home, though poised between different languages, cultures, and at times even states."</ref><ref name="ShawShaw288">{{harvnb|Shaw|Shaw|1977|p=288}}.</ref>

=== Balkan Wars and Albanian independence (1912–1913) ===
The imminence of collapsing Ottoman rule through military defeat during the [[Balkan Wars]] pushed Albanians represented by [[Ismail Qemali]] to [[Albanian Declaration of Independence|declare independence]] (28 November 1912) in [[Vlorë]] from the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Gawrych197200" /> The main motivation for independence was to prevent Balkan Albanian inhabited lands from being annexed by Greece and Serbia.<ref name="Gawrych197200">{{harvnb|Gawrych|2006|pp=197–200}}.</ref><ref name="Fischera19">{{harvnb|Fischer|2007a|p=19}}.</ref> Italy and Austria-Hungary supported Albanian independence due to their concerns that Serbia with an Albanian coast would be a rival power in the Adriatic Sea and open to influence from its ally Russia.<ref name="Vickers6976">{{harvnb|Vickers|2011|pp=69–76}}.</ref><ref name="Tanner168172">{{harvnb|Tanner|2014|pp=168–172}}.</ref><ref name="Despot137">{{harvnb|Despot|2012|p=137}}.</ref><ref name="Kronenbitter85">{{harvnb|Kronenbitter|2006|p=85}}.</ref><ref name="Ker-Lindsay89">{{harvnb|Ker-Lindsay|2009|pp=8–9}}.</ref><ref name="Jelavich100103">{{harvnb|Jelavich|1983|pp=100–103}}.</ref><ref name="Guy453">{{harvnb|Guy|2007|p=453}}.</ref><ref name="Fischera21">{{harvnb|Fischer|2007a|p=21}}.</ref> Apart from geopolitical interests, some Great powers were reluctant to include more Ottoman Balkan Albanian inhabited lands into Albania due to concerns that it would be the only Muslim dominated state in Europe.<ref name="Volkan237">{{harvnb|Volkan|2004|p=237}}.</ref> Russo-French proposals were for a truncated Albania based on central Albania with a mainly Muslim population, which was also supported by Serbia and Greece who considered that only Muslims could only be Albanians.<ref name="Guy454">{{harvnb|Guy|2007|p=454}}. "Benckendorff, on the other hand, proposed only a truncated coastal strip to form a central Muslim dominated Albania, in accordance with the common view amongst Slavs, and also Greeks, that only Muslims could be considered Albanian (and not even Muslims necessarily)."</ref> As more Albanians became part of the Serbian and Greek states, Albanian scholars with nationalistic perspectives interpret the declaration of independence as a partial victory for the Albanian nationalist movement.<ref name="Gingeras31">{{harvnb|Gingeras|2009|p=31}}.</ref>

=== World War II ===
{{see also|Albanian Kingdom (1939–1943)|World War II in Albania}}

On 7 April 1939, Italy's [[Benito Mussolini]], after a prolonged interest and overarching sphere of influence during the interwar period, [[Italian invasion of Albania|invaded Albania]].<ref name="Fischer52125">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=5, 21–25}}.</ref> Italian fascists like Count [[Galeazzo Ciano]] pursued Albanian irredentism, believing it would earn Italy support among Albanians while aligning with Italy's war aim of Balkan conquest.<ref name="Fischer7071">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=70–71}}.</ref> The Italian annexation of Kosovo to Albania was popular with Albanians in both areas.<ref name="Fischer88260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=88,260}}.</ref>
The Western part of [[North Macedonia]] was also annexed to the [[Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943)|Italian protectorate of Albania]].<ref name="Hall183">{{harvnb|Hall|2010|p=183}}.</ref><ref name="Judah47">{{harvnb|Judah|2008|p=47}}.</ref> In these territories, all (including non-Albanians) were obliged to attend Albanian schools that taught a nationalistic and fascist curriculum; all were compelled to use or adopt Albanian names and surnames.<ref name="Rossos185186"/> Elites, such as landowners and liberal nationalists opposed to communism, formed the [[Balli Kombëtar]] organisation; they and the collaborationist government sought to preserve Greater Albania.<ref name="Fischer115116260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|pp=115–116, 260}}.</ref><ref name="Ramet141142">{{harvnb|Ramet|2006|pp=141–142}}.</ref><ref name="Rossos185186">{{harvnb|Rossos|2013|pp=185–186}}.</ref>

[[File:Map of Albania during WWII.png|thumb|150px|left|The Italian Protectorate of Albania established by Italy in August 1941.]]
Many Kosovo Albanians were preoccupied with driving out the [[Kosovo Serbs|Serb community]], particularly the post-1919 [[Yugoslav colonisation of Kosovo|Serb and Montenegrin colonists]],{{sfn|Fischer|1999|p=237}} often settled on confiscated Albanian property.{{sfn|Denitch|1996|p=118}} Albanians saw Serbian and Yugoslav rule as foreign,{{sfn|Denitch|1996|p=118}} and according to Ramet they felt that anything would be better than the chauvinism, corruption, administrative hegemonism and exploitation they had experienced under the Serbian authorities.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=114}} Albanians collaborated broadly with the Axis occupiers, who had promised them a Greater Albania.{{sfn|Denitch|1996|p=118}} Collapse of Yugoslav rule resulted in actions of revenge being undertaken by Albanians, some joining the local ''[[Vulnetari]]'' militia that burned Serb settlements and killed Serbs while interwar Serb and Montenegrin colonists were expelled into [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia]].<ref name="Judah27">{{harvnb|Judah|2002|p=27}}.</ref><ref name="Ramon262"/><ref name="Judah47"/> The aim of these actions was to create a homogeneous Greater Albanian state.<ref name="Ramon262">{{harvnb|Ramón|2015|p=262}}.</ref> Italian authorities in Kosovo allowed the use of the Albanian language in schools, university education, and administration.<ref name="Fontana92">{{harvnb|Fontana|2017|p=92}}.</ref> The same nationalist, Albanian elements who welcomed Kosovo's Albanians into an enlarged state also worked against the Italians, viewing them as foreign occupiers.<ref name="Fischer260">{{harvnb|Fischer|1999|p=260}}.</ref> An attempt to get Kosovan Albanians to join the resistance, a meeting in Bujan (1943–1944), northern Albania was convened between Balli Kombëtar members and Albanian communists that agreed to common cause and maintain the expanded boundaries.<ref name="Judah2930"/> The deal was opposed by Yugoslav partisans, and later rescinded, resulting in limited enthusiasm among Kosovan Albanian recruits.<ref name="Judah2930">{{harvnb|Judah|2002|pp=29–30}}.</ref> Some Balli Kombëtar members such as [[Shaban Polluzha]] became partisans with the view that Kosovo would become part of Albania.<ref name="Judah30"/> At the war's end, some Kosovar Albanians felt betrayed by the return to Yugoslav rule, and for several years, Albanian nationalists in Kosovo resisted both the [[Partizans]] and later the new Yugoslav army.<ref name="Denitch118">{{harvnb|Denitch|1996|p=118}}.</ref><ref name="Judah30">{{harvnb|Judah|2002|pp=30}}.</ref><ref name="Turnock447">{{harvnb|Turnock|2004|pp=447}}.</ref> Albanian nationalists viewed their inclusion within Yugoslavia as an occupation.<ref name="BatkovskiRajkocevski95">{{harvnb|Batkovski|Rajkocevski|2014|p=95}}.</ref>

The [[Albanian Fascist Party]] became the ruling party of the Italian Protectorate of Albania in 1939 and the prime minister [[Shefqet Verlaci]] approved the possible administrative union of Albania and Italy, because he wanted Italian support for the union of [[Kosovo]], [[Chameria]] and other "Albanian irredentism" into ''Greater Albania''. Indeed, this unification was realized after the [[Axis powers|Axis]] occupation of [[Yugoslavia]] and [[Greece]] from spring 1941. The Albanian fascists claimed in May 1941 that nearly all the Albanian populated territories were united to Albania.<ref name="Zolo24">{{harvnb|Zolo|2002|p=24}}. "It was under the Italian and German occupation of 1939–1944 that the project of Greater Albania... was conceived."</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/226.gif|title=see map|website=transindex.ro|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226114618/http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/226.gif|archive-date=26 February 2009}}</ref>

Between May 1941 and September 1943, [[Benito Mussolini]] placed nearly all territory inhabited by ethnic Albanians under a [[quisling]] Albanian government. That included parts of Kosovo, parts of [[Vardar Macedonia]], and some border areas of [[Montenegro]]. In [[Chameria]], an Albanian high commissioner, [[Xhemil Dino]], was appointed by the Italians, but the area remained under the control of the Italian military command in [[Athens]], and so technically remained a region of [[Greece]].

When the Germans occupied the area and replaced the Italians, they maintained the borders created by Mussolini. However, after [[World War II]], the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] returned borders to their pre-war status.

=== Yugoslav Wars ===
{{main|Insurgency in Kosovo (1992–98)|Kosovo War|Insurgency in the Preševo Valley|2001 insurgency in Macedonia}}
The [[Kosovo Liberation Army]] (KLA) was an ethnic-Albanian [[paramilitary]] organisation which sought the separation of Kosovo from [[FR Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a ''Greater Albania'', encompassing Kosovo, Albania, and the ethnic Albanian minority of neighbouring [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]]. The KLA found great moral and financial support among the Albanian diaspora.<ref>{{cite book|title=State-building in Kosovo. A plural policing perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YS15BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|publisher=Maklu|date=5 February 2015|isbn = 9789046607497|page=53}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Liberating Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and U. S. Intervention |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5sa90AEvi0C&pg=PA69|publisher=[[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]]|date=2012|isbn = 9780262305129|page=69}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Genocide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgGA91skoP4C&pg=PA249|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|date=2008|isbn = 9780313346415|page=249}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kosovo-Liberation-Army|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=14 September 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906171517/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kosovo-Liberation-Army|archive-date=6 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Albanian Insurgents Keep NATO Forces Busy|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,101938,00.html|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=6 March 2001|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226173544/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,101938,00.html|archive-date=26 December 2016|last1=Karon|first1=Tony}}</ref>

KLA Commander [[Sylejman Selimi]] insisted:<ref>{{cite book|title=Liberating Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and U. S. Intervention |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5sa90AEvi0C&pg=PR7|publisher=[[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]]|date=2012|isbn = 9780262305129|page=69}}</ref>
{{cquote|There is ''de facto'' Albanian nation. The tragedy is that European powers after [[World War I]] decided to divide that nation between several Balkan states. We are now fighting to unify the nation, to liberate all Albanians, including those in Macedonia, Montenegro, and other parts of Serbia. We are not just a liberation army for Kosovo.}}

By 1998 the KLA's operations had evolved into a significant armed insurrection. According to the report of the [[U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants|USCRI]], the "Kosovo Liberation Army ... attacks aimed at trying to 'cleanse' Kosovo of its ethnic Serb population." The [[UNHCR]] estimated the figure at 55,000 refugees who had fled to [[Montenegro]] and [[Central Serbia]], most of whom were [[Kosovo Serbs]].<ref name="Allan178">{{harvnb|Allan|Zelizer|2004|p=178}}.</ref>

Its campaign against [[Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav]] security forces, police, government officers and ethnic Serb villages precipitated a major [[Army of Yugoslavia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)|Yugoslav military]] crackdown which led to the [[Kosovo War]] of 1998–1999. Military intervention by Yugoslav security forces led by [[Slobodan Milošević]] and Serb paramilitaries within Kosovo prompted an exodus of Kosovar Albanians and a refugee crisis that eventually caused [[NATO]] to intervene militarily in order to stop what was widely identified as an ongoing campaign of [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword-03.htm UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo – 4. March–June 1999: An Overview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203092331/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword-03.htm |date=3 December 2012 }}. Hrw.org. Retrieved on 14 March 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE3D81F31F937A15750C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | title=Conflict in the Balkans: The Overview; Nato Authorizes Bomb Strikes; Primakov, In Air, Skips U.S. Visit | first=Jane | last=Perlez | date=24 March 1999 | access-date=4 April 2010}}</ref>

The war ended with the [[Kumanovo Treaty]], with Yugoslav forces agreeing to withdraw from Kosovo to make way for an international presence.<ref name="chrono">{{cite web|title=Kosovo war chronology|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|url=https://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/timeline.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828081512/http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/timeline.shtml|archive-date=28 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/11/balkan-wars|access-date=26 February 2013|title=The Balkan wars: Reshaping the map of south-eastern Europe|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=2012-11-09|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104110319/http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/11/balkan-wars|archive-date=4 January 2013}}</ref> The Kosovo Liberation Army disbanded soon after this, with some of its members going on to fight for the [[Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac|UÇPMB]] in the [[Preševo Valley]]<ref name="Kosovo one year on">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/676196.stm|work=BBC|title=Kosovo one year on|date=16 March 2000|access-date=4 April 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420195312/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/676196.stm|archive-date=20 April 2010}}</ref> and others joining the [[National Liberation Army (Albanians of Macedonia)|National Liberation Army]] (NLA) and [[Albanian National Army]] (ANA) during [[2001 insurgency in Macedonia|the armed ethnic conflict in Macedonia]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kla-veterans-linked-to-latest--bout-of-violence-in-macedonia-686995.html|work=The Independent|location=London|title=KLA veterans linked to latest bout of violence in Macedonia|first=Justin|last=Huggler|date=12 March 2001|access-date=4 April 2010}}{{dead link|date=June 2020|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

=== 2000s–present ===
[[File:AlbaniansOutsideAlbania.png|200px|thumb|Distribution of Albanians in the Balkans.]]
Political parties advocating and willing to fight for a Greater Albania emerged in Albania during the 2000s.<ref name="Stojarova49" /> They were the National Liberation Front of Albanians (KKCMTSH) and Party of National Unity (PUK) that both merged in 2002 to form the United National Albanian Front (FBKSh) which acted as the political organisation for the [[Albanian National Army]] (AKSh) militant group and consisted of some disaffected KLA and NLA members.<ref name="BanksMullerOverstreet22" /><ref name="Stojarova49" /> Regarded internationally as terrorist both have gone underground and its members have been involved in various violent incidents in Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia during the 2000s.<ref name="BanksMullerOverstreet22">{{harvnb|Banks|Muller|Overstreet|2010|p=22}}.</ref><ref name="Schmid401">{{harvnb|Schmid|2011|p=401}}.</ref><ref name="KoktsidisDam180">{{harvnb|Koktsidis|Dam|2008|p=180}}.</ref> In the early 2000s, the [[Liberation Army of Chameria]] (UCC) was a reported paramilitary formation that intended to be active in northern Greek region of [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]].<ref name="Vickers1213">{{harvnb|Vickers|2002|pp=12–13}}.</ref><ref name="Stojarova96">{{harvnb|Stojarová|2016|p=96}}.</ref> Political parties active only in the political scene exist that have a nationalist outlook are the monarchist [[Legality Movement Party]] (PLL), the [[National Unity Party (Albania)|National Unity Party]] (PUK) alongside the [[Albanian National Front Party]] (PBKSh), a party to have passed the electoral threshold and enter parliament.<ref name="Stojarova49" /><ref name="Austin246" /> These political parties, some of whom advocate for a Greater Albania have been mainly insignificant and remained at the margins of the Albanian political scene.<ref name="Austin246" /> The Kosovo question has limited appeal among Albanian voters who generally speaking are not interested in electing parties advocating redrawn borders creating a Greater Albania.<ref name="Stojarova49">{{harvnb|Stojarova|2010|p=49}}.</ref> Centenary Albanian independence celebrations in 2012 generated nationalistic commentary among the political elite of whom prime-minister [[Sali Berisha]] referred to Albanian lands as extending to [[Preveza]], northern Greece and [[Preševo]], southern Serbia angering Albania's neighbors.<ref name="Endresen208b">{{harvnb|Endresen|2016|p=208}}.</ref> In Kosovo, a prominent left wing nationalist movement turned political party [[Vetëvendosje]] (Self Determination) has emerged who advocates for closer Kosovo-Albania relations and pan-Albanian self determination in the Balkans.<ref name="Schwartz111112">{{harvnb|Schwartz|2014|pp=111–112}}.</ref><ref name="Venner75">{{harvnb|Venner|2016|p=75}}.</ref> Another smaller nationalist party, the Balli Kombetar Kosovë (BKK) sees itself as an heir to the original Second World War organisation that supports Kosovan independence and pan-Albanian unification.<ref name="Stojarova49" /> Greater Albania remains mainly in the sphere of political rhetoric and overall Balkan Albanians view EU integration as the solution to combat crime, weak governance, civil society and bringing different Albanian populations together.<ref name="Merdjanova49">{{harvnb|Merdjanova|2013|p=49}}.</ref><ref name="Austin246">{{harvnb|Austin|2004|p=246}}.</ref>

On 19 July 2020, singer of Albanian descent [[Dua Lipa]] faced backlash after she shared an image of a banner associated with supporters of extreme [[Albanian nationalism]].<ref name=BBC>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-20|title=Dua Lipa sparks controversy with 'Greater Albania' map tweet|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53483451|access-date=2020-07-20|website=[[BBC]]}}</ref> The same banner had sparked controversy at the [[Serbia v Albania (UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying)|2014 Serbia vs. Albania football game]].<ref name=BBC_2020>{{Cite web|last=Maričić|first=Slobodan|date=19 July 2020|title=Dua Lipa, Kosovo i Srbija: O Eplu, granicama i tome ko je prvi došao|url=https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/balkan-53473793|access-date=20 July 2020|website=[[BBC]]|language=sr}}</ref> The banner depicts the [[Irredentism|irredentist]] map of Greater Albania, while the caption, "[[Indigenous peoples|autochthonous]]". In response, [[Twitter]] users, many of them [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonian]], [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Montenegrins|Montenegrin]] and [[Serbs|Serbian]], accused the singer of [[Ethnic nationalism|ethno-nationalism]].<ref name=PinkNews>{{Cite web|last=Milton|first=Josh|date=2020-07-20|title=Absolutely nobody had 'Dua Lipa comes out as an Albanian nationalist' on their 2020 bingo cards, so everyone is confused|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/07/20/dua-lipa-albanian-greater-albania-nationalism-flag-tweet/|access-date=2020-07-20|website=[[PinkNews]]}}</ref><ref name=Axios>{{Cite web|last=Savitsky|first=Shane|date=2020-07-20|title=Dua Lipa courts controversy with tweet backing Albanian nationalism|url=https://www.axios.com/dua-lipa-albanian-nationalism-kosovo-tweet-f2dbf0d3-f044-4f52-a147-cabd39df632c.html|access-date=2020-07-20|website=[[Axios (website)|AXIOS]]}}</ref> Political scientist [[Florian Bieber]] described Lipa's tweet as "stupid nationalism".<ref name=PinkNews/>

In Feb 2021, in an interview with [[Euronews]], [[Albin Kurti]], former [[Prime Minister of Kosovo]], said that he would personally vote to unify [[Albania]] and [[Kosovo]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Crowcroft|first=Orlando|date=2021-02-16|title=I would vote to unify Albania and Kosovo, says election winner Kurti|url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/16/i-would-vote-to-unify-albania-and-kosovo-election-winner-albin-kurti-tells-euronews|access-date=2021-02-18|website=euronews|language=en}}</ref>

==Public opinion==
According to the ''Gallup Balkan Monitor'' 2010 report, the idea of a Greater Albania was supported by the majority of Albanians in Albania (63%), Kosovo (81%) and the Republic of Macedonia (53%), although the same report noted that most Albanians thought this unlikely to happen.<ref>[http://www.balkan-monitor.eu/files/BalkanMonitor-2010_Summary_of_Findings.pdf Gallup Balkan Monitor] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227084847/http://www.balkan-monitor.eu/files/BalkanMonitor-2010_Summary_of_Findings.pdf |date=27 December 2012 }}, 2010</ref><ref>Balkan Insight ''Poll Reveals Support for 'Greater Albania' '', 17 November 2010 [http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/survey-greater-albania-remains-popular]</ref>

In a survey carried out by [[United Nations Development Programme]] (UNDP), published in March 2007, only 2.5% of the Albanians in Kosovo thought unification with Albania is the best solution for Kosovo. Ninety-six percent said they wanted Kosovo to become independent within its present borders.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kosovo.undp.org/repository/docs/EWR15FinalENG.pdf |title=Early Warning Report: Kosovo – Report # 15 |publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]] |date=October–December 2006 |page=16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604223316/http://www.kosovo.undp.org/repository/docs/EWR15FinalENG.pdf |archive-date=4 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to a 2019 poll by [[Open Society Foundations]] that covered 2,504 respondents in both countries, 79.4% of Kosovar Albanian respondents were in favor of unification between Albania and Kosovo, compared to 82.9% of the respondents in Albania. When asked whether they would be willing to pay a tax for unification, 66.1% of respondents in Kosovo agreed, compared to 45.5% in Albania.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.osfa.al/sites/default/files/raporti_plote_kosove_-_shqiperi_-_eng.pdf |title=Kosovo-Albania Interaction, knowledge, values, beliefs, cooperation and unification |last1=Demi |first1=Agron |last2=Çeka |first2=Blendi |date=2019 |publisher=Open Society Foundations |pages=38–39 |access-date=2021-04-09}}</ref>

== Political uses of the concept ==
The Albanian question in the Balkan peninsula is in part the consequence of the decisions made by Western powers in late 19th and early 20th century. The [[Treaty of San Stefano]] and the [[Treaty of Berlin (1878)|1878 Treaty of Berlin]] assigned Albanian inhabited territories to other States, hence the reaction of the League of Prizren.<ref name="Jelavich361">{{harvnb|Jelavich|1983|pp=361}}.</ref>

In 2000, the then-[[US Secretary of State]] Madeleine Albright said that the international community would not tolerate any efforts towards the creation of a Greater Albania.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/648630.stm | work=BBC News | title=Albright warns Albania against expansion | date=19 February 2000 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022105856/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/648630.stm | archive-date=22 October 2014}}</ref>

In 2004, the [[Vetëvendosje]] movement was formed in [[Kosovo]], which opposes foreign involvement in Kosovan affairs and campaigns instead for the sovereignty the people, as part of the right of [[self-determination]]. Vetëvendosje obtained 12.66% of the votes in an election in December 2010, and the party manifesto calls for a referendum on union with Albania.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lëvizja Vetëvendosje |url=http://vetevendosje.org/repository/docs/Programme_Politique_Version_Courte.pdf |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6EWUqT29J?url=http://vetevendosje.org/repository/docs/Programme_Politique_Version_Courte.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 February 2013 |publisher=Lëvizja Vetëvendosje |access-date=1 January 2013 }}</ref>

In 2012, the [[Red and Black Alliance]] ({{langx|sq|Aleanca Kuq e Zi}}) was established as a political party in Albania, the core of its program is national unification of all Albanians in their native lands.<ref>{{cite web|title=Aleanca Kuq e Zi|url=http://www.aleancakuqezi.al|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017163330/http://www.aleancakuqezi.al/|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 October 2011|access-date=1 January 2013}}</ref>

In 2012, as part of the celebrations for [[100th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania]], Prime Minister Sali Berisha spoke of "Albanian lands" stretching from [[Preveza]] in Greece to [[Presevo]] in Serbia, and from the Macedonian capital of [[Skopje]] to the Montenegrin capital of [[Podgorica]], angering Albania's neighbours. The comments were also inscribed on a parchment that will be displayed at a museum in the city of Vlore, where the country's independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared in 1912.<ref>''Albania celebrates 100 years of independence, yet angers half its neighbors'' Associated Press, 28 November 2012.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/albania-celebrates-100-years-of-independence-yet-angers-half-its-neighbors/2012/11/28/a17de6d4-398a-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_print.html]{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

===Use in other media===

The concept is also often used, especially with [[Republic of Ilirida|Ilirida]] (the proposed western region of [[North Macedonia]]), by nationalists in circles of Macedonian and Serbian politics in bids to rally support.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1100499.html|title=Macedonia: Authorities Allege Existence of New Albanian Rebel Group|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=9 April 2008 |language=en|access-date=2020-02-17|last1=Naegele |first1=Jolyon }}</ref>

==Areas==
{{hatnote|This is a table of irredentist claims, with approximate total population numbers, Albanian population, and area.}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%"
! State/region/community
! Territory
! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
! Total population
! Albanians
|- 
| [[Albania]]<br />
| {{flag|Albania}}
| align=center|28,748
| align=center|2,821,977<ref name="Population and Housing Census 2011">{{cite web|title=Population and Housing Census 2011|url=http://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/population/publications/books/2012/main-results-of-population-and-housing-census-2011.aspx|publisher=INSTAT (Albanian Institute of Statistics)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803171148/http://www.instat.gov.al/en/themes/population/publications/books/2012/main-results-of-population-and-housing-census-2011.aspx|archive-date=3 August 2017}}</ref>
| align=center|2,312,356<br />{{small|(82% of total state pop.)<br/>(95% of those who declared ethnicity)}}
|- 
| [[Kosovo]]<br />{{small|([[Kosovo Albanians]])}}
| {{flag|Kosovo}}
| align=center|10,887
| align=center|1,739,825<br />{{small|([[Demographics of Kosovo#2011 census|2011 census]])}}
| align=center|1,616,869<br />{{small|(93% of total state pop.)}}
|-
| Southeastern and eastern [[Montenegro]]<br />{{small|([[Albanians in Montenegro|Albanian community in Montenegro]])}}
| {{flag|Montenegro}}: [[Ulcinj Municipality|Ulcinj]], [[Tuzi Municipality|Tuzi]], [[Gusinje Municipality|Gusinje]], [[Plav Municipality|Plav]] and [[Rožaje Municipality|Rožaje]] municipalities
| align=center|1,173–1,400 <!--?+255+486+432-->  
| align=center|620,029<ref name="census2011">{{cite press release|url=http://monstat.org/userfiles/file/popis2011/saopstenje/saopstenje(1).pdf|language=sh|title=Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i stanova u Crnoj Gori 2011. godine|trans-title=Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Montenegro 2011|publisher=Statistical office, Montenegro|date=12 July 2011|access-date=15 March 2021}}</ref><br />{{small|(2011 census)}}
| align=center|30,439<br />{{small|(4.9% of total state pop.)}}
|-
| Western [[North Macedonia]]<br />{{small|([[Albanians in North Macedonia|Albanian community in North Macedonia]])}}
| {{flag|North Macedonia}}: Western and north-western areas
| align=center|2,500–4,500
| align=center|1,836,713<br />{{small|(2021 census)}}
| align=center|446,245<br />{{small|(24.3% of total state pop.)}}
|-
| [[Preševo Valley]]<br />{{small|([[Albanians in Serbia|Albanian community in central Serbia]])}}
| {{flag|Serbia}}: [[Preševo]], [[Bujanovac]], [[Medveđa]], [[Vranje]] municipalities and [[Sandžak|Sandžak/Sanxhak]]
| align=center|725–1,249
| align=center|120,966<br />{{small|(2021 census data)}} <!--2021: 34,904+43,302+10,760-->
| align=center|96,595<br />{{small|(80% of Preševo Valley)}} <!--2002: 31,098+23,681+2,816-->
|-
| [[Epirus]]/[[Chameria]]<br />{{small|([[Cham Albanians]])}}
| {{flag|Greece}}: [[Thesprotia]] and [[Preveza (regional unit)|Preveza]] (southern historical [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]])
| align=center|N/A
| align=center|N/A
| align=center|N/A
|}

===Kosovo===
{{Main|Albanians in Kosovo|Kosovo|Kosovo's unification with Albania}}

Kosovo has an overwhelmingly Albanian majority, estimated to be around 90%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kosovo/|last=CIA|access-date=27 July 2010|title=The World Factbook}}</ref> The 2011 census stated a higher percentage Albanian people, but due to the exclusion of northern Kosovo, a Serb-dominated area, and a partial boycott by the Romani and Serb population in south Kosovo, those numbers are unreliable.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kosovo/|last=CIA|access-date=27 July 2010|title=The World Factbook}}</ref>

===Montenegro===
 {{Main|Albanians in Montenegro}}

The irredentist claims in Montenegro are in the border areas, including [[Skadarska Krajina|Kraja]], [[Ulcinj]], [[Tuzi]] ([[Malësia]]), [[Plav Municipality|Plav and Gusinje]], and [[Rožaje]] ([[Sandžak]]).<ref name="Petranović2002">{{cite book|author=Branko Petranović|title=The Yugoslav Experience of Serbian National Integration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SoVpAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=East European Monographs|isbn=978-0-88033-484-6|quote=... unite with Albania, and to form the second Albanian state outside Yugoslavia, which would gather the Albanians of Kosovo and Metohija, western Macedonia and the border regions of Montenegro from Plav, Gusinje and Rozaje, through Tuzi, near the Montenegrin capital, the hinterland of Lake Skadar (Krajina) up to Ulcinj.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Kenneth Morrison|title=Nationalism, Identity and Statehood in Post-Yugoslav Montenegro|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZw8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT36|date=11 January 2018|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4742-3520-4|page=36}}</ref> According to the 2011 census, the Albanian proportion in those municipalities are following: Ulcinj–14,076 (70%), Tuzi–2,383 (50%), Plav–(19%), Rožaje–188 (2%). The claim on the Sandžak area, where the Albanian community is small and the Bosniak community is the majority, is based on the Albanian state borders in World War II and presence in the late Ottoman period.

===North Macedonia===
{{See also|Albanians in North Macedonia|2001 insurgency in Macedonia}}

The western part of North Macedonia is an area with a large ethnic Albanian minority. The Albanian population in North Macedonia make up 25% of the population, numbering 509,083 in the 2002 census.<ref name=Statisticaloffice>Macedonian Census (2002), ''[http://www.stat.gov.mk/publikacii/knigaX.pdf  Book 5 – Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327022959/http://www.stat.gov.mk/publikacii/knigaX.pdf |date=27 March 2014 }}'', The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 62.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/north-macedonia/|title=The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=9 November 2021}}</ref> Cities with Albanian majorities or large minorities include [[Tetovo]] (Tetova), [[Gostivar]] (Gostivari), [[Struga]] (Struga) and [[Debar]] (Diber).<ref>Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization, Yearbook 1995
Page 41 By Mary Kate Simmons {{ISBN|90-411-0223-X}}</ref>

In the 1980s, Albanian irredentist organizations appeared in the [[SR Macedonia]], particularly Vinica, Kicevo, Tetovo and Gostivar.<ref name="Ramet1995">{{cite book|author=Sabrina P. Ramet|title=Social Currents in Eastern Europe: The Sources and Consequences of the Great Transformation|url=https://archive.org/details/socialcurrentsin01rame|year=1995|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-1548-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/socialcurrentsin01rame/page/203 203]}}</ref> In 1992, Albanian activists in Struga proclaimed also the founding of the [[Republic of Ilirida]] ({{langx|sq|Republika e Iliridës}})<ref name="Ramet80">{{harvnb|Ramet|1997|p=80}}.</ref> with the intention of autonomy or federalization inside Macedonia. The declaration had only a symbolic meaning and the idea of an autonomous State of Ilirida is not officially accepted by the ethnic Albanian politicians in North Macedonia.<ref name="Bugajski116">{{harvnb|Bugajski|1994|pp=116}}.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1100499.html|title=Macedonia: Authorities Allege Existence of New Albanian Rebel Group|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=9 April 2008 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712072345/https://www.rferl.org/a/1100499.html|archive-date=12 July 2017|last1=Naegele |first1=Jolyon }}</ref>

===Preševo Valley===
 {{Main|Albanians in Serbia}}

The irredentist claims in [[Central Serbia]] (excluding Kosovo) are in the southern [[Preševo Valley]], including municipalities of [[Preševo]] ({{langx|sq|Preshevë}}), [[Bujanovac]] ({{langx|sq|Bujanoc}}) and partially [[Medveđa]] ({{langx|sq|Medvegjë}}), where there is an Albanian community. In 2001, the Albanians were estimated to have numbered 70,000 in the area.<ref name="Presevo valley tension">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1043583.stm|title=Presevo valley tension|date=2 February 2001|last=Partos|first=Gabriel|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=14 January 2015|quote=Initially, the guerrillas' publicly acknowledged objective was to protect the local ethnic Albanian population of some 70,000 people from the repressive actions of the Serb security forces.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023192256/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1043583.stm|archive-date=23 October 2007}}</ref> According to the 2021 census, the Albanian proportion in those municipalities were following: Preševo–34,098 (95%), Bujanovac–29,681 (67%), Medveđa–2,816 (26%).

Following the [[Kosovo War]] (1998–99), the Albanian separatist [[Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac]] ({{langx|sq|Ushtria Çlirimtare e Preshevës, Medvegjës dhe Bujanocit}}, UÇPMB), fought an insurgency against the Serbian government, aiming to seceding the Preševo Valley into Kosovo.<ref name="ReuvenyThompson2010">{{cite book|author1=Rafael Reuveny|author2=William R. Thompson|title=Coping with Terrorism: Origins, Escalation, Counterstrategies, and Responses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkeKIYW0sXkC&pg=PA185|date=5 November 2010|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-3313-4|page=185}}</ref>

===Greece===
{{Main|Chameria|Cham Albanians}}

The irredentist claim in Greece are [[Chameria]], parts of [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]], the historical [[Vilayet of Janina]].<ref name="Merdjanova147">{{harvnb|Merdjanova|2013|p=147}}: "The Congress of Berlin in 1878 rejected the petition of the Prizren League to put the regions of Kosovo, Shkodra, Monastir and Janina into one political-administrative unit within the Ottoman Empire ..."</ref><ref name="Kola15"/><ref name="Seton-Watson189">{{harvnb|Seton-Watson|1917|p=189}}: "The Albanian propaganda spread very rapidly, and by 1910 they had reached the stage of claiming the unification of the four vilayets inhabited by Albanians, as a kind of autonomous 'Great Albania'."</ref><ref name="Austin237">{{harvnb|Austin|2004|p=237}}: "[The League of Prizren] also sought to set up the framework for a form of administrative autonomy within the Ottoman state for the four vilayets (provinces) with a sizeable Albanian population, Janina, Shkodër, Kosovo and Monastir (Bitola)."</ref><ref name="Vaknin102103">{{harvnb|Vaknin|2000|pp=102–103}}: "[The League of Prizren] fast adopted an expansive agenda, seeking to unify the four parts of Albania in the four vilayets (Kosovo, Shkoder, Monastir, Janina) into one political unit."</ref>

The coastal region of [[Thesprotia]] in northwestern [[Greece]] referred to by Albanians as ''[[Chameria|Çamëria]]'' is sometimes included in Greater Albania.<ref name="BogdaniLoughlin230">{{harvnb|Bogdani|Loughlin|2007|pp=230}}.</ref> According to the 1928 census held by the Greek state, there were around 20,000 Muslim Cams in [[Thesprotia|Thesprotia prefecture]]. They were forced to seek refuge in Albania at the end of World War II after a large part of them [[Axis-Cham Albanian collaboration|collaborated]] and committed a number of crimes together with the Nazis during the 1941–1944 period.<ref name="Meyer702">{{harvnb|Meyer|2008|p=702}}.</ref> In the first post-war census (1951), only 123 Muslim Çams were left in the area. Descendants of the exiled Muslim Chams (they claim that they are now up to 170,000 now living in Albania) claim that up to 35,000 Muslim Çams were living in southern Epirus before World War II. Many of them are currently trying to pursue legal ways to claim compensation for the properties seized by Greece. For Greece the issue "does not exist".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |title=The Cham Issue – Where to Now? |access-date=2008-02-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626234836/http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2008|quote=Despite the Cham-induced controversy, during a visit to Albania in mid-October 2004, Greek President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos stated at a news conference that the Cham issue did not exist for Greece and that claims for the restoration of property presented by both the Cham people and the Greek minority in Albania belonged to a past historical period which he considered closed. "I don't know if it is necessary to find a solution to the Cham issue, as in my opinion it does not need to be solved," he said. "There have been claims from both sides, but we should not return to these matters. The question of the Cham properties does not exist," he said. When speaking of claims from both sides, Stephanopoulos was referring (also) to the Greek claims over Northern Epirus, which include a considerable part of southern Albania.}}</ref>

==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?" in February 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |title=The Cham Issue – Where to Now?  |access-date=2008-02-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626234836/http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/balkan/07%2801%29MV.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2008|quote=Cham demonstrators was enough to galvanise Greece into defensive mode. The country embarked upon a series of military and diplomatic initiatives, which suggested a fear of Pan-Albanian expansion towards north-western Greece. Serbian and Macedonian media reports were claiming that new Pan-Albanian organisations were planning to expand their operations into north-western Greece to include Meanwhile, Chameria in their plans for the unification of "all Albanian territories." international observers were concerned that Kosovo politicians might start speculating with the Cham issue. The report observed 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 stated that amongst Albanians, "violence in the cause of a greater Albania, or of any shift of borders, is neither politically popular nor morally justified.}}</ref>

The International Crisis Group advised in the report the Albanian and Greek governments to endeavour and settle the longstanding 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 and maintaining separate statehood.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=2523&l=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509145704/http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=2523|url-status=dead|title=Pan-Albanianism: How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?, Europe Report N°153, 25 February 2004|archive-date=9 May 2007}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Albanian nationalism]]
* [[Albanian National Awakening]]
* [[Albanophobia]]
* [[History of Albania]]
* [[History of the Balkans]]
* [[Kosovo independence precedent]]
* [[League of Prizren]]
* [[Unification of Albania and Kosovo]]

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
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{{refend|2}}

==Further reading==
*Canak, Jovan M. ''Greater Albania: concepts and possibile [sic] consequences''. Belgrade: Institute of Geopolitical Studies, 1998.
*Jaksic G. and Vuckovic V. ''Spoljna politika srbije za vlade''. Kneza Mihaila, Belgrade, 1963.
*Dimitrios Triantaphyllou. ''The Albanian Factor''. ELIAMEP, Athens, 2000.
* {{cite book
|last=Mandelbaum
|first=Michael
|year=1998
|title=The new European diasporas: national minorities and conflict in Eastern Europe
|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York
|isbn=9780876092576
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoHQ3OgU8bMC&q=The+new+European+diasporas:+national+minorities+and+conflict+in+Eastern+Europe
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Greater Albania}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041015111556/http://www.albca.com/aclis/ Albanian Canadian League Information Service (ACLIS)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050711074615/http://www.frosina.org/articles/default.asp?id=89 Perspective: Albania and Kosova by Van Christo]
*[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/durham/albania/albania.html High Albania by M. Edith Durham]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050427140922/http://www.omda.bg/imir/studies/alban_id31.html#95 Albanian Identities by Antonina Zhelyazkova]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050510080539/http://www.snd-us.com/history/dusan/kc_part2e.htm The Kosovo Chronicles by Dusan Batakovic]
*[http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8558447 Albania and Kosovo | What happened to Greater Albania?], ''[[The Economist]]'', 18 January 2007

{{Balkan Wars}}
{{Irredentism}}
{{Pan-nationalist concepts}}

[[Category:Albanian separatism]]
[[Category:Political history of Albania]]
[[Category:Albanian irredentism|Albania]]
[[Category:Albanian nationalism]]
[[Category:Political movements]]
[[Category:Albania–Greece relations]]
[[Category:Albania–Kosovo relations]]
[[Category:Albania–Montenegro relations]]
[[Category:Albania–North Macedonia relations]]
[[Category:Albania–Serbia relations]]
[[Category:Proposed political unions]]