The Greek government officially requested the union of Northern Epirus with Greece at the 1946 Paris Peace Conference.

The withdrawal of the Germans from Greece (October 1944) coincided with the rise in Albania of Enver Hoxha, born in Gjirokastra in 1908, who sought and came under Soviet tutelage.

Έτσι, αφού εξασφάλισε την υποστήριξη μίας από τις μεγάλες δυνάμεις της εποχής και εξουδετέρωσε κάθε αντίπαλο μέσα στην Αλβανία, μπόρεσε απερίσπαστα να ασχοληθεί με την εγκαθίδρυση του ιδιότυπου μαρξιστικού του καθεστώτος. Όπως είναι γνωστό ο Χότζα κυβέρνησε την Αλβανία ως το θάνατό του το 1985. Παράλληλα εξαπολύθηκαν από αλβανικής πλευράς απηνείς διωγμοί σε βάρος των Ελλήνων της Βορείου Ηπείρου, με σκοπό την αλλοίωση της εθνολογικής σύνθεσης της περιοχής, αλλά και την εξαφάνιση των ερεισμάτων που θα δικαιολογούσαν κάθε ελληνική διεκδίκηση στην επερχόμενη συνδιάσκεψη για τη διευθέτηση των συνόρων και όποιων άλλων προβλημάτων υπήρχαν μετά τη λήξη του Β’ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου.

​14 Ιουλίου 1993: Οι 6 όροι του Κωνσταντίνου Μητσοτάκη προς την Αλβανική Κυβέρνηση

The Paris Peace Conference

The four victorious powers, the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and France, unanimously decided that their representatives would meet in Paris at the end of June 1946 to determine the details of signing the Peace Treaty.

The following 17 countries were invited to participate in this conference: Greece, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, China, Ethiopia and India. At the same time, our country, which was trying to get back on its feet after the suffering of the occupation and the first phase of the civil conflict, was struggling to avoid a wider internal confrontation, something that unfortunately was not achieved.

It was finally possible to form a large delegation to take part in the Conference, which consisted, among others, of former Ministers of Foreign Affairs and non-partisan personalities.

The delegation was headed by Prime Minister Konstantinos Tsaldaris and included: Philippos Dragoumis, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Konstantinos Rentis and Ioannis Politis, former Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Auxiliary members were our ambassadors in Paris Raphael Raphael, in London Athanasios Agnidis, in Moscow Athanasios Politis and on behalf of King George II Panagiotis Pipinelis.

Ambassador Alexandros Argyropoulos and MPs Konstantinos Papagiannis and Georgios Drosos participated as additional members. The Secretary General was Alexis Kyrou, assisted by approximately 30 prominent non-partisan figures of the time.

The work of the Conference began on the afternoon of July 29, 1946, at the Louvre Palace, where 1,500 members from the various delegations gathered.

The Conference proceedings

In July 1946, the Greek government submitted a report to the Secretariat of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the four Great Powers in Paris. In it, it requested the arrangement of the borders with Bulgaria and Albania, so as to reduce their length from 780 to 540 kilometers.

"The proposed borders will include from east to west: A. as regards Bulgaria: the heights which cover the Arda valley to the north – The Balkan Mountains Karlek – Lenenra Pl. – Pirin Planina – the Kresna pass. B. as regards Albania: the Pogradec pass – the Tommorices mountain range – the Gilave heights – the Tartarit mountains – the Gikes mountains – Cape Gloses – the island of Sasona (note: which our country ceded to Albania by a law of the Greek Parliament in 1914).

Note: the attached diagram (see map No. 9 in Annex II) gives a general picture of the proposed arrangement. Details are to be found in the memorandum submitted to the Conference (see map No. 10 in Annex II).

(From the book by Dr. Ioannis S. Papafloratos "THE HELLENISM OF NORTHERN EPIRUS THROUGH UNKNOWN DOCUMENTS").

On August 13, 1946, prime Minister and Minister Of Foreign Affairs konstantinos tsaldaris Declared At The Peace conference: "...Greece Claims Northern epirus from Albania, the Dodecanese from defeated italy, As well as a more comprehensive settlement of its northern borders, not only to be restored to its true national territory but also to secure itself from the tangible threat posed by our northern neighbors."

On August 24, an appeal was filed against our country, supported by the representatives of Ukraine and the USSR.

Ο Ουκρανός αντιπρόσωπος έκανε λόγο για έννομο συμφέρον της «χώρας» του, η οποία συνόρευε με τη Βαλκανική χερσόνησο και ζητούσε να ληφθούν μέτρα για να αποφευχθεί περαιτέρω επιδείνωση των σχέσεων της χώρας μας με τους βόρειους γείτονές της, κάτι το οποίο απειλούσε την ειρήνη στην περιοχή. Μάλιστα, διατυπωνόταν η άποψη ότι η Ελλάδα προκαλούσε μεθοριακά επεισόδια με την Αλβανία για να της αποσπάσει εδάφη. Ο αντιπρόσωπος της Ε.Σ.Σ.Δ. Αντρέι Γκρομίκο (Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko), μετέπειτα Υπουργός Εξωτερικών της χώρας του, υποστήριξε ότι η ελληνική κυβέρνηση τείνει να μετατραπεί σε φασιστική, , ενώ αρνήθηκε οποιαδήποτε συζήτηση του ελληνικού αιτήματος για ένωση της Βορείου Ηπείρου με την Ελλάδα, παρά τις μεγαλόστομες διακηρύξεις των Σοβιετικών αξιωματούχων στη διάρκεια του Β’ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου.

On August 30, 1946, the Greek government officially requested at the Paris Peace Conference the union of Northern Epirus with Greece. The Moscow representatives reacted strongly, but the Americans and the British succeeded in having the issue included on the agenda (with 12 votes in favor, 7 against and 2 abstentions).

Again the Soviets reacted strongly, this time through Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov.

Of course, the other communist states sided with the USSR. Finally, on September 28, 1946, Athens was forced to accept the subject being placed under the jurisdiction of the Conference of the Four Great Powers.

Thus, the final text of the Conference was signed with reservations by Tsaldaris.

On 28 September 1946, the Conference rejected by a vote of 14 to 5 the Yugoslav proposal to consider Albania a belligerent country in the fight against the Axis. The following day, the Greek representative declared before the Conference Committee on Italy that the recognition of Albania in a relevant article of the draft Treaty did not prejudge the outcome of the question of the Greek-Albanian border.

Στις 6/10/1946, ο Γεώργιος Παπανδρέου, μετά από παράκληση της Κυβέρνησης Κ. Τσαλδάρη, πήγε στο Παρίσι συνοδευόμενος από τους Σοφοκλή Βενιζέλο, Παναγιώτη Κανελλόπουλο, Ναπολέοντα Ζέρβα και Γεώργιο Βαρβούτη, προκειμένου να συναντηθεί με του Υπουργό Εξωτερικών των Η.Π.Α. Πραγματικά, στις 7/10/1946, στις 10.30 π.μ. η υπό τον Γ. Παπανδρέου ελληνική αντιπροσωπεία συναντήθηκε με τον Υπουργό Εξωτερικών των Η.Π.Α. James E. Byrnes (1882-1972), από τον οποίο εισέπραξε την ωμή απάντηση ότι δεν υπήρχε καμία πιθανότητα να συμπεριληφθεί η Βόρειος Ήπειρος στις Συνθήκες Ειρήνης.

The American position was in contrast to the U.S. Senate, which on July 29, 1946, unanimously adopted a resolution in favor of the return of Northern Epirus to Greece.

Και Αμερικανοί βουλευτές όμως, είχαν λάβει ξεκάθαρα θέση υπέρ της χώρας μας. Ο Βουλευτής της Πολιτείας του Νιου Χαμσάιρ Herrow, στις 27/3/1946, ζήτησε από το Κογκρέσο «την επιστροφή της Βορείου Ηπείρου στην Ελλάδα». Το ίδιο και ο βουλευτής της Καλιφόρνια Kino, ο οποίος αγορεύοντας την ίδια μέρα στο Κογκρέσο, απέδειξε με ατράνταχτα στοιχεία την, αδιαμφισβήτητη, ελληνικότητα της Β. Ηπείρου και ζήτησε την άμεση παραχώρησή της στην Ελλάδα. Το ίδιο ζήτησε και ο βουλευτής Mead, ο οποίος υπερασπίστηκε τις ελληνικές θέσεις στο Κογκρέσο στις 29/3/1946.

Meanwhile, on October 9, 1946, a new proposal by Yugoslavia to include in the text of the Peace Treaty with Italy a paragraph regarding the recognition of the territorial integrity of Albania was rejected.

On November 4, the meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Great Powers began in New York. Eight meetings were held until December 12, 1946, in which the Greek request was not discussed. Obviously, the Westerners did not want to come to a rupture with Moscow over the northern continent.

Thus, the Council postponed taking decisions on this issue, after the signing of the Peace Treaty with Austria and Germany.

The Peace Treaty with Austria was signed on May 15, 1955 in Vienna, while with Germany on December 12, 1990 in Moscow.

On February 10, 1947, the Peace Treaty with Italy (known as the Treaty of Paris) was signed. It did NOT include a provision for the territorial integrity of Albania (as sought by the Eastern Bloc states) after strong opposition from Greece, which proposed only the recognition of Albania's sovereignty and independence.

In the discussions for the signing of the Treaty, Tsaldaris "head of the national delegation, will clarify from the podium of the Conference that he maintains his reservations intact until the Northern Epirus issue is settled in a fair manner" (Konstantinos Svolopoulos, "HELLENIC FOREIGN POLICY 1830-1981).

Επίσης, πέτυχε να καταχωρηθεί στα πρακτικά η εξής δήλωση: «Προς αποφυγή πάσης αμφιβολίας, η αντιπροσωπεία της Ελλάδος δηλώνει ότι η Ελληνική Κυβέρνησις, προσυπογράφουσα την κυριαρχία και την ανεξαρτησία της Αλβανία, δεν θα εγκαταλείψει σε καμία περίπτωση και με κανέναν όρο τα προαιώνια και απαράγραπτα δικαιώματά της επί ενός ελληνικού εδάφους, το οποίο το αίμα των παιδιών της ένωσε με την Μητέρα πατρίδα, διατηρούσα στο ακέραιο τις επιφυλάξεις της μέχρι το Βορειοηπειρωτικό Ζήτημα να διακανονισθεί κατά τρόπο σύμφωνο με την δικαιοσύνη».

(Dr. Ioannis S. Papafloratos, "THE HELLENISM OF NORTHERN EPIRUS THROUGH UNKNOWN DOCUMENTS")

As is known, with the same Treaty, the Dodecanese were returned to Greece. However, the negative developments in Northern Epirus caused the discomfort of the Greek Parliament in its resolution on 15/10/1947:

"Greece, With a heavy heart, will ratify the treaties, but It maintains its just claims intact in the belief that it is impossible not to one day impose a more just judgment on them."

Also, greek claims to territories that belonged to bulgaria before the War were rejected, as was the Claim Of western thrace By bulgaria, which had sided with the Axis.

The issue of the border with Albania remains open to this day, as the conferences of the Great Powers to which this has been referred were concluded in Geneva in 1955, without it being discussed.

In fact, as K. Svolopoulos writes, "Albania, as a victim or plaything at the disposal of the Axis, was gradually assimilated with the victorious Allied countries."

In the northern mainland, Greece once again fell victim to the conflicting interests of the Great Powers and the internal political situation. The obligation to respect - in addition to the sovereignty and independence - the territorial integrity of the Albanian state, had been rejected by the Plenary of the Conference with 13 out of a total of 21 votes" (K. Svolopoulos).

Greece, with the intervention of Tsaldaris, did not abandon Northern Epirus. But also "the ratification of the final text of the Peace Treaty by the Greek parliament will be accompanied by the explicit reservation that it still considers the issue of the Albanian borders open."

(K. Svolopoulos, GREEK FOREIGN POLICY 1830-1981).

Khan's recent statements that followed the statements of Albanian Foreign Minister Bushati and the reference to a settlement of the Greek-Albanian border (interview with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Brussels (12/7/2018), make us believe that this is not a random event or misunderstanding.

Whether the border issue with Albania, which has existed for 70 years, is going to be equated with the non-existent issue of Tsamouria or something else, the future will tell.

Sources: KONSTANTINOS SVOLOPOULOS "HELLENIC FOREIGN POLICY 1830-1981", ESTIA BOOKSHOP, 2014 IOANNIS S. PAPAFLORATOS "THE HELLENISM OF NORTHERN EPIRUS THROUGH UNKNOWN DOCUMENTS", PELASGOS publications 2018 VAS. GEORGIOU, "NORTHERN EPIRUS, the continuing NATIONAL TRAGEDY", E. RIGA IOANNIS S. PAPAFLORATOS publications, "THE HISTORY OF THE GREEK ARMY (1833-1949)", SAKKOULA PUBLICATIONS 2014.

Source: Michalis Stoukas / protothema.gr