[ALBSA-Info] Re: [balkans] Book Review: Triantaphyllou: The Albanian Factor, Reviewed by Tamas Berky

[Agron Alibali]

I read with interest Mr. Berky's excellent review of the book by D. Tryantaphyllou, and learned a lot about the book to the extent that one can get from its review alone.
Regarding the content of the book - and not Mr. Berky's review - I am surprised to learn that even "modern" Greek academicians - like Mr. Tryantaphyllou - continue to maintain a unrealistic view of the Balkan region, which somehow resonates the old "Megali Idea" nationalistic doctrine. of "Greater Greece".
Mr. Berky gives some examples in his review in support of this view, and I am certain that the book itself would contain more elements.  To mention only a few, one can cite the so-called "Vorio-Epirus problem", or the "unsettled situation of the Greek minority" in Albania - both apparently referred by the author - and which have historically been used by Greek nationalists as arguments in support of the annexation of Southern Albania.    
While it is unfortunate that, apparently, the author in a sense seems to advocate Greek nationalist claims in Southern Albania, in this context one would wonder whether the author has at all analyzed in his book the issue of the Albanian minority in Greece, especially in the Chameria region in Northwestern Greece.  For those who are unfamiliar with the issue, this population's Albanian ethnic minority status was officially recognized by  the Greek government during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.  Moreover, in 1923 this minority was officially excluded from the Lausanne Convention on the Compulsory Exchange of Population between Greece and Turkey.  In 1944-1945, the Moslem portion of the Chams was forcibly expelled from Greece by forces of General N. Zervas, allegedly due to their collaboration with the Nazis.  It should be noted that in 1948 Zervas himself was obligated to resign as Minister of Interior of Greece due to revelations in the Nuremberg Trial of his own collaboration with the Nazis. To this day, the Greek government has refused to allow the return to Greece of those Greek citizens and their families of Chameria descend who were forcibly expelled from Greece, and who wish to return to Greece and live there in peace.
Perhaps the author does not mention at all these historical facts in his book.  But, certainly, the book contains several elements of pure fiction or fabrication, which cast serious doubt on the content of the book.
One is the so-called "Ghegh/Northern" character of the Democratic Party of Albania or the "Southern/Tosk" character of the Socialist Party of Albania, an opinion which would raise eyebrows to any serious person with even superficial knowledge of the region. 
Another pure fabrication is the author's claim that the communist government in Tirana was responsible for the freezing of relations with Greece until 1987.  One would wonder whether the author has at all looked in Greece for the real reasons that were at the basis of this action.  Indeed, one key reason for the freezing of Albanian - Greek relations was Greece's constant refusal to abolish the "Status of War" Law with Albania dating since 1940, when Italy attacked Greece after it occupied Albania in 1939.  To this date, Greece has yet to fully abolish this absurd legislation and all related laws deriving from it.
For these reasons alone, and contrary to Mr. Berky conclusion, Tryantapyllou's book cannot "be taken seriously" from "decision makers that want to find enduring arrangements" in the region. 
Agron Alibali, LL. M.
 
  Florian Bieber <fbieber at yahoo.com> wrote: Balkan Academic Book Review 22/2001
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Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, The Albanian Factor (Athens: ELIAMEP, 2000), 70 pp.

Reviewed by Tamás Berky (Budapest University of Economics) Email: berky.tamas at mobilitas.hu
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Order the book
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The study of Dimitrios Tryantaphyllou  currently research fellow at the WEU Institute for Security Studies and former deputy director of ELIAMEP  is a complex approach towards the so-called “Albanian Question”.  The events and changes follow each other so rapidly in the Balkan peninsula, that one can only try to interpret them properly, if they are observed from a complex viewpoint, keeping the distance from the everyday happenings.

Starting with the discussion of the development of 2000, the conclusions regarding the future of the region and the Albanian ethnicity in it, are based on a historical analysis and the one of the connection between the “Albanian Question” and the political situation in the most vulnerable countries in this respect.

The new millennium has brought good news for the Balkans  a new government in Croatia, strengthening and unification of Serbian opposition, the Helsinki Summit of the European Union  but most conflict points remained unstable and unsolved and the Dayton settlement tested daily. Kosovo continued to be the major source of turbulances, but the fate of FYROM and the relation between Serbia and Montenegro appeared as new critical problems. The political consequences of an unresolved situation were high, as the respect and authority of the UN and the NATO were at stake, while the settlement depended on the security environment that only the international community could provide. Still, though the launch of the Stability Pact, the Cologne and Helsinki summits of the EU, the total sum of assistance the European countries invested in the region since 1991 and offered till 2006, signed a positive move towards increased international responsibility, foreign interest remained relatively low and a comprehensive approach was lacking  writes Tryantaphyllou. 

The regional trends deserve particular attention, according to him: one is that the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s stem from the disintegration of one and only state and the conflict has not spread beyond the borders of the former Socialist Federal republic of Yugoslavia. The other trend is that the process of regional co-operation  suspended after the disintegration of Yugoslavia  is gaining importance again  a process that has always been considered by Greek researchers as a key factor in regional settlement.  
Apart from the above mentioned trends, there are several critical issues of special importance, such as the situation of the Albanian ethnicity, the role of Serbia and the future of FYROM. 

However, the role of the international community in the settlement of these issues is decisive. Nevertheless, it is necessary to re-evaluate how the international community interpret the nature of the problems of the region, and the policy it implements. Tryantaphyllou calls the attention to the dangers of using double standards in the same region, as the international community supported the territorial sovereignty of one state (FYROM) while denying it to another (Yugoslavia) - undermining the success of its own policy in Kosovo.

To understand the genesis of the current tensions, one has to have a solid overview of the region's history. The Ottoman Empire dominated the Balkans for 500 years and outside interference has been present in the region since the disintegration of the empire. Strong native traditions of democratic government and civil society are also absent and many of the Balkan nations failed to fulfil their national goals as well. World War I and the Versailles settlements not only meant the end of the former status quo but once again excluded regional actors from the deliberations while marking the political boundaries up to now. The geopolitical concept in the redrawing of boundaries was to fill the space of Austria-Hungary, and to curb the spread of communism and German revanchism. Ideologically, frontiers were supposed to coincide with the ethnical division lines, but instead, the new states were just as multinational as the old empires - establishes Tryantaphyllou - only the oppressed peoples became oppressed minorities.    Ethnic considerations were disregarded by the great powers for their strategic objectives, which made it possible for Ahmed Bey Zogu to preserve Albania's territorial integrity and to hold elections in 1920. The question of minorities remained unsettled however resulting in the transfer of populations and in the creation of a new problem: the integration of co-national immigrants in the motherland and in the new territories seized by the motherland - such as Macedonia and Thrace in Greece. 

The lack of civil society is also a distinctive phenomenon in the region, as society is basically formed along ethnic lines. This explains why in the political culture of these states sate and nationhood coincide, thus posing other groups as potential threats to the sovereignty of the state. This nationalism is exclusive and messianic in nature, claiming rights for a chosen people, not for the individual, and appearing in various forms, such as historical revisionism. In the wars of Balkan people for independence in the 19th century, religion and Orthodoxy also became a tool of the state in its national goals. 

The national evolution of the Balkan people tended to lead to several directions. Among those people emerging from Ottoman domination, they competed among themselves for territories they all laid historical-religious claims. Such territory was Macedonia, where the fight began over ecclesiastical jurisdiction, then the main player were Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece, leading to the present situation, when the main question is the role of the Albanian ethnicity. 

Beside the competition for territories, another characteristic feature of the nationalism of these  was irredentism, claiming that the frontiers of the state had to be expanded to coincide with those of the nation or ethnicity. 
Analysing the case of Albania, Tryantaphyllou notes that Albanians, were the last people to express national consciousness for such impediments as the geography of the country, the religion, the lack of great power interest, the development of small, autonomous units ruled by strong native landowner aristocracy, the division along tribal lines and for the existence of the Gheg and Tosk groups.
The first form of national protest, the League Of Prizren was formed in Kosovo after the Berlin treaty, demanding autonomy for Albanian territories under Ottoman administration. The league was dissolved soon, but the process of cultural and linguistic awakening continued, rediscovering the historical roots and developing a new Latin-based script in Christian schools. The Young Turk Revolution in 1908 lead to Albanian revolts in Kosovo and Pristina, which was declared independence in 1913, without fixed boundaries and with various claims from its neighbours for its territory (Serbia and Montenegro for Durres, Greece for Vorio Epirus) Although Kosovo was an important centre of national fight, it was left outside of the new state, which was primarily established for strategic considerations of Austria-Hungary and Italy. Albania was admitted to the League of nations in 1920 and consolidated its territory by 1928. During World War II, Great Albania was established under Italian tutelage, including Kosovo and some parts of  Macedonia. It is clear, writes Tryantaphyllou, that Albanian political culture was heavily influenced by the continuous presence of different foreign powers and the constant claims of its neighbours for Albanian territories - all these made Albanians suspicious of foreign states. After World War II Tito had plans for the unification of its client state, Albania, with Kosovo in a Yugoslav republic. The break between Tito and Stalin allowed for independence from Yugoslavia, providing more space for maneuver for Albania, which in the 1960s became a Chinese ally. Albania was totally isolated which was accompanied by a xenophobic and paranoid dictatorship, and a brutal assimilation campaign, freezing relations with Greece till 1987. After the fall of communism, and from the late 1980s, Albania pressed Yugoslavia, then FYROM as well, for the improvement of the situation of Albanians in Kosovo and Tetovo. Relations with Greece and the international community was normalised, however, the situation of the Greek minority is still far from being settled. 

According to Tryantaphyllou, Albania's problems stem from four factors:
1)      Albanian population is the fastest growing in Europe
2)      Albanians in ex-Yugoslavia were granted only the status of nationality, even though they outnumbered four of the official nations. 
3)      Albanians live in areas contiguous to each other and Albania
4)      The revoking of Kosovo's autonomy

Furthermore, the years of communism did not contribute to the betterment of the situation, but on the contrary, communist dictatorship was only a means of national oppression - suggesting for some, that pre-communist days were utopic compared to the present. 
Discussing the developments in post-cold war Albania, Tryantaphyllou describes the massive unemployment, lack of food and administrative chaos in the country after the 1992 riots, then the nature of political fights between the conservative, northern and Gheg Democratic Party of Albania (DPA) and the socialist-post-communist, southern and Tosk Socialist Party.  As the situation of Albanians in ex-Yugoslavia worsened, efforts for national unification appeared, such as the Assembly for National Reconciliation and Unification, suggesting that national unification was an effective way of pulling out the country from its deep crisis. The Co-ordinating Council of the Albanian Political Parties in Yugoslavia considered in 1991 that the changing of borders was a viable solution for the problems. The existence of this council had a positive and significant effect on Albanian political life in the motherland, for its working multi-party organisation. 

The national question gained momentum in Albanian political life and contributed to the deep division and polarisation of political and social life, while Albania by no means could challenge neither politically nor economically Yugoslavia over the minority issue. It was especially the DPA of Sali Berisha that played the national card, partly because Berisha and the DPA represented the northern Gheg region, that is adjacent to Kosovo. The efforts of Fatos Nano, prime minister, were greatly undermined by the DPA's policy - according to Tryantaphyllou. He establishes, that political developments in Albania coincided with the events of the Yugoslav crisis, that eventually started in Kosovo in 1988 and culminated there eleven years later. The fact that the Yugoslav crisis was expanded after 1991, allowed for Albanian leaders to connect the Kosovo issue to other developments in Yugoslavia, thus arising the interest and attention of the international community. In parallel  with the strong declarations, the Socialist Party at first place, but the DPA as well, sought for peaceful solutions and third party mediation too. With the emerging threat that Serbia meant, Albania tried to normalise its relations with other neighbours, among them with FYROM, freezing the Albanian question there and preventing the strengthening of FYROM-Serbia relations. As the situation in Kosovo rapidly deteriorated in 1998, Albania, especially the DPA took a more active stand, and the influx of refugees, the massacres, the transfer of arms into Kosovo contributed to the polarisation of the political landscape in Albania. Moderate forces were sidelined, and in the UCK emerged a fascist and a Stalinist wing too. The developments in Kosovo, particularly the appearance of UCK, folowed the pattern once proved working in Bosnia - writes the author, since taking up arms mobilised the international community there as well. Observing this tendency, and under the present circumstances, the Albanian dimension is bound to grow if the following concerns are not taken properly into consideration- sates Tryantaphyllou:
1)      The further marginalisation of the region - the lack of interest and harmonised action on behalf of the West will leave the region unstable - this statement has been justified in the past year with the worsening of the situation on spot and with the problems of the Stability Pact
2)      The role of Serbia: Serbia is a key factor in regional stability, but its endangering nationalism is not only the property of the Socialist party, but also that of the present government parties. Tryantaphyllou notes that with the disintegration of Yugoslavia, two regional centres emerged: Thessaloniki and Budapest, however, both are out of the proper region.
3)      The viability of FYROM - this point cannot be more actual now, even though the current NATO action to collect the arms of Albanian guerrillas prevents the escalation of the crisis - which is far from being solved. 
4)      Kosovo's ambiguous status - the present uncertainty about the future status of the province only leads all sides to be less willing to compromise- establishes Tryantaphyllou. The present conditions meet the minimum demands of the parties thus cannot be a solid basis for future settlement. Any solution, as well as NATO's presence should take into consideration the regional implications of any deliberation or action.
5)      The future of Montenegro: the future of the republic is tied to the one of Kosovo, as the independence of one would press for the independence of the other. Montenegro's independence would also leave Serbia landlocked, that increased anti-Western sentiments in the country and fuelled the issue of Great Albania - states Tryantaphyllou - not without any basis, but the nature of the relationship between an independent Montenegro and Serbia would be decisive in this respect. The current political situation in Serbia fortunately is not likely to evolve into one similar to Milosevic's time. 
6)      Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Dayton Peace Accords (DPA) have been partially implemented only and the DPA allowed for the de facto partition of the country. The political changes in Croatia and Serbia will probably facilitate the implementation of the DPA, the political dialogue between the Serbs, Croats and Muslims and allow for the return of refugees. However, the international community has resources only to safeguard the treaty but no means to move beyond it.
7)      Relations with Russia and China: The Kosovo conflict proved only that Neither Russia nor China is able to act against Western plans and it raised fears that it could encourage separatist tendencies in Russia and China. The future status of Kosovo will be an important testing ground of Western-Russian/Chinese relations as both would probably vote and act against the independence of the province. 
8)      Other issues: Tryantaphyllou mention such problems as the economic landscape, organised crime, the existence of grey zones form the point security and economy, instable political systems. These are partly due to historical, geographical reasons, partly for the instability and chaos of the former decade that prevented economic development and foreign investment. In this respect the growing Albanian assertiveness in Kosovo and FYROM has to be controlled as it is linked to the above mentioned problems, just as the situation of Albanians in Kosovo and FYROM cannot be separated. The poor economic condition in Albania and in the Albanian populated territories, the deep political division of Albania proper and the Albanian elite in Kosovo and FYROM can only radicalise Albanian politics in the future. Tryantaphyllou is absolutely right to establish that the situation of Albanians is a key factor in any kind of Balkan settlement, but the dangers of radicalisation necessitate the international monitoring of regional developments. The events of 2001 fully justified this statement and showed that international intervention was necessary to control the situation in Kosovo, Serbia and FYROM - thus preventing another serious escalation of the conflict. 

To conclude Tryantaphyllou establishes that the security concerns are many and inter-linked but can be controlled by international presence - which is also a testing ground of the conflict-managing capacity of the international community and the West at first place. The Stability Pact itself is a good means to induce positive regional processes but needs to be more effective, for which the following difficulties have to be handled:
-       the role of co-ordination has to be defined properly to act in harmony with other initiatives
-       the interest of regional actors clash (Royamount process, SECI, Stability Pact)
-       there is an imbalance between the working tables 
-       the implementation is problematic
-       timing is crucial, as there is a need for immediate results

To manage the above mentioned problems, the international community has to formulate a common strategy towards FYROM while maintaining the current peacekeeping and conflict prevention arrangements. This is not enough however, as the framework of the Pact has to be filled with content and the prospect of EU integration has to be offered for the region. The international community cannot solve all the problems though, and the reform laying the foundation of a functioning market economy and democracy can only come from the countries themselves. 

The considerations and statements of Tryantaphyllou mentioned and commented in this review are basically right, some of them have been justified by the developments this year. It is difficult these days to analyse Balkan political situation as changes are sometimes so fast, that the conditions observed change dramatically till a book is published. This is exactly why a complex approach, with a deeper understanding of the historical, political, ethnic, economic roots of the problems is necessary. It is true that international intervention and action should be increased at the moment both in financial and military terms to handle the current problems, but probably a long-term solution can only be delivered by the natural economic-political developments of Balkan countries. This unfortunately cannot be made faster but can be facilitated by the maintaining of peaceful conditions and by economic programmes. It is however doubtful that illusionist promises as the European integration of the region should be offered as unfulfilled promises can only embitter the situation later. Concrete financial and economic programmes, help for the building of democratic institutions and civil society and peacekeeping- that is what can be expected form the international community. Real change will only come from the natural progress of the regional states. That is probably why it is difficult to find any other solution then those mentioned in this book and in others and why it is difficult to create a complex approach. There is no remedy for the lack of inner progress, but such researches, considerations and pieces of advice as those of Tryantaphyllou should be taken seriously if decision makers want to find enduring arrangements. 

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This an earlier book reviews are available at: www.seep.ceu.hu/balkans
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© 2001 Balkan Academic News. This review may be distributed and reproduced electronically, if credit is given to Balkan Academic News and the author. For permission for re-printing, contact Balkan Academic News. 

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