Abstract

This paper examines the role of European diplomacy in the drawing of Albanian boundaries during and after the London Conference of 1913, highlighting how the geopolitical interests of the Great Powers overrode ethnographic realities and local self-determination. Through diplomatic compromise, districts such as Korçë, Kolonjë, Përmet, and Gjirokastër were incorporated into the newly established Albanian state, while territories with substantial Albanian populations—including Chameria, Ioannina, Konitsa, and parts of Pindus—were ceded to Greece. Contemporary observers criticized these decisions as strategic attempts to weaken Albania politically and economically by confining it largely to mountainous and underdeveloped regions.

The study further explores the diplomatic exchanges of 1913–1914 between Greece and the Great Powers, focusing on delays in Greek evacuation from southern Albania and the subsequent escalation of conflict.

Greek-supported armed groups and irregular forces organized attacks in Korçë and surrounding districts, culminating in violence, mass displacement, and documented atrocities against Albanian civilians during the summer of 1914. Eyewitness testimonies from international figures, including members of the Dutch mission and British parliamentarians, reveal the scale of destruction and humanitarian suffering that accompanied the struggle over the disputed territories.

In addition, the paper analyzes historical and ethnographic evidence presented by Albanian representatives to challenge Greek claims over southern Albania, commonly referred to as “Northern Epirus” by Greece.

Drawing on diplomatic reports, demographic data, and foreign testimonies from the nineteenth century, the argument emphasizes the predominantly Albanian linguistic, cultural, and demographic character of the region despite the presence of Orthodox Christian communities. Finally, the study situates these debates within the broader Albanian appeal to the United States and the international community for an impartial settlement based on on-the-ground investigation rather than imperial diplomacy.

European Diplomacy and the Drawing of Albanian Boundaries (1913-1914)

Meanwhile, European diplomacy intervened and asked the commission to draw the boundary not on the basis of their investigation and study but on the basis of a compromise which the great powers arrived at to suit their own affairs.

By this compromise, the districts of Korçë (Kortcha), Kolonjë (Koloma), Përmet (Permete), and Gjirokastër (Arghirokastra) with all its valley were included within the boundaries of independent Albania. Meanwhile, Konitsa, the district of Pindus, Ioannina (Janina) — the capital of southern Albania — and the whole Province of Chameria, almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians of the Muslim creed, were given to Greece.

Thus, the representatives of the great powers, faithful disciples of the old school of diplomacy, ignored the rights of the people and drew an Albania on the map which shut the Albanians in the narrow mountains. The most ancient race of Europe was forced to yield towns and lowlands to the Serbians and the Greeks and starve on the ridge of sterile crags.

Mr. Wadham Peacock, speaking of the boundary drawn by the London Conference, said:

“From the cynical way in which large populations of Albanians are ignored and handed over to their hereditary enemies, it is obvious that the great powers are not over anxious to found an Albanian principality which could have a reasonable chance of success. The nascent Albania is cut down to a minimum, and if Europe had wished to make the new state dependent on Austria or Italy, she could have hardly set it about more effectively. There is not much future for an Albania of this sort, but the Shqiptars are a dogged race, who have survived many tyrants, though so far they have only had to face death by the sword and not strangulation by the red tape of a bureaucracy.”

Greek Delays and the 1914 Diplomatic Exchanges

Again, European diplomacy, instead of asking Greece to evacuate the territories assigned to Albania, granted Greece first one month, then another — changing the date from December 31, 1913, to March 1, 1914 — giving Greece plenty of time to complete her intrigues and preparations for the Epirotian tragedy which she was planning.

On February 13, 1914, the representatives of the great powers presented to the Greek Government a collective note regarding the southern Albanian frontier and the Aegean Islands. The powers decided to give Greece the islands occupied by her (with the exception of Tenedos, Imbros, and Castellorizo), but these would not be handed over until Greek troops evacuated the territory assigned to Albania. The note stipulated that evacuation would begin on March 1 at Korçë and conclude around March 31, 1914.

The Greek Government agreed to comply but proposed frontier rectifications near Gjirokastër and Korçë, offering in exchange a long but narrow strip of coastline between Stylos and Cape Pagonia, plus $1,000,000. Greece also proposed that its troops withdraw only to the “natural frontiers” of the districts pending final settlement.

Greek Occupation and the Attack on Korçë (April 1914)

During the Greek occupation, Greek military authorities organized “sacred regiments of volunteers,” formed mostly of Cretans, with headquarters at the “natural frontiers” of the districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër.

On March 22, 1914, the Greeks evacuated Korçë and Albanian authorities entered the city quietly. However, the Greek bishop (the only Greek resident in Korçë) remained and worked to frustrate Albanian efforts toward independence.

At 2 o’clock after midnight on April 2, 1914, church bells and gunshots awakened the population. Cretan irregulars, acting in a disguised Greek attack, ran through the streets shooting and shouting “Long live Greece!” After five days of severe fighting in the streets, the bishop (leader of the attack) was arrested. The Hellenic coup de main failed, and a repetition of massacres was avoided.

The Greeks claimed the attack was a local civil uprising against inclusion in Albania. However, evidence showed it was engineered by Greek army officers and men in conjunction with the Greek bishop. The failure demonstrated that Korçë was not a Greek city, as the attack was repulsed by the civil (Albanian) population.

Continued Greek Attacks and Atrocities (June–July 1914)

Despite the failure, the Greeks continued attacks. For several months the Greek army bombarded the province from three sides. In the latter part of June a general attack began. On July 6, 1914, Albanians, lacking ammunition, were forced to retreat.

Together with government officials, approximately 350,000 people fled. 50,000 crowded into Berat (a town of 15,000); 100,000 took refuge in Elbasan; the rest wandered and later sheltered under the olive trees of Vlorë (Vallona).

Horrors included bodies of young women strangled and outraged by Greek soldiers. In the village of Kodra near Tepelenë, Greek forces gathered 295 villagers (men, women, and children) in a church and massacred them, hanging their heads on the church wall. Gen. De Wier of the Dutch mission witnessed and photographed the scene.

Hon. Aubrey Herbert, British Parliament member, stated:

“It is my conviction that these people were systematically exterminated in various frontier areas of Albania, by those who had sworn to befriend them. In addition to all her misfortunes, Albania has suffered this great calamity, that the world at large is ignorant of what is happening in that corner of the Balkans.”

Historical and Ethnographic Evidence of Albanian Character of the Region

The claims of Greece to southern Albania (which they call Epirus) rest on a “hoary confusion.” Greece has long called every Orthodox Christian “Greek,” despite facts. The majority of the population in the territories given to Greece (and those claimed at Paris) were Muslim Albanians, while the Christian minority, though Orthodox, were neither Greek by race, language, nor sentiment.

Key Testimonies:

• Viscountess Strangford (1863): Described communication difficulties in the region, where locals spoke Albanian, not Greek.
• Mr. Mavrommatis, Greek consul at Shkodër (c. 1890s): Ethnically divided Albania into zones, clearly identifying southern Albania as Albanian.
• Janina (Ioannina): Defended by Albanians against Turks in the 15th century; historically recognized as the capital of southern Albania and headquarters of Ali Pasha of Tepelenë.
• Laurent Pouqueville (French consul): Reported ~2,000 Muslim Albanian families in Gjirokastër vs. only 60 Christian families.
• August Dozon (French consul, 1875): “The population of Korçë is entirely Albanian.”
• Korçë District: Population of 132,000 (100,000 Muslim Albanians, 32,000 Orthodox Christian Albanians). The town itself had 22,000 residents, with only one Greek (the bishop).

Korçë was the center of Albanian national aspirations, hosting the first Albanian schools under Turkish rule and leading resistance movements.

Appeal to the United States

We are not here to ask that such and such a town or district be included within the boundaries of Albania. We have come here to beg your honorable members of the Foreign Relations Committee to see that a commission representing countries which have no personal interest in Albania be sent on the spot, see the conditions with their own eyes, and decide the fate of Chameria and the rest of the districts which are in dispute.

To mighty, just, and freedom-loving America we earnestly appeal for justice. We do not ask but that which is our own from time immemorial.

Christo A. Dako
President and Representative of the Albanian National Party

Congressional Hearing Q&A

The Chairman: Mr. Erickson, I would like to ask one question. What are the Albanians, ethnically? You speak of them as having been there before all these other races. What are they?

Mr. Erickson: Mr. Chairman, the ethnologists and anthropologists are not absolutely a unit as to the origin of the Albanians, but are practically so that they constitute a remnant of the Pelasgian race… They are Aryans… The Epirots, the Macedonians, and the Illyrians speak all the same tongue or branches of the same tongue.

The original text then transitions to an unrelated matter concerning a secret British-Persian treaty, introduced by Senator Knox, with testimony from Mr. Charles Wells Russell. This appears to be from the same congressional hearing record (Treaty of Peace with Germany, Part 2, pp. 1008–1011).