By Përparim Halili
Memorie.al / Despite the fact that Albania was not part of the Italian attack against Greece, immediately after the start of the war, a “State of war with Italy and Albania was declared in Greece, considering them as the attacking parties”. In 1970, the Greek Constitutional Court declared the continuation of the seizure of the properties of Albanians of non-Greek nationality, until the abrogation of the War Law and the signing of the Peace Treaty between Greece and Albania.
On 9.6.1947, the Greek Ministry of Economy and the Greek Ministry of Finance, with Decision No. 14882/3574 and with Law 4506, dated 14.3.1966, excluded from the War Law, “Albanian citizens of Greek origin, residing in Albania”. On June 25, 1925, during a discussion in the Albanian Parliament about the looted properties of Albanians in Greece, Deputy Xhaferr Ypi said: “If this wealth were put in the hands of the Albanians, our state would provide 10 million gold francs per year.”
The “Law of War with Albania,” decreed and still in force by the Greek state, has never encouraged the courage of the Albanian state and its politics, even during these recent years, to ignore this law, not only practically, but also theoretically.
On the contrary, while the Greek side considered it a “just and motivated law,” the Albanian side considered it “unimportant and an inactive remnant of a forever dead period.” If the law of war were such a “remnant,” then Greece should not have kept it in force for more than 70 years.
The absurdity of the Albanian State lies in the fact that on the one hand the Greek state is considered a “friendly country” and approaches, is accepted and acts as a “strategic partner”, on the other hand it continues to implement with fanaticism and cruelty, every provision of its law of war with Albania!
Of course, it is not at all normal for Albania, which is also called by the Constitution a sovereign country, to accept friendship with a country that has extorted 1/4 of its territory, that has killed, maimed, forcibly removed an autochthonous part of the population and that has robbed its property, moreover, it continues to keep in force the “Law of War”.
We must be convinced by now that the obvious Greek behind-the-scenes, in relation to other territorial interests towards Albania, which are revived and act also due to a “stagnant” attitude of the Albanian state during all these years, are an active practice and not a nationalist fantasy.
Years ago, when the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Paskal Milo, was asked by the SP deputy, Petro Koçi, in the session of July 29, 1997, regarding the “policy of active neighborliness with Greece towards the “Cham Issue”, he replied: “The further development of Albanian-Greek relations is a primary objective of the government and this priority is as useful and hopeful for the Chams as it is for all Albanians”.
Now everyone can understand at what level the Cham issue is to see how “useful and hopeful” the policy of “good neighborliness” with Greece has been, when between the two borders there is an unabrogated Martial Law.
A little bit of the history of the “Martial Law”
In that period of turmoil of the Second World War, in order to further strengthen the positions of the conquering triumphant, on October 28 1940, Italy declared war on Greece and attacked the territory of the latter, using as its main landing base, the annexed southern Albanian territory. From this track and at this time, the well-known war in the South of Albania began, called the “Italo-Greek War”.
In this description, participants of the warring states, the name of Albania is missing. Despite the fact that Albania was not part of the Italian attack on Greece, immediately after the start of the war, a “state of war with Italy and Albania as the attacking party” was established and declared in Greece.
The Greek Royal Decree, dated 10 November 1940, entered into force after its publication in the Greek Official Gazette of 1940, with this definition: “Italy with its dominions, imperial territories, with its colonies and Albania, are defined as enemies within the meaning of Law 2636: “On the legal actions of enemies and the conservative seizure of enemy assets”.
Based on this law, all the assets of Albanians in Greece were placed under “conservative sequestration” and began to be administered by the Greek state. It should be emphasized here that with the word “assets of Albanians in Greece”, we do not only mean the assets of Albanians in their lands such as in Chameria, etc., but also the assets of Albanians throughout the territory of the Greek state.
Later, by joint decision of the Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of Finance of Greece, dated June 9, 1947, No. 14882/3574 and later on the basis of law no. 4506, dated March 14, 1966, “Albanian citizens of Greek origin residing in Albania” were excluded from the application of the provisions of the law of war. According to this law and according to the Greek identification wish, “Albanian citizens of Greek origin” are called all the Orthodox of Albania.
According to decree-law no. 1138/1948, Article 21 of the Law of War was amended, clarifying that the termination of this law is made by a joint decision of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice. Then, such a decision must also be approved by the Greek Parliament. In 1987, the Greeks cheated on the abolition of the Law of War with Albania.
Due to the fault of the Albanian side, the majority of the population did not know until recently that Greece still had this law in force. But, it should be remembered that the Greeks have been deceptive until recently regarding this issue. For example, the former Press Advisor of the Greek Embassy in Tirana, Christos Failadis, in 1994, declared to the newspaper “Aleanca”: “With the official communiqué of the Council of Ministers of Greece, dated August 28, 1987, the state of war with Albania has ceased to exist. This official document of the Council of Ministers was signed by the Prime Minister of that time, Papandreou, and the participating ministers”.
According to the information we have, this so-called “decision” was not published in the Official Gazette of Greece, so it was a Greek trick, to serve the policy of “two friendly peoples”, launched and published with tricks in Albania, since the time of Enver Hoxha’s regime.
Why is Greece not interested in repealing the Law of War with Albania?
There is no doubt that the main and only reason for maintaining the Law of War with Albania is economic, or to put it another way, this is the mask of Greek theft through this law. According to the Greek law of war, all the properties of Albanians in Greece are administered and used by the Greek state. These properties include agricultural lands, plots, buildings, factories, workshops, bank accounts, etc.
Likewise, today there is every possibility and legal basis from the Greek state for Albanian immigrants in Greece to confiscate the few properties they have purchased, their other assets, and even their bank accounts. This is determined by the Law of War! But, in the totality of the visible and invisible interests of Greece, to keep this law in force, there are also other motives of a military, psychological, blocking, racial nature.
According to this law, Albanian citizens working as immigrants in Greece can be considered slaves without any rights, who can be treated as the Greek state wishes, as has happened and continues to happen to them.
Here are the Greek, anti-Albanian laws
On 10.11.1940, the Greek Parliament approved Law No. 2636 “On the legal actions of enemies and the conservative confiscation of enemy property” in implementation of this law, with a Greek Royal Decree the “State of War with Albania” was declared. The Greek state, in order to somewhat “mitigate” the extortionate massacre of Albanian property in Greece, with two sub-legal acts of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy, with no. 14882 and no. 3574, as well as Law 4506 of 1965, dated 07.06.1947 and 09.07.1947, made an exception for Albanian citizens of Greek nationality, granting them the right to recover the seized properties.
This act of seizure was defended by the Greek Constitutional Court in 1970, declaring the continuation of the seizure of the properties of Albanians of non-Greek nationality, until the moment of the
Even now, 64 years after the enactment of that infamous law, even though the Greek kingdom has been overthrown, even though 60 years have passed since the end of World War II, even though the “friendship” between the two countries continues, the decree of the state of war against Albania and the law of conservative seizure of Albanian property are not being repealed.
“The Cham Issue”: Greeks seizing and massacring Albanians, since before 1925
Historical facts prove that even many years before the enactment of the Law of War in 1940 with Albania, Greece had and implemented its predatory intentions to seize the property of Albanians in Greece.
According to the discussions in the Special Parliamentary Session of the Chamber of Deputies of Albania, held on June 25, 1925, dedicated to the issue of the plundered properties of Albanians in Greece, not counting the properties in Chameria, especially the speech of Xhaferr Ypi in this session, if this wealth plundered by the Greeks were placed in the hands of the Albanians, then the Albanian state would secure 10 million gold francs per year.
Not counting the compulsory expropriation of Albanian fiefs in Thessaly and other areas, Greek policy aimed to extend the expropriation process to a larger scale. To block this goal, an Albanian parliamentary commission went to Greece at that time. It must be said that after the visit of the Albanian parliamentarians, Greece significantly limited the plundering process of Albanian properties, but never stopped it, and even deepened it many years later.
A good case for this was the War Law of 1940, which can never be a “relic of the past”, as long as it is a major predatory factor for the Greeks and serves the Serbian-Greek strategy of economic ruin of the Albanians.
Do a simple calculation: Only from 1925 to today, at this year’s exchange rate, counting about 10 million gold francs per year, taken from the administration of the properties of the Albanians in Greece (not counting the properties of the Cham population and those affected by the War Law of 1940), Greece has appropriated from the Albanians, an amount of about 950 million gold francs. At that time, one gold franc was exchanged for 4 dollars.
80 years sequestered, the Albanian Legation building from the time of the Kingdom
There is such a fact, which we should not leave out of attention: The Albanian State Budget, for years, has been paying colossal financial sums, to cover the rent of the Albanian Embassy building in Athens and 8 residential apartments for the families of its residents. This happens at a time when for over 6 decades, in the center of Athens, on “Vasilissis Sofias” street, the building of the former Albanian Legation from the time of the Albanian Kingdom has been located, this building, which is the historical property of the Albanian State.
For 80 years, since 1940, this former diplomatic headquarters building has been under “conservative sequestration” since 1940 and today it has been turned into a museum. Of course, compared to what Albanians in Greece have lost and are losing, the former diplomatic headquarters that was looted is very little, but it must be sought and returned, not only as physical property, but first of all, as a historical value. / Memorie.al
