Foreign relations of Greece: Encyclopedia II - Foreign relations of Greece - Albania

Foreign relations of Greece - Albania

Greece restored diplomatic relations with Albania in 1971, but the Greek government retained a cease-of-fire and did not formally lift the state of war, declared during WWII, until 1987. After the fall of the Albanian communist regime in 1991, relations between Athens and Tirana became increasingly strained because of widespread allegations of mistreatment by Albanian authorities of the Greek ethnic minority in southern Albania, and of the same by the Greek authorities towards alleged Albanian minorities in northern Greece. A wave of Albanian illegal economic migrants to Greece exacerbated tensions. On April 10, 1994, there was an attack on an Albanian military post near the Greek border by Greek commandos that left two Albanian soldiers dead and three wounded. The crisis in Greek-Albanian relations reached its peak in late August of 1994, when an Albanian court sentenced five members (a sixth member was added later) of the ethnic Greek organization "Omonia" to prison terms on charges of undermining the Albanian state. This was in retaliation for the border attack. Greece responded by freezing all EU aid to Albania and deporting 115,000 Albanians working in Greece, most as illegal immigrants, and sealing its border with Albania [1]. In December 1994, however, Greece began to permit limited EU aid to Albania, while Albania released two of the Omonia defendants and reduced the sentences of the remaining four.

Today, relations between the two countries are relatively good, and, at the Albanian Government's request, about 250 Greek military personnel are stationed in Albania to assist with the training and restructuring the Albanian armed forces. There are still many Albanian workers in Greece that have not received legal papers despite promises by the Greek government, though this is due to extensive bureaucracy of the Greek state. Furthermore, many Greeks believe the large in-flux of Albanians into Greece to be responsible for the rapid rise of crime in Greece.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Albania", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki