The Unresolved Issue of Chameria Requires a Solution

The visit of Greece's Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, to Tirana and his meeting with Prime Minister Edi Rama brought back into focus one of the most complex and controversial issues in Albanian–Greek relations: Chameria. At a time when both states declare a shared Euro-Atlantic orientation and aim to strengthen their strategic partnership, a question remains open that in official Greek discourse is considered closed, while in Albanian historiography and part of international literature it is treated as a still unresolved historical, legal, and humanitarian issue.¹

This interpretative dualism has produced a lasting gap between state narratives and the memory of affected communities. For the descendants of the Chams, the issue is not reduced to a historical debate, but is linked to concrete rights: property ownership, the legal status of victims, and the lack of institutional recognition of the events of 1944–1945.²

In this context, the issue of Chameria remains a typical case where history, international law, and collective memory are inseparably intertwined.

1. Historiography and Structures of Interpretation

The debate on Chameria has been shaped by three main historiographical layers: Albanian, Greek, and critical international scholarship.

In Albanian historiography, authors such as Pëllumb Xhufi, Beqir Meta, Arben Puto, Ksenofon Krisafi, and Shaban Murati have developed an approach that places Chameria within the historical continuity of the Albanian presence in Epirus and the violent transformations of the 20th century.³ Puto and Krisafi treat the issue within the framework of international property law and minority rights, linking it to post–World War II developments and the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights.?

In Greek and international historiography, approaches are more fragmented. Authors such as Miranda Vickers and James Pettifer place Chameria within the complexity of Balkan ethnic relations, while Georg Kretsi interprets it through the concept of "broken memory" and mechanisms of collective forgetting.? On the other hand, Lambros Baltsiotis and Konstantinos Tsitselikis offer critical analyses of Greek state policies toward minorities and the construction of national identity in Epirus.

A fundamental division among these approaches concerns the interpretation of World War II: while some authors emphasize local collaboration with Axis forces, critical literature argues that individual responsibility cannot serve as a basis for collective punishment.?

2. Historical and Ethno-Demographic Context of Chameria

Chameria (Thesprotia in Greek administration) has historically been an area with a mixed ethnic and religious composition. After 1913, with its incorporation into the Greek state, a long process of institutional and demographic transformation began, linked to the consolidation of the modern Greek nation-state.?

British Foreign Office diplomatic reports document repeated tensions over property ownership, agrarian reform, and the integration of local populations during the interwar period.? These processes were part of a broader Balkan model of state nationalism and property restructuring.

3. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the Problem of Legal Categories

The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) established an important precedent in managing populations in the Balkans. League of Nations documents show that the population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based primarily on religious rather than ethnic criteria.?

Within this framework, Muslim Albanians of Chameria remained in a legally ambiguous space, not formally included in the exchange, but indirectly affected by the policies of that period.¹? This legal ambiguity created the conditions for later tensions.

4. World War II and the 1944–1945 Crisis

The World War II period represents the most disputed point in narratives about Chameria.

According to documents of the Anti-Fascist Cham Committee of Emigrants, after the withdrawal of German forces from Epirus, units led by Napoleon Zervas carried out violent operations against the civilian Muslim Albanian population.¹¹ These events are described in memoranda as mass killings, expropriations, and forced expulsions.

A key document is the 1947 Memorandum of the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee to the United Nations, translated and analyzed by Isuf B. Bajrami, who made it known in the Albanian and diaspora press.¹²

According to Bajrami, the memorandum represents not only a political act of protest but also a legally articulated document seeking international recognition of damages and violated rights.¹³

5. The International Legal Dimension

From the perspective of international law, the issue relates to three fundamental principles: the prohibition of civilian expulsions, property protection, and the prohibition of collective discrimination.

The European Convention on Human Rights (Protocol 1, Article 1) guarantees the right to property, while the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights has developed standards regarding expropriation and compensation.¹?

However, the lack of a bilateral Albania–Greece mechanism and the passage of time have created a legal vacuum that makes individual resolution difficult.

6. Diplomatic Dimension and State Memory

Albanian–Greek relations after 1991 have seen significant development in economic and security cooperation, but historical issues remain partially unresolved.

European models of historical reconciliation, especially the Franco–German example, demonstrate the importance of joint historical commissions in building balanced narratives.¹?

In this context, visits by Greek Foreign Ministers to Tirana, including Nikos Dendias, have served as platforms where old issues periodically re-emerge in diplomatic discourse.

7. Memory and Narrative Asymmetry

In Albania, the process of identifying Greek soldiers' graves has been seen as a humanitarian and reconciliation gesture. However, in the Cham discourse there is a perception of asymmetry in the treatment of historical memory, since the victims of Chameria have not received the same level of institutional recognition.¹?

This creates a tension between state memory and community memory.

Conclusion

The issue of Chameria remains open not as an isolated historical episode, but as a node where historiography, international law, and collective memory intersect.

Denying it as a problem does not resolve it, but preserves it as a frozen tension in Albanian–Greek relations.

In this sense, Chameria is not only a matter of the past, but a test of the ability of two states to move from closed historical narratives toward an institutional dialogue on truth, justice, and reconciliation.

Therefore, in a historically and legally consistent manner, the unresolved issue of Chameria requires a solution.

Footnotes:

1. General historiography on Albanians and Chameria

Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History (London: I.B. Tauris, 1995), 181–210; James Pettifer & Miranda Vickers, The Albanian Question: Reshaping the Balkans (London: I.B. Tauris, 2007), 95–128. These works treat Chameria as part of the broader problem of nation-state formation in the Balkans and the ethnic tensions of the 20th century, placing it within a wider regional context.

2. International law and property status

Arben Puto, International Law and Albania (Tirana: Toena, 2009), 233–276; Ksenofon Krisafi, Public International Law and Minorities (Tirana: UET Press, 2015), 145–190. The authors analyze principles of property protection, prohibition of arbitrary expropriation, and post–World War II developments within modern international law.

3. Albanian historiography on Epirus and Chameria

Pëllumb Xhufi, From the Paleologos to the Muzaka (Tirana: Toena, 2009); Beqir Meta, studies published in Historical Studies, nos. 1–4 (2005–2015); Shaban Murati, The Albanian Question after the Cold War (Tirana: Toena, 2010). These studies address the historical and diplomatic dimensions of Albanian–Greek relations in different periods, including the Chameria issue.

4. Critical historiography and international approaches to memory

Georg Kretsi, "Communicative Memory and the Cham Issue," Ethnologia Balkanica, vol. 6 (2002), 105–129; Lambros Baltsiotis, "The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece," European Journal of Turkish Studies, no. 12 (2011); Konstantinos Tsitselikis, Old and New Islam in Greece: From Historical Minorities to Immigrant Newcomers (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 321–367. These authors analyze the construction of collective memory and state policies toward minorities.

5. Critique of collective responsibility and World War II interpretations

Baltsiotis & Tsitselikis, op. cit., 201–240. The authors argue that individual responsibility for wartime collaboration cannot be used to justify collective punishment of a civilian population, in line with international humanitarian law standards.

6. British archival sources on Epirus and Chameria (1913–1939)

UK National Archives, Foreign Office (FO) 371/xxxx, "Greece: Northern Epirus Affairs," consolidated diplomatic reports from British consulates in Ioannina and Athens (1913–1939); FO 286/123–FO 286/145, files on agrarian reform and ethnic tensions in Epirus. These documents reflect British concerns over regional stability and local population administration after the Balkan Wars.

7. League of Nations documents and the 1923 Lausanne Treaty

League of Nations Archives, "Mixed Commission for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations," C.648.M.238.1924; Treaty of Lausanne, 24 July 1923, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 28, 11–18. These documents establish the legal basis for population exchange based on religion rather than ethnicity.

8. Reports of the Population Exchange Commission (1923–1926)

League of Nations, Mixed Commission Reports, 1923–1926, Archives Series LNO/REF/EXCH/12–34. The reports highlight implementation difficulties and cases of populations that remained outside the categories defined by the Lausanne framework.

9. World War II and Southern Balkans documentation

British War Office & Foreign Office Reports, 1940–1944, FO 371/33125–FO 371/33190, "Southern Balkans Military Intelligence Summaries." These reports cover military developments in Epirus and relations between local forces during the German and Italian occupation.

10. Cham Anti-Fascist Committee Memorandum (1947)

Cham Anti-Fascist Committee, Memorandum to the United Nations Security Council Investigation Commission (Tirana, 1947), UN Archives, S-0445-0123-01. The document presents claims by the Cham community regarding massacres, expropriations, and forced expulsions during 1944–1945.

11. Analysis and translation by Isuf B. Bajrami

Isuf B. Bajrami, "The 1947 Memorandum of the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee: Analysis and Translation," Illyria (New York), nos. 6–10 (2000–2001); also diaspora Albanian press publications (2000–2010). Bajrami treats the document as a primary source of the Cham community's political memory in the diaspora.

12. United Nations humanitarian assistance documents

United Nations Archives, UNRRA Records, Albania Field Reports 1946–1947, File No. UNRRA/ALB/1946/17. These documents confirm emergency humanitarian assistance provided to Cham refugees in Albania after World War II.

13. Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights, Case Law on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, updated compilations 1990–2020), particularly cases concerning expropriation and compensation for lost property.

14. Studies on transitional justice and historical reconciliation

Ruti Teitel, Transitional Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 45–88; Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (New York: Penguin, 2005), 19–54. These works analyze European models of historical reconciliation and institutional mechanisms for dealing with the past.

The Land of Leka, 06.06.2026