ETHNIC ALBANIA

The term 'Great Albania' was coined by modern Serb politicians. In Serbian political discussion, the entire Albanian national movement - from its beginnings with the League of Prizren in 1878 - is seen as a movement for the formation of 'Great Albania'. This because in order to have a 'Great Serbia', any size Albania is too big.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia wanted to create a big slavic state in the Balkans; first it looked like Russia's favorite was 'Great Bulgaria,' but later Russians decided that Serb plans for a 'Great Serbia' were better for them. That's how we got the 'Serbo-Croato-Slovene Kingdom', which included the Albanian-inhabited regions that today are known as Kosova. After WW2, that kingdom became a republic and changed its name to 'Yugoslavia'. Yugoslavia was essentially a version of 'Great Serbia': the Serbs still insist on calling themselves 'Yugoslavs', while everybody else is happy that Yugoslavia is (almost) dead.

In contrast, 'Great Albania' has never been a project of any Albanian governments. Serbia, which indeed in 1912 annexed Kosova and other Albanian territories to create the 'Great Serbia', faced with an unfriendly Albanian population in the territories it annexed, came up with 'Great Albania' and used this term to justify the inhumane treatment of millions of Albanians inside its borders. More recently, Serbs have found yet another use for 'Great Albania': they use the term as an argument against the imminent independence of Kosovo. While it is prerequisite for a sustainable peace in the Balkans, Kosovo's independence is not part of a 'Great Albania' project. Kosovo's independence is the expected end result after the failed colonization attempts by Serbia.

Albanians have never had any conquest projects. Albanians do not wish to rule Serbs or other neighbors. Albanians wish to live in peace. Yes, it is true that Albanians resent the unnatural borders and the check-points that Serbs, Russians, and European powers have imposed on them. This is understandable however, even more so if you keep in mind that since 1912 Albanians have faced continuous racism, have been continuously harassed, murdered, shipped away to Anatolian plains, and have generally been treated as a 'problem to be solved'. (The latest Hitler-style attempts of Serbia to solve the 'Albanian problem' were stopped by Americans, God bless them!)

Unfortunately, at a time when Europeans erase their own internal borders, they insist on keeping and reinforcing certain borders that divide Albanians, and they borrow the expression 'Great Albania' to justify their reactionary policies. Hence the recycling of this unfortunate term by certain European politicians and journalists.