Albanian Parliament to call on Greece to abolish the law of war with Albania

An agreement has been reached between the main political parties in Albania on a Parliament’s Declaration calling for the abrogation by Greece of the ‘law of war’ with Albania. The vote adopting the declaration is due in the plenary session of the Albanian Parliament on Thursday.

Why is this relevant

The Law of War is another source of tension between the two countries, along with issues raised by Greece in relation to the Greek minority in Albania and the long-standing dispute over the delimitation of maritime zones.

Context

Greece passed the Law of War with Albania in October 1940 after Mussolini’s Italy attacked the country from occupied Albania. Although Albania and Greece signed the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, Good Neighborliness and Security in 1996 and the two countries are NATO allies, the law is still in force and has technically left Greece at war with Albania.

In 1987 the Greek government of Andreas Papandreou (PASOK) proposed a bill to abolish the Law of War with Albania, which was not approved by the Greek Parliament.

The law has long been a source of tension between the two countries. Albania attaches great importance to its abolition because this could open the door to claims by members of the Albanian Cham minority for reparations or the return of confiscated property. The Chams are an Albanian minority that used to live in what is now the Greek region of Epirus. During World War II, about tens of thousands of Chams were expelled from Greece to Albania on the excuse of collaboration with the occupying forces.

Since the 1990s, Albania has been calling for reparations, and Chams in Albania have been pushing for a right of return. Greece rejects these claims and says that anyone with claims relating to property should take the matter to court.

However, the law of war of 1940 provided for the ‘conservative confiscation of enemy assets’. Under this provision, a Special Court in Greece decided in 1945 to confiscate the assets of the expelled Chams. This ruling was followed by other legal acts based on the 1940 Law of War that completed the confiscation of the assets of expelled Chams and made it impossible for them to return to Greece and claim the return of their properties.