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Albania was not communist at the time, and Italy mostly wanted to help as it had already a lot of Albanian immigrants at the time, and Italian - Albanian relati

Albania was not communist at the time, and Italy mostly wanted to help as it had already a lot of Albanian immigrants at the time, and Italian - Albanian relations are excellent. (we forgave them for the multiple times they tried to invade us between 1919 and 1943. They actually built a lot of stuff, and the current Tirana's center and architecture was built by Italians in the 1939-1942 period), and Italy is currently a good ally. The conspiracy theory is the army depot were destroyed open by agents paid by the Greek government, which wanted an excuse to invade the south of Albania.... (which it had tempted back in 1920). Those theories were not that far off, they were seriously planning to send some kind of invasion. One reason that many Albanians don't like Greeks in general. They have historically been a bad neighbor.

planetis 6y ago
> They have historically been a bad neighbor. How's so? With almost half a million Albanians living and working in Greece, you would expect relations to be normalized. There was the recent turmoil with Albanian government revealing its plans to annex the homes of ethnic Greeks of Albania [1], but it was canceled due to diplomatic efforts of the Greek government. [1] https://www.tanea.gr/2019/03/31/english-edition/tirana-pushes-land-grab-of-greek-minority-properties-in-himara/ https://www.tanea.gr/2019/03/31/english-edition/tirana-pushe...
qemali 6y ago
Having lived just on the other side of the border let me shed some light on the "bad neighbour" comments. Greece was on the other side of the iron curtain compared to Albania, there was a -declared- state of war between the two countries until the mid eighties (1986 I think) and there is a significant Greek minority in the Albanian South. The three combined created a particularly bad climate between the countries. That has changed drastically - at least south of the border. In 2019 Greece indeed sent troups to Albania after an earthquake and an invitation, but it was not for war - they tried to help and set up their field kitchens to provide food for some time. I cannot account for the feelings of the Albanians but I can certainly say that most Greeks harbor no ill feelings for them :)
- planetis 6y ago
  I second that, also two Greek rescue units. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Albania_earthquake#International_assistance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Albania_earthquake#Intern...

planetis 6y ago

> They have historically been a bad neighbor. How's so? With almost half a million Albanians living and working in Greece, you would expect relations to be normalized. There was the recent turmoil with Albanian government revealing its plans to annex the homes of ethnic Greeks of Albania [1], but it was canceled due to diplomatic efforts of the Greek government. [1] https://www.tanea.gr/2019/03/31/english-edition/tirana-pushes-land-grab-of-greek-minority-properties-in-himara/ https://www.tanea.gr/2019/03/31/english-edition/tirana-pushe...

qemali 6y ago

Having lived just on the other side of the border let me shed some light on the "bad neighbour" comments. Greece was on the other side of the iron curtain compared to Albania, there was a -declared- state of war between the two countries until the mid eighties (1986 I think) and there is a significant Greek minority in the Albanian South. The three combined created a particularly bad climate between the countries. That has changed drastically - at least south of the border. In 2019 Greece indeed sent troups to Albania after an earthquake and an invitation, but it was not for war - they tried to help and set up their field kitchens to provide food for some time. I cannot account for the feelings of the Albanians but I can certainly say that most Greeks harbor no ill feelings for them :)

planetis 6y ago
I second that, also two Greek rescue units. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Albania_earthquake#International_assistance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Albania_earthquake#Intern...