Albania

Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in the Balkans region of Europe. The country borders Serbia to the north and Greece to the south, with Italy just across the Strait of Otranto to the west.

## History

### Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Century

At All-Albanian Congress in Vlorë on 28 November 1912 Congress participants constituted the Assembly of Vlorë. The assembly of eighty-three leaders meeting in Vlorë in November 1912 declared Albania an independent country and set up a provisional government. Albania's independence was recognized by the Conference of London on 29 July 1913, but the drawing of the borders of the newly established Principality of Albania ignored the demographic realities of the time.

The short-lived monarchy (1914–1925) was succeeded by an even shorter-lived first Albanian Republic (1925–1928), to be replaced by another monarchy (1928–1939). The kingdom was supported by the fascist regime in Italy and the two countries maintained close relations until Italy's sudden invasion of the country in 1939. Albania was occupied by Fascist Italy and then by Nazi Germany during World War II. After being militarily occupied by Italy, from 1939 until 1943 the Albanian Kingdom was a protectorate and a dependency of Italy governed by the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III and his government. After the Axis' invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, territories of Yugoslavia with substantial Albanian population were annexed to Albania.

By the end of World War II, the main military and political force in the country, the communist party, sent forces to northern Albania against the nationalists to eliminate its rivals. After the liberation of Albania from Nazi occupation, the country became a Communist state, the People's Republic of Albania (renamed "the People's Socialist Republic of Albania" in 1976), which was led by Enver Hoxha and the Labour Party of Albania. In 1967 Hoxha proclaimed Albania the 'world's first atheist state'. Hundreds of mosques and dozens of Islamic libraries — containing priceless manuscripts — were destroyed.
After protests beginning in 1989 and reforms made by the communist government in 1990, the People's Republic was dissolved in 1991-92 and the Republic of Albania was founded. Despite IMF warnings in late 1996, then president Sali Berisha defended the schemes as large investment firms, leading more people to redirect their remittances and sell their homes and cattle for cash to deposit in the schemes. The schemes began to collapse in late 1996, leading many of the investors into initially peaceful protests against the government, requesting their money back.

The crisis led Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi to resign on 11 March 1997, followed by President Sali Berisha in July in the wake of the June General Election. In April 1997, Operation Alba, a UN peacekeeping force led by Italy, entered the country with two goals: Assistance in evacuation of expatriates and to secure the ground for international organizations.

### Second Yugoslav War

*See Full Article: Second Yugoslav War*

On 27 September 2021, the government of Serbia offered Albania a mutual assistance agreement, which would guarantee Albanian expansion into Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. Albania agreed to this offer as tensions between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, backed by Croatia spiraled out of control. When war broke out between Serbia and Bosnia in October, NATO moved to enforce a no-fly zone over the region, to protect Bosnia, but Albania was the only objection. On 10 October, Albanian and Serbian troops crossed the border into Kosovo, and Pristina was captured three days later with little resistance. On 15 October, Albania announced the annexation of Kosovo and two days later, Albania withdrew from NATO protesting the use of French, Italian and Polish aircraft against Serbian troops.

On 16 October, Albania officially declared war on Serbia’s enemies – Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro – and invaded the south of Montenegro the same morning. On 15 November, the Battle of Podgorica began, as Albanian forces tried to knock Montenegro out of the war completely. NATO deployed a Rapid Reaction Force to alleviate the humanitarian pressure on the Montenegrin capital. A protracted battle between NATO and Albanian forces for control of the regions around Podgorica and by the end of December, Albania had control of the surrounding regions and agreed not to shell the city.

On 3 January 2022, Albania opened a new offensive against Macedonia, aiming to capture the eastern regions of the country. This prompted Greece to launch a preemptive invasion of Macedonia in order to prevent the Serbians from reaching the Greek border. The Race for Skopje was eventually won by Greece, who drove the Serbians out of the city by the middle of January. A ceasefire between Greece and Albania was agreed to in April.

The Vienna Accords, which were signed on 2 September 2022, granted Albania Kosovo, the southern-most regions of Montenegro, and the west of Macedonia. At the same time, Albania’s application to the European Union was terminated.

## Government and Politics

Albania is a parliamentary democracy with the President as the head of state, who is elected to a five-year term by achieving an absolute majority of the vote (at least 50%+1). Executive power rests with Council of Ministers, the Chairman of which is the Prime Minister and is appointed by the President.

The Assembly of the Republic of Albania, or the Kuvendi, is the legislature, consisting of 140 deputies, elected by party-list proportional representation for four-year terms.

### Administrative Divisions

Albania is divided into 16 administrative regions, known as counties. These are:

* Berat
* Dibër
* Durrës
* Elbasan
* Fier
* Gjirokastër
* Korçë
* Kosovo
* Kukës
* Lezhë
* Polog
* Pristina
* Shkodër
* Tirana
* Ulcinj
* Vlorë

### Foreign Relations

Since the Second Yugoslav War, Albania has maintained closer relations with Serbia and Russia, and is considering applying to the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Pact. Albania has close relations with Turkey due to economic, cultural and religious ties. Relations between Albania and Greece have been strained since the fall of the communist government and the Greek annexation of Macedonia. Albania joined NATO in 2009, only to withdraw over disputes over its annexation of territory during the Second Yugoslav War.

## Economy

Albania's transition from a socialist centrally planned economy to free-market capitalism has been largely successful. There are signs of increasing investments, and power cuts are reduced to the extent that Albania is now exporting energy. The country has large deposits of petroleum and natural gas, and produced 26,000 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2014.

Other natural resources include coal, bauxite, copper and iron ore.Albania has the largest onshore oil reserves in Europe. Albania's crude output amounted to more than 1.2 million tonnes in 2013, including 1.06 million by Canada's Bankers Petroleum, 87,063 tonnes from Canada's Stream Oil and 37,406 tonnes by Albpetrol on its own. Three foreign firms produced the rest.

A large part of Albania's national income comes from tourism. The bulk of the tourist industry is concentrated along the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea coast. The latter has the most beautiful and pristine beaches, and is often called the Albanian Riviera. Albanian seaside has a considerable length of 360 km, including even the lagoon area which you find within.

## Military

The Albanian Armed Forces were first formed after the country declared its independence in 1912. Albania reduced the number of active troops from 65,000 in 1988 to 14,500 in 2009. The military now consists mainly of a small fleet of aircraft and sea vessels. In the 1990s, the country scrapped enormous amounts of obsolete hardware from China, such as tanks and SAM systems.