Paris Barış Konferansı’nda Türkiye Arnavut Kolonisi Delegasyonu’nun Faaliyetleri 1919

Abstract

It was at the end of the First World War, in 1918, that a peace conference in Paris was made possible to be convened. The Peace Conference finally opened a new page in the history of international relations. Albanian people were wholly and directly focused on the proceedings of the Paris Conference from the very beginning, hoping that there they would find solutions to their problems and concerns regarding the national question. In the framework of these efforts and fully aware of the danger that threatened the country, the Albanians had to raise their voice and make known the national cause at the Conference meetings considering that, at the time, the territory of the Albanian state was occupied and the Albanians could not depend on the support of any of the triumphant post-war states. They believed that displaying their demands at the Conference convened to establish world peace would be a good opportunity to defend their rights and the injustices inflicted to them. Therefore, in addition to the delegation of the National Government from the Congress of Durrës, whose purpose was to represent the Albanian people in the Conference, there were other representatives from the Albanian diaspora. One of them was the delegation of the Albanian Colony of Turkey. The purpose of the activity of this Albanian representation was the protection of the independence of Albania, the protection of the territorial integrity of the Albanian state from the danger of a new fragmentation and the efforts for the recovery of the country. The delegates of the Albanian colonies worked together carrying out many activities in aid of the national cause, as well as propagating the right of existence of this nation through the press, meetings with various personalities or through memoranda sent to major states. Despite the difficult circumstances, the representatives of the Albanian Colony of Turkey believed in the idea that the Albanian state would rise again. Their activity marked the historical period of the Albanian people.