The role of the enquiry commission in the decision-making at the League of Nations regarding the Albanian Issue

This article aims to focus on the activity of the Commission of Enquiry of the League of Nations in Albania during 1921-1923. It helps to better understand the progress of the relations of this organization with Albania. How much did the work of this Commission influence the decisions of the League of Nations regarding the Albanian issue during these years? The topic is interesting because it has to do with some issues of historiography that need elucidation. The existing corpus mainly focuses on the foreign commissions in Albania and in the majority of the cases investigates the commission for the delimitation of borders and refers to the activity of Commission of Enquiry in Albania. The existing literature is limited to the accont of its presence and visits made in different cities in Albania. The article analyzes the reports that this Commission sent to the League of Nations and also the decisions that the latter took on the basis of the reports and advice of Commission members in order to better Albania's relations with the League of Nations in the economic and political sphere. In the economic field it is related to the assignment of economic counsellors whilst in the political one with the decisions that the League of Nations took based on Commission reports for the country, and not on the international press. The decisions taken by the League of Nations during this time are an indicator of the efficiency of the activity of this Commission

The National Movement within the Albanian Diaspora in1919-1920

This article examines the importance of Albanian émigré societies as active supporters of Albania’s membership in the League of Nations at the Paris Peace Conference, and their role in the establishment of the modern state of Albania. Albanian immigration societies such as Vatra (the Pan-Albanian Federation of America) as well as the Society of Albanians of Romania were critical actors in the efforts to advance the cause of their homeland during and after World War I. This article analyzes the migrant networks that operated during this period by considering the work of local and foreign representatives of these societies, such as Fan S. Noli (one of the key figures being discussed in this article), Luigj Bumçi, Dr.Mihal Turtulli, Mehmed Konica, and Edith Durham. It illustrates how these figures played an intricate role in Albania's admission process to the League of Nations via their lobbying in the European chancelleries, gradually changing the Great Powers’ attitude towards the Albanian candidacy. Partly relying on a novel investigation of documents from the Albanian Central State Archive that pertain to the activity of the representatives of Pan-Albanian Federation Vatra in the Parliament of Great Britain, this article will clarify the postponement of the decision of the Albanian issue as part of the broader ‘Adriatic question’ from the Peace Conference to the proceedings of the League of Nations. As a result of the activity of the representatives and delegates of these societies, Albania was admitted to the League of Nations on 17 December 1920 without defined boundaries, constituting a special case in the history of the League of Nations