Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas has revived the controversial term “Northern Epirus” during commemorations marking Ohi Day on October 28 in Thessaloniki, describing the Greek Army’s 1940–1941 military campaign in southern Albania as the “Epic of Northern Epirus”.
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The President’s terminology has been welcomed by the Northern Epirote Youth Association, which argues that the region's ethnic Greek population considered the arrival of Greek troops a liberation. The organization has also rejected the expression “Albanian Epic”, insisting on the Greek historical interpretation of the campaign.
However, the expression “Northern Epirus” is far from politically neutral. It has historically been used in Greece to describe parts of southern Albania and has been associated with territorial ambitions dating back to the formation of the Albanian state.
Albania declared its independence in 1912, and its southern borders were established through international diplomatic agreements and confirmed by the Great Powers in 1921. The territory remains internationally recognized as part of the Republic of Albania.
The presence of an ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania is an undeniable historical reality, but it does not give another country territorial rights over the region. Nor does the military occupation of Albanian cities during a war change their sovereignty.
Tasoulas’s remarks therefore go beyond commemorating the Greek Army’s resistance against Fascist Italy. They revive a contested historical narrative that overlooks Albania’s territorial history and the internationally recognized borders of the Albanian state.
The history of Greece’s ethnic minority in Albania deserves recognition, but it cannot be used to rewrite Albania’s history or question its territorial integrity.