A Spy in Albania: Southern Albanian Oil and Morton Frederic Eden

REFERENCES

• Harry Eyres to the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in David Lloyd-George's government, Durrës, 22 April 1921. Foreign Office (hereafter FO) 141/669/10, C 9284/580/90.
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• The most comprehensive account on the Adriatic Question, prior to World War I, I have located is an old booklet written in Greek: Ant. G. Kartalis, H Iταλική ΠολιτικήϵνAλβανία και τοις Bαλκανίοις [The Italian Policy in Albania and the Balkans] (Athens, 1914). Italy's particular interest over the Corfu Channel reached its peak in 1923, when Italian troops temporarily occupied the island. James Barros, The Corfu Incident of 1923: Mussolini and the League of Nations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965). For a brief account, though mostly concentrating on financial issues, of Italy's interest in Albania see Alessandro Roselli, Italy and Albania: Financial Relations in the Fascist Period (London: I. B. Tauris, 2006), pp. 1–12. See also Nicola Guy, The Birth of Albania, pp. 43–44, 155–156, 179–186.
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• Ibid., p. 231.
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• For the first elections and political parties in Albania see the most recent Robert Clegg Austin, Founding a Balkan State, pp. 9–17. Lampros Anast. Psomas, “Issues Concerning the First Political Elections in Albania,” Theologia, Vol. 80, No. 1, 2009, pp. 217–233.
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• Nicholas J. Cassavetes, head of the Pan-Epirotic Federation of the U.S.A., to Drummond, Boston, 18 April 1921. FO 286/762, C 11556/4280/90. For Tromara, see Bejtullah Destani and Jason Tomes, Albania's Greatest Friend, p. 256, n. 142.
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• Kostaq Kota was portrayed as a Greek-speaking moderate Albanian nationalist, surrounded by fanatic nationalists, who firmly controlled Korçë. Secret Intelligence Report, Athens, undated. FO 286/778, W 3458/3458/50, D 525. Eyres considered him a notorious personality, wanted for assassinations in Egypt. Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 22 April 1921. FO 141/669/10, C 9284/580/90. At any rate, Kota was effective in political maneuvering. With the “Manifesto” he turned against the Albanian government, but when the power of the latter was solidified he supported it and became close collaborator of Ahmed bey Zogolli, later King Zog, whom he repeatedly served as a Prime Minister.
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• For Korçë region see Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 22 April 1921. FO 141/669/10, C 9284/580/90. Sederholm to Drummond, “Report by the Commission of Enquiry on its work from 19 December 1922 to 1 February 1923: The Enquiry in Southern Albania,” Geneva, 6 April 1923. FO 371/8531, C 7811/211/90 and in Kondis–Manda, The Greek Minority in Albania, p. 39. For the “Manifesto” see Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 18 March 1921 and the document attached. FO 371/5726, C 669/580/90. Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 20 April 1921. FO 371/5726, C 8178/580/90. Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 22 April 1921. FO 141/669/10, C 9284/580/90. Eyres to Curzon, Annual Report about Albania, p. 3, Durrës, 1 May 1922. FO 371/7332, C 6726/6726/90. About Gjirokastër region see The Greek Community of Gjirokastër to the Greek prefect of Corfu, 17 February 1921. GFO 1921, A/5, no. 401–22 in Basil Kondis, The Hellenism, Vol. 2, pp. 298–299. John Spyromelios, notable of the town of Himarë, to the prefect of Corfu, 22 February 1921. GFO 1921, A/5, no. 22, in ibid., p. 301. Cassavetes to Drummond, Boston, 18 April 1921. FO 286/762, C 11556/4280/90.
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• Lampros Anast. Psomas, “Issues Concerning the First Political Elections in Albania,” pp. 220–221.
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• Heathcote-Smith to Curzon, Durrës, 10 January 1922. FO 371/7330 and FO 141/669/10, C 818/818/90.
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• Secret Intelligence Report, Athens, 13 October 1921. FO 286/778, W 3458/3458/50, D 566, 525. Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 18 October 1921. FO 371/5737, C 20786/4280/90. Chargé d' Affaires in Greece to the baron Robert Gilbert Vansittart, Curzon's principal private secretary, Athens, 20 September 1921. FO 371/5737, C 18477/4280/90.
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• Basil Dendramis, Greek permanent representative at the League of Nations, to Drummond, Geneva, 29 November 1921. Circulated to the Council and the members of the League, Geneva, 6 December 1921. FO 371/5737, C 23361/4280/90.
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• A convincing account of the events was presented by Cassavetes to Drummond, Boston, 18 and 22 April 1922. FO 286/762, C 11556/4280/90.
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• Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 29 April 1921. FO 286/762, C 10079/4280/90.
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• Eyres to Curzon, Durrës, 20 April 1921. FO 371/5726, C 8178/580/90.
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• Tufton to Eyres, London, 26 May 1921. FO 286/762, C 10079/4280/90.
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• Sederholm to Drummond, “Report by the Commission of Enquiry on Its Work from 19 December 1922 to 1 February 1923: The Enquiry in Southern Albania,” pp. 9–10, Geneva, 6 April 1923. FO 371/8531, C 7811/211/30.
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• The Commission of Enquiry to the League of Nations, “Commission of Enquiry in Albania: Report on Southern Albania,” p. 5. Tiranë, 18 January 1922. FO 371/7328, C 2135/735/90.
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• Joseph Swire King Zog's Albania (London: Robert Hale & Co., 1932), pp. 16–19.
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• The Swiss Minister in London to the FO, London, 25 May 1921. FO 371/5727, C 11576/580/90.
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• Tufton to the Swiss Minister, London, 6 June 1921. FO 371/5727, C 11576/580/90.
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• Brendan Simms “Temperley, Harold William Vazeille (1879–1939),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36449?docPos=1, accessed 18 March 2014. See also, Robert Clegg Austin, Founding a Balkan State, pp. 23–24.
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• From Aubrey Herbert we get scattered information for Eden's activities in Albania in July–August 1918. Bejtullah Destani and Jason Tomes, Albania's Greatest Friend, pp. 240–241, 246.
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• Beytullah Destani, eds., M. Edith Durham, Albania and the Albanians: Selected Articles and Letters, 1903–1944 (London: Centre for Albanian Studies, 2001), pp. 88, 131, 205.
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• Bejtullah Destani and Jason Tomes Albania's Greatest Friend, p. 304, n. 110. Aubrey Herbert considered this an unfortunate event that prevented Britain from getting direct information on the area and its issues.
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• See Temperley's report, London, 3 June 1921. FO 371/5727, C 11576/580/90.
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• British Intelligence Secret Report, “Present Attitude of the Orthodox Population of Southern Albania,” FO 608/29 in Beytullah Destani, ed., Albania and Kosovo: Political and Ethnic Boundaries, 1867–1946 (London: Archive Editions, 1999), pp. 433–439.
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• Ibid., pp. 433–437.
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• Ibid., pp. 438–439.
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• Bejtullah Destani and Jason Tomes Albania's Greatest Friend, p. 275.
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• Ibid., p. 340.
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• Morton F. Eden Albania: Its Discontents and their Origin (London: J. Lovejoy & Son, [1920]), esp. pp. 5–8, 10–13, 16–19, 22–23.
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• Ibid., p. 16.
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• Heathcote-Smith to Curzon, p. 2, Durrës, 2 January 1922. FO 371/7328, C 506/506/90. See also Lampros Anast. Psomas, “The Religious and Ethnographic Synthesis,” pp. 268–269. In Heathcote-Smith's categorization Eden's “indifferent” Orthodox Albanians are branded “moderate.”
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• Morton F. Eden Albania, p. 15.
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• Eyres to Curzon, Annual Report about Albania, p. 3, Durrës, 1 May 1922. FO 371/7332, C 6726/6726/90.
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• An Australian [Morton F. Eden], Albania and Its Neighbours (London, 1921).
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• Bejtullah Destani M. Edith Durham, p. 205. See also Joseph Swire, Albania: The Rise of a Kingdom (New York: The Times, 1971), p. 281.
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• Robert Clegg Austin Founding a Balkan State, pp. 23–24. Nicolson had expressed similar views in 1919 and this was the view of the British and the Americans at the Paris Peace Conference. Owen Pearson, Albania in the Twentieth Century, pp. 120, 126, 130.
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• Bejtullah Destani and Jason Tomes Albania's Greatest Friend, p. 327.
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