By Ilir Ikonomi
Journalist and author
Washington, D.C.
Following the Great War, the U.S. government was reluctant to grant de jure recognition to the state of Albania. Washington wanted evidence that the country had a stable central government. Vatra, which has often been described as “an Albanian government outside of Albania”, played a role in convincing the U.S. officials to that effect. However, recognition did not come easily and was the outcome of a combination of factors.
On March 2, 1920, Mehmet Konica, Foreign Minister of the Government of Lushnja and Vatra’s delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, informed the U.S. government that it was appointing Constantine C. Chekrezi as Commissioner of Albania in Washington. Commissioner was an unofficial designation meaning a representative who would try to maintain contacts with the State Department and work to ensure recognition of Albania by the United States.
Chekrezi had come to the United States in 1914 to work as editor for the Albanian-American newspaper Dielli and distinguished himself as a high energy person. In 1918 he graduated from Harvard University and a year later published Albania Past and Present, one of the few books on Albania at that time.
Although Commissioner Chekrezi represented Albania, his salary and expenses were paid by Vatra, which at that time had strengthened itself a great deal financially, with funds donated by its members for the cause of protecting the borders of Albania at the Paris Peace Conference.
In a memo to the State Department dated March 27, 1920, Chekrezi wrote: “It is the firm hope of the Albanian Commissioner that … the United States will see its way clear toward the definitive recognition of the independence of Albania and the establishment of regular diplomatic relations between the two countries. This hope has borne out by several happy occurrences which have demonstrated the sincere desire of the United States to take a hand in the determination of the international status of Albania.”
Using his knowledge of political diplomacy, Chekrezi brought to the attention of the U.S. officials a number of instances in which they had indicated that Albania was indeed an independent state.
Chekrezi had the role of a semiofficial representative, therefore his name was not printed in the Department’s Blue Book containing the diplomatic list. In Washington there were about two dozen representatives like Chekrezi, all from countries with which the United States had no diplomatic ties. They tried to get the attention of the State Department, in the hope that their country would eventually be recognized by official Washington.
On April 7, 1920, Chekrezi managed to arrange a meeting with the Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, in which he detailed his arguments on why the United States should recognize Albania. He said the situation in Albania had improved, the state was consolidated and the authority of central government had strengthened. He argued the need for recognition also as an offset to the negative effect caused by the presence of the Italian troops in Albania, which in his view was discrediting the Albanian administration as unable to govern by itself.[1] Secretary of State Colby told the Albanian commissioner that some more time was needed for recognition.
On October 23, 1920, through a letter addressed to President Woodrow Wilson, the Albanian government appointed Charles Telford Erickson as “envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary”, also in a semiofficial function. Erickson was a Christian missionary who spoke fluent Albanian. He understood Albania better than any other American and loved the country as if it was his second homeland. As Vatra’s delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, Erickson had helped greatly on the issue of borders and mandate over Albania and hoped he could give the tiny country a strong voice in Washington, which could eventually lead to the recognition by the United States.
However, a week after arriving in Washington, Erickson received a telegram informing him that Albania had changed government. Nonetheless he remained in Washington and continued to represent Albania as a private citizen. While in Washington, Erickson insisted it was time for America to recognize Albania. His argument was that, thousands of Albanian-Americans, loved America almost like their homeland. No other country, he would write later, “has captured the hearts and the imagination of the Albanians.”[2]
Chekrezi was displeased with Erickson’s appointment and complained that this episode had prevented the recognition of Albania by the U.S. According to Refat Gurazezi, a former Dielli editor, Chekrezi boasted that he had brought the issue of recognition almost to completion and said that the unexpected arrival of Erickson had caused an interruption in his efforts to convince the Department of State.[3] Erickson left soon for Europe and Chekrezi remained commissioner.
Chekrezi had gained experience in Washington, had built contacts in Congress and kept in touch with the major news agencies. In its December 1920 issue, Current History published Chekrezi’s article entitled “How Albania won independence” .
In his communications with the State Department Chekrezi left no stone unturned to ensure that America recognized Albania. His zeal had not gone unnoticed. A State Department official wrote: “Mr. Chekrezi, the Albanian Commissioner, has repeatedly tried to persuade the Department to recognize the Albanian government in Tirana.”[4]
Chekrezi justified his pleas for recognition with the need of Albania for American capital. He said U.S. financial institutions had expressed a desire to participate in the reconstruction of Tirana, but were hampered by the issue of recognition.[5]
In a report to Foreign Minister Mehmet Konica on November 17, 1920, Chekrezi listed the reasons why in his opinion America was reluctant to recognize Albania. Among those reasons was that the State Department had doubts on the stability of the Albanian government, due to negative opinions existing about the Albanians as a result of insurgencies and civil strife.[6]
Along with Chekrezi in Washington, Vatra too worked from Boston on the issue of recognition. On December 23, 1920, the Pan-Albanian Federation sent a letter to President Wilson, stating that all conditions existed for America to recognize Albania – the Albanians lived in an area recognized by all, and Albania was run by a government supported by the people and able to fulfill all international obligations.
On November 8, 1921, Albania was officially recognized by countries represented at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris, after being accepted as a member of the League of Nations. Later, she won recognition by almost all European countries, including its neighbors. As far as the United States, it had only recognized Albania as a geographical entity, but not in a de jure fashion. Chekrezi met with Assistant Secretary of State, Fred M. Dearing, informing him on the above and requesting that the U.S. government did the same.
On November 21, 1921, based on the conversation with Chekrezi, Mr. Dearing wrote a long and detailed memo to the Near East section of the State Department, making the case that America needed to recognize Albania.[7] Dearing said he saw no reason for America not to take similar action as Italy, France and Britain.
“Until now, he wrote, the principal objection to recognizing Albania has been that this government prefers not to take the initiative in European questions. Also, there has been a good deal of uncertainty and argument about the frontiers of Albania and we have had doubts as to the stability of the government. But the first two objections have now ceased to exist, while the third is no more serious than would be the case with any newly organized state” .
As a matter of fact, Dearing wrote, “the Albanians have shown unexpected unity, adroitness and vigor in dealing with the three countries to whose interest it is to thwart their aspirations and to reduce their frontiers. The Italians and the Greeks in turn have been compelled to retire from Albanian territory, while the Yugoslavs have now announced that they will accept the frontiers of 1913. But these results are less surprising when we consider that Albania was never really conquered by the Turks, and that for the past four hundred years, many of the ablest public men in the Ottoman Empire have been Albanians” . Therefore, Dearing concluded, “I would not hesitate to recommend that they be given the encouragement of recognition by this government” .
In his memo Dearing also addressed the economic interest that the United States could have in Albania, especially in its oil, which at that time was showing promising signs. The American Standard Oil Company had started prospecting in Albania, following the British and the Italians. In addition, Dearing wrote, “the considerable Albanian element in the U.S. as well as the confidence in the United States so generally felt, would be a distinct asset in cultivating these relations with Albania.”
The State Department had expressed disapproval of the action taken in 1920 by Vatra in electing a deputy to the Albanian Parliament. The deputy in question was Fan S. Noli. Dearing told Chekrezi privately that he considered the election ill-advised, as the government could hardly consent to similar actions by the various foreign elements in the United States. It can be assumed that the State Department did not want to entangle the U.S. government in the domestic wrangling of foreign countries which could then complain about the U.S. “harboring” opposition members of legislative bodies.
When the issue was raised by Dearing, Chekrezi replied that “the Albanians of America had followed a somewhat unusual course in unusual circumstances, but now that Albania had acquired a definite legal status, he would willingly take steps to annul the election of the Albanian deputy from America.” Dearing suggested to the Near East section to make the fulfillment of this promise a condition of the recognition of Albania by the United States.
Despite Dearing’s recommendations, no progress was being made on the issue of recognition.
On February 7, 1922, Chekrezi sent a letter to Secretary of State Charles Evan Hughes, indirectly complaining that since the inauguration of the new administration of President Warren Harding, the Secretary had never received the Albanian Commissioner as his predecessor, Mr. Colby had done. Obviously, the U.S. officials were avoiding such a meeting, so as not to give the impression that they were officially recognizing the Tirana government. A clearly nervous Chekrezi suggested in his letter that in order to avoid such impression, the meeting could take place elsewhere than the Department of State.
In their internal discussions, the U.S. officials described the Chekrezi letter as “extraordinary” and decided that it was not worthy of being brought to the attention of the Secretary of State.[8] The chief of the Near East section reminded his subordinates that on many occasions he had told Chekrezi that the United States was not considering recognizing the government of Albania, as long as the country had no definite form of government and seemed to be divided into factions, namely the government party and the Mirdites, who constituted the Catholic tribal faction.
According to the State Department, although the Italians, the French and the British had diplomatic representatives in Albania, there was no particular reason why the U.S. government should recognize the Albanian government. This position was clearly inconsistent with the recommendation made by Assistant Secretary Dearing in November 1921.
In early March 1922, Chekrezi had several conversations with a foreign trade adviser at the State Department. In one of them he painted a rosy picture of the Albanian situation, claiming that a foreign geologist had discovered platinum in Albania. He proposed that Albania should be granted a $10 million loan for a gold fund on which to base the Albanian currency. He said the loan would be floated in connection with concessions, including the oil concession which at that time was under negotiation with the Sinclair Oil. Chekrezi said Albania had not yet definitely selected a financial advisor, but she prefered an American to a British one. He added that the Albanians, in these commercial negotiations, would be influenced by recognition.[9]
In a memo to officials, the foreign trade adviser wrote that the recognition would be desirable from a commercial standpoint.[10] He added that his recommendation was not a result of his conversations with Chekrezi.
The question of the Albanian oil was increasingly attracting the attention of the Americans. Charles Telford Erickson, who at the time was in Albania, informed the U.S. military attache in Rome that the Albanian government was asking Britain for a loan and in return was promising the Anglo–Persian Oil Company the oil monopoly for the entire country. Erickson wrote that two engineers, one Italian and one Austrian, had studied the oil fields and had found signs of very large deposits that could be easily exploited.[11]
In a letter to the Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador to Rome, Richard Child, expressed hope that this issue would be carefully reviewed by the Department and that a definite policy for Albania would be formulated. “If skillfuly handled, he wrote, some definite benefit could accrue to American interests through the promise of recognition and the timely culmination of that event.” Otherwise, warned Child, the American interests would be excluded and the British and other interests would obtain ascendency. The U.S. ambassador added that “apart from the utilitarian aspect of the matter, the moral influence of American recognition would be very considerable” .[12]
Despite Chekrezi’s persistent efforts, the Albanian government notified him in early April 1922, that he had been dismissed from the service and that it was closing the Albanian Commission in Washington. Chekrezi told the State Department his government considered that he had failed in his mission to ensure the recognition of Albania by the U.S., and that he was being summarily dismissed. One official told him that the withholding of recognition of Albania was in no sense a reflection of his personality and that he could not be held responsible for it.
In fact, Chekrezi’s activity in Washington, as representative of the Albanian government and the Vatra, had greatly helped in sensitizing the U.S. government and the public opinion about the need to grant official recognition to Albania.
Several weeks after Chekrezi’s dismissal, on April 27, 1922, Secretary of State Hughes, informed the U.S. Consul General in Tanger, Maxwell Blake, that the State Department was considering the possibility of recognizing Albania. He asked Mr. Blake to go to Albania and report on the state of the country, the stability of its government and the U.S. interests there.[13]
The final push appears to have come from the Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, who would later become president. In a letter to the State Department dated April 26, Hoover suggested that attention be given to the issue of recognition of Albania, considering that Sinclair was holding talks on an oil concession in the Balkan country.[14]
Blake went to Albania in early June and made a very positive report about the country. “Although the Albanian State has not yet definitely emerged from the stages of hopeful experiment, it is nevertheless sufficiently established in fact to command international support,” Blake wrote. He said, the attitude of the Albanian government and people toward American interests is particularly favorable and recommended that the State Department grant recognition to Albania. His primary argument was that recognition would be a “moral encouragement to the Albanian people in a critical phase of their struggle for independence.” [15]
Blake listed the material factors as a second reason. Sooner or later, he wrote, an American recognition is inevitable. But “prompt action to this end should have urgent attention especially as Parliament assembles early in September when important measures for the development of the country are expected to be presented for definite ratification.”
At the end of July 1922, the State Department sent an urgent telegram to the Commissioner of the United States in Tirana, Maxwell Blake, which read:
“On July 28, you may extend to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania written notification of the de jure recognition of Albania by the United States. In extending this recognition you may state that the government of the United States has taken cognizance of the successful maintenance of a national Albanian Government. Pending legislation action by Congress to establish regular diplomatic representation you will continue to act as Commissioner of the United States with a rank of Minister. The fact of recognition will be given out for publication in morning papers of July 28.”[16]
In Boston, Vatra’s chairman, Faik Konitza, immediately thanked the Secretary of State Hughes. The telegram was sent “on behalf of the Albanians living in America, some of whom fought and shed their blood in the ranks of the American army.”[17]
On August 2, Konitza commented in Dielli as follows: “The recognition of the Albanian government by the United States is one of the best news recently. Even a child knows that the United States is today the first financial power of the world. The greatest and the most powerful kingdoms all strive to gain America’s support. However, our “government” didn’t even bother and has no role in the recognition. There are other factors, such as the Red Cross, and the Methodist Church, without mentioning Vatra, which indirectly led to the recognition. But we believe that the biggest factor is the example of England.”[18]
The significance of the recognition of Albania by the United States was a big deal for the new Albanian state. Dielli commented: “Had America recognized Albania early in 1914, would the partition of Albania (by the secret treaty of London) be signed so easily in 1915?”
Dielli suggested that the recognition would have given President Wilson one more argument to protect Albania as he did at the Paris Peace Conference from the danger of losing territory to its neighbors.
[1] Beqir Meta, Federata Panshqiptare Vatra, (Globus: Tiranà«, 2002) p. 263.
[2] “Ambassador to Italy (Child) to Secretary of State” , April 3, 1922. Foreign Relations of the United States [FRUS], 1922, pp. 594-596.
[3] Refat Xh. Gurrazezi, Historia e Federatà«s “Vatra” , (Tiranà«: Globus R., 2006), p. 124.
[4] “Recognition of Albania” , March 2, 1921. National Archive at College Park, MD [NACP], 875.01/240.
[5] Beqir Meta, Federata Panshqiptare Vatra, p. 269.
[6] Ibid., p. 270.
[7] F.M. Dearing to Bliss, Memorandum on the Recognition of Albania, November 21, 1921. NACP 875.01/198.
[8] Memo for Mr. Harrison, NACP 875.01/18.
[9] Memo of Conversation with Mr. Chekrezi, March 10, 1922. NACP, 875.01/189.
[10] Memo from Office of the Foreign Trade Adviser, March 10, 1922, NACP, 875.01/187.
[11] Ambassador in Italy (Child) to the Secretary of State, April 3, 1922, FRUS, pp. 594-595.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Secretary of State to Counsul General at Tanger, April 27, 1922. FRUS, f. 598.
[14] The Secretary of State to the Secretary of Commerce, May 22, 1922. FRUS, p. 600.
[15] Commissioner in Albania to Secretary of State, June 28, 1922. FRUS, pp. 602-603.
[16] NACP, 875.01/223A.
[17] Dielli, July 29, 1922.
[18] Ibid.
