Greek-Albanian Union

So, best way to achieve a union between Albania and Greece?
What form would it take?
Relations with neighbours?
Could it last?
 
Ali Pasha of Ioannina was an Albanian ruler in the Ottoman Empire who controlled Southern Albania, Epirus, Thessaly, and the Greek Peninsula.

He was Albanian, but his court was run in Greek. Odds are, if you want a Greco-Albanian state, he's the guy to do it. He also practiced a heterodox Sufi faith, so I don't think you'd see too much religious tensions.
 
A secular nineteenth-century arrangement might be possible, maybe under Ali Pasha like suggested above. You’d need a total Ottoman collapse to pull it off, though.

Say Russia actually conquered Constantinople somehow and the Ottoman Empire completely fragmented in response during Ali’s era. He assumes power across most of Ottoman Europe and declares a policy of religious toleration to ensure Christian support.
 
How did I forgot about Ali Pasha... :oops:

Well yes, Ali Pasha is maybe the closest thing to have an union among Greeks and Albanians. But I can't tell if that would end well with the Islamic Albanians and Christian Greeks living happily together. Or Ali Pasha really makes the Greeks forget he is a Bektashi Muslim Ruler...
 
A Greek-Albanian federation is probably not going to last unless Bulgaria joins too. By that point you are well on your way to a Balkan federation in general though.

I dunno, adding South Slav majority regions to the mix seems like it would make the situation worse, not better. Greece and Albania are both isolated ethnicities with a lot of shared, not too antagonistic history. Bulgarians and Greeks are far more antagonistic to each other in ways besides religion. If the Greco-Albanian Union was completely secular (which would be difficult to pull off, admittedly) it might last until a decolonization era at least.
 
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