The idea of "Greater Albania" and its effects on Chameria and Kosovo issue

The Albanian nationalism is defined as a different one when compared to the nature of other nationalist ideas among its neighbor countries. On the other hand, it is striking the fact that the first nationalist ideas came too late between Albanians and that they were the last nation, when it is related to other Balkan nations such as Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians and Montenegrins, to declare its independence from the Ottoman Empirein 1912. The decision of leaving Albanian population inside Greece and Serbia's territories, taken by the Western powers, led to the arouse of the Albanian nationalism between Albanians and on the other side evoked discomfort in Serbia and Greece. Due to this fact Serbs and Greeks accuse Albanians of having a nationalist plan which aims the creation of a possible ''Greater Albania'' state. This paper aims to present the Albanian version of the ''Greater Albania'' idea using academic works written in different languages. At the same time, it also aims the search for a possible ''Greater Albania'' plan among Albanians through history. In order to reach such goal it is necessary to know who are the Albanians and where do they stand in Balkans history. To better understand if Albanians have ever had a ''Greater Albania'' plan, it is important to analyse the Albanians nationalism phases in order to try finding such a plan. It is to be remembered that Albanians do live in the Republic of Albania, Republic of Kosovo, Republic of Montenegro, Republic of Serbia, Republic of Greece and in the Republic of Macedonia. In other words, the Albanians constitute an interesting example as the only nation of the Balkan Peninsula in Southern Europe divided in 5 different countries. In this study, in order to understand how and to what extent the idea of "Greater Albania" affected the lifestyles of Albanians living outside the borders of the Republic of Albania, the problematic cases of Kosovo Albanians and Cham Albanians populations are being analysed during war and peace times.