REPUBLIC OF KORITSA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 47, 20 November 1918, Page 2

REPUBLIC OF KORITSA

— : e-BY-PRODUCT OP THE WAR. There is a lot d hidden history made in the war. and Albania, as might bo expected, is the scene of some of it. writes a correspondent of "The Times." The Republic of Koritsa, or Koree, to use the official Albanian spelling, may, perhaps, he described as an 'historical episode; "history" is too grand a word lo use. The State originated in (he late autumn of 1916, in the brilliant brain of ■■> French cavnjry colonel. The bulk of Albania was at that time occupied by the Austrian?. Tn the south the Italian's held Avlona, on the Adriatic, but between them and the Allied Salonika, forces was a solid wodjro of Am 'Hans and King Constamine's unfriendly Greeks.

Tri Hie autumn General frirrail pushed forward in ■ a north-westerly direction, and occupied Koritsa and the. recion near r.nlce Mali!r. r ;.'Ms wan the first time that French tr.lups from Salonika hod found themselves ill Albanian territory, and the rolonol in command wns faced with t!'o problem of flstting up a eivil adniigistr.i.tinn. North-east lay Serbia and smitheast lar Greece,, hut Korttsa trn? neither, .Accoriliiie to the Treaty of Bucharest, the only lcjml instalment recognised hv the Allies, it was part of Albania. The colon"! solved Hi? difficulty by. proclaiming Koritsn. and the caza. or administrative district of which it is the capital, |o he an autonomwni Albanian republic, under the proVcd'on of the Allies.

C.ei'oral Sttrrnil accented (he «;ihm(ion. and Iwirit'n .has remained a renublie. A Council of 12 elders, mixed Mohammedan and ( hmst'an, was set up as the governing lyidy, Evsnd T-'asha utfnrod a blessing in Albanian, a (lag was devised, a post office system instituted, and stamps issued.

All has not gone without a hitch. The hvn-headoi. eajrK which flaunted <v> bravely on the flag, and the first stamp issued, roused nntaeonism. »nd- was said I'J be not the genuine Albanian bird beloved by Pknndorhog and all »oo.'i Shkiretar't, but n monstrous Austrian imperial creature. Yet. on the whole, Korilsa hrs |>ci\atlv enioyed its autonomy, even if i'; renlisos that the days are coming when - : l will lie merged in some larger' whole. Meantime, owin? to various happy ndnmces nf Hie Alliei;. if has gained several extensions of v.'rritory.