THE BALKANS TANGLE

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17168, 26 March 1927, Page 4

THE BALKANS TANGLE

It has not been elear whai had givten rise to the trouble hetween Yugo-Slavia and Italy. A Frencb press agency has made a statement of the case for Albania, which explains the position. The statement is no doubt a one-sided one, but there m^y he sufficient truth in it to help the reader. According to this, the recent events had tlieir origin as far back as 1912 and arose out of Serbia's desire to secure ports on both the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. She made several attempts to secure that object. She joined in the Balkan wars in the hope that that she would acquire Salonica as well as Scutari and Durazzo. But Salonica went to Greec and the other ports to the independent State of Albania. In the Great War she se/cured the Dalmatian coast, but Fiume was snatched from her by D'Annunzio, so that although she acquired an enormous addition of territory she still remained without a port. , Yugo-Slavia began to regard the small neighbouring state of Albania as its future colony. But Ahmed Bey Zogu, the new President of Albania, is a strong man, beloved by the whole of the one million population of Albania, and his government of that country has demonstrated that Albania was to become strong, independent, and prosperous, and destined to play a most important part in the future of the Balkan's commerce. Ahmed

Bey Zogu immediately set to work to make Albania into the commercial gateway of the Balkans. Its strategic and geographical position is such that it can be developed by means of new roads, new railways, utilisation of its vast water-power, the development of its great oil and mineral resources, and the rebuilding .of its ports into the best, quickest and cheapest means of transport of goods between the Balkans and Western Europe and America, This is'said to have aroused the anger of the Servians, who saw their dream orcommercial greatness vanishing. For some eighteeri months past they have spent considerable sums of money in bribing the Northerri Albanian tribes to cause trouble and in sending Albanian residents in' Serbia across the frontier into Albania to cause trouble, but none of these sieps have succeeded. However some four months ago, the Servian militarist party learned that Ahmed Bey Zogu was about to commence the work of rebuilding and enlarging the port of Durazzo. Whereupon, the Servian militarist party decided that they must act quickly and so several hundreds of wellarmed Albanians. residents in Servia, were recently sent across the frontier into Albania where they paid over various sums of money to two of the Northern Albanian tribes to start a revolution. Fortunately, Ahmed Bey Zogu's secret service kept him fully informed of these movements and he was ready, with twenty-five thousand well equipped soldiers and gendarmes to resist the so-called rebellion and immediately it hroke out it was completely suppressed, and all the leaders made. prisoners. The President, however, seems to have realised that he could not stand against Yugo-Slavia alone, and so he entered into the treaty of Tirana with Italy. According to tlic French authority this Treaty is not in the least possible way offensive to anybody. It is simply and purely but • very strongly defensive, 'but the j mere fact that it is strongly defen- I sive brought about the fury of the j Scrvan militarist party. This Treaty 1 will in due course be registered I with the Lcague of Nations. Its con- • tents are known to avery European ! Government, and not one of such ! Governments except Sc-rvia has i made the slightest remarlc againsl • it. In fact, practically everv Government regards it as a trealy which not only saved the gravo j and imminent danger of a Balkan : war but it has also guaranteed that I no Balkan war can start in Albania. | But evidently the Servians are noi I yet salisficd. and have been at tlieir old game of provoking unrest on the Albanian frontier. This has drawn upon them a warning from Italv and Great Britain, and a statement from them that they mean no harm. We may sympathise with the Servians about their lack of a port; and think that Italy when she seized Yalona, and prevented YugoSlavia obtaining any equivalcnt was asking for trouble. But there is no j doubt that the world would not see j the Servian® cngineering another war w'ih-r.i' "oing all thal was pas- [ sible to stop them.