Georgios Christakis-Zografos
Georgios Christakis-Zografos Γεώργιος Χρηστάκης-Ζωγράφος | |
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President of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus | |
In office 28 February 1914 – 28 October 1914 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece) | |
In office 7 July 1909 – 15 August 1909 | |
Preceded by | Georgios Baltatzis |
Succeeded by | Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis |
In office 25 February 1915 – 10 August 1915 | |
Preceded by | Eleftherios Venizelos |
Succeeded by | Dimitrios Gounaris |
Personal details | |
Born | Member of Parliament Diplomat | 8 March 1863
Georgios Christakis-Zografos (Greek: Γεώργιος Χρηστάκης-Ζωγράφος; 1863–1920) was a Greek politician, minister of foreign affairs and president of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus (1914).
Life
Studies and early career
He was the son of the entrepreneur and benefactor
1905–1913
In 1905, he was elected to the
Head of the Provisional Government of Northern Epirus
When the Great Powers decided to award Northern Epirus to Albania, local Greeks formed a provisional government under Christakis-Zografos on February 28, 1914 and declared their autonomy the following day in Gjirokastër. Zografos sent a note to each of the representatives of the Great Powers explaining the eminent situation:[3]
Under these conditions and in the absence of a solution that would suffice to safeguard Epirus, a solution would have been otherwise so easy to discover, the Epirote populace is forced to declare to the Powers that it cannot submit to their decision. It will declare its independence and will struggle for its existence, its traditions and its rights.
But, before it executes this last decision, Epirus turns for the last time to face its judges and pleads with them to modify their decision by which a whole people is condemned.
This people hopes that the Powers will be pleased to make known to it, the sole interested party, their final decision
May Christian and civilized Europe, by this decision, escape the heavy responsibility for the horror of a ruthless struggle.
After a three months period of armed conflicts, the European Powers intervened and asked for negotiations on a new basis. On May 17 the state of Northern Epirus was internationally recognized by the Protocol of Corfu, as an autonomous region inside the borders of Albania. However, this state was short lived and on October 27, when World War I broke out and the Albanian government collapsed, the Greek army re-entered the area with the sanction of the Great Powers.
1914–1920
Christakis-Zografos after the second Greek administration in the area, returned to Greece and was elected at the following elections. He resigned his office at December 1914. A little while later he became executive of the National Bank of Greece, position he retained until September 1917, with a short-term interval (February 25-August 10, 1915) when he became for second time Minister of Foreign Affairs under the cabinet of Dimitrios Gounaris. He supported the entrance Greece on the side of the Triple Entente during World War I, foreseeing that this strategic move could offer to the country several advantages. He retired in 1917 and died three years later from a longtime heart ailment.
Legacy
During the
References
- Old Style.
- ^ "Γενική Γραμματεία της Κυβέρνησης | Γενική Γραμματεία της Κυβέρνησης". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ Pyrrhus Ruches. Albanian historical folksongs, 1716-1943: a survey of oral epic poetry from southern Albania, with original texts. Argonaut, 1967 p. 104-105.
- ^ http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/16/57/25/PDF/de_Rapper_2005a.pdf ...were stigmatised in Albanian historiography as shovinistë and borgjezë (chauvinist, bourgeois) who had worked to destroy the Albanian nation by pretending that all Orthodox Christians were Greek or should be Greek, and by supporting the opening of Greek schools in Lunxhëri and elsewhere. In consequence of this negative propaganda, the last people who still hold the family name Zografi in their village of origin, Qestorat, were persecuted during communism....its re-opening as a museum of Lunxhëri...
Sources
- Abbott, G. F. (2008). Greece and the Allies 1914-1922. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-0-554-39462-6.
- Stickney, Edith Pierpont (1926). Southern Albania or northern Epirus in European international affairs, 1912-1923. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804761710.
- Ruches, Pyrrhus J. (1965). Albania's captives. Argonaut.