875.01/290
The Minister in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Prince) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 10.]
Sir: I have the honor to report, in connection with the recent recognition by the United States of America of Ahmed Beg Zogu as King of the Albanians, that Mr. Štylla, the Albanian Chargé d’Affaires at Belgrade, called upon me yesterday to express his appreciation of this action on the part of our country. Mr. Štylla emphasized that fact that the United States was the first great power, after Italy, to recognize his new sovereign. He stated that the recognition of the Albanian Kingdom by Italy (a foregone conclusion), Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece was of great importance to the new regime, but that the United States by its very friendly action had gone far toward establishing King Zogu’s Government in the eyes of the world.
Mr. Štylla also expressed his gratification at the recognition of his King by Yugoslavia, which followed so closely upon the action of the United States in this matter, that he expressed his belief that there must be some connection between them. I assured him, however, that the United States had had no connection with nor had taken any part in persuading Yugoslavia to take the step of acknowledging the sovereignty of King Zogu. Mr. Štylla then smilingly said, “At least the American example no doubt stimulated Yugoslavia to recognize my King, without awaiting the action of France and England as Mr. Šumenković, the Acting Foreign Minister, sent word to me he would be obliged to do.”
It is interesting to note that, although Mr. Šumenković had told me in a recent interview (See the Legation’s despatch No. 488 of September 8, 1928)9 that he would await the action of France and England before recognizing the new regime at Tirana, he smilingly said to me yesterday, “We decided not to be dependent upon any other [Page 850] nation’s action in this matter, because we know that, if we wish to maintain good relations with Italy, we must recognize the new Albanian Kingdom sooner or later. Our present act we look upon as a friendly gesture to Italy, whom we have no desire to offend.”
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩