Albania and the Middle East

Albania, one of the poorest states in Europe, declared its independence in November 1912 from the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled that country for almost five centuries. The great powers, much to the chagrin of their Balkan neighbors, recognized Albania's sovereignty at a conference in London in July the following year. He isolated his country by tightening border controls, limiting the influence of foreign culture, and preventing travel abroad, while developing close ties, first with Yugoslavia immediately following the Second World War and later the Soviet Union throughout the 1950s, in order to enhance political and military security as well as economic assistance. Albania was a founding member of the Warsaw Pact in 1955, but it discontinued its participation in that organization in 1961. Hoxha founded the most isolationist communist state in the world, save for North Korea, and attempted to create a citizenry that totally shunned religious identity.