Editing Free Territory of Trieste (section)

==History==
{{See also|Imperial Free City of Trieste}}
[[File:Coat of Arms of the Free Territory of Trieste - Zone B.svg|150px|thumb|right| Unofficial coat of arms of the Free Territory of Trieste as used in Zone B from 1947 to 1954]]

Since 1382, Trieste had been part of the [[Habsburg monarchy]], whilst neighboring [[Istria]] had been divided for centuries between the Habsburg monarchy (its central, northern and eastern parts) and the [[Republic of Venice]] (its western and southern parts). The population of the territory has been diverse and mixed, with different and often changing ethnic majorities in different parts of the territory.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}

[[Italian language|Italian]]-speakers have been predominant in most urban settlements and along the coast, with significant ethnic Slavic minorities of [[Slovenes]] and [[Croats]] inland &ndash; especially in the Trieste district, where Slovenes represented a third of the population by the end of [[World War I]] (although most of them were recent arrivals, after 1880, from interior Slovene districts).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kozina.com/premik/1910-02.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-date=20 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220202023/http://www.kozina.com/premik/1910-02.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kozina.com/premik/1910.htm|title=Ljudsko štetje Avstrijskega-ilirskega Primorja 31. decembra 1910 – Österreichisch-Illyrisches Küstenland – Volkszählung von 31. Dezember 1910 – Censimento del Litorale Austriaco-illirico del 31 dicembre 1910|website=www.kozina.com|access-date=10 September 2017|archive-date=14 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314131809/http://www.kozina.com/premik/1910.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The countryside of the territory was mostly populated by ethnic Slovenes or Croats in the southernmost portion of the area. There was also a smaller number of [[Istro-Romanians]], Greeks, Albanians, as well as a sizeable [[History of the Jews in Trieste|Triestine Jewish]] community.

The local [[Triestine dialect]] reflects this ethnic mix. Based on the Romance [[Venetian language]], the dialect was influenced by ancient [[Rhaeto-Romance languages|Rhaeto-Romance]] substrate. In addition, some Triestine vocabulary are of [[German language|German]] and [[Slovenian language|Slovene]] origin, and there are also loanwords from other languages, such as [[Greek language|Greek]].

The variations of spoken Slovenian and [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]] in the territory were also largely dialectal, sharing words with the Triestine and Istrian dialects. In the southernmost part of the territory, the Croatian-based dialects are of the [[Chakavian dialect|Chakavian]] type, while the Venetian-based Istrian is also commonly used.

[[File:Marshall Plan poster.JPG|thumb|150px|A 1950 poster for the [[Marshall Plan]] displaying national flags of European countries, including one for Trieste with a blue background (the United Nations' official colour)]]
At the end of World War I in 1918 and the dissolution of [[Austria-Hungary]], Kingdom of Italy annexed Trieste, Istria and part of modern-day western [[Slovenia]], establishing the border region known as the [[Julian March]] (Venezia Giulia). In 1924, Italy also annexed the [[Free State of Fiume]] (now the city of [[Rijeka]] in Croatia).

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Slavic population was subject to forced [[Italianization]] and discrimination under the [[Italian fascism|Italian Fascist]] regime led by [[Benito Mussolini]]. They were also exposed to [[state violence]] by mobs incited by the ruling fascist party [[National Fascist Party|PNF]], which included the infamous burning of the [[Trieste National Hall|Slovene National Hall]] in Trieste on 13 July 1920. Because of this, some native Slovenes and Croats emigrated to Yugoslavia, while others joined the [[TIGR]] resistance organization, whose methods included more than 100 bombings and assassinations, mostly against Italian authorities in the region, and especially in the areas around Trieste and [[Gorizia]] to the north.

===World War II===
[[File:Trieste-Italy border.jpg|thumb|250px|Border between the Free Territory of Trieste ([[Duino-Aurisina|Duino-Aurisina{{\}}Devin-Nabrežina]]) and Italy ([[Monfalcone]])]]
Beginning in 1940, Italy joined [[World War II]] alongside [[Nazi Germany]] as one of the [[Axis powers]]. When the Fascist regime collapsed and Italy capitulated with the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] in September 1943, the territory in and around Trieste was occupied by the German [[Wehrmacht]] armed forces, which made the city the capital of their regional [[Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral]] (OZAK). 

Amid the collapse of German front line towards the end of the war, [[Yugoslav Partisans|Yugoslav Partisan]] units ([[4th Army (Yugoslav Partisans)|4th Army]] and the [[9th Corps (Yugoslav Partisans)|9th Corps]]) entered Trieste on 1 May 1945, after a battle in the town of [[Opicina]] on the outskirts of Trieste. 

The [[2nd New Zealand Division]] also arrived the following day, and forced the surrender of some 2,000 German troops holding out in Trieste, who warily had refused to capitulate to Yugoslav troops, fearing reprisals and executions. An uneasy truce then developed between New Zealand and Yugoslav troops occupying the area, until British General [[William Duthie Morgan|William Morgan]] proposed partition of the territory into separate military-administered zones.

Yugoslav leader [[Josip Broz Tito]] agreed with the idea on 23 May, as the British [[XIII Corps (United Kingdom)|13th Corps]] was moving forward to the proposed demarcation line. A formal agreement on partition was signed in [[Duino]] on 10 June, which created the so-called [[Morgan Line]] dividing the Julian March territory. Yugoslav troops withdrew to their area on 12 June 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=587|title=Stanford University|website=stanford.edu|access-date=10 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721202106/http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=587|archive-date=21 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=5112|title=Ashburton Guardian|website=ashburtonguardian.co.nz|access-date=10 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060627095427/http://www.ashburtonguardian.co.nz/index.asp?articleid=5112|archive-date=27 June 2006}}</ref>

===Establishment of the territory and provisional government===
[[File:StampTrieste B1948Michel1I.JPG|thumb|150px|A postage stamp for Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste, 1948]]
In January 1947, the [[United Nations Security Council]] approved [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 16|Resolution 16]] under Article 24 of its charter calling for the creation of a free state in Trieste and the region surrounding it. A permanent statute codifying its provisions was to become recognized under international law upon the appointment of an international governor approved by the Quatripartite Powers (UK, US, France, and the Soviet Union). On 15 September 1947, the peace treaty between the [[United Nations]] (UN) and Italy was ratified, establishing the Free Territory of Trieste. 

Official languages were Italian and Slovene, possibly with the use of Serbo-Croatian in the portion of Zone B south of the [[Dragonja]] River. However, local government bodies were never formed, and it continued to be run by military authorities, respecting the administrative division demarcated by the Morgan Line: Zone A, which was {{convert|222.5|km2}} and had a population of 262,406 - including Trieste itself &ndash; was administered by the British and American forces; Zone B, &ndash;which was {{convert|515.5|km2}} with 71,000 residents &ndash; including north-western Istria &ndash; was administered by the Yugoslav army.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-06420-0009, Radrennfahrer, Mannschaft aus Triest.jpg|thumb|250px|Cyclists from the Free Territory of Trieste during the 1950 [[Peace Race]] in [[Poland]]]]
Between October 1947 and March 1948, the [[Soviet Union]] rejected the candidacy of 12 successive nominees for the civilian governor of the territory, at which point the Tripartite Powers (United States, United Kingdom, and France) issued a note to the Soviet and Yugoslav governments on 20 March 1948 recommending that the territory be returned to Italian sovereignty. 

Since no governor was ever appointed under the terms of UN Resolution 16, the Territory never functioned as a real independent state – although its formal status and separate sovereignty were generally respected. It operated as a separate state in the [[Marshall Plan]] (launched in April 1948) and the related [[OECD|OEEC]] (formed in March 1948).<ref>{{Cite web|title = Organisation for European Economic Co-operation – OECD|url = http://www.oecd.org/general/organisationforeuropeaneconomicco-operation.htm|website = www.oecd.org|access-date = 2015-09-24}}</ref> Meanwhile, the [[Tito-Stalin split]] in mid-1948 led to the deterioration of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, which resulted in a political stalemate, and the proposal to return the territory to Italy was suspended until 1954.

The [[Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories|Allied Military Government]] (AMG) thus continued to administer Zone A. The governance was split into peacekeeping and law enforcement sectors, with the local command comprising 5,000 Americans in the [[Trieste United States Troops]] (TRUST) and 5,000 British personnel in the [[British Element Trieste Forces]] (BETFOR).

According to the estimates published by the Allied Military Government, the population in Zone A as of 1949 was about 310,000, which included 239,200 ethnic Italians and 63,000 ethnic Slovenes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.milhist.net/docs/intellrev.html#59 |title=Settling the Question of Trieste |access-date=24 March 2010 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309184546/http://www.milhist.net/docs/intellrev.html#59 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

According to contemporary Italian sources,{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}} in Zone B there were at the time 36,000 to 55,000 Italians and 12,000 to 17,000 Slovenes and Croats. According to the Yugoslav census of 1945 (which was considered falsified by the Quadripartite Commission set up by the UN),<ref>{{cite journal |title=Venezia Giulia: Area of Dispute |journal=Intelligence Review |date=February 28, 1946 |issue=3 |pages=30–36 |url=http://www.milhist.net/docs/intellrev.html#3 |access-date=10 September 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309184546/http://www.milhist.net/docs/intellrev.html#3 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in the part of Istria which was to become Zone B there were a total of 67,461 inhabitants - including 30,789 Slovenes, Serbs and Croats, 29,672 Italians, and 7,000 people of unidentified nationality.

Elections in the Territory were held twice, in 1949 and 1952, but only for municipal councils. The elections for what was supposed to be the People's Assembly (Free Territory of Trieste's national legislature) were never held.

[[File:Free Territory of Trieste Diplomatic visa issued in Vienna.jpg|thumb|Free Territory of Trieste Diplomatic visa issued in Vienna.]]

===Change in the Administration===
On 5 October 1954, the London Memorandum was signed by ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and Yugoslavia. The memorandum did not change the de jure status of the Free Territory of Trieste,<ref name="states">[https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/94153 Coloni, M., & Clegg, P. (2022). Reflections on the status of the Free Territory of Trieste. Small States & Territories, 5(1), 179-194.]</ref> and the civilian administration was in contrast with Annex VII Art. 1 of the 1947 Peace Treaty with Italy.  

After the withdrawal of the Allied military troops by the 24th October 1954, Zone A, including Trieste, was militarily invaded by Italy on the 25th October 1954, and the following day the Italian General de Renzi declared full control over the area at 12:00, initiating the occupation currently ongoing. Zone B remained under Yugoslavian control. In addition, Yugoslavia took control of villages of Zone A in the municipalities of [[Muggia]] and [[San Dorligo della Valle]], such as [[Plavje]], [[Spodnje Škofije]], [[Elerji]], [[Hrvatini]], [[Kolomban]], [[Cerej]], [[Premančan]], [[Barizoni]], and [[Socerb]] (with [[Socerb Castle|its castle]]), according to the demarcation line defined by Annex I.

The demarcation line between the two Zones (that was not a frontier) and territorial claims from both Italy and Yugoslavia continued. These were finally put to rest with the November 1975 signing of the bilateral [[Treaty of Osimo]] between Italy and Yugoslavia. However, this bilateral agreement did not change the legal status of the Free Territory of Trieste that still exists ''de&nbsp;jure'', and on which International Humanitarian Law applies, as stated in the 17th UN Minority Forum (Geneva, 2024), in which Trieste’s representants requested the intervention of the United Nations to end the occupation and to establish a Commission for the application of the existing international law.<ref name="sistory1">[http://sistory.si/publikacije/prenos/?target=pdf&urn=SISTORY:ID:5068#page=153 Tržaški Slovenci in vprašanje razdelitve Svobodnega tržaškega ozemlja, pages 411–422]</ref>