Angela
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So let me fix it:
Albanians, who apparently like to think that the eastern model would make them more "European" than the Greeks, another stick to beat the Greeks over the head with, when Albanians are almost indistinguishable from Northern Greeks.
I guess, it is worst than I remembered. Also the “Europeaness” of the Greeks is in play under Albanian Agenda. LOL.
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Yes, you've got it, and then there's the other one: the Greeks in Greece somehow "all" disappeared, and Greece was completely resettled by Albanian shepherds and Slavs, leading to the Greeks of today. Why else would you and Albanians who think like you have held so tightly to that 19th century German travel writer, Fallermayer, who had not one shred of genetics to support him, or a real knowledge of history and linguistics. As if Albanians and Slavs could create the Peloponnesians of today. (Who, after all is closer to the Mycenaeans and Classical Era Greeks, the Albanians or the Peloponnesians?)
If all else failed there was always the canard that Greeks were descendants of Ottomans, where if there was any intermarriage with Ottomans where the progeny remained in Greece it would have taken place with the converted Muslim Albanians and Kosovars. Not, I hasten to add that I believe there was much of that.
This is what I've read for years, and this kind of attempt to rob a people of their history by made up facts a la Fallermayer and twisted logic that because some Albanians settled in Greece it means Greeks are not descended from Mycenaeans and Classical Greeks is appalling and does neither you personally nor Albanians in general any credit. Neither does the constant bleating about the Illyrians, when Northern Italians are closer genetically to Illyrians than are Albanians. The Balkans has been a melting pot for all kinds of people; no one can pretend to be "pure" descendants of ancient tribes, as, indeed, Italians can't pretend to be 100% descendants of the Italic tribes or Ligures even if they descend from them.
It's time to grow up, and that goes for all of Europe. The myths promulgated by dictators, whether they're Albanian or Mussolini, or Hitler, or the guy in Hungary and on and on to get people unified and ready to put up with a loss of freedom, and ready to commit acts of aggression over this bit of land or the other, have to be thrown in the waste basket. The bleeding from World War I, which had the largest loss of life by soldiers in modern history, which, indeed, slaughtered an entire generation of young men, was in a lot of ways for nothing and just a cause of World War II.
How many Italian mothers and fathers and wives grieved for the rest of their lives for young men who died to get the Trentino/Alto-Adige/South Tyrol, Gorizio, Fiume? For what? Gabriele D'Annunzio has a lot to answer for. What good does it do Italy? If an area was one where the majority considered themselves Italian and were Italian speaking, ok, if it could be achieved diplomatically or through plebiscite, but otherwise it's insanity. I mean, if we could "peacefully" have gotten Nizza, and Corsica back from France (one of Cavour's mistakes), with their consent, well, that's the kind of Italia Irredenta I could have gotten behind, but the Alto-Adige, Bolzano with their German speakers, Fiume and Istria with their mismatch of ethnicities and languages, what was that about? Look at all these special privileges that the Trentino/Alto Adige get to stay in the country. What does Italy get out of it? Kick them out and good riddance.
Italians don't care any more, but in the Balkans, fifty years behind because they were dominated by the Soviet Union, these kinds of claims led to genocide and brutality, a horror which Europe seemed incapable of controlling. Hold Plebiscites and have done with it. Have a conference of all the countries, hold plebiscites, and stop the stupidity.