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well could be eprirus in the end a region inhabitated both by greek tribes and illyrians tribes? like in the sense of modern histria inhabitated by a caos of different ethnies?
These features cannot be expressed with words, but you can see with ur eyes. But in the whole Serbs and Slavo-Macedones are darker than Albanians.
It is the contrary. Greeks in the begining didnt exist. The greek nation was created on the Pelasgian substratum, and Pelasgians have all words realted to today albanian language.
The greek nation for the first time was created in the 8 century. It is the inevtion of the:
1. Alphabet
2. Great Temples
3. Delphi
4. Greek language
5. Asiatic influence
6. Greek nation + myth of greek nation
The first greek nation lived only in three habitats:
View attachment 4655
As we can see there was no so-called "greek epirus" nor "greek macedonia"
Epirus and Macedonia were part of Pelasgian-Illyrian-Thracian substratum.
I don know where Greeks come from but they are comers in the Balkan.
As for Magna Graecia, it was a colony after 8-th century, but Illyrians lived in Italy before Greeks.
Ancient Greeks and Greece was a melting pot of different people, they came from everywhere, we're talking from north, east, south, and west. Being greek then is the same as it is now, it's an ethos.
I gave an answer some posts before about this issue! But it seems you cannot accept the truth. However, I will bring documents showing another reality. What you do not know or do not want to know. Then , the readers will judge!Julia there are still alot of greeks in southern albania. The actual numbers arn't clear due to distorted data.
> Then, you find some greeks similar to Tosk because:http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/arvanites.html
Report
-
THE ARVANITES
General data on the language
Arvanites are those whose mother tongue is Arvanitika (name in Greek - Áñâáíßôåò)/ Arberichte (name in their language); most linguists use the word Albanian for that language, but the community loathes its use, and it is therefore advisable that this sensitivity be taken into consideration unless researchers and/or human and minority rights activists do not mind alienating the very community they are studying. Likewise, they call themselves Arvanites (in Greek) and Arberor (in their language); but in Northwestern Greece, in their language, they use the term Shqiptar (the same used by Albanians of Albania), a term strongly disliked by the other Arvanites, who also resent being called Albanians.
Nevertheless, Arvanitika belongs to the linguistic family of Albanian, and it has evolved from one of the two linguistic groups of Albanian, the South Albanian Tosk (the other is the North Albanian Gheg). Arvanitika has a dialectical richness: there are three different groups of dialects spoken, one in Thrace, one in Northwestern Greece (near the Albanian border), and one in Central and Southern Greece. The latter, which includes the vast majority of speakers of Arvanitika in Greece, has by itself a great dialectical variety which makes some of these dialects to be, or to be perceived by the speakers as, mutually unintelligible (Nakratzas, 1992:86; Trudgill et al., 1975:44; Tsitsipis, 1983:297; Williams, 1992:85). Along with Vlachs, Macedonians, and Roma, Arvanites in Greece argue whether they should use the Greek or the Latin alphabet to write their language, which has rarely been written (Gerou, 1994a; Kazazis, 1994).
Most Arvanites have traditionally lived in Central and Southern Greece: in most departments of the regions of Continental Greece (Sterea Ellada) and the Peloponnese (including especially most islands corresponding to these areas) and the Cyclades island of Andros. Arvanites also live near the Albanian border, in most departments of Epirus and in the Florina and Kastoria departments of Macedonia; also, in the border (with Turkey) department of Evros (in Thrace) and in the Salonica department (where they settled along with other Orthodox refugees from Eastern Thrace, in the 1920’s). Like the rest of the population, since the 1950s, Arvanites have been emigrating from their villages to the cities and especially to the capital Athens, which, incidentally, was a mainly Albanian (Arvanite) small town in the early 1800’s, before becoming the Greek state’s capital (Nakratzas, 1992:87-8). It appears that urbanization has been leading to the loss of the use of the language, which has been surviving more in the traditional villages.
There have not been any official statistics on this as well as on any other minority group in Greece since 1951 (and the statistics before then are generally considered unreliable, reflecting mostly only those with a strong ethnic consciousness). Today, the best estimate for the people who speak the language and/or have an Arvanite consciousness is that they number around 200,000. Trudgill (1983:128) gives an estimate of 140,000 for the speakers in Attica and Beotia, a figure also mentioned in Hill (1990:135). For the Arvanites in the Northwest, a figure of 30,000 is given by Ciampi (1985:87), who also puts the figure for the total group at 156,000-201,000. Some members of the community give much higher figures, around 1,600,000 (Kormoss, 1994:1; and Gerou, 1994b:2): this figure may correspond to all Greeks who have some Arvanite ancestry, but certainly not to the current speakers and those with a similar consciousness. Like all other minority languages, except Turkish, Arvanitika has no legal status in Greece and is not taught at any level of the educational system.
Moreover, there are no media in Arvanitika, though in some Attica radio stations some Arvanitika songs can be heard. Arvanites are Orthodox Christians (many belong to the Old-Calendarist ‘Genuine Orthodox’ Church); their church services are held in Greek, with some rare exceptions of Gospel reading in Arvanitika at Easter. Even Arvanite cultural activities appear to be limited. Tsitsipis has reported only occasional folklore festivals, music and poetry contests (Tsitsipis, 1983 & 1994). Since the 1980’s, there has been a creation of Arvanite cultural associations and publication of a magazine and some books on Arvanite culture (very little though published in the language). In some areas, Easter Gospel is read in Arvanitika (Gerou, 1994a). Perhaps the most significant -for the large public- venture is the release of the CD -with an attached explanatory booklet- Arvanitic Songs (FM Records, 1994).
History of the community and the language
The first Christian Albanian migrations to what is today Greek territory took place as early as the XI-XII centuries (Trudgill, 1975:5; Banfi, 1994:19), although the main ones most often mentioned in the bibliography happened in the XIV-XV centuries, when Albanians were invited to settle in depopulated areas by their Byzantine, Catalan or Florentine rulers (Tsitsipis, 1994:1; Trudgill, 1975:5; Nakratzas, 1992:20-24 & 78-90; Banfi, 1994:19). According to some authors, they were also fleeing forced Islamization by the Turks in what is today Albania (Katsanis, 1994:1). So, some have estimated that, when the Ottomans conquered the whole Greek territory in the XV century, some 45% of it was populated by Albanians (Trudgill, 1975:6). Another wave of Muslim Albanian migrations took place during the Ottoman period, mainly in the XVIII century (Trudgill, 1975:6; Banfi, 1994:19). All these Albanians are the ancestors of modern-day Arvanites in Central and Southern Greece.
Very little is known about the Albanian presence in Thrace; it was probably a spill-over of the many migrations mentioned above. Anyhow, there were many Albanians in Eastern Thrace and in the adjacent Western Thrace department of Evros. The former, as Christians, were relocated in Greece during the compulsory exchange of Christians and Muslims between modern-day Turkey and Greece in the 1920’s: many settled in the Salonica department.
As for the Arvanites of Epirus and Western Macedonia, they are considered to be part of the modern Albanian nation (Banfi, 1994:20), something which perhaps explains their self-identification as Shqiptars rather than Arberor. When frontiers were drawn up in the early XX century, some Christian and Muslim Albanians were left in Greek territory, just as some Greeks were left in Albanian territory. An important part of these Albanians, the Muslim Chams, fled Greece towards the end of World War II, as many had collaborated with the occupying forces and were, as a result, persecuted by Greek resistance.
When the modern Greek state was formed, the Albanian-speaking population and its language were called Albanian, even if those Christian Albanians were considered an integral part of the Greek nation and had played a decisive role in the War of Independence between 1821-1828 (Bartholdy, 1993; Bickford-Smith, 1993: 47; Embeirikos, 1994; Vakalopoulos, 1994:243-249). However, the policy of the new Greek state was to Hellenize all the non-Greek speaking Orthodox populations within its, then limited, territory as well as in the territories of Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace and Asia Minor still under Ottoman rule, which were though considered as part of Greek irredenta; the other Balkan countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and later Albania) had also followed similar policies. As elsewhere in Europe, army and education were the most effective mechanisms of Hellenization, assisted by the judiciary system ready to denounce and punish all forms of behavior inconsistent with the state’s nationalist culture (Kitromilidis, 1990:38; Kollias, 1994).
It is noteworthy to point out though, that, before the definite development of modern Albanian nationalism, there were efforts in the 1870’s to include most Albanians under Ottoman rule in a Greek-Albanian kingdom (Castellan, 1991:333; Vakalopoulos, 1994: 243-249), just as others appealed to them for their inclusion in an Albanian-Vlach Macedonian state (Berard, 1987:292-333). The Albanians’ fear of an eventual assimilation by the Greeks led to the failure of the former effort.
The result of the Hellenization policy -which was to take a very oppressive turn during the Metaxas dictatorship (1936-1940)- was that Albanian Greeks, especially after the emergence of Albanian nationalism and of the Albanian state, felt that they had to ‘constantly prove their Greekness.’ Hence, their very conservative political behavior: they had traditionally been royalists and, in large numbers, adhered to the Old Calendarist Orthodox Christian Church, which -when the split in the Greek Church over the introduction of the new calendar took place in the 1920’s- was originally supported by the royalist forces. Moreover, and more important for the survival of their language, they have distanced themselves from the Albanians to the extent that most consider today offending to be called Albanians: they have preferred the term Arvanite (Arberor in their own language) for the people and Arvanitika (Arberichte) for the language, as opposed to Albanian (Shqiptar for the people and Shqip for the language) that Albanians use for themselves and their language -with the exception of the Arvanites of Northwestern Greece, as mentioned above. This attitude may also explain the efforts of some intellectuals of the Arvanite community to trace Arvanites’ and Arvanitika’s roots back to the prehistoric inhabitants of Greece, the Pelasgians and their language, so as to claim indigenous status (Williams, 1992:87; Gerou, 1994b; Thomopoulos, 1912).
Trudgill (1994) has shown that, in Greece, as minority languages are all alien (Abstand) to Greek, the use of different names for them (Arvanitika rather than Albanian, Vlach rather than Romanian, Slav rather than Macedonian) has contributed to denying their heteronomy (i.e. their dependence on the corresponding standard language) and increasing their autonomy (by assigning them the status of autonomous languages). As a result, the minority language’s vulnerability grew significantly, as well as the dissociation of the speakers’ ethnic (Arvanite, Vlach, Slavophone) identities from the corresponding national identities (Albanian, Romanian, Macedonian) which have developed in the respective modern nation-states. Today, Arvanite ethnic identity is perceived by many members of the community as distinct from that of the other Greeks who have Greek as their mother tongue but as fully compatible with Greek national identity (likewise for many Vlachs and Macedonians). A similar phenomenon has helped weaken the links between Pomaks in Greece (speaking a Bulgarian-based language) and Bulgarians, and the consequent Pomaks’ assimilation into the Turkish ethnic and, by now, national identity in Western Thrace, an assimilation here detrimental to Greece’s homogenization and anti-minority policies. In another Balkan context, such attitude helped distance the literary Macedonian language standardized by Yugoslav authorities in the late 1940s from Bulgarian to which the previously spoken dialects in Yugoslav Macedonia were heteronomous.
If Hellenization was a significant factor for the weakening of the use of Arvanitika, urbanization was another. Arvanitika had survived until recently in many homogeneous villages where most people had been using the language regularly. Those, though, who moved to the cities soon abandoned the use of the language as it was unintelligible to most other city dwellers and was even perecived as a sign of backwardness; on the other hand, the children had no way of learning the language as neither was it taught at school nor was it used regularly by family members -often grand parents- at home (Moraitis, 1994).
Current situation of the community and the language
Almost all information about the present concerns the bulk of the Arvanite community in Central and Southern Greece. The other two communities are hardly mentioned in the literature and have also been ignored in the 1987 European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) visit to the Arvanite community in Greece, an oversight which led to at least one indirect protest letter by the Tychero municipality (Kazazis, 1994); nevertheless, a 1994 second visit by the EBLUL was again limited to the Central Greece Arvanite villages.
Almost all speakers of Arvanitika are today bilingual, i.e. they also speak Greek, usually fluently for the younger generations (Trudgill, 1975:53). It is widely agreed that Arvanitika today have been influenced significantly by the linguistic environment in which they have evolved, sometimes for centuries, without any contact with the Albanian communities of modern day Albania. So, it has acquired a separate (Ausbau) status from Albanian, in fact with dialectical richness; nevertheless, at least partial mutual intelligibility between Arvanite and Albanian exists (Trudgill, 1994:14). Indeed, the recent (in the early 1990’s) arrival of hundreds of thousands, mainly illegal, Albanian immigrants in Greece has led to a successful test of that mutual intelligibility, when many settled in Arvanitika villages (it is also noteworthy that in these villages we have seen the two most serious incidents of beatings of Albanian immigrants).
A comparison with standard Albanian shows that Arvanitika has suffered reduction and simplification. Reduction here means loss of: Albanian vocabulary (often replaced by Greek words duly adapted phonetically and morphologically); prepositions (sometimes replaced by Greek ones); verbal tenses; and forms. While simplification consists of loss of case forms, connecting particles and invariable verbal forms (Trudgill, 1983:115-123).
On the other hand, Arvanitika is threatened with extinction. In the early 1970’s, more than 80% of the inhabitants of Arvanite villages in the Attica & Beotia departments were found to be fluent speakers of Arvanitika, though the loss of the language was more pronounced in the villages close to Athens than elsewhere; at the same time, however, the actual use of the language was more limited (Trudgill, 1975:56-61). Moreover, there has been a rather widespread indifference among Arvanites, as well as Vlachs and Macedonian, about the fate of their mother tongues, along with self-deprecation: they have been led by the dominant unilingual Greek culture to -usually sincerely- believe that these languages are deficient, lack proper grammatical structure, have a poor vocabulary (Trudgill, 1994:14; Tsitsipis, 1994:4). So, gradually, Arvanites have switched from bilingualism to a subordination of Arvanitika to Greek; and, sometimes, young people discourage their parents from speaking the language (especially in public). It is probably a correct estimate, although no studies equivalent to that of the 1970s exist, that the language is used today by middle aged people (interchanged with Greek) and by elderly people (in most contexts) and much less by the younger generation (usually when addressing older people, in strict family context, or, sometimes, too, to make fun of non-speakers) (Tsitsipis, 1994; Trudgill, 1983:114-5). Moreover, in the Peloponnese, it seems that the users are predominantly elderly people (Williams, 1992:85-6). Experts, therefore, agree that Arvanitika in Greece is threatened with extinction more than the equivalent Arberichte language of Southern Italy, as the latter country is more tolerant and does not feel threatened by plurilingualism (Hamp, 1978; Tsitsipis, 1983).
Since the 1980s, some efforts to preserve Arvanite culture have been made. A congress was held in 1985. Four cultural associations have been created: the Arvanitikos Syndesmos Hellados (the Arvanite League of Greece) which has been publishing, since 1983, the bimonthly Besa (in Greek); the Kentro Arvanitikou Politismou (Center for Arvanite Culture); the Arvanitikos Syllogos Ano Liosion (Arvanite Association of Ano Liosia); and the Syllogos Arvaniton Corinthias (Association of Arvanites of Corinthia). Books on Arvanite culture have been published. Church reading and chanting in some Arvanite villages has been reported (Williams, 1992:87). Finally, we had the release of a CD with Arvanite music mentioned above. Overall, though, this movement is weaker than similar ones among Vlachs and Macedonians (and certainly among officially recognized Turks).
One reason for such a slow movement is the apparent hostility of the Greek state to such ‘revivals’ among Arvanites, Vlachs, and Macedonians, which is indicated by police disruption of festivals (in Macedonia), and harassment of musicians who play and sing songs in minority languages; as well as by the tolerance -by the state and particularly its judiciary- of public calls, printed in the press, to use violence against those musicians; likewise, human and minority rights activists have been the object of similar threats (Stohos, 20/7/1994 and in previous issues, where even the European Union’s Euromosaic project -to report on the status of the linguistic minorities in the EU- was attacked). Such hostile environment makes even the scholars’ work look suspicious: for example, Arvanites have reacted with incredulity and suspicion to scholars’ assertions that their language can be written (Tsitsipis, 1983:296-7; Trudgill, 1983:129; Williams, 1992:88). Moreover, the EBLUL’s first visit to the community was violently attacked by some community members (Williams, 1992:88) as well as in state-sponsored publications (Lazarou et al., 1993:191-193).
Likewise, Arvanitika has never been included in the educational curricula of the modern Greek state. On the contrary, its use has been strongly discouraged at schools (and in the army) through physical punishment, humiliation, or, in recent years, simple incitation of the Arvanitika users (Williams, 1992:86; Trudgill, 1983:130-1). Such attitudes have led many Arvanite (as well as Vlach, and Macedonian) parents to discourage their children from learning their mother tongue so as to avoid similar discrimination and suffering (Trudgill, 1983:130).
Before drawing hasty conclusions, and I'm doing a simple question. Why the area where live the Arberesh in Sicily, before was called "Piana dei Greci", and now is called "Piana degli Albanesi"?that's interesting, i think southern albanians should admit that they descend from ancient preistoric greek population (look at albania tribes map).
>Ok, we all know that the sea is a large area of water. but which word use the Albanians for water?the Albanians are relatively recent arrivals from the northeast; this theory has been upheld in the past on the basis of the (i) their historical obscurity until the last millennium, and (ii) the paucity of native sea terms and Greek loanwords in Albanian, which is difficult to explain if Albanians always occupied their current location on the Adriatic.
[/B]
According to the official propaganda:
But,according Stephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus(Greek: Στέφανος Βυζάντιος;
fl. 6th century AD) in its geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica (Εθνικά), we have:
Well ARPNIA !!!
And so on....
BUT
The Arbereshe Y-chromosome variation was investigated by sampling individuals from different villages of the Pollino area (Calabria) who bear one of the founding surnames of the population.
I can't download this study, so I can't give you a specific answer. Dienekes to me is non reliable. Remember that the situation is more complicated:
So........Pairwise haplotype distances
Pairwise RST distances between 7-locus Y-STR haplotypes
in Albanians, Roma and non-Roma host populations were
summarised in Table S2 [26–46]. Almost all distance values
within and between Albanians reached statistical significance
(Table S2) except between the Tosks and their closest
Balkan neighbours (Greek, Macedonians, Bulgarians) and
between the Gabels or the Jevgs and some Roma groups
(i.e. Bulgarian and Slovakian Roma).
The populations with Balkan and Italian origin
grouped into separate clusters on the graph. The genetic
distances among Romani-speaking groups were generally
higher and did not correlate with geography in accordance
with the complex history of fragmentation since
the arrival of proto-gypsy groups in Europe and with
previous analyses [26]. The existence of a clear-cut
genetic sub-structure was further confirmed by AMOVA
considering three hierarchical levels and three population
groups (Roma/Balkan/Italian). The difference between
groups accounted for 10.6% of the total genetic variance
(p<0.00001) and was larger than the difference within
groups (4.9%, p<0.00001).
The Tosks fell well within the Balkan cluster and the
Gabels within the Roma cluster, whereas the Gheg and the
Jevg samples took an outlier position. In order to better
understand the cause of the intermediate genetic profile of
the two latter groups, we calculated the Y-STR haplotype
sharing between-sample pairs and surveyed SNP-based
variability. Such data should disclose genetic relationships
among populations, at the most recent and a more ancient
time scale, respectively.
Haplotype sharing
The proportion of haplotypes shared between population
samples is shown in Table S2. As for diversity values, the
results can be paired for Ghegs and Tosks and for Gabels
and Jevgs. At 7-locus haplotypes, the highest proportion
was between the two Albanian major groups (55.6%)
whereas the second highest proportions were between them
and the two Albanian minorities (34.4–41.6% as average).
Whatever the level of resolution, the Gabels and the Jevgs
showed the highest matching proportion between them
(60.8% at seven loci; 40.5% at 12 loci), and their affinity
with Roma tribes (40.5–51.4% and 27.8–28.0% as average)
was always much higher than with either major Albanians
or non-Roma Balkans.
------------------------------------------------------------
The present research contributed to define the first SNP
and STR profile of the two major Albanian ethnic groups
(Tosks and Ghegs) and of two minorities (Gabels and
Ghegs). The Tosk profile is largely consistent with the
variability expected in a panmictic population of southern
Balkan origin. Weak signatures of gene flow with Roma
groups, probably mediated by the Gabels or the Jevgs, have
been identified in the presence of H1-M52 lineages (2.5%).
The Gheg profile closely resembles the Tosk one for
haplogroup composition and level of H1 introgression
(0.6%). However, haplotype diversity values and the
skewed E1b1b1-M35 and I-M170 haplogroup frequencies
suggest a higher degree of reproductive isolation than in
Tosks, a condition that might also explain the partially
marginal position of the Ghegs in Y-SNP-based MDS plots
(Fig. 3).
it is genetically proved that Modern Albanians etc are Transylvanian and not Illyrian
(a friend here knows the Families name that came from Romania)
``The Byzantine world, mainly through the Orthodox Church, helped spread Greek culture in Albania, as in other Balkan countries.
(Albert C. Baugh, Thomas Cable, A History of the English Language, p 6)
what ever you say,
Gustav Mayer and Gennetic Ydna
Proves That a % of Albanians came from Transylavania,
and accept part of language of local Illyrian remnants, the Arbanites and Arberians
John Amos Comenius (Czech: Jan Amos Komenský; Slovak: Ján Amos Komenský; German: Johann Amos Comenius; Polish: Jan Amos Komeński; Hungarian: Comenius Ámos János; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius) (28 March 1592 – 4 November 1670) was a Czech teacher, educator, and writer. He was the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren, a religious refugee, and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica Magna. He is often considered the father of modern education.
Differentiation of 63 IE languages rappresented in a tree of greitlinguistic group based on the analysis of the root of 200 lexical signifiers, which are supposed to be the most preserved in all the languages examined. The numbers next to branches indicate % reliability of the construction of that particular branch. The scale located below the figure indicates the years before the present. Some languages are included 2 or 3 times, because it pertains to different dialectal variants or socio-linguistics. Eg, if I is the Gheg Albanian, Albanian II is the Toski, Albanian III is the national literary language. See Dyen, Kruskal and Black (1992), Piazza et al. Taken from the book:» Le radici prime dell'Europa: gli intrecci genetici, linguistici, storici» Di Luigi Cavalli-Sforza, Gianlucca Bocchi. Mondadori Editori, 2001.
http://books.google.it/books?id=AVXq...page&q&f=false
]
Greeks did not Burn Moschopolis
Greeks did not slain-slain Arberian suliotet
Greeks did slian Arbanites,
[/B]
See your hero with nazi!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgI0VE0DH0w1946
Document of the Committee of Cham Albanians in exile,
on Greek persecution of the Chams,
submitted to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations
Chameria, also known as southern Epirus, is a region, now part of Greece, that extends from the Greek-Albanian border down the coast of the Ionian Sea to Preveza and the Gulf of Arta. Its largest town, Janina (Ioannina), was once regarded as the capital of Albania. Chameria had an Albanian majority population, the Chams, until the region was invaded and incorporated into Greece during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. At that time, large sections of the native Albanian population, in particular the Muslims, were driven out of the country by Greek forces. The remaining Cham Albanians were expelled from their homeland in 1944, following massacres committed by Greek resistance forces under Napoleon Zervas (1891-1957). The Chams fled for the most part to Albania as impoverished refugees, having lost everything they owned. Regarded with suspicion by the new Communist authorities in Albania, they nonetheless managed to form an organization to defend their interests. This so-called Cham Anti-Fascist Committee protested and campaigned in the years immediately following the Second World War for a return of their property and Greek citizenship, but in vain. The following is a Memorandum sent by this committee to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 1946.
We, the Anti-Fascist Committee of Cham immigrants in Albania, having faith in the democratic and humanitarian principles of the UN, and acting in the name of Cham immigrants in Albania, do hereby address the Investigating Commission concerning our lost rights, oppression, persecutions and massacres committed by Greek Fascists in order to exterminate the Albanian minority in Greece.
In pursuit of the protests and appeals that we have addressed to the Great Allies and the United Nations, we ask for justice with regard to the following:
For 32 years in succession, Greek chauvinist and reactionary cliques, in brutal violation of every humanitarian principle, and in total disregard of international treaties, have carried out a policy of extermination toward the Albanian minority in Greece.
Beginning with the Greek occupation of Chameria on February 23, 1913, the gang of Deli Janaqi, incited and assisted by the local authorities, massacred without cause whatsoever 72 men, in the brook of Selani, district of Paramithia.
This massacre marked the beginning of the drive to exterminate the Albanian minority, and made clear the orientation of Greek policy toward our population.
The hounding, persecutions, imprisonment, internment, tortures, and plunder carried out on the pretext of disarming [the population] in the years 1914-1921, the terrorist actions of outlaws, and the provocations of Gjen Baire in 1921, reveal the reality of the sufferings to which our population was subjected during the Greek occupation.
Koska, Lopsi, Varfanj, Karbunara, Kardhiq, Paramithia, Margëllëç, Arpica, Grykohori, and others, are some of the villages that paid an especially high price as a consequence of the terror.
In 1922-1923, the Greek authorities decided to displace the Moslem element of Chameria, in exchange for the Greeks in Asia Minor, on the pretext that we were Turks. This shameless act of the Athenian authorities ran into opposition on our part and the intervention of the League of Nations which, upon ascertaining the Albanian nationality of our people, rejected the decision of the Greek Government.
But despite the intervention of the League of Nations, and the solemn commitments undertaken by the Greek Government in Lausanne on 16 January 1923, the authorities in Athens continued their policy of extermination. They resorted to every device to make it difficult for the Albanian element to remain in Chameria, and confiscated 6,000 hectares of land owned by hundreds of families in Dushk, Gumenica, Kardhiq, Karbunara, and others, without compensating them in the least.
The government in Athens settled the immigrants from Asia Minor in Chameria, with the intention of peopling it with Greeks and creating conditions that would lead to the emigration of the autochthonous Albanian population.
Entire families were forced to abandon their birthplace and migrate to Turkey, Albania, America and elsewhere, and villages like Petrovica and Shëndellia were deserted completely by their Albanian inhabitants.
Under these circumstances, we did not enjoy any national rights, not even the use of our mother tongue. Fanaticism and ignorance were given support, instead of developing our national culture and stimulating progress. Instead of opening schools, they subsidized religious clubs in the Arab language. Ninety-five percent of our population remained illiterate. The province of Chameria, a fertile and prosperous land, remained backward, without economic development, without communication facilities, and in the hands of money-lenders and monopolists, such as: Koçoni, Pitulejtë, Kufalla, Zhulla, Ringa and others, who impoverished and enslaved the entire region.
In the war against Fascism, and more precisely at its conclusion, the reactionary Monarcho-Fascist forces of Llaka of Suli, which were created by the reaction to serve the occupier under the command of General Napoleon Zervas, turned on and treacherously massacred the Moslem Albanian inhabitants of Chameria.
At that time, when the troops of ELAS [National Popular Liberation Army] and our troops were committed to fighting the Germans, the leadership of EOEA [National Troops of Greek Guerillas], in league with the Germans, maneuvered to gain positions to fight a civil war. And when our forces, in keeping with the spirit and decisions of the protocol of Caserta (Sarafis-Zervas), August 1944, implemented the orders of the Joint Command in pursuit of the Germans, General Napoleon Zervas, commander of the resistance forces in Epirus (ELAS – EOEA), gave orders to massacre the innocent population of Chameria.
The massacres in Chameria were a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles, and a shameless disregard for the principles and the nature of the Anti-Fascist struggle. The massacres in Chameria were a result of collaboration and agreements with the Germans, who in the process of retreating, let Zervas forces take their place. Here is a concrete example of the collaboration between Zervas forces and the Germans. Theodhor Vito, the commander of the Zervas forces in the district of Filat, met the commander of the retreating German forces on 22 September 1944, in the village of Panaromen, 3 km. from Filat, just one day before the entrance of Zervas forces in Filat. Right after that meeting, and even before the German forces cleared out of Filat entirely, the forces of Theodhor Vito entered Filat. That close collaboration strengthened the position of the Zervas forces, and enabled them to initiate the terror and the massacres on a broad scale in all the districts of Chameria.
The forces of the 10th Division of EOEA, under the command of Col. Vasil Kamaras, and specifically the 16th Regiment of that division, which was led by Kranja and his aides Lefter Strugari, attorney Stavropullos Ballumi Zotos, the notorious criminals Patazejt and others, entered the town of Paramithia on 27 June 1944. Contrary to their promises and the agreement arrived at between mufti Hasan Abdullaj, on the one hand, and Shapera and the Bishop of Paramithia, on the other, who acted as agents of Zervas, the most ignoble massacres were set in motion. Defenseless men, women and children became targets for the Greek Monarcho-Fascists. The number of the massacred in the town of Paramithia and vicinity reached 600 souls.
On 28 July 1944, the forces of 40th Regiment, commanded by Agores, entered Parga and massacred 52 men, women and children.
The forces of EOEA under the command of Theodhor Vito, Ilija Kaqo, Hristo Mavrudhi, Hristo Kaqo, Hari Dhiamanti and others, first encircled the town of Filat, then on Saturday morning of 23 September 1944, entered the town. The same day they also entered Spatar. They plundered and seized all of the families, and whatever else they found. On the eve of [September] 23 and the dawn of 24 September 1944, there entered also the forces commanded by Kranja, Strugari and others. As soon as these forces arrived, the massacres began. Forty-seven men, women and children were massacred in Filat, while 157 were killed or missing in Spatar, many of whom had gone there from other villages. All of the young women and girls were abused and raped by Zervas criminals. A few days later the Monarcho-Fascists rounded up all of the men that remained, and following the decision of a kangaroo court, consisting of Koçinja – president, Staropull – prosecuting attorney, and four other members, 47 innocent Albanians were massacred. In Granica near Filat are buried the corpses of 46 persons who were slain with knives, and 45 others on the plain bordering the field of Xhelo Meto.
Other families were wiped out, including parents, children and babies in their cribs. Women and young girls were raped. Hundreds of declarations by those who survived, describe the killings and endless suffering. They make plain the crimes and aims of the Monarcho-Fascists in Chameria.
Here are some examples:
Sanie Bollati of Paramithia was burned alive with gasoline, after her breasts were cut off, and her eyes were plucked out. Ymer Murati was murdered and his body was chopped up in Paramithia.
In the house of Sulo Tari had gathered more than 40 women. Çili Popova from Popova, wearing a military uniform, and a group of soldiers, entered the house, seized the prettiest women and girls and began to rape them in another room. The screams of the girls and the women were deafening. This debauchery continued all night. Seri Fejzo, Fizret Sulo Tare and others, were victims of their baseness.
Hilmi Beqiri of Filat was wounded in front of his family and left there, as the attackers took off. Wanting to shelter him, the family brought him over to the dentist Mavrudhiu. He kept him for a few hours, but later sent word to have him taken away. The family then took him to Stavro Muhaxhiri, after which they went over to Shuaip Metja, where many other families had gathered. The Andartes [Greek irregulars] were informed about this, and they went over and seized him, and after pulling his gold teeth with pliers, killed him. Malo Muho, an 80-year-old man, who had been ailing for four years, was butchered with a hatchet in front of his wife. His brain splattered on the lap of his wife, who gathered it together, and after covering him with a quilt, ran away.
Abdyl Nurqe was seized in Spatar and taken barefooted to Filat, where he was dragged through the streets of the town, and finally killed in front of the house of Nidh Tafoqi.
The family of Lile Rustemi from Sullashi, numbering 16 persons, most of them children, was totally wiped out, without anyone being able to survive.
Xhelal Miniti of Paramithia was beheaded with a bayonet over the body of mufti Hasan Abdullahu.
Sali Muhedini, Abedin Bakos, Muhamet Pronja and Malo Sejdiu had their fingers, nose, tongue, and feet cut off, and while they screamed with pain, Andartes of Zervas sang the song of their commander, and rejoiced as they witnessed this scene of terror. In the end, they hung them with butchers’ grappling irons.
The following is the declaration of Eshref Himi, a resident of Paramithia, concerning the massacres in Paramithia:
“On Tuesday, 27 June 1944, at 7 in the morning, the Greek Monarcho-Fascists entered Paramithia, commanded by Col. Kamora, Major Kranja, Captain Kristo Stavropulli, an attorney; Captain Lefter Strugari, attorney; sub-lieutenant Nikolla Çenos, and others. As soon as they entered the city, the order was given that no one should leave, because no one’s honor, liberty or property would be threatened in any way. Immediately in the afternoon, there began the arrest of men, women and children, and thievery as well. By next morning all the men were murdered.
“After imprisoning me for four days, they let me go, so as to bury the dead. On the site called ‘The Church of Ajorgji’, I was able to identify five of the bodies. The others were beyond recognition, on account of the tortures inflicted on them. The five victims I was able to identify were: Met Qere, Sami Asimi, Mahmut Kupi, Adem Beqiri, Haki Mile. Two days later, they sent me over to ‘Golataj’, near the house of Dhimitër Nikolla, where they had murdered eight people. I could not recognize them, because they had cut them to pieces. All around there were corpses of people. A woman by the name of Sanie Bollati was subjected to frightful tortures and burned alive with gasoline. This tragedy took place on Wednesday, while on Friday morning, her body was removed, covered with a blanket by her mother and two townspeople, and placed in a cellar by order of the Monarcho-Fascists, who would not let anyone to see her. The wretched woman died there five days later. By then, her cadaver was full of maggots.
“All of the things I declare here, I have seen with my own eyes. At first, I hid for five days in the attic, but was arrested by the Monarcho-Fascists and turned over to Major Kranja who, after questioning me briefly, ordered that I be imprisoned. In prison I found 380 persons, including women and children. One hundred twenty of them died of starvation. Four persons and me were in prison for 15 days, after which they transported us to Preveza, and from there to Janina, where we stayed for 40 days. There we were subjected to indescribable tortures. We were freed after the arrival in this town of troops of the EAM [National Liberation Front].”
Dervish Sulo from the village of Spatar in [the district of] Filat, describes the massacres in Spatar as follows:
“In the morning of a Saturday in September, 1944, the entire population gathered in front of the (Spatar) village mosque. The soldiers began seizing and raping women, girls, and even old women. Paçe Çulani, 50 years of age, was raped, her hair was cut and even her ears, and finally she was killed in her own orchard, in the vicinity of Muço. In our house was installed the family of Sako Banushi from Skropjona, which numbered eight women, men, and children. After raping the women, whose breasts were pierced with knives, all were massacred….
“In the house of Damin Muhameti, 5 women and 3 children were killed... In the house of Fetin Muhameti, Hane Isufi and another woman were tortured and raped...
In the house of Dule Sherifi, they cut off the heads of 80-year-old Sulejman Dhimicë and his wife. In the house of Meto Braho, 20 persons, including men, women and children, were burned alive... Kije Nurçia, 70 years of age, was knifed to death... In the vineyard of Zule and the garden of Avdyl Nurçe, I saw 20 people who had been massacred. In the house of Haxhi Latifi, the daughter of Haxhi Gulani was raped, while in the dwelling of Mejdi Meto, Hava Ajshja was raped, and Nano Arapi was both raped and killed.”
According to statistics available to date, the victims and the missing among the Albanian minority in Greece, during the massacres in the years 1944-1945, number 2,877, broken down as follows:
Filat and vicinity, 1,286; Gumenica and vicinity, 192; Paramithia and vicinity, 673; and Margellëç and Parga, 626. This was the fate of all those who were unable to flee Chameria, with the exception of a few women who are today living witnesses of the chilling massacres in Paramithia, Parga, Spatar, and Filat. The words that come from their mouths make clear the naked criminality and barbaric acts, organized by the Greek Monarcho-Fascist reaction in Chameria.
This carnage, inspired by the basest sentiments of chauvinistic and religious hatred, resulted in the displacement of nearly 23,000 Chams, who afterward found shelter in Albania under the most miserable conditions.
A total of 68 villages with over 5,800 houses, were seized, destroyed and burned down.
An account of the damages reveals that the Monarcho-Fascist forces of Zervas seized the following assets left behind [by the Chams] in Chameria: 17,000 heads of sheep and goats, 1,200 heads of cattle, 21,000 quintals of cereals, and 80,000 quintals of [olive] oil; plus the produce of the year 1944-1945, which totaled 11,000,000 kg. of cereals, and 3,000,000 kilograms of [olive] oil. During the exodus, 110,000 sheep and goats, and 2,400 cattle died or were lost.
This shows clearly the economic catastrophe that befell our people, which was forced to take the roads of immigration with only the clothes on their back.
This catastrophe happened because our people, together with the Greek people, fought alongside the EAM, rather than join the camp of the collaborationists who were allied with the occupiers.
Chameria contributed materially and morally to the great Anti-Fascist war. Hundreds of young Chams joined the ranks of ELAS, when EAM sounded the alarm for freedom. With the broadening of the Anti-Fascist war against the German occupiers, the population of Chameria threw itself unreservedly into the war against the occupier, and formed the Fourth Battalion of the 15th Regiment of ELAS. Out of the small population of Chameria, stepped forward over 500 troops who fought with determination against the Nazi-Fascist occupiers and the traitors in the camp of Zervas.
The blood of the national hero, Ali Demi, and of the martyr Bido Sejko; and the blood of martyrs Muharrem Myrtezaj, Ibrahim Hallumi, Hysen Vejseli and others, that was shed together with that of the Greek Partisans at the Pass of Qeramica, bears out this fact.
In Chameria at the end of the war, the troops commanded by General Napoleon Zervas operated in our districts and villages not as liberators, but as executioners and sworn enemies of the Albanian element.
In accordance with the Agreement of Caserta (Sarafis – Zervas) in August, 1944, the troops of the resistance were placed on a common front against the Nazi armies, under a joint command, in designated operational zones. This agreement was violated in Chameria. Zervas troops compromised with the Germans, and attacked our troops and obstructed the activity of the 4th Battalion of the 15th Regiment in the zone of Filat. The operations and massacres in the district of Filat are directly connected with this situation, and in open contradiction to the trust and spirit of cooperation established in Caserta. The last village of Chameria, Koska, which was one of the bases for organizing the resistance forces of the National-Liberation Front in Chameria, was destroyed and burned. It was the final action in the destruction of Chameria.
A Committee of the Cham Anti-Fascist Council was dispatched to Athens on 30 October 1944, to meet with the Greek Government of Papandreou, and protest against the massacres in Chameria, as well as demand that they be condemned. The Government of Papandreou refused to take any measures, or commit itself in any way regarding this matter.
Following the operations of December 1944 and the liberation of Chameria from the Zervist occupation, a portion of our population was repatriated and settled in the district of Filat. Then, on 12 March 1945, government forces of the garrison of Corfu, in violation of the Agreement of Varkiza (February 1945), organized and treacherously carried out the vile massacres in Vanre (Filat). This exposed once again the attitude and policy of the responsible authorities of the Greek Government, concerning the extermination of the Albanian population of Chameria.
In the wake of our immigration to Albania, the democratic Government of Albania gave to our masses boundless material and moral assistance. A fund of 240,000 francs was set aside by the Albanian Government for our people, and all-round efforts have been made to alleviate our deplorable condition.
Responding to this situation, the UNRRA Mission in Albania won approval from its headquarters in Washington [D.C.], to dispense 1,450,000 dollars as immediate relief to the immigrants, in view of our difficult situation.
Even in these conditions, Cham immigrants continued to contribute more and more to the Front. At the Conference of Shalës (Konispol), held at the end of September, 1944, the voice of the Chams in exile was raised strongly in favor of collaboration against the occupier, and the injustices of the Greek Monarcho-Fascists.
At the Congress of Vlora on 23 September 1945, the Cham delegates, who represented all the groups of Cham immigrants in Albania, spoke against the massacres that Greek Monarcho-Fascists had perpetrated among them, and demanded by means of memoranda addressed to the London Conference, an inquiry into their problem, and the condemnation of those responsible for the pointless bloodshed and immeasurable sufferings in Chameria. The Congress concluded with a resolution summarizing all of its proceedings.
While in exile, we have many times addressed appeals to the world, regarding the rights that have been denied us, and asked for repatriation.
On 30 October 1944, the Cham Anti-Fascist Council addressed a protest note to the Greek Government of National Unity, the Mediterranean Chief-of-Staff, the Allied Government, and the Central Committee of EAM, discussing the barbaric actions of the Greek Fascists in Chameria.
On 9 May 1945, the Cham Anti-Fascist Council dispatched to the Military Missions a copy of the telegram addressed to the President of the Conference in San Francisco, concerning the rights of the Chams, based on the Atlantic Charter.
On 27 June 1945, telegrams of protest by the Cham Anti-Fascist Council, against the massacres in Chameria, were addressed to the democratic Government of Albania, the Allied Military Missions including the Soviet, the English, the American, the French, and the Czechoslovak; the Yugoslav Legation, and the Albanians in America, Italy and Bulgaria. A memorandum was addressed to Mr. Hutchinson, Labour [Party] Deputy in Great Britain, on 26 November 1945.
Telegrams were addressed to the General Directorate of UNRRA, by the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee (25 September 1945), asking for aid.
A memorandum was addressed to the Presidency of the Conference of Allied Foreign Ministers in London, by the delegates of the Cham Congress, in September 1945.
A memorandum was addressed to the Assembly of the United Nations in London, by the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee, on 11 January 1946, bringing up again the issue of the massacres, and asking for the rights due [the Chams].
A memorandum was addressed to the United Nations Assembly in New York, by the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee on 25 October 1946 and later.
We are victims of the Monarchist regime that reigns in Greece today. Together with the fraternal Greek people, we are suffering the consequences of the dark terror that was inflicted on them throughout Greece.
For two and a half years now, we roam Albania in misery, away from the Fatherland, while our fertile lands are exploited unjustly by the agents of the Monarcho-Fascists in Chameria.
Our travails in exile have been, and continue to be without bounds. Thousands have perished owing to the situation that has come into being.
Despite our protests and the rights to which we are entitled, we continue to live in exile, while the Greek Government, without any justification, is busy settling alien inhabitants in our Chameria, in order to prevent our return.
In the name of our people, we protest once again against all these things, and present before the Investigating Commission of the UN Security Council, the tragedy that has taken place in Chameria, drawing attention to the barbaric acts carried out with the intention of wiping out the Cham people.
We stress the need for a speedy resolution of the Cham problem, and being persuaded that our demands will be met, we set them forth, as follows:
1. That immediate steps be taken to prevent the settling of foreign elements in our homes,
2. That all Chams be repatriated,
3. That all our properties be returned [to us] and all damages to real and moveable properties of ours be compensated,
4. That assistance be given to rebuild our homes and resettle [our people],
5. That steps be taken to insure the benefits that derive from international treaties and mandates, such as the security of civil, political, and cultural rights, and the security of the person,
6. That all persons responsible for crimes committed be tried and punished.
With our most distinguished considerations:
THE ANTI-FASCIST COMMITTEE OF CHAM IMMIGRANTS
Taho Sejko, Kasëm Demi, Rexhep Çami, Tahir Demi, Vehip Demi, Dervish Dojaka, Hilmi Seiti
[from Agron Fico, Diaspora e Rilindur (Tirana: Albin, 2006), pp. 46-61. Translated from the Albanian by Peter R. Prifti.]
this is the most scientific reference I have read here..................
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