Genocide against the Albanians of Chameria - an unpunished crime

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the genocide of the Greek chauvinists against the Albanians of Chameria, on June 27, the Assembly of Albania held a minute of silence in honor of the victims, while the ALSAR Foundation organized a scientific conference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of this genocide, but the note was missing. of this jubilee anniversary by the Government and state institutions action that cannot be justified by anything! While from the political parties only PDIU and the Patriotic Association "Chameria" have remembered the 80th anniversary of the Greek genocide on the Albanians of Chameria in the annual tribute at the Monumental Cemetery "Trêndafilat e Chamëria" in Kllogjer in Konispol

At the end of the Second World War, namely 80 years ago, the Albanians in the province of Chameria experienced terror and violence from June 27, 1944 to March 1945, which is rightly called genocide carried out by the Greek forces of Zerva, which resulted with the mass murder and death and violent displacement of Albanians of the Islamic religion. This was a scenario of the Greek policy in cooperation with the allies for the ethnic cleansing of this Albanian ethno-geographic province, where in honor of the Albanian victims from 1994, the Parliament of Albania has approved the date June 27 as the Day of the Greek Genocide against the Albanians of Chameria, which is commemorated every year by the Albanians, remaining an open case, because the crime has not yet been punished.

Chameria, Albanian province

The province of Çamëria lies in the southwestern part of Lower Albania, from Lake Butrint and the river Pavlla, in the bay of Preveza, with the districts of Filat, Gumenica, Margellic, Paramithi, Parga, Preveza and Filipjadha, with an area of ​​5000 square kilometers, with a coastline of 100 kilometers and an Albanian population (Muslim and Orthodox) of more than 75 thousand inhabitants (year 1913). Historically, Çameria has been inhabited since antiquity by the Illyrian tribes, while in the Ottoman period it was known as part of the Vilayet of Ioannina until 1912.

In addition to the province of Çamëria, other areas where there was a large number of Albanian population were separated from the Albanian ethnogeographic space, such as Janina, which had been the capital of Lower Albania, Voshtina, Konica, the districts of Kostur, Follorina and their villages in south of Gramoz, where there was also an Albanian population. Counting the number of these cases, the number of Albanian population in the lands that were given to Greece reached more than 120.000 people.

With the decisions of the Conference of Ambassadors of London in 1912/13, an injustice was legalized where most of Chameria was given to Greece, while within the borders of the Albanian state there remained 13 villages with Muslim and Orthodox population on the side of Konispol and right after this terrible decision would begin the tragedy for the Cham population.

Greek occupation policy against Chameria

Since the beginning of the Balkan wars (1912) that were invasive against the Albanian people, there has been constant pressure from our neighbors (Slavs and Greeks) for the displacement of Albanians from their ethnogeographic space. Such an expansionist policy was unfortunately legalized thanks to the decisions at the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1913, which ended with consequences, because half of the Albanian population and space remained outside Albania, with great consequences until our days.

For this purpose, all methods were used, such as heavy taxes, land grabbing, exclusion of the population from participation in the state administration, violent ban on education in the mother tongue, even in primary schools, murders, imprisonments, violent punishment up to in the bloody massacres. In this aspect, it should be mentioned that in 1913 a massacre was carried out in Selani stream (Paramithi) where 72 heads of Chameria and hundreds of others were liquidated.

Massacres in Southern Albania

But the Greeks did not stop there, because in 1913-14 they crossed the southern border of Albania, committing unprecedented massacres by burning villages and killing the local population, mainly the Muslim population. We are dealing with the Greek genocide, when the army and the Greek gangs massacred tens of thousands of Albanian residents in Gjirokastër, Tepelën, Përmet, Erseke, Korçë, Skrapar, Berat, etc. At least 192 villages were burned and razed, while the displaced population is estimated at around 100.000 people, settling mainly in Vlora and Myzeqe and other settlements. Popularly and in historiography, the following are known: Massacre of Greeks in Panari, Massacre of Greeks in Hormovo, Massacre of Greeks in Frashër, Massacre of Greeks in Cologne and others. 

The crimes of the Greeks in South-East Albania in the years 1913-1914 have a name, and they are rightly called Genocide for ethnic cleansing through the expulsion and massacre of the civilian population. The reflection of the Greek crimes against the civilian population of South-Eastern Albania until the 1920s by Albanian and foreign authors in all their publications, books and newspapers has been the subject of these crimes, informing the local and foreign opinion about the invasion intentions and the crimes of Greeks in Albania.

The Lausanne Agreement in exchange for population

That the Greek government pursued a special war against the Albanians is proven by the fact that at the end of the First World War, in 1918, the plan was drawn up to rob the lands of the Cham population. The law of the so-called Agrarian Reform, applied only in Çameri, stole thousands of hectares of land from the Albanians who then moved to Anatolia (Turkey). But, in this direction, the peak reached with the Lausanne agreement between Turkey and Greece in 1923, with the violent migration of the Chams of the Islamic religion to Turkey, which was in favor of the ethnic cleansing of the Albanians in Cham. 

In relation to this time period, the Government of Albania played a positive role, which managed to temporarily stop the migration of Albanians of the Islamic religion, because they were Albanians and not Turks, where the Albanians survived with great sacrifice. But, from 1936, fascism triumphed in Greece, where from August of this year the fascist dictatorship was formalized, where the Cham population was the first to be victimized. According to the data, the Albanian population was under constant pressure in their settlements, even in Paramithi the Albanians were forbidden to speak in the Albanian language. Likewise, the Greek Government did its best to divide the Albanian Cham population, trying to oppose the Christians to the Muslims.  

The names of the Albanian settlements were changed

The Greek government policy did not stop there, because they were hindered by everything Albanian, so at this time the Albanian names of the villages Spathar, Galbaq, Picar, Varfanj, Arpicë were changed to Greek names, respectively to Trikoforos, Elea, Aetos, Parapotamos , Perdhika, etc., to eliminate their Albanian identity by then colonizing them with Greek populations displaced from Turkey, in this environment, to change the ethnic structure of the population, which was dominated by Albanians.

The Chams and the Italo-Greek war  

In known social and political circumstances before the Italian fascist army entered Greece, the Greek government began a new campaign of massacres and crimes against the Albanian population. Thus, two months before the Italian-Greek conflict, the Greek fascist government imprisoned all males from 16-70 years old, over 5000 men, and sent them to the distant islands of the Aegean. Such a racist action is authentic evidence that the Chams of the Islamic religion were considered enemies, where 350 people from this group were massacred, while another 400 died from torture and starvation. In the same way, actions were taken against the Cham recruits as Greek citizens in the years 1939-1940, who at that time were in military service, but by order of the Ioannina Corporation, they were made to break stones and repair roads in the form of labor mandatory, treating them as prisoners of war. This was a discrimination against the Albanians by the Greeks, who acted in this way to carry out their mission at this opportune moment in international relations for the final ethnic cleansing of Chameria.

The outbreak of the Italo-Greek War in 1940 deepened the political tension in Chameri. Despite the conqueror's efforts to draw the Albanian minority to his side, and despite the fact that the Cham population had suffered a lot during Metaksai's fascist regime, it generally maintained a neutral stance towards the conflicting parties.  

Albanian government in Chameri

After the Italian occupation forces entered Greece in April 1941, it was a special moment for the Albanians, because the conditions were created for self-government and union with the mother country - Albania. But, although such an action was implemented in practice among the Albanians in Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia, something similar did not happen with Chameria and other Albanian countries annexed by Greece, which is proven thanks to the map in the Second War World, for this region. Such an action was not allowed thanks to the German-Greek agreement of April 8, 1941, where the state border between Greece and Albania remained the one determined in 1913, where Chameria remained within the Greek border.

Found in an unfavorable situation, the Albanians had no other option but to self-organize at the provincial level. Thus, in July 1942, it was possible to establish the General Defense Council, a political, administrative and military organization based in Gumenica and with branches at the district level in Filat, Margelliç, Paramithi and Parga. Mazar Dino was elected as the head of the Council and Nuri Dino as the vice president for defense. The General Council of Chameria consisted of 42 people, and as an executive body, it had jurisdiction over the court, the prosecutor's office, the police, finance, education, culture and others. Schools in the Albanian language were opened and the Albanian national flag was installed, replacing the Greek one. With these governing structures, the Albanian administration was established in Çameri for the first time, representing the autonomous government which lasted only three years (1941-1944).

But, the Albanian government and the establishment of this administration in Chameri irritated the governors of Athens. On February 13, 1944, the German command issued a document "recapture of the prefecture of Thesprotia".
On May 22, 1944, Zerva was recognized as lying in Epirus, from upper Preveza. This was a warning that the fate of the Albanians of Chameria is in the hands of the criminal Zerva, with great possibilities for consequences that were witnessed in the following months.
July, 2024

To be continued in the next issue of the Culture Supplement