The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece (original) (raw)
Notes
1 It’s worth mentioning that the Greek speaking Muslim communities, which were the majority population at Yanina and Paramythia, and of substantial numbers in Parga and probably Preveza, shared the same route of identity construction, with no evident differentiation between them and their Albanian speaking co-habitants. These last mentioned Muslim communities were in some cases bilingual in Greek and Albanian (see the specific chapter “La question de la langue dans quelques villes et bourgades de l’Épire”, in Lambros Baltsiotis,L’albanophonie dans l’État grec. Expansion et déclin des parlers albanais, diplôme de l’EHESS, Paris, 2002, pp. 305-312).
2 In certain sources Chamouria includes the Greek-speaking area to the east of the city of Filiati and does not include the Albanian speaking area of Fanari, named alternatively “Prevezaniko”. The official name of the area north of the Acheron river is Chamouria in all Greek state documents for the whole Interwar period.
3 For the sanjak of Reşadiye see Michalis Kokolakis, Το ύστερο Γιαννιώτικο Πασαλίκι . Χώρος, διοίκηση και πληθυσμός στην Τουρκοκρατούμενη Ήπειρο (1820-1913), Κέντρο Νεοελληνικών Ερευνών/Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών 74, Athens, 2003, pp. 160-162.
4 EleftheriosVenizelosArchive, f. 8/1913 “Στατιστικός πίναξ πληθυσμού Βιλαετίου Ιωαννίνων (Ηπείρου)». This registration is based on the Ottoman “1908 census”, by doubling the numbers as only males were counted at 1908. It seems that the language figures are estimations made by Greek officials. For the Ottoman census of 1908 and its accuracy, see K. Kokolakis, …, , op. cit., pp. 276-277, 509.
5 This figure does not include more than 4500 inhabitants of the Muslim villages of the Konispol area of the kaza of Filiati annexed to Albania.
6 See L. Baltsiotis, L’albanophonie…, op. cit., pp. 272-280.
7 Historical Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (HAMFA), Athens, 1923, file 6.7. After this document the number of Muslims was estimated as following: a) at the Prefecture of Jianina: 2,300 Greek speaking, 700 Turkish speaking and 16,500 Albanian speaking b) At the Prefecture of Preveza: 900 Greek speaking, 300 Turkish speaking, 5,300 Albanian speaking and 100 Romani speaking. According to various estimations the Muslim population of the town of Yanina did not exceed 2,200 persons, while a reasonable estimation for the rest of the prefecture, excluding the area that later formed the prefecture of Thesprotia and the town of Parga, would lie between 10 to 15 hundred persons.
8 See Kaliopi Naska (ed.), Dokumente për Çamërinë (1912-1939), Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Arkivave, Tirana, 1999, pp. 682-685. The Consul mentions that around six hundred persons should be added to the numbers for the Filiati region, as his records are not accurate for this area. He also notes that seven hundred people from this area had migrated to Turkey. He assumes a maximum of 25 to 28,000 Muslim Chams residing in the area.
9 Until the Interwar period Arvanitis (plural Arvanitēs) was the term used by Greek speakers to describe an Albanian speaker regardless of his/hers religious backround. In official language of that time the term_Alvanos_ was used instead. The term Arvanitis coined for an Albanian speaker independently of religion and citizenship survives until today in Epirus (see Lambros Baltsiotis and Léonidas Embirikos, “De la formation d’un ethnonyme. Le terme Arvanitis et son evolution dans l’État hellénique”, in G. Grivaud-S. Petmezas (eds.), Byzantina et Moderna, Alexandreia, Athens, 2006, pp. 417-448.
10 See L. Baltsiotis, L’albanophonie…, op. cit., p. 29, where one can also find examples of the ethnic division between the Greek speaking and Albanian speaking Christian population, even at Fanari.
11 The western limit of the area is the Ionian/Adriatic coast. For a detailed enumeration of the Albanian speaking settlements of the area and their religious identity, see ibid, pp. 272-311, 393-397, 422-428 et Annexes pp. 552-594.
12 Excluding the one of Filiati (See Eleftheria Nikolaidou, Η_Αλβανική_ κίνηση στο Βιλαέτι Ιωαννίνων και η συμβολή των Λεσχών στην ανάπτυξή της, E.H.M.-I.M.I.A.X., Yanina 1984, passim).
13 For a description of the Leagues and the educational initiatives in Chamouria, Preveza and Yanina, see Leonidas Embirikos, Histoire de la langue albanaise en Grèce de la création de l’État hellénique jusqu’à nos jours, Diplôme de l’EHESS, Paris 2002, pp. 117-120 and E. Nikolaidou,…, op. cit., passim).
14 We consider as the following reasons to have led to the near complete absence of pro-Albanian feelings amongst the Orthodox population of the area: a. the non existence of an Albanian speaking Christian elite, made up of both landowners and merchants. In any case, a well educated orthodox coming form the orthodox Albanian speaking community can hardly be located in Chamouria b. A rather large percentage of the Christian population consisted of landless farmers and small scale land owners who lived in comparatively small villages. c. The larger settlements were Greek-speaking or Greek-speaking oriented independently of the religion of the inhabitants d. The hegemony of the Greek language held over both religious groups in the greater area, from Yanina to Korçë and from Preveza to Përmet, (see L. Baltsiotis, “ΟιΑρβανίτες”, S. Seferiadis & D. Papadimitriou (eds.),Αφιερωματικός τόμος στον Γιάννη Γιανουλόπουλο , Athens, 2011 (in press)).
15 See L. Embirikos, Histoire…, op. cit., pp. 106, 114.
16 It is quite characteristic that it was in 1880, when the British Valentine Chirol visited the Christian “Albanian” village of Tourkopalouko (today Kypseli, at the northwest part of the Preveza prefecture), that his confidence for his Greek friends in Yanina “was first shaken”. He was surprised that no one in the village spoke or understood any other language than Albanian although his friends “had assured me that south [of the river] Kalamas there were no Albanian communities” (V. Chirol, “Twixt Greek and Turk, or Jottings during a journey through Thessaly, Macedonia and Epirus, in the Autumn of 1880”,Blackwood’s Edinbrurgh Magazine, n. 785, March 1881, p. 313).
17 See Dimitrios Hassiotis, Διατριβαί και Υπομνήματα περί Ηπείρου , αδελφοί Περρή, 1887, pp. 51-52.
18 This is a continuously repeated assertion of Greek state officers.
19 The region that, according to the Greek claims, should have been included to Greece is named “Northern Epiros” ( Βόρειος Ήπειρος_in Greek) and the Christian inhabitants of the area Vorioepirotēs [Βορειοηπειρώτες_].
20 Under the term Northern Epirus is recognized, in Greek irredentist, nationalistic bibliography and public discourse, the area of today’s Albania that includes Korçë, Gjirokastër and Himarë.
21 A typical example of this procedure is the bilingual edition of the (Greek) Army Headquarters, Χάρτης εθνογραφικός της Βορείου Ηπείρου τω 1913- Carte ethnographique de l’Épire du nord en 1913, ΓενικόνΣτρατηγείονΕλληνικούΣτρατού, Thessaloniki, 1919.
22 For example, the impartial, otherwise known by Greeks as “moderate” president of the Albanian Club of Yanina was assassinated in the summer of 1912, probably after an order of the pro-Greek League Ipirotiki Etairia (see L. Embirikos…, op. cit., p. 162).
23 For the relevant legislation, see H. A. Kossivas, Νομοθεσία διοικήσεως μουσουλμανικών και ανταλλαξίμων ακινήτων _,_Π. Λίβα & Γ. Χάντζου, Athens, 1928, passim.
24 For instance the Muslims in Epirus were temporarily not permitted to freely move in the area (HAMFA, 1920, 151.4, The Staff of the Army to the Governor General of Epirus, 30.06.1919).
25 We mention for example, the restrictions for Muslim landowners to sell or hire their land after 1917, see Konstandinos Tsitselikis, Old and New Islam in Greece. Legal and Political aspects, (under publication), especially the chapter: “Property Rights on Real Estate Belonging to Muslims”.
26 Ministry of Foreign Affairs 07.05.1918, Ministry of Agriculture 01.10.1918, The Government Commissary for Kozani and Florina January 1917 (HAMFA, 1918, B/AAK-1). For the 1917 decisions of the Council of Ministers not to implement the regulations concerning the abandoned plots in Epirus and its implementation at least by 1919 see K. Tsitelikis…, op. cit.
27 Bastaina is a kind of large scale property on which the farmer, although not owning the land, has more rights compared to a chiftlik farmer: The right of cultivation can be sold or inherited and the farmer can not be evicted from the land he cultivates.
28 Despite the myth that Chamouria had only chiftliks, comparisons with other areas show that Epirus in general had the same percentage of chiftlik distribution with that of Macedonia and lower than that of Thessaly (see Kostas Vergopoulos, Το αγροτικό ζήτημα , Εξάντας, Athens 1975, p. 136).
29 For the variations in the political attitudes of the beys and the integration of part of them into modern society see Nathalie Clayer, Aux origines du nationalisme albanais. La naissance d’une nation majoritairement musulmane en Europe, Karthala, Paris, 2007, pp. 33-41.
30 According to a 1936 document, at the Muslim village of Liopsi there are 170 families. More than one hundred of them “prosper” as they own land at the Chamouria plain, the rest of them being “poor and driven to desperation” , The Local Authorities Inspector [attached at the General Governance of Epirus], Jianina 30.07.1936, HAMFA, 1936, 21.1. At the document it is underlined that at the neighboring village of Kotsika 150 persons left to Turkey during 1926-1927, reducing the current (at 1936) population to 450. One can suppose that the emigrants were coming from the “poor” families, although further research should be undertaken.
31 Seeamongothers, N. Y. Ziangos_, Αγγλικός Ιμπεριαλισμός και Εθνική Αντίσταση,_ vol. A, Athens, 1978 p. 255, H. Minga, Çamëria, vështrim historik, Tirana, 2006, pp. 85-86.
32 We must add that some of the “volunteer” units who were fighting on the side of the Greek Army, were coming from the area. This factor, most probably contributed to the increase of armed clashes. For a more detailed narration of the fighting and the battles that occurred in the area during late 1912, the use of local population and the burning of villages by both sides see K. D. Sterghiopoulos, Το Μικτόν Ηπερωτικόν Στράτευμα κατά την απελευθέρωσιν της Ηπείρου ( Οκτ .- Νοεμ . 1912), Athens, 1968.
33 See for example K. Naska (ed.)…, op. cit., pp. 1-104.
34 For example see HAMFA, The Vice-governor of Paramythia to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 30.03.1917 (1917/A/4X(16)).
35 Two written examples that come to us from the Greek side can illustrate the point. At his diary, a Greek officer describes his sadness when he visited a mosque outside the city of Arta, at the Imaret settling, and found it defiled by Greek soldiers (see, Lindia Tricha (ed.), Ημερολόγια και γράμματα από το μέτωπο . Βαλκανικοί Πόλεμοι 1912-1913, Ε.Λ.Ι.Α.,Athens 1993, p. 75. We should mention that no battle or resistance to the Greek Army took place in the Imaret area.
The lieutenant of the Greek Army Dimitrios (Takis) Botsaris, after a looting incident during the First Balkan War, pronounces an order that “from this time on every one who will dare to disturb any Christian property will be strictly punished” (see K.D. Sterghiopoulos…, op. cit., pp. 173-174). In pronouncing the order in this manner he left Muslim properties without protection. Botsaris, coming from Souli, was a direct descendant of the Botsaris’ family and was fluent in Albanian. He was appointed as lieutenant in charge of a Volunteers’ company consisting of persons originating from Epirus and fighting mostly in South Western Epirus.
36 For the Greek policy at the area during the first two years after the annexation to Greece see Eleftheria Nikolaidou, ΗοργάνωσητουΚράτουςστηναπελευθερωμένηΉπειρο, Δωδώνη , ΧVI, 1987, pp. 497-609.
37 K. Tsitselikis…, op. cit., H.A. Kossivas…, op. cit., passim.
38 K. Tsitselikis…, op. cit.
39 For the financial and social changes at the area during the last decades before the annexation of the area to Greece see Yannis Sarras, Ιστορικά λαογραφικά περιοχής Ηγουμενίτσας 1500-1950, Athens, 1985, passim. As the author puts it regarding the arrogant behaviour of Christians against Muslims “Muslims had restricted their reactions to Christians, in a self-defence mode, they were reacting only in the case that an offence against them was taking place” (ibid, p. 227). The gap created during late 19th century between religious denominations of the Ottoman Empire is described in N. Clayer, Aux origins…, op. cit., pp. 540-549.
40 See Hajredin Isufi, “Politika e shtetit grek për dëbimin e popullsisë çame në vitet 1914-1928 dhe qëndresa shqiptare, Studime Historike, 1-4, 1993, pp. 60-77, Georgia Kretsi, “austauschbar – nicht-austauschbar: Albanophone Muslime (Çamen) und andere Grenzbevölkerungen der Zwischenkriegszeit im Kräftefeld ethnischer Identitätskonstruktion und Entmischungspolitik”, Jahrbücher zur Kultur und Gesellschaft Südosteuropas Bd. 4, pp. 205-231, pp. 225-226.
41 It’s quite indicative that already by 1920 inhabitants of Margariti could be found serving in the Albanian Army (HAMFA, 1920/155.1, The 2/24 company (based at Margariti) to V Military Area Headquarters, doc. dated the 26th of May 1920). For the fact that persons originating from Chamouria were serving in the Albanian army or were employees at the Albanian public services, see various documents at HAMFA, 1921.10.1. Most of them were coming from the area of Margariti, where a lot of Muslims were landless farmers.
42 This is an in-progress research concerning the on-line Archives of Ellis Island (see www.ellisisland.org), and the difficulties that the transliteration of names into English caused in handling its completion. The declaration of those people as belonging to the Albanian “Race or People” is not a safe proof of a national affiliation. The context of the question “Race or People” is not to be examined in this paper.
43 For some descriptions of the reactions of the Muslim population of the area against the Italian Army and their collaboration, see various documents at HAMFA, 1917, A/4/X (16) and 1916-1917, A/IV. In some cases the Muslims raised Italian flags. For the Muslims’ “personal revenge” against local Christians see the document dated the 30th of March 1917 of the Sub-Governor of Paramythia to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (HAMFA, 1917, A/4/X (16)).
44 HAMFA, 1920/155.1, The 2/24 company (based in Margariti) to V Military Area Headquarters, doc. dated the 26th of May 1920.
45 HAMFA, 1919, A/5/10, δ, The General Governance of Epirus to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23.05.1919.
46 Epirotes in this context means “pure Greeks”. See. N. I. Anaghnostopoulos, «ΟιΜουσουλμάνοιτηςΗπείρου», Κοινότης , 12th of Oct. 1923, pp. 11-14.
47 For the use of the Illyrian argument, in other words “the common ancestors of both the Albanians and the Greeks” in front of the League of Nations by the Greek Chargé d’Affaires in order to reconstruct the criteria of origin, see League of Nations, Official Journal, Feb. 1925, Annex 717, p. 247.
48 The Albanian claims on the Albanian speaking population of the areas of Kastoria [Kostur in Albanian] and Florina [Follorinë in Albanian] did not ensure the non inclusion of this Albanian speaking Muslim population in the Greco-Turkish exchange of populations. Nevertheless, these claims and related struggles were far from leading to any major bilateral or international debate.
49 According to a basically common legal process, a few hundred more individuals, Muslims, living mostly in urban centers declared themselves to be of “Albanian origin” and some others obtained Albanian nationality and thus avoided their inclusion in the exchange process. On the other hand the (Muslim) population of Preveza, and the majority of that of Yanina and of the small towns of Konitsa, Parga and Poghoniani (ex-Voshtina), were considered “Turks by origin” and were included in the exchange of the populations.
50 See Ioannis Nikolaidis, τα Γιάννινα του Μεσοπολέμου , vol. VII, Yanina 1993, p. 104. These heavy restrictions were legally covering all Muslims, but they didn’t affect those who were part of the exchange of populations as they left the country. For instance the prohibition of selling up to half of the gathering plot was quite hard for the farmers.
51 One stremma is 1,000 square meters, roughly one fourth of an acre.
52 The term garden we referred to what in Greek used to be called baxēs [from Turkish _bahçe_] or kēpos, an area usually adjoining the house, not larger than a few square meters were seasonal plants and groceries were being cultivated for domestic consumption.
53 HAMFA, 1935, A/4/9/2, the General Inspector of the Central Department (of the Ministry of Agriculture) to his Ministry, 29.09.1932.
54 HAMFA, 1935, A/4/9/2, the General Inspector of the Central Department (of the Ministry of Agriculture) to his Ministry, 07.08.1931. In most cases the compensations were not given until the early 1930s.
55 For an exemplary case see HAMFA, 1934 A/4/I/1, Ministry of Agriculture, nr. 141865/17.01.1934.
56 Until 1928 2,000,000 stremmata of large real estate of arable and non-arable land had been expropriated in Epirus out of 1,450,000 stremmata of arable land. The corresponding numbers are 2,550,000 and 8,760,000 stremmata for Macedonia and 2,730,000 and 4,000,000 stremmata for Thessaly (see Konstandinos Tsoukalas, Εξάρτηση και αναπαραγωγή . Οικονομικός ρόλος των εκπαιδευτικών μηχανισμών στην Ελλάδα (1830-1922), Θεμέλιο,Athens [1977] 1987, p. 82 andG. Kretsi, “FromLandholdingtoLandlessness. The Relationship between the Property and Legal Status of the Cham Muslim Albanians”, JGKS 5, 2003, pp. 125-138).
57 See for example the document of the Ministry of Military Affairs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated 4 May 1925 in which the author vividly asks for the speediest departure possible of the Muslims for reasons of “military security in the frontiers” (HAMFA, 1925, Γ/68/Χ).
58 It must be underlined though that there is little evidence to support that this was the result of a general, organized plan, but rather one among many other tactics followed by central and local officilas. For several reports of this indirect enforcement to leave Greece for Turkey see the 1922-1925 (and 1926) documents at Kaliopi Naska (ed.),…, op. cit. and Ibrahim Hoxha, Viset kombëtare shqiptare në shtetin grek, “Hasan Tahsini”,Tirana 2000, passim (critical).
59 For example, that was the case with some families in Parga (interview with Mr H., İzmir 2007).
60 HAMFA, 1925, f. Γ/68/Χ.
61 The great majority of the refugees were resettled when it was decided that the Muslim population would not be exchanged.
62 See Giorgos Margaritis,Ανεπιθύμητοι συμπατριώτες : Εβραίοι - Τσάμηδες . Στοιχεία για την καταστροφή των μειονοτήτων της Ελλάδας, Βιβλιόραμα, Athens 2005, pp. 141-142.
63 Expessions like “trying [financial] situation” or “miserable situation” are repeated at the administrative reports of the early 30s (see HAMFA 1935, A/4/9 /2, various documents).
64 Ibid, p. 143.
65 “For the sake of [Greek] national interests they should have been exchanged a long time ago”, writes the Commander of the Corfu Garrison in his monthly report the 4th of October 1924 (HAMFA, 1924, A/2/14). At that time Corfu was closely related with the opposite coast, that is, Chamouria and the Albanian ports.
66 See Eleftheria Manda, Οι Μουσουλμάνοι Τσάμηδες της Ηπείρου (1923-2000), IMXA,Thessaloniki 2004, passim.
67 See among others Konstandinos Tsioumis, “ΠροβλήματαεκπαίδευσηςμειονοτήτωνκατάτονΜεσοπόλεμο. Περίπτωση των Μουσουλμάνων Τσάμηδων της Θεσπρωτίας”, Ελληνική Ιστορική Εταιρεία, [2000], pp. 397-409.
68 It is not until 1927 that Greek sources start referring to the Albanian language and schools issue. The following year the Albanian nationalists of Filiati tried to operate a female school, in which certain subjects were conducted in Albanian (see Lambros Baltsiotis research at L. Embirikos…, op. cit, pp. 163-164).
69 Inspection of the Elementary Schools of Paramythia [sub-prefecture], 27.02.1931, HAMFA, 1935, A/4/9.
70 From that time on, the documents coming from Ministries, the General Governance of Epirus and generally high rank officers are partly referring to “Albanians”, “persons of Albanian origin”, and not “Muslims” or “Ottomans” as they usually did in the past. (HAMFA, various files 1930-1937).
71 Report, 15.10.1930, Archive of Eleftherios Venizelos, Minorities, f. 58/173/4573. See the more detailed report on illegal real estate expropriations and confiscations and the financial results upon the Muslim population at the documents contacted by the General Inspector of the Central Department (of the Ministry of Agriculture) to his Ministry, dated 13. 01. 1932 and 07.08.1932 (HAMFA, 1935, f. A/4/9/2),where he underlines that even plots of 2-3 stremmata had been expropriated.
72 For example, even Ali bey Dino, a former MP and a member of the Greek intelligentsia was arrested for pro-Albanian propaganda as late as 1928 (see I. Nikolaidis, τα Γιάννινα του Μεσοπολέμου , Yanina 1995, vol. VII, pp. 253-254). Ali bey Dino, not in fact connected with Albania, had raised a petition for the expropriations that took place at the village of Draghoumi in front of the League of Nations. For the land issue plus various other issues related to discrimination against Muslims see the Memorandum that a seven member committee dispatched to the dictator Theodoros Pangalos (see the printed version Υπόμνημα Αλβανών της Τσαμουριάς , Θ. Τζαβέλλα,Athens 1926. See also K. Naska (ed.)…, passim and E. Manda…, op. cit., pp. 17-136.
73 See also above. The adventures of individuals or families that had initially chosen the Ottoman-Turkish nationality but remained in Greece as non-exchangeable ended in 1933 (HAMFA, 1934, B/2/IX, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Agriculture, 28.04.1933).
74 For the discriminatory policy of the Greek state in the Interwar period see also (To be read with a critical eye), E. Manda…, op. cit., pp. 25-132.
75 HAMFA, 1934/A/4/1, Petition of Y. Zordoumis et al. to the Governor General of Epirus (09.05.1931).
76 HAMFA, 1935. A/4/9/1, various documents.
77 HAMFA, 1935, A/4/9/3, Sub-prefecture of Thyamis to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30.09.1932.
78 At 1935 the local Administration of the Gendarmerie of Preveza proposes the re-settlement of semi-transhumant families, namely skinitēs [in reality mostly Vlachs resided at the area, L. B.] in every Muslim village (see the document dated 30.05.1935 at HAMFA, 1935, A/21/I).
79 See for example the document: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, α.π. 8089/Α/21/Ι, 12.08.1932 confirming the “definite settlement” of 17 Muslim (Cham according to the document) families from the sub-prefecture of Filiati to Turkey against one family to Albania for the year 1932 (HAMFA, 1935, A/21/I). According to another document regarding the sub-prefecture of Filiati for the year 1932, 86 Muslims settle to Turkey against 51 to Albania (The Sub-prefect of Thyamis to MFA,Filiati, 30.09.1932, HAMFA, 1935, A/21/I). The above document contains the higher ratio of persons migrating to Albania compared with those migrating to Turkey from a variety of documents found at the HAMFA.
80 General Administration of Epirus to the Sub-Prefecture of Thyamis, Yanina, 12.11.1932 (HAMFA, 1935, A/21/I).
81 For an attempt to record this migration see Ibrahim Hoxha…, op. cit., pp. 226-231, where more than 300 families are numbered.
82 See the note dated 13.01.1932, Minorities Section, Prime Minister’s Bureau (HAMFA, 1935, A/4/9/2).
83 IoannisKtistakis, « Περιουσίες Τσάμηδων και Αλβανών στην Ελλάδα. Άρση του εμπόλεμου και διεθνής προστασία των δικαιωμάτων του ανθρώπου», Dik _ē,_vol. 37, 2,2006, pp. 171-203, passim .
84 See indicatively the disapproval of the Gendarmerie proposal for the deprivation of the citizenship (through the erasure from the “Males Registration Roll”) of Muslim Cham teachers residing in Albania and work in Albanian public schools for “reasons of purposefulness ” (MFA to Governance General of Epirus, Athens, 15.10.1936). The “Légation de Grèce en Albanie” is much more clear when justifying its disapproval for the same case: If Greek authorities will not provide with (Greek) passports these teachers, Albania will act in a reciprocal way for the numerous teachers originating from Greece and teaching in the minority schools in Albania (The Greek Delegation [Embassy] in Albania to MFA, Tirana, 23.01.1936 (HAMFA, 1936, φ. 21).
85 At middle 1936 the Greek Ambassador at Tirana complains to his Ministry for the reason that he had been informed by civilians for the “measures” taken in Chamouria. He writes that the “extremely hard and brutal measures” taken against Chams were the result of the initiatives of the Gendarmerie Officer Stavridis, originating from “Northern Epirus”, who was manipulated by various individuals (The Greek Delegation [Embassy] in Albania to MFA, Tirana, 22.06.1936, HAMFA, 1936, φ. 21).
86 See E. Manda…, op. cit., pp. 100-108, K. Naska (ed.)…, op. cit., pp. 662-699, L. Baltsiotis research at L. Embirikos…, op. cit., pp. 165-172.
88 Quite vividly the Greek Communist Party newspaper Rizospastis refers to the “Unimaginable suffering of the Chamouria Albanians” (29.11.1934) and the “Scandalous misbehaviours of the Greek authorities in Chamouria” (12 and 13.12.1934).
89 Official Journal, League of Nations, Dec. 1936 (C. 292.1936.I), pp. 1415-1417. Notice the use of the word idiom instead of language.
90 According to the suggestion of the General Administration of Epirus to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the 24th of October 1936), the presence of Albanian Muslims and the difficulties in “administrating” them from a far away capital calls for the creation of a new prefecture (HAMFA, 1937, A4/9).
91 Yanina, 28.03.1936, HAMFA, 1936, φ. 21.
92 In this way, only 20 non-Muslim Albanian-speakers are recorded in Epirus. It’s only in Macedonia that 1,119 persons are listed, leading to a total of 18,773 Albanian speakers for all of Greece (see ΓενικήΣτατικήΥπηρεσίατηςΕλλάδος,Στατιστικά αποτελέσματα της Απογραφής του πληθυσμού της Ελλάδος της 15-16 Μαϊου 1928, ΙV, Athens, 1935, pp. κστ΄-κθ΄. The Orthodox Albanian-speakers’ “return” to Southern Greece and Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace also present at this time, at the 1951 census (7,357 are counted in Epirus). Only in the 1940 census, never completed due to the beginning of War, Muslim and Orthodox Albanians appear (32,712 Orthodox and 16,899 Muslims, the vast majority of the latter residing in Epirus (see L. Baltsiotis, L’albanophonie…, op. cit., pp. 170-171).
93 See the document “The Social Security Ministry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 25.02.1933”, HAMFA, 1938, f. 23: “For the dissemination of the Greek language in both the population of Albanian speaking homogeneis and Turcoalbanians”.
94 HAMFA, 1935, A/4/3, The VIII Division to the Ministry of Military Affairs, 13.08.1935.
95 At that time Albania had become an Italian protectorate. Muslim Chams, being unofficially considerd Albanians, eventually were treated as hostile population.
96 SeeY.Sarras, _Ιστορικά_…, op. cit., pp. 615-617, andfromthesameauthor, Μνήμες της τραγικής περιόδου _1936-1945,_Στ. Βασιλόπουλος, Athens 2001, pp. 38-41.
97 See I. Hoxha…, op. cit., pp. 309-320. The Greek authorities classified them as “political hostages” [πολιτικός _όμηρος_].
98 See Y. Sarras, _Ιστορικά_…, op. cit., pp. 629-632. The writer notes that these atrocities were undertaken under the “State’s tolerance” and that even civil servants took part in them.See also another book of the same author, Μνήμες …, op. cit., pp. 51-53.
99 For the negotiations and the agreements concerning the expropriated land see G. Margaritis…, op. cit., pp. 156-159, E. Manda…, op. cit., pp. 144-145. It’s quite interesting in that sense to look at the way the Chams were reacting at the tax collection (see the Report of the Financial Inspector of the Ministry of Finance, dated the 22nd of June of 1942 at G. Margaritis…, op. cit., pp. 182-183).
100 The highest semi-documented number of Greeks murdered or killed, armed or not, is around 450 for the Prefecture of Thesprotia and 46 for that of Preveza (See, the relevant Report of the ad hoc created Committee, consisting of locals or of Epirotic origin: Εκθεσις των γενομένων ζημιών εν γένει Ηπείρου από της κηρύξεως του Ελληνο - ιταλικού πολέμου (28-10-1940) μέχρι της τελικής απελευθερώσεως της Οκτώβριος 1944, ΒιβλιοθήκηΗπειρωτικήςΕταιρείαςΑθηνών 58, Athens 1987. Another Greek source counts roughly 450 Christians who died of non natural causes between 1940-1945 (see the extended report of the Greek National Bureau of War Crimes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated the 19th of July 1946, Filippos Dragoumis Archive, f. 73/3, doc. 106). As it is expected there is not a single word mentioning the atrocities against the Muslim population. In light of other sources, we think that a number of 300 to 350 can easily be verified. Higher estimations include some double registrations as N. Y. Ziangos has demonstrated (see N. Y. Ziangos…, op. cit., vol. A, pp. 250, 254, 265-266).
101 Ses Y. Sarras, Μνήμες…, op. cit., pp. 71-73. This incident is, from our point of view, quite characteristic of a different way of thinking and acting in this period, as the notions of right and justice had different meanings in those communities compared to today.
102 Despite social democratic elements in its program and discourse, EDES gradually followed an anti-communist path, loyal to the right wing political powers existing prior to WWII in Greece.
103 For the case of Paramythia see E. Manda…, op. cit., pp. 178-182, where the writer tries to identify the reasons of the massacre. It is widespread in the local discourse that the Paramythia slaughter was a justified act of revenge against the execution of the 45 (Christian) notables of the town that took place during the Occupation with the participation, if not the instigation, of the Muslim Chams.
104 According to a “name and place of origin list”, more than 1,200 were murdered. This number does not include armed men killed during fights or skirmishes with the Greek guerilla forces. Their name list counts 260 persons, several dozens of them coming from the Konispol area (see I. Hoxha…, op. cit., pp. 449-499). The Memorandum of the Anti-fascist Committee of the Çami Immigrants in Albania to the United Nations Security Council counts 2, 877 victims (See G. Margaritis…, op. cit., p. 211). Some hundreds of Chams died in Albanian territory due to hardships experienced after the evacuation of Chamouria.
105 Some of them returned in early 1945, when the ELAS left wing guerrillas temporarily took control of the area, and fled again to Albania, after being attacked by EDES once more and losing nearly one hundred more souls. For a general but very well-focused description of the 1940-1945 period see Georgia Kretsi, “The “Secret” past of the Greek-Albanian Borderlands. Cham Muslims Albanians: Perspectives on a Conflict over Historical Accountability and Current Rights”, Ethnologia Balkanica, vol. 6, 2002, pp. 171-195. For a glossing over of the atrocities committed against the Greeks and an emphasis on the Muslims’ antifascist contribution, see, Beqir Meta, “Spastrimi etnik i popullsisë shqiptare muslimane të Çamërisë”, Univers 1(Tirana), 2001, pp. 83-96.
106 Except for two small communities that mostly avoided conversion, namely Kodra and Koutsi (actual Polyneri), the majority of others were baptized. Isolated family members that stayed behind were included in the Greek society, and joined the towns of the area or left for other parts of Greece (author’s field research in the area, 1996-2008).
107 E. Manda,…, op. cit., pp. 162-163.
108 See above and ibid, p. 204.
109 SeeIliasSkoulidas, Όψεις του δοσιλογισμού στην Ήπειρο: «Ερήμην καταδικασθέντες» Τσάμηδες», Egnatia , (inpress).
110 I. Ktistakis…, op. cit.
111 Without discussing in detail the legislation that permitted this take over by the state, it should be underlined that some of the legislation was primarily used for the communist guerrillas that fled the country after the end of Civil War at 1949. It’s quite difficult to track the exact legislation that was implemented in every case: Urban and rural land is occupied [κατάληψις] according to a “Mandate of the Administration of Public Estate” as early as August 1945 for the urban land and late September for the rural one (archive of the author).
112 Ibid.
113 See Tassos Kostopoulos’ contribution in this volume.
114 See the relevant legislation at I. Ktistakis…, op. cit.
115 We adopt the term ethnic cleansing although it was formed at the nineties during the Yugoslav Wars. Concerning the history and the use of this term, see Alice Krieg-Planque, “Purification ethnique”. Une formule et son histoire, CNRS,Paris, 2003.
116 See for instance the report of the Greek National Bureau of War Crimes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs above.
117 CharitonLambrou, Οι Τσάμηδες και η Τσαμουριά. Απόγονοι παλαιών εξωμοτών-Χθεσινοί δοσίλογοι και εγκληματίαι πολέμου-Σημερινά πρωτοπαλλήκαρα του κομμουνιστοσυμμορισμού, Athens, 1949.
118 For the manipulation of numbers see below.
119 Th. Y. Papamanolis, Κατακαϋμένη Ήπειρος . Το φρικτόν δράμα των κατοίκωντης Θεσπρωτίας και η συνεργασία των Αλβανών μετά του άξονος 1940-1944, Ίκαρος, Athens, 1945 (2ndedition: Ελεύθερη Σκέψις, Αθήνα, 1999). We note that the writer claims that EDES should not have treated the Chams in such a … “conciliatory manner” (ibid, p. 149).
120 G. Margaritis…, op. cit., p. 134.
121 For those manipulations see below.
122 Ioannis Archimandritis, Τσάμηδες - Οδύνη και δάκρυα της Θεσπρωτίας , Γεωργιάδης,[Athens], n.d.
123 See Vassilis Krapsitis, Οι μουσουλμάνοι Τσάμηδες της Θεσπρωτίας , Athens, [1986], pp. 15-25, 130-133, 170-172.
124 V. Krapsitis, Η Ιστορία της Παραμυθιάς, Athens 1985, 2ndedition 1991.
125 SpyrosMousselimis, Ιστορικοί περίπατοι ανά τη Θεσπρωτία, Yanina [1973], 3rdedition 1997.
126 L. Embirikos emphasizes the fact that in the case of Christians we face an “_occultation totale_”,”total occultation” even by the left wing local writers who dare to deal with the 1944-1945 incidents in a more objective way (see L. Embirikos…, op. cit., p. 189).
127 SeeY. Sarras, Ιστορικά …, op . cit .
128 N. Y. Ziangos, Αγγλικός Ιμπεριαλισμός και Εθνική Αντίσταση, vol. I-V, Athens, 1978-1981.
129 VassilisKrapsitis, Αρβανίτες- «Παγά [Πηγή] λαλέουσα Ελληνισμού και Ορθοδοξίας, Π. Παρασκευόπουλου,Athens, 1989.
130 See L. Baltsiotis, L’albanophonie…, pp. 100, 107.
131 Dimitris Michalopoulos, “The Moslems of Chamuria and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey”, Balkan Studies 27, (Thessaloniki) 1986, pp. 303-313, p. 304. Vassilis Krapsitis publishes one more book at 1992, entitled Η ιστορική αλήθεια για τους μουσουλμάνους Τσάμηδες(Athens), mainly repeating his previous publication_Οι_ μουσουλμάνοι Τσάμηδες …, op. cit.
132 According to an interview given by Ramiz Alia to the Greek journalist Tassos Telloglou (see Telloglou’s presentation “How attractive is the Cham issue in today’s Albania?”, in the conference organized by the Minorities’ Research Group Center entitled “The Cham issue. History and current trends”, held at Panteion University, Athens the 21st of February 2008).
133 As Georgia Kretsi points “the persecution of the Albanian Muslim minority was not even mentioned in history text books [in Albania]” (G. Kretsi, “The “Secret” Past…, op. cit., p. 190).
134 L. Embirikos…, op. cit., p. 211. He collected five cases where relics of Albanian speech of the area were published, plus one more in a purely scientific revue. In one case the local writer just presents some words in order to prove their relation with the ancient Doric Greek dialect (ibid, pp. 212-213).
135 See Dimitris Michalopoulos, Τσάμηδες, Αρσενίδη, Athens, 1993, passim.
136 Some of them, written by individuals with an ultra nationalistic, far-right background, tried to create an atmosphere of paranoia and conspiracy theories, going as far as to talk about guerrilla Cham forces in Greece (see Ap. P. Papatheodorou, Οι Μουσουλμάνοι Τσάμηδες , UCK-UCC [UÇK-UÇÇ]- Αλβανοί - Τούρκοι , ΠΑ.ΣΥ.ΒΑ.-Σ.Φ.Ε.Β.Α., Thessaloniki, 2002). Others did not gain any popularity even by the local audience such as the book of Ch. N. Tsakas, τα εγκλήματα των Τσάμηδων στην Πάργα και την περιοχή της , Parga, 1992.
137 See for example the booklet by the associate professor of the Theological School at Thessaloniki University Michail Tritos, Τσάμηδες . Επίμαχο πρόβλημα Ελλάδος και Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας Αλβανίας , Κυρομάνος_,_ Thessaloniki 2003 where he writes that “by their own will [they] deserted Thesprotia, afraid of the sentences they could face from Greek Justice for their unacceptable atrocities […] against local Greeks” (p. 11). He supports their Greek origin and gives the number of Muslims in 1940 at 16,661.
138 See L. Baltsiotis, L’albanophonie…, op. cit, pp. 277-279.
139 Indicatively, the figure for Parga has no Muslim inhabitants in contrast to 150 Muslims in that of Krapsitis’ counting.
140 For example, for Perdika (ex-Arpitsa), at that time a big Muslim village with a small Christian community consisting mainly of refugees, he gives the figure of 1649 Christians and 130 Muslims while Krapsitis gives the figure of 150 Christians and 1600 Muslims (see a more detailed description at L. Baltsiotis, L’albanophonie…, op. cit., pp. 591-594).
141 For instance, the figure for the Muslim population of Syvota (ex-Mourtos or Volia) in Krapsitis is 310 persons, while in a document of 1932, following the 1928 census, the sub-prefect of Thyamis records 679 inhabitants (HAMFA, 1935, A/4/9, The sub-prefect of Thyamis to the Bureau of the Prime-Minister (Filiati the 21st of March 1932). Mourtos, a purely Muslim settlement, was not a village with a large influx of emigrants to Albania and Turkey and the figure given by Krapsitis can not be supported by the relevant evidence. Theofficial 1940 censuspublicationscount 883 residentsatSyvota (see_Στοιχεία_ συστάσεως και εξελίξεως των Δήμων και Κοινοτήτων Νομού Θεσπρωτίας , ΚεντρικήΈνωσιςΔήμωνκαιΚοινοτήτωντηςΕλλάδος, Athens Jan. 1962, p. 37).
142 Slavic-speaking Macedonians being the spine of the communist Democratic Army of Greece ( ΔΣΕ ) during the Civil War, found some support amongst the leftists in Greece.
143 A rather striking example of this erasure can be identified in a special supplement dedicated to Epirus, attached to the Sunday edition of a top selling and respected Greek newspaper. There are a lot of references to the Aromanian speaking Vlachs, even a reference to the half dozen slav-speaking villages of mount Grammos, almost uninhabited, but not the slightest reference to the Christian Albanian speaking villages («Ηπειρος», Η Καθημερινή - Επτά Ημέρες , Sunday 09.07.2000). Nearly 130 years after the writings of Greek irredentists, while the Slav presence is acceptable in Epirus, the Albanian one is not.
144 SeeVassiliosKondisat_Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους,_ Εκδοτική Αθηνών,Athens 1977, vol. 13, pp. 387-394, 388-389. The Suha line is not an invention of the writer, but of the irredentist Greek policies of the last quarter of nineteen century.
145 Interview in 2000, ex-mayor of Paramythia appointed during the dictatorship.
146 Today there are only three semi-demolished minarets standing, one in Margariti, the other in Katavothra and the third one in Kotsika.
147 No process of pursuing charges against the offender took place (Author’s field research 2004).
148 Author’s field research 1997-2008.
149 This article was later modified and entered the Greek Nationality Code (Act) as article 19, which was in force until 1998.
150 Another relevant order was sent at the 29th of Dev. 1947 entitled “Erasure of the Males Registration Roll of Muslims of Albanian origin” (Φ.9905/13/Α2/ΙΙΙ, General Headquarter (Γ.Ε.Σ.)). Both documents are in the author’s personal archive.
151 On the contrary Slav-Macedonians and Turks that were deprived of the Greek nationality “exist” in the registries with the specific indication concerning the deprivation of their nationality, the number of the relevant decision and the legal basis.
152 After the petition of M. D. to the Municipality of Paramythia concerning his registration at the Municipality records, the Mayor for the years 1998 and 1999 justifies in three different ways on the issue of the “non existence” of the relevant registration (author’s personal archive).
153 This affected a few dozens persons. These data result from the author’s unpublished research in the Council of Citizenship Archives.
154 The protagonist of the expulsion, N. Zervas, in a letter to one of his comrades, dated 1953 writes: “Our fellow country men of the area must recall once more who got rid of the Muslim Chams [Arvanitēs at the text] who were pushing down the neck of Hellenism for five hundred years”. The letter is published at the book of Sp. Mousselimis , op. cit., pp. 103-104 and there is no doubt so far of its authenticity.
155 Georgia Kretsi, “From Landholding…”, op. cit., p. 136.
156 As Georgia Kretsi puts it “[I]t is arguable that the social process of minoritization of the Cham group was intimately linked to a politics of possession and dispossession” (See ibid, p. 126).
157 The absence of scholarly works in Greece concerning the Cham issue up to the late eighties is not due only to self-censorship in the academic community. It’s also the result, according to our view, of the erasure process that took place.
References
Electronic reference
Lambros Baltsiotis, “The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece”, European Journal of Turkish Studies [Online], 12 | 2011, Online since 13 December 2011, connection on 22 April 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4444; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/ejts.4444
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