Nr. 5 - New York - Qershor 2015 - $2.

00

Ura e Arts

RESMI OSMANI:

amria, si sht e si do t bhet

faqe 2 - 4

KRISTO FRASHRI:

SEVDAI KASTRATI:

Dy fjal pr shqiptart
e ritit ortodoks n
Maqedonin e ditve tona

Nj shqiprim i
panjohur i Fan S. Nolit

faqe 12 - 13

faqe 14

Document of the Cham Antifascist Committee submitted

to the United Nations Human
Rights Commission
faqe 8 - 11

LEONARD DAUTI:

Qndresa - motiv
jetsor e letrar
i Bilal Xhaferrit

faqe 5 - 7

HAMISH FORBES:

Arvanites: A Case
Study in Ethnic Alterity
faqe 15 - 18

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

amria, si sht
Resmi OSMANI

shtja ame, po t zhvishet

nga ngarkesat politike, arkaike e
reaksionare, falsifikimet dhe qndrimet
dashakeqse, raciste dhe ksenofobiste,
q nganjher arrijn deri n absurd,
nga qndrimet alergjike dhe refraktare,
q mbahen nga disa qarqe shoviniste t
politiks greke, problemi thjeshtohet
dhe qartsohet: dbimi nga trojet e veta
i gjith popullats shqiptare myslimane
me dhun t armatosur dhe terror,
ishte nj kryqzat dhe spastrim etnik
klasik, nj gjenocid. E realizoi at
nacional-fashisti, gjenerali Napoleon
Zerva, bashkpuntor i gjermanve. Ky
spastrim sht nj njoll turpi e historis
modern greke.
Qarqet e tanishme politike greke
duhet ta flakin kt trashgimi t
kobshme, si nj mish i huaj nga trupi
i tyre, ti krkojn ndjes popullats
ame dhe t hapin rrugn pr zgjidhjen
e ktij problem q plaga t mos mbetet
e hapur.

M s shumti ilegalisht, djemt

am jan hedhur matan kufirit dhe
kan shkuar ta shohin amrin.

Redaksia
Kryeredaktor: Kristo Sotiri
Redaktor: Ilir Ademaj
Marketing Coordinator: Erin Karagjozi
Erin.karagjozi@gmail.com
(978) 395 7020
Art Design: Thoma Nasi
ChameriaOrganization@gmail.com
Adress: PO BOX 452 Addison, IL 60101

Pamje nga Preveza

Pr secilin prej tyre kjo ka qen nj

kuturisje jo pa rreziqe. Ndryshe nga
prfytyrimi romantik dhe i idealizuar,
t ushqyera nga malli apo tregimet e
dhimbsura t prindrve t tyre, gjejn
nj amri tjetr. Ata jan mahnitur
nga bukuria e vendit, nga andeti i
mrekullueshm i Jonit dhe qytezat e
bukura ame t Gumenics, Arpics,
Vols, Pargs e Prevezs. Jan trishtuar
e kan ndjer dhimbje, kur kan par
arat djerr, ullishtet, pemishtet dhe
vreshtat t degraduara e t braktisura,
t mbuluara nga ferrat dhe drizat, si
gjysm shkrettir. Shtpit e tyre n
fshatrat ame t rrnuara e gur mbi gur.
Popullata vendse, shqiptare ortodokse
sht e pakt n numr dhe e plakur,
brezi i ri ka emigruar pr t punuar
n vende t tjera ku puna paguhet m
mir. Kullotat e bollshme shfrytzohen
nga vlleh ardhacak nga malet e
Pindit. Pa asnj mdyshje, fshatrat
dhe qytetet e amris s sotme, jan
pjesa m e prapambetur e Thesprotis
historike dhe gjith Greqis. Burimet
e saj dhe potenciali natyror n fushn
e bujqsis, blegtoris dhe turizmit,
presin dorn e pronarve t tyre t
ligjshm q t vihen n funksion t
zhvillimit t ksaj krahine t begat.

Djemt am ndryshe nga

prfytyrimi romantik dhe
i idealizuar, t ushqyera
nga malli apo tregimet e
dhimbsura t prindrve
t tyre, gjejn nj amri
tjetr. Ata jan mahnitur
nga bukuria e vendit, nga
andeti i mrekullueshm i
Jonit dhe qytezat e bukura
ame t Gumenics,
Arpics, Vols, Pargs e
Prevezs.

Trajtesa e mposhtme amria, si

sht e si do t bhet, e sheh krahinn
me nj kndvshtrim tjetr. Megjithse
ka disi karakter hipotetik e vizionar,

parasheh si nj realitet t mundshm se

far do t ndodhte po qe se banort e
amris, do t ktheheshin n vatrat e
tyre strgjyshore.
Pyetja q mund t bhet n kt rast
sht: jo far do t fitojn amt, por
far do t prfitoj Greqia, nga rikthimi
i popullats ame n krahinn e vet?
Ksaj pyetjeje do t mundohem ti jap
prgjigje reale e t besueshme duke
u mbshtetur n trsin e faktorve:
gjeografik, demografik dhe socialekonomik, n kuadr t nj shoqrie
demokratike, t hapur dhe shtetit t s
drejts.
N gjirin e komunitetit am n
Shqipri, bjn pjes afro treqind mij
njerz. sht nj popullat dinamike
e vitale, e suksesshme, me mosh
relativisht t re dhe plot cilsi. Ka nivel
arsimor t admirueshm, pa analfabet
e t paditur. N gjirin e ksaj popullate
sht formuar shtresa e inteligjencs,
q rrok t gjitha fushat e veprimtaris
jetsore dhe shoqrore. Ka midis tyre
profesor e doktor, me tituj shkencor
akademik, msues dhe pedagog,
inxhinier, ndrtues dhe arkitekt,
gazetar t talentuar, shkrimtar e
njerz t letrave, artist t skens,
piktor, mjek, agronom e zooteknik,

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

e si do t bhet
veteriner, ekonomist e financier,
biznesmen e siprmarrs, pa folur pr
mjeshtrit dhe profesionet aplikative,
q u takojn gjith sferave t jets.
sht nj bashksi e talentuar, e cila n
kushtet e demokratizimit t vendit, ka
gjetur shum hapsir pr t paraqitur
vetveten.
Kta jan amt.

Nuk bjm asnj gabim po t pohojm

se e krahasuar me popullatn ekzistuese
(rezidente) t amris s sotme,
komuniteti am n Shqipri, sht m
i ndriuar, m i emancipuar, i pajisur
me m shum dije, m i talentuar dhe
me aftsi vetorganizuese, q i ka brenda
vetes, gjith cilsit pr t ndrtuar
institucione t qeverisjes vendore,
institucione kulturore e arsimore (pse
jo edhe universitet) dhe nj ekonomi t
qndrueshme e t zhvilluar n kornizn
e legjislacionit grek (shtetas t t cilit do
t jen) duke gzuar njkohsisht edhe
t drejtat dhe lirit e minoritetit shqiptar,
nj e drejt kjo natyrore e pamohueshme
n do vend demokratik.
Shpesh m kan pyetur: sa pjestar t
komunitetit prej treqind mij amsh do
t shkojn n amri, pr tu vendosur
n pronat, fshatrat dhe qytetet e tyre, dhe

Pamje nga Gumenica

Djemt am jan trishtuar e kan ndjer

dhimbje, kur kan par arat djerr, ullishtet,
pemishtet dhe vreshtat t degraduara e
t braktisura, t mbuluara nga ferrat dhe
drizat, si gjysm shkrettir. Shtpit e tyre
n fshatrat ame t rrnuara e gur mbi gur.
a i nxe t gjith kjo krahin? Vshtir ti
jepet nj prgjigje e sakt ksaj pyetjeje,
por e prafrt, po. Jan disa faktor q
do ta prcaktojn kt rikthim: pjestart
e ktij komuniteti gjetn n shtetin
am atdheun e munguar, nga i cili u
shkputn dhunshm, me t cilin i lidh
gjaku dhe rrnjt historike, traditat,
zakonet dhe kultura. Brezi i ri ka lindur
ktu, qytetet dhe fshatrat e Shqipris
jan vendlindja e tyre. Komuniteti am
sht integruar me popullsin vendse
t krahinave ku jeton, sht lidhur me
martesa, ka marr e ka dhn. Shum
prej tyre jan t suksesshm n biznes,
n veprimtari ekonomike, shkencore e
administrative dhe e kan ndrtuar jetn
mbi bazn e veprimtarive q ushtrojn.
Ndrsa t gjith jan t interesuar

pr pronat e atjeshme, duhet mbajtur

parasysh se shumfishimi i trungut
familjar, e copzon kt pron. sht
e besueshme se pr administrimin e saj
dhe pr tu rivendosur prgjithmon
n trojet e tyre, do t shkojn kryesisht
ajo pjes e brezit t ri, q ende nuk e
ka gjetur si duhet vendin e vet n
jetn ekonomiko-shoqrore dhe, pse t
mos e themi, q gjendet n vshtirsi.
N amri do t shkoj pjesa m
vitale e komunitetit, e cila e sheh
atje t ardhmen e saj, por ata do t
mbshteten fuqimisht nga pjesa tjetr
q do t mbetet n Shqipri, sidomos
n aspektin ekonomik, t investimeve,
pr ta ringjallur e lulzuar krahinn, pr
t krijuar bazat dhe infrastrukturn pr
nj rikthim gradual t pjess tjetr q do

ta dshiroj kt gj. Ky rikthim do t

zgjas n vite dhe do t jet n varsi t
kapaciteteve mbajtse dhe ekonomike
t ksaj treve q do t prcaktohen nga
burimet natyrore dhe vnia e tyre n
prdorim.

far do t bjn t rikthyerit n

krahinn e amris, me se do t
merren? Me shum gjra. Aq shum sa
sht e vshtir t renditen, megjithat
ndr veprimtarit kryesore mund t
prmendim rindrtimin e fshatrave,
sepse mbi rrnojat dhe grmadhat e
vjetra, do t ngrihen shtpit e reja,
t bukura, komode, higjienike e te
prshtatshme pr nj jet t kulturuar,
q do ti ndrrojn faqen vendit.
Komuniteti i ka brenda gjirit t vet
inxhiniert, arkitektt dhe kompanit
ndrtuese.
Do t ngrihen qendrat socialkulturore dhe t shrbimeve si shkollat,
ambulancat dhe klinikat mjeksore,
repartet e shrbimeve e gjithka tjetr
q plotson krkesat dhe nevojat jetike
t nj komuniteti urban dhe rural.
Siprmarrsit e sukseshm am do
t investojn n qendrat turistike t
bregdetit t bukur (Gumenic, Sajadh,
Arpic, Vol, Parg e Prevez). Atje,
prve banorve t krahins,

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

Namik SELMANI

Kur t shkoj
n amri
N nj krua ku njomet buza
Do t pi uj t bekuar
Do thrras zogj e pllumba
Dit e bardh pa aguar.
Do t pi nj ver agimi ...
T papir n jet t jetve.
N sm ngop nj ast burimi,
do thrras n ndihm dete.
Do ta tund n er shamin
Ku erdhon nj dallandyshe.
- Erdha prap, mike mir
mos mi shih thinjat mbi krye!
Do ta shporr Gardhin e Shpirtit
Ti kthej malet n lndina.
Prush i nxeht q fle te gjiri
Do bleroj bokrrima.
Do ta gdhij natn voliote
Sup m sup me Osman Takn
N sm gjeni n nj breg
Do m gjeni tek mbjell arn.

Tri pranvera e vera bashk

amri, pret pa u ndalur.
Kush ta djeg zemrn e bardh
Iu harroft n shekuj pragu!
Pamje nga Margllii

mund t verojn edhe turist

nga Shqipria, Kosova, Maqedonia dhe
viset e tjera shqiptare.
Krahina ka potenciale dhe burime
t shumta bujqsore t klims
subtropikale. Bujqsia sht njra nga
degt e gatshme q me pun mund t
vihet n lvizje q n vitin e par e t
dyt. Objekt pune do t bhen ullishtet,
vreshtat dhe agrumishtet e braktisura
dhe do t filloj mbjellja e t rejave,
do t zhvillohet njherazi blegtoria n
kullotat e begata natyrore. Ky zhvillim
do t pasohet nga agroindustria, q do t
prpunoj prodhimet bujqsore.
Vija e gjat bregdetare e Jonit me skelat
dhe portet e shumta, sht nj mundsi
tjetr pr zhvillimin e veprimtaris s
peshkimit dhe ihtiofauns, mjeshtri q
djemt am e ushtrojn sot e ksaj dite
n Sarand, Vlor e Durrs dhe duhet
thn q jan vrtet mjeshtra!
amris do ti shndrrohet pamja: nga
nj krahin e braktisur, e prapambetur,
n nj krahin t prparuar, t zhvilluar
e t lulzuar. Ajo do t gjeneroj t
ardhura e mirqnie pr popullatn
e krahins, por edhe t ardhura pr
buxhetin e shtetit grek.

Gjith sa u tha, nuk do t bhet as

me shkopin magjik, as me urdhrin
e peshkut! Prve burimeve natyrore
vetjake, do t duhet t jepen financime e
kreditime nga bankat greke e shqiptare,
pse jo edhe fonde grant nga BE. Jan
kto mundsi t qnsishme potenciale
dhe jo t hamendsuara q do t
prdoren pr rindrtimin dhe zhvillimin
e krahins.

Rivendosja e komunitetit shqiptar am

n trojet e tyre, brenda territorit t shtetit
grek, par n kndvshtrimet e sotme
dhe ato t zhvillimeve t pritshme, at
t integrimit europian, t nj shoqrie
t hapur, q respekton t drejtat, lirit
dhe traditat pr t ushtruar dhe zhvilluar
kulturn, arsimin, t drejtn e informimit
dhe t lvizjes s lir, do t shoqrohet me
krijimin e shoqatave dhe njsive artistike
e kulturore, t studimeve folklorike,

shkencore e historike, do t organizohet

media e shkruar dhe ajo elektronike
etj. Ky gjallrim i jets ekonomike dhe
kulturore do t bj q komuniteti i
amve t rikthyer t rivendos lidhjet
e vjetra vllazrore me komunitetin e
amve t krishter shqipfols, q sot
druhen dhe nuk guxojn t flasin gjuhn
e nns n mjedise publike. Atyre do tu
jepet mundsia t deklarojn prkatsin
etnike dhe t arsimohen n gjuhn amtare,
t ciln e kan ruajtur dhe e flasin aq
bukur! Komuniteti shqiptar i amris,
doemos do t mbaj lidhje edhe me ata
mijra emigrant shqiptar q pr arsye
ekonomike punojn e jetojn n shtetin
grek, duke ndihmuar e ndikuar q ata t
ruajn identitetin e tyre kombtar.

Mund t parashtrohen edhe shum

gjra t tjera mbi kt tem, por gjith
sa u tha, megjithse hipotetike, por jo

Shnim pr autorin: Prof. Dr. Resmi Osmani ka lindur n Mazrek t Marglliit, amri,
m 5 maj 1940. Vjen nga nj familje me tradita atdhetare. Gjyshi Osman Taipi,
ra dshmor n mbrojtje t trojeve shqiptare n Bezhan t Janins, n mars 1913.
I ati, Taip Osmani, u vra nga barbart grek n Filat, n mars 1945.

imagjinare, edhe pse ka brenda edhe

pak futurologji, sht nj kndvshtrim
tjetr, pr t paraqitur se far prfitimi
do t kishte shteti grek nga rikthimi
i komunitetit am. Do t prfitoj
nj krahin t tr e cila do t dal
nga prapambetja dhe do t ngrihet e
fuqizohet ekonomikisht, nj krahin t
emancipuar e kulturuar, e cila do t jet
brenda territorit dhe administrimit t
atij shteti.
Me kt gjendje t re t gjrave e
fituar sht Greqia. Do t krijohet
atmosfera dhe klima q t shuhen
mrit e vjetra. Grindjet dhe mllefet
do t hidhen pas krahve si nj
trashgimi arkaike. Midis dy vendeve
dhe dy popujve do t vendoset miqsia
e vrtet e bazuar n mirkuptimin
dhe dshirn e vrtet pr t jetuar
s bashku n paqe. Kjo vij sht
n prputhje t plot me aspiratat
evropiane n kuadr t integrimit
t vendeve t Ballkani Perndimor
n BE. Me veprime t tilla ndaj
minoriteteve, ndrtohen lidhjet e
miqsis dhe urat lidhse midis t dy
popujve dhe jo me sllogane retorike
boshe t politikanve.
sht rasti, q n vend t mohimit
kategorik pr ekzistencn e problemit
am, apo histeris antishqiptare t
fashistve t Agimit t Art, qeveria
dhe politika greke dhe opinioni publik
i vendit fqinj, le ta shohin edhe n
kt kndvshtrim problemin am.
Por pr t arritur deri ktu, do t duhet
q t zhvishen nga paragjykimet,
mllefet, mrit, racizmi, ksenofobia
dhe opinionet tabu e t paravendosura.
Kuptohet kjo pr ta nuk sht e leht,
por me dshir apo pa dshir, duhet ta
bjn. Prndryshe ata nuk mund t jen
qytetar t vrtet evropian.
Rruga e zgjidhjes s problemit
am, gjendet brenda s drejts ligjore
t njohur ndrkombtarisht, (ksaj
nuk mund ti bishtnoj shteti grek)
dshirs s mir humane e qytetare,
me prpjekje dhe kmbngulje t vet
komunitetit am, me mbshtetjen
e opinionit publik mbarkombtar
(pasi shtja ame sht pjes e
problemit ton kombtar) dhe doemos
dhe domosdoshmrisht t qeverive
shqiptare. Komuniteti am n Shqipri,
q tashm prfaqsohet nga nj parti
politike, duhet t jet forca lvizse e
ktij procesi, pa e ln asnjher q t
fashitet, ndrsa qeverit, pavarsisht
se kujt force politike i prkasin,
duhet t japin mbshtetjen politike
institucionale dhe diplomatike.
sht nj aspirat reale dhe jo utopi.
Ajo krkon angazhimin e tr kombit.
N mbyllje t ksaj trajtese, do t bj
pyetjen: far humbet shteti dhe shoqria
greke nga kthimi i komunitetit am n
trojet e veta historike e t trashguara?
Asgj, asgj, asgj! Jan vetm t fituar,
madje jan m t fituar ata sesa ata q
rikthehen!

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

Qndresa - motiv jetsor

e letrar i Bilal Xhaferrit
Leonard DAUTI

itet 60 t letrsis shqiptare karakterizohen

nga shfaqja e beft e njrit prej shkrimtarve
t konsideruar si ndr m t talentuarit
dhe m fatkeqt e letrave shqipe, t Bilal
Xhaferrit, komunikimi i t cilit me lexuesin shqiptar sht
konkretizuar si proces i ndrprer, i prputhshm me dy
periudha t ndryshme kohore: vitet 60-70, dhe at pas
viteve 90; periudha q prcaktohen nga karakteristika
t ndryshme ideoestetike n lidhje me letrsin si krijim
dhe si receptim: socrealizm/realizm; me dy gjendje
krejt t ndryshme politike: diktatur/demokraci; me
rrethana t ndryshme t zhvillimit shoqror e kulturor:
izolim/hapje. N kndvshtrimin vetjak, e para
prkon me rinin, kurse e dyta shtrihet prtej kornizs
kohore t jets s tij. Pr lexuesin, i cili n nj pjes t
konsiderueshme sht receptues i veprs s tij n t dyja
periudhat, kjo rishfaqje e plot e veprs pas nj periudhe
ndrprerjeje m se njzetvjeare, ka mundsuar rrokjen
e shumanshmris s qndrimit t tij ideoestetik, e ka
br m t perceptueshm imazhin poetik dhe thellsin
e mendimit q prshkon krijimtarin m t mir t
tij letrare, si dhe natyrshmrin, rrjedhshmrin dhe
zhdrvjelltsin e gjuhs. N periudhn e par suksesi
i veprs s tij ka qen lidhur kryesisht me forcn e
talentit t tij, gj pr t ciln pati nj ndrgjegjsim edhe
t lexuesit t thjesht, krahas atij t kultivuar. Leximi
i krijimeve t tij letrare, po ashtu sikurse botimi i tyre,
ishte pjes e interesimit dhe kuriozitetit pr nj krijues
me t ardhme shum premtuese n fushn e letrave, por
q, fatkeqsisht, shum shpejt do t largohej dhunshm
nga skena e letrsis shqiptare. Pr shkak t kornizimit t
ngusht ideologjik t kndvshtrimit ideoestetik t kohs,
nj njohje e thell e veprs s tij t botuar n vitet 60t prej lexuesit t gjer mendojm se ka qen pothuajse
e pamundur. Kjo u kaprcye me ribotimin dhe botimin
e plot t krijimtaris s tij n nj periudh tashm t
liruar nga morsa e kndvshtrimit ideoestetik socrealist,
periudh n t ciln liria dhe gjersia e kndvshtrimit
estetik kan mundsuar zhbirimin e krijimtaris s tij,
prthithjen e vlerave artistike, deshifrimin e kumteve
morale, atdhetare e politike, si dhe marrjen e mesazhit
human t mosnnshtrimit, mesazh q mund t cilsohet
si karakteristika m e spikatur ideoestetike e krejt
krijimtaris s Xhaferrit. Jo vetm kornizimi ideor i
lexuesit, por edhe mangsia fizike e veprs, duke qen se
u botua vetm nj vllim me tregime, Njerz t rinj, tok
e lasht (1966), si dhe disa tregime e vjersha n shtypin
periodik, kan qen pengesa serioze pr receptimin e
plot t krijimtaris letrare t Bilal Xhaferrit n fazn e
par t krijimtaris s tij. N kt periudh t dyt, vepra
e tij vjen e plot jo vetm si botim, por edhe si prfaqsim
ideoestetik, duke rifituar n kt mnyr at far i ishte
mohuar n periudhn e par.
Kjo lidhet si me karakteristikat ideoartistike ashtu edhe
me larmin gjinore (poezi, tregim, roman, skenar filmi,
dram, publicistik), t cilat ai i ka lvruar, ndonse herher t lna prgjysm. N mbshtetje t ides se vepra e
Xhaferrit sht ndr m interesantet e periudhs s dyt t

Bilal Xhaferri

shekullit XX, vjen edhe vendi q ka zn krijimtaria e tij

n kritikn letrare, pr t ciln mund t shprehemi se, pas
viteve nntdhjet t shekullit t kaluar dhe prgjat dy
dekadave t fundit, e ka pasur kt vepr nj ndr objektet
e saj qendrore. E rndsishme sht t theksohet se me
veprn e tij jan marr kritik t shumt, si B. Kuuku, A.
Kallulli, D. Shapllo, V. Koreshi, S. Hamiti, Xh. Lloshi,
Y. iraku, A. Vinca, R. Zisi etj., disa prej t cilve ndr
autort m serioz t kritiks son t sotme letrare. Nj
vend t rndsishm n dimensionimin e profilit t tij
z edhe vlersimi i mjaft prej shkrimtarve t gjysms
s dyt t shekullit XX, prmes gjykimit mbi veprn e
shkrimtarit, apo kujtimeve plot respekt pr t si njeri.
Petro Markoja, n veprn e tij autobiografike Intervist
me vetveten: Ret dhe gurt shprehet: Vite m par,
pata fatin t njihja nj djal t zbeht, fare t ri, q quhej
Bilal Xhaferri. Kur lexova librin e tij t par me tregime,
u mallngjeva, kaq i talentuar ishte ai djal. Shkrimet e
tij t befasonin. Punonte npr kantiere ndrtimi, bnte
pun t rnda. M n fund ai u arratis dhe prfundoi n
SHBA, ku dhe vdiq, si thon, aksidentalisht.1.
Nse do t prpiqeshim t jepnim nj karakterizim t
prgjithshm dhe etiketues pr veprn e B. Xhaferrit, si
m t prshtatshm ndoshta do t gjykonim cilsimin

Shkrimtar i mohuar, me atdhe dy her t mohuar,

me familje t mohuar, me krijimtari t mohuar,
me liri fizike dhe shpirtrore t mohuar. Por ky
nuk qe ndshkimi i madh pr t. M i madhi
ndshkim q i qe rezervuar atij (edhe gjith
sivllezrve t tij) ishte harresa. Nj makineri e
tr shtetrore do ti ndalonte veprn, do ta hiqte
nga qarkullimi, do ta internonte fizikisht.

e veprs s tij si vepr e munguar. Kjo pr dy arsye:

s pari, vepra e tij, si krijim artistik, nuk sht e plot
si prezantim, pasi nj pjes e dorshkrimeve besohet
t ken humbur prjetsisht pas djegies s redaksis s
revists Krahu i Shqiponjs. Nuk sht e plot edhe si
realizim (prodhimtari letrare). Fillimet e krijimtaris s tij
n vitet gjashtdhjet karakterizohen nga nj ritm i lart
t shkruari, duke shkruar gjithmon dhe ku t mundte.
Brenda tre vitesh krijohen dy vllime, njri me tregime,
i botuar, tjetri me poezi, i shtypur por q nuk e pa dritn
e botimit. Ky ritm premtues ndrpritet prej largimit nga
atdheu, n 30 gusht 1969, pr tu rikthyer vetm n formn
e veprs s botuar postum. Largimi fizik prej Shqipris
shnon nj thyerje n vazhdimsin e procesit t tij letrar,
e kjo nuk mund t interpretohet ndryshe, vese si nj
shok pr laboratorin e tij krijues, n kushtet e shkputjes
prej realitetit q kishte shrbyer si burim i motiveve dhe
temave t krijimtaris s tij. Prgjat s ashtuquajturs
periudh e Ameriks nuk kemi krijimin e ndonj vepre
t mirfillt origjinale, t krahasueshme me at far ai
krijoi n Shqipri. M tepr kemi rimarrje t krijimeve
t mparshme, prpunime t tyre dhe shum pak krijime
t mirfillta. I prkushtohet publicistiks. Kjo motivohet
nga veprimtaria e tij politike dhe atdhetare. Edhe krijimet
poetike t ksaj periudhe karakterizohen nga nj motiv i
fort politik. Mund t mbshtesim mendimin e shfaqur
prej t tjerve m par, se situata e re jetsore e krijuese e
Bilal Xhaferrit nuk e favorizoi krijimtarin letrare t tij2.
Shum motive u ndrydhn, u mbytn n kontradiktn e
vazhdueshme mes liris fizike dhe izolimit intelektual.
Shum embrione veprash potenciale nuk arritn t
ngjizeshin kurr. Kjo hipotez bazohet n ritmin e lart
t prodhimtaris s tij letrare t fazs s par. S dyti,
vepra e tij sht e munguar edhe n raport me lexuesin.
Nj vepr q qarkulloi vetm pr tre vjet, Njerz t rinj,
tok e lasht (1966), disa shkrime n shtypin periodik,
prgjat nj periudhe m pak se dhjetvjeare, nuk arritn
t komunikojn me nj rreth t gjer lexuesish pr rreth
25 vjet. Ka munguar jo thjesht n kuptimin fizik, si
letrsi e palexuar, por n radh t par pr veorit e saj
ideore dhe estetike. Qndrimi i tij estetik ndaj dukurive
t shoqris shqiptare, t bashkkohsis dhe t historis,
i dallueshm qart prej shkrimtarve bashkkohs, si
qndrim i ndryshm dhe lehtsisht i rrokshm, ka qen
nj vler e munguar n procesin e edukimit ideoestetik t
lexuesit shqiptar.
Nse krijimtaria letrare e pothuajse gjysms s dyt
t shekullit t njzet, brenda kufijve shtetror t
Shqipris (n mosprputhje me ata etnik e kulturor),
sipas mendimit t kritiks letrare shqiptare mund t
klasifikohet: (i) fal kriterit t rryms letrare, n a) letrsi
socrealiste dhe b) letrsi realiste; (ii) n baz t kriterit
ideoartistik, n a) konformiste dhe b) jokonformiste; (iii)
n baz t funksionit qytetar, n a) shrbyese-nnshtruese
dhe b) rezistuese-emancipuese; vepra e Bilal Xhaferrit
klasifikohet pa mdyshje si realiste, jokonformiste dhe
rezistuese-emancipuese. N pikpamje t rigorozitetit
ideoartistik krijimtaria e tij sht e njtrajtshme dhe
e pakompromentueshme.
Nse do ti klasifikonim
shkrimtart e ksaj periudhe nisur nga raporti q ata
krijuan me letrsin zyrtare t ksaj periudhe, pra me
socrealizmin, si drejtim dhe rrym letrare3,

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

ather grupimet jan tre: a) shkrimtart

socrealist konformist; b) shkrimtart jokonformist t
pajtueshm, t nnzshm, t trthort, t cilt siguruan
mbijetesn e krijimtaris s tyre prmes mosdaljes
hapur, moskundrshtimit t zshm t letrsis zyrtare,
si dhe prmes krijimesh t pakta sasiore konform me
drejtimin letrar zyrtar; c) shkrimtart jokonformist, t
papajtueshm dhe t zshm, t cilt u shfaqn hapur n
veprn e tyre kundr normave krijuese t socrealizmit4.
T part jan n nj pjes t madhe pr t ardhur keq ose
komik nga kndvshtrimi i sotm; t dytt dramatik n
mosprputhjen e bindjes me qndrimin vetjak n raport
me ideologjin zyrtare. Duke mos dashur t prdhosin
vlerat dhe misionin e artit dhe t krijimtaris s tyre si
pjes e tij, iu sht dashur t ruajn nj ekuilibr midis
veprs s tyre dhe socrealizmit. Ky ekuilibr tepr delikat
dhe i krcnuar mund t onte edhe n rrethana tragjike,
si pr ta personalisht ashtu edhe pr veprn e tyre. Ruajtja
e tij sht br prmes lshimesh jo thelbsore, q nuk
kan prekur thelbin e veprs letrare. Ndrsa t trett,
pa prjashtim, kan qen tragjik t dyfisht: mohim i
plot i veprs s tyre, censurimi i saj nga njra an dhe
mohim i liris fizike nga ana tjetr. Tragjiciteti i tyre nuk
ishte thjesht individual por edhe i krejt etnis e kulturs
shqiptare, po t kemi parasysh faktin se me mohimin
e liris fizike t tyre prmes burgimesh, internimesh,
dbimesh e detyrimesh pr largim jasht atdheut, u
trondit vet mekanizmi i tyre krijues, u orodit, i humbi
piktakimi fizik me realitetin dhe nuk u krijuan ato vepra
t mdha e t fuqishme, q do t mund t shfaqeshin pr
lexuesin e djeshm, t sotm dhe t ardhshm. N kt
kndvshtrim ky tragjicitet shfaqet prmes veprs letrare
t munguar t grupimit t tret. Nj humbje kjo nga ato
q koha nuk i zvendson kurr. Bilal Xhaferri hyn
natyrshm n grupin e tret, bile sht edhe prfaqsues i
ktij grupimi s bashku me Kasem Trebeshinn, si dy m
t spikaturit e rezistencs letrare shqiptare. Ktu ndoshta
sht e nevojshme t bjm nj sqarim t vogl n lidhje
me konsiderimin e tij si shkrimtar disident.
Duke u nisur nga kuptimi i fjals disident < lat.
desideo kundrvnie, e cila nnkupton nj njeri
q i kundrvihet regjimit me nj platform t caktuar
ideologjike, t shkruar n letr dhe t pranuar prej
atij vet, nuk mendojm se prmbushen kushtet e
domosdoshme pr t motivuar nj prcaktim t till
pr periudhn e par t krijimtaris s Xhaferrit. Vepra
e tij, e shkruar dhe botuar n Shqipri deri n vitin
1969, sht ndr pjest m t shndetshme t letrsis
jokonformiste shqiptare t gjysms s dyt s shekullit
XX. Disidenca e B. Xhaferrit z fill pas arratisjes s
tij nga Shqipria. Krejt krijimtaria e tij e mvonshme
sht kundrvnie e hapur ndaj regjimit t instaluar n
Shqipri.
Interesimi pr B. Xhaferrin, sikurse edhe pr
shkrimtart e tjer t grupimit t tret, ka qen fillimisht
nj interesim balancues, thn ndryshe: prpjekje pr
ti kthyer mbrapsht at far i qe mohuar n gjallje t
tij. Realiteti shqiptar i pasnntdhjets, si mohim i nj
realiteti gati pesdhjetvjear, u identifikua prmes
nxjerrjes n drit t vlerave t s mohuarve, duke botuar,
promovuar dhe vlersuar krijimtarin e tyre. Natyrshm
vlersimet e para pr ta qen t ngarkuara me ngjyrimin
ideor t postprmbysjes, antikomunizmit. Studimet e
mirfillta shkencore letraro-artistike do t shfaqeshin n
nj faz pak m t von dhe, mund t thuhet se, pas vitit
1995 studimi i veprs s Bilal Xhaferrit hyn n hullin e
studimit t mirfillt shkencor. N periudhn 1993-95
kemi kryesisht shkrimet e para t karakterit vlersues pr
t. Jan kujtime nga jeta e Bilal Xhaferrit, vlersime t
personalitetit t tij, t rolit atdhetar e liridashs.
Shkrimtar i mohuar, me atdhe dy her t mohuar, me
familje t mohuar, me krijimtari t mohuar, me liri fizike
dhe shpirtrore t mohuar. Por ky nuk qe ndshkimi i

Pamje nga Ninati, vendlindja e Bilal Xhaferrit, amri.

Largimi fizik prej Shqipris [30 gusht 1969]

shnon nj thyerje n vazhdimsin e procesit
t tij letrar, e kjo nuk mund t interpretohet
ndryshe, vese si nj shok pr laboratorin e tij
krijues, n kushtet e shkputjes prej realitetit
q kishte shrbyer si burim i motiveve dhe
temave t krijimtaris s tij.
madh pr t. M i madhi ndshkim q i qe rezervuar atij
(edhe gjith sivllezrve t tij) ishte harresa. Nj makineri
e tr shtetrore do ti ndalonte veprn, do ta hiqte nga
qarkullimi, do ta internonte fizikisht. Arratisja i parapriu
mosprmendjes s emrit t tij. Ky fat i keq, harresa,
q iu rezervua edhe bashkkohsve t tjer (Poradeci,
Kuteli, Trebeshina, etj.), ishte produkt i nj mekanizmi
t strholluar arsyetimi, sipas t cilit vetm ajo do t
mund t arrinte zhvlersimin e shkrimtarit, qoft edhe
prkohsisht, ta barazonte veprn e tij me mosekzistencn.
E kundrta e saj, prmendja e herpashershme e veprs
s tij, qoft edhe pr ta kritikuar apo demaskuar at, do
t mund t interpretohej si shenj vlersimi, gj q do
ta mbante gjall krshrin e lexuesit. Mosprmendja e
veprs dhe emrit t tij ishte dnimi q iu b pr s gjalli.
Pr her t par do t prmendej emri i tij m 1990, bile jo
i plot por me inicialet B.Xh.5. Pavarsisht nga motivi
i prmendjes, kjo shkaktoi nj mrmrim admiruese
t nnzshme. N kujtesn e nj brezi t tr lexuesish
erdhi prsri shkrimtari i talentuar i viteve 60. Ky mund
t quhet si oguri i par q do ti paraprinte kthimit t tij
n gjirin e letrsis shqiptare vetm 3 vjet m von, me
botimin n Tiran t romanit Krastakraus (1993), botim
q u pasua nga t tjer, e deri n botimin e veprs s plot
t tij, m 2010.
Jeta e Bilal Xhaferrit mund t shikohet n dy
dimensione: n at linear-gjeografik, prmes itinerarit t
tij jetsor, nga m interesantt pr nj shkrimtar shqiptar
t shekullit XX; n at kulturor-gjenealogjik, si pinjoll i
nj familjeje q trashgonte nj tradit t pasur, m se dy
shekullore, kulturore e atdhetare.
N prputhje me rrethanat jetsore t Bilal Xhaferrit
mund t klasifikojm edhe krijimtarin e tij letrare. Ajo
ndahet n dy faza, t cilat prcaktohen si t tilla, jo prej
faktit se prkojn me dy gjendje t ndryshme jetsore, por
bazuar kryesisht n raportin individ -shoqri - politik.
Periudha e par lidhet me rrethann jetsore t privimit,
t paracaktimit t rolit t individit n shoqri, t mungess
s kushteve t prshtatshme pr krijim, t vshtirsive pr
botim, t mosbarazis me antart e tjer t s njjts njsi

etnike, pr shkak t prkatsis n nj shtres shoqrore

me bindje t ndryshme prej atyre sunduese. E dyta
lidhet me rrethann e liris s individit, e vshtirsive
ekonomike, e liris s krijimit dhe botimit, e barazis me
antart e tjer t nj shoqrie multikulturore. Krijimtaria
letrare e Bilal Xhaferrit shklqeu n periudhn e
par, periudhn e privimit. N kt pik mendimet e
studiuesve t veprs s tij ndahen n dy. sht shprehur
mendimi se edhe e dyta ashtu si e para sht nj periudh
e begat letrare6, mendim ky i pambshtetur nga autor
t tjer, sipas t cilve t dy periudhat i karakterizon
nj gjendje asimetrie n lidhje me cilsin artistike dhe
sasin e krijimtaris s tij7. Ato pak krijime artistike t
periudhs s dyt mund t shihen si dshmi e talentit dhe
aftsis s tij krijuese, t cilat nuk u shfrytzuan edhe aq
pr prodhimtari letrare, por iu nnshtruan angazhimit
t tij politik e atdhetar. Duke u mbshtetur n vllimin
sasior, si edhe n veori ideoestetike t krijimtaris s
tij, ne e mbshtesim mendimin, sipas t cilit, periudha
e dyt nuk e shfaq m shklqimin e s pars. Natyrisht,
nj boshllk t madh ka krijuar edhe humbja e madhe,
pas djegies s redaksis s revists Krahu i Shqiponjs,
e t gjitha dorshkrimeve t tij. Por, mendojm se do
t ishte m e drejt, pr t arritur n nj mendim m t
arsyeshm, q krijimtaria e Xhaferrit e fazs s dyt t
shihet nn kndvshtrimin e dallimit mes shkrimit
poetik e shkrimit politik, ndrmjet shkrimit pasionant e
shkrimit militant; pr ta karakterizuar dyzimin e Auctorit,
me gjith madhshtin e forcn e tij, n autor t pasionit
e n autor t misionit; duke e pasur t parin q e kthen
botn nga vetvetja, kurse t dytin, q e kthen vetveten
kah bota.8.
Duke e konsideruar periudhn e par t krijimtaris
s tij si dukuri krejt normale, ne do t mundohemi t
rendisim disa prej shkaqeve q kan prcaktuar zbehjen
e cilsis artistike t periudhs s dyt. Arsyet mund
t jen objektive, t tilla q nuk mund t ken qen
t kontrollueshme prej tij, si mungesa e kontaktit me
realitetin shqiptar, megjithse ai i ndiqte me kujdes dhe
vmendje t veant ngjarjet e Shqipris; mosqenia
n kontakt me prurjet e reja n fush t krijimtaris
artistike, e veanrisht t asaj letrare shqiptare (n
Krahu i Shqiponjs nuk jepet ndonj informacion i
ksaj natyre); mosqenia n kontakt me zhvillimet n
fushn e gjuhs shqipe, sidomos pr sa i prket njsimit
e standardizimit t saj. Prpos ktyre arsyeve jan edhe
ato me natyr vetjake. Krahu i Shqiponjs sht
dshmi e nj angazhimi t njtrajtshm ideopolitik e
atdhetar t Xhaferit prgjat periudhs s Ameriks.
Ky angazhim sht nj zgjedhje e lir, e ndrgjegjshme,
nj mision qytetar e atdhetar, t cilin ia ngarkon vetes

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

dhe nga i cili nuk do t shkputet deri n fund
t jets s tij. Homo poeticus-i i fazs s
par ia ka ln vendin homo politicus-it9 n
fazn e dyt. Ky kaprcim i ndrgjegjshm,
por edhe i diktuar nga rrethana jetsore e tij, ka
qen vendimtar pr fatin e krijimtaris letrare
t Xhaferit. Edhe krijimet letrare t ksaj
periudhe jan pasqyr e angazhimit t tij t
ethshm politik e atdhetar. Kjo dshmohet jo
vetm n tematikn e krijimeve, por edhe n
formn artistike e veorit stilistike t tyre. Nj
karakterizim prmbledhs pr jetn e Bilal Xhaferrit
do t mund t formulohej: jet humbjesh. Si rrall me
ndonj shkrimtar tjetr shqiptar mund t gjendej nj
paralelizm midis tematiks krijuese dhe fatit jetsor,
si ndodh me rastin e Bilal Xhaferrit. I prqasur me at
t Serembes10, fati i tij jetsor rrjedh n harmoni t plot
me motivet e veprs s tij m t arrir, saq duket se
prcaktimi i zgjedhjeve t tematiks e motiveve sht
i prcaktuar n pjesn m t madhe pikrisht prej tij.
N rrjedhn e jets s tij disa ngjarje kan pasur nj
ndikim t jashtzakonshm n prcaktimin e karakterit
dhe t formimit t tij intelektual. Ktu hyjn ngjarjet q
lidhen me fmijrin dhe rinin e hershme t autorit. T
tjera kan pasur ndikim n prcaktimin e qndrimit dhe
zotimit t tij politik e atdhetar. Ktu hyjn ato t rinis e
moshs madhore. Sidoqoft, ngjarje q kan prcaktuar
krejt zhvillimet e mvonshme jetsore t tij kan qen
ato t fmijris s kaluar n Ninat, n fshatin e lindjes.
N mosh minore do t ballafaqohet me dy humbjet
m t hidhura t jets s tij: vdekjen e nns (1943) dhe
pushkatimin e t atit (1945). E para do t prcaktonte
raportin e tij me jetn dhe me familjen. I duhet t largohet
q i vogl prej familjes s tij pr t siguruar jetesn e tij
por edhe ndihm pr pjestart e tjer, tri motrat m t
vogla. E dyta do t prcaktonte raportet e tij me regjimin
dhe politikn sunduese. Ky destinim i tij do t ndikohet
prgjat jets s tij edhe nga rrethana t tjera. Rritet dhe
edukohet nga gjyshi i tij. Mbaron shkolln fillore n
vendlindje, kujtimi i s cils n ndrgjegjen e djaloshit t
traumatizuar nga privimet e parakohshme familjare vjen
n formn e fmijris, q
vrapon akoma,
duke puthur me kmbt e prgjakura
kalldrmet e vithisur t Ninatit,
strallet e sokakve t Markatit. (2010a:81).
Periudha e fmijris pati edhe ann e saj pozitive.
Privimi politik, prballja e familjes s tij (gjyshit) me
njerzit e pushtetit, operativin e sigurimit, jan mbresat
e para q do ta ndrgjegjsojn m von pr fatin e
vet. Shtrngesa ekonomike, mungesa e nj amvise pr
prkujdesje ndaj fmijve, jan nxitjet e shfaqjes s shpirtit
human t bashkfshatarve t tij, t njerzve t thjesht q
iu gjendn pran familjes s tij n ditt e vshtira. Fmijt
e vegjl do t laheshin e pastroheshin, do tu jepej ushqim
prej bashkfshatarve, s bashku me porosin q t mos
tregonin se kush ishte bamirsi.11 Tradita e bujaris, me
rrnj t thella n fshatin e Ninatit, do t prcaktonte edhe
raportin e Bilal Xhaferrit me njeriun e thjesht shqiptar.
Ky do t jet heroi kryesor i tregimeve t tij, mbartsi
i virtyteve m t mira, atdhetari i vrtet. Przgjedhja e
heronjve t tij larg skemave e klisheve, q ofronte me
shumic letrsia bashkkohse, nuk sht e rastsishme.
Kjo mund t shihet si shenj e qartsimit t hershm t
shkrimtarit pr dallimin mes letrsis s vrtet realiste
dhe asaj t nxitur dhe prkrahur nga regjimi politik n
Shqipri, pr t ciln jo shpirti njerzor me larmin dhe
problematikn e vet, por modelimi i tij, prbnin boshtin
ideor dhe prcaktonin platformn ideoestetike t saj.
Me kujtimet e viteve t lufts, si dhe me perceptimet e
para t hendekut midis njeriut t thjesht (bashkfshatart
q u gjendeshin pran) dhe njeriut t pushtetit (operativi i
zons, sekretari i partis, kryetari i kshillit), do t largohet

n 1948 drejt Sarands, i marr nga halla e tij, ku do t

punoj fillimisht si hamall e m von si korrier n posttelegraf. Me vete do t marr pasurin e amrishtes si dhe
mbresat e pashlyeshme t fmijris, t cilat s bashku me
prvojn e mvonshme jetsore ai i prcakton si material
i shkrimeve t mia, duke patur bllok shnimesh zemrn
time . . . 12. Shum tregime t vllimit t tij Njerz t
rinj, tok e lasht, sidomos ato me tem nga Lufta e
Dyt Botrore, jan t pasura me detaje jetsore dhe me
elemente gjuhsore tipike pr trevn e tij t lindjes.
Nj pyetje lind natyrshm kur lexon poezin dhe
tregimet e Bilal Xhaferrit: Cila sht ajo rrethan q ka
prcaktuar drejtimin dhe fokusimin e subjektit krijues
n tema dhe motive q dilnin jasht tematiks tipike t
prodhimtaris letrare t gjysms s dyt t shekullit XX?
Pr shum shkrimtar fmijria ka shrbyer si nxitje pr
motivet e veprave m t mira t krijimtaris s tyre. Edhe
n rastin e B. Xhaferrit, ndonse jo n formn e kujtimeve,
te fmijria e tij i kan fillesat shum prej motiveve t
trajtuara prej tij. Ai i kaloi vitet e fmijris n periudhn
e prplasjes s dy botve. Po lindte nj bot e re, duke
mohuar trsisht t vjetrn edhe prmes asgjsimit fizik
t saj. Nuk mund t jet paraqitur m thjesht dhe m
trishtueshm n letrsin shqiptare ky ndrrim i madh dhe
pozicioni i njeriut t mbetur n udhkryq, sesa n vargjet
mbushur grushtet me xixlloja
mbushur xhepat me gzhoja13
Xixlloja - gzhoja krijojn nj ift t fuqishm
antonimik kontekstual, e para si simbol i shpress, i jets,
i ndrrs, e dyta si vrasse e tyre. E gjith kjo n sfondin
e kalldrmeve t vithisur t Ninatit14, i cili kishte njohur
nj tradit t hershme patriotizmi dhe humanizmi, kulmi
i s cils kishte qen Hasan Tahsini, pjes e trungut
gjenealogjik t s cilit ishte edhe familja e autorit. Hoxhajt
n Ninat qen t vendosur n nj lagje t vogl, e quajtur
Bregu i Hoxhajet. Ishte jo vetm krenaria e Ninatit, por
edhe mbshtetja e streha pr bujts dhe t vuajtur prej
fshatrave m t afrt. Bujaria e gjyshit t Bilal Xhaferrit
ruhet ende e freskt n kujtesn e fshatarve t Janjarit,15
disa prej t cilve, n dit t vshtira t uris, kishin gjetur
streh pikrisht n familjen e tij. Ky realitet, n t cilin
marrdhniet njerzore ndrtoheshin mbi bazn e pozits
shoqrore por edhe t ndjenjave humane e virtyteve t
kultivuara e trashguara brez pas brezi, u shemb, u b pluhur
e hi brenda nj kohe shum t shkurtr, duke u ravijzuar
n subkoshiencn e 13-vjearit n lidhjen asociative me
kalldrmin e vithisur. Fati i tij vetjak ka prcaktuar jo
vetm kndvshtrimin, perceptimin artistik dhe estetik
t realitetit, por edhe origjinalitetin e tij n prdorimin
e fjals. Poezia e tij sht poezi e imazhit poetik, imazh
i krijuar prej fjals, forcs shprehse dhe figurshmris
q ajo fiton n kontekstin prkats gjuhsor. Fjala e ka
ndihmuar t krijoj kt imazh, por njkohsisht prej
prdorimit t saj sht pasuruar edhe me kuptime t tjera,
q nuk i ka patur m par. Ylberi n Balad ame e humbet
kuptimin e tij si simbol hareje, fal shumngjyrsis,
dhe kthehet n paralajmrues t tragjedis s madhe q
pritet t vij.16 Po kshtu zgjerohet erdhja semantike e
fjals trishtim n poezin Eja trishtim, prmes vendosjes
s lidhjes me sintagmat o prehr i mbl, - o streh
e qetsis sime, - o ndrrime t mia, - o gji i shpress
sime!17. Realiteti psiko-emocional i autorit sht realitet

i fjals, i zgjerimit t lidhjeve t saj, si shprehje e

raporteve t reja semantike. Duke lexuar poezin
Eja trishtim, n sfondin e vargjeve t saj na shfaqet
fytyra e pushtuar nga nj buzqeshje e trishtuar e
nj djaloshi 14-vjear me duar n xhepa, me nj
pal pantallona puntori t fryra te kmbt e me ca
flok kaurrele m t disiplinuara se vet i zoti,18
e fiksuar n kujtesn e nj fmije 5-vjear. Figurat
e sigurimit t shtetit t ardhur n shtpin e tij,
ku i rriste gjyshi i vetmuar, t cilt i krkonin tu
tregonte se cilt i kishin ndihmuar duke iu dhn
ushqime, ironia e gjyshit t tij mi solli sekretari i partis
bashk me kryetarin e kshillit,19 kan ln mbresa t
pashlyeshme q do t rishfaqen n forma t ndryshme n
tregimet e tij. Njerz t pushtetit t ri do t sillnin nj dit
n shtpin e tij portrete t udhheqsit t ri dhe t byros
politike e do ti varnin n mur. Kta do t duhej t ishin
kujdestart e rinj pr fmijt e mbetur jetim. Gjyshi i
moshuar do ti merrte nj nga nj me bastunin e tij nga
muri dhe do ti hidhte n zjarr.20 Kto skena kan ndodhur
para syve t djaloshit10-12-vjear.
Nse fmijria e tij ishte periudh e grumbullimit t
mbresave q nuk do t shlyhen asnjher, q me rinin
e hershme fillon nj periudh e prballjes me nj realitet
aspak dashamirs, prkundrazi, t vshtir e her-her t
pamshirshm. I vetm, duhet t siguroj jetesn, duke
br pun t ndryshme fizike. I duhet t vetarsimohet,
pr t plotsuar veten dhe pr t prmbushur prirjen
e tij krijuese. Paralelisht ndjek shkolln e nats, krijon
dhe prgatit pr botim krijimet e tij. Duke kaluar nj
rini privimesh i kristalizohet bindja pr fatin e tij social:
kam lindur, jam rritur dhe do t mbetem prgjithmon
puntor . . .21. Fati i vet sht dhe ai i shum t tjerve,
t cilt i njohu n repartet e xhenjos si ushtar, n fushat
e Sukthit apo npr kantieret e ndrtimit si puntor i
rruga-urs. Te fati i ktyre njerzve, ashtu si dhe tek ai
i mjaft t tjerve, q prballojn jetn e vshtir, ai do
t shikoj t mundurit, humbsit, q duhet t pranojn
kushtet e reja fatale me dinjitet dhe tu rezistojn atyre.
Ky do t bhet motivi dhe frymzimi i krijimtaris s tij
letrare. Prcaktimi i tij n planin vetjak se Jeta sht
nj lum q nuk duhet ta hedhsh (dhe nuk mundesh
ta hedhsh), por duhet t rrjedhsh s bashku me valt
e saj . . .22, sht shprehje e nj fatumi fatal,23 i cili
jo vetm q nuk e shtyn drejt trheqjes e pasivitetit, por
sht piknisja e nj qndrimi, q n veprn e tij merr
prmasat e qndress n nj kuptim m t gjer moral
e filozofik. Qndresa bhet motiv themelor i krijimtaris
s Xhaferrit, jo n kuptimin e qndress s t voglit ndaj
t madhit, e prqafuar zellshm nga letrsia socrealiste e
shekullit t njzet, por si ruajtje e vlerave liridashse, si
mosnnshtrim, si ruajtje e identitetit etnik e kombtar, e
trashgimis kuturore e morale, si prballim i disfats. Ai
sht i prfshir, i identifikuar n dramn e atdheut t tij,
jo vetm n rrafshin politik, por edhe historik e etnik.24.
1

Petro Marko. Intervist me vetveten: Ret dhe gurt. Shtpia Botuese OMSCA, Tiran, 2000,
f. 540.
Roland Zisi. Veorit e narracionit dhe prshkrimit n prozn rrfimtare t Bilal Xhaferrit. Panteon
3 & Afrdita, Tiran, 2001, f. 13.
4 Po aty, f. 7.
5 Po aty.
6 Ismail Kadare. Ftes n studio. Shtpia botuese Naim Frashri, Tiran, 1990, f. 309.
Bashkim Kuuku. Tragjizmi n kontekstin e nj letrsie himnizuese. N: Bilal Xhaferri, Vepra
7 letrare 1, Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f.19.
Roland Zisi. Veorit e narracionit dhe prshkrimit n prozn rrfimtare t Bilal Xhaferrit.
8 Panteon & Afrdita, Tiran, 2001, f. 12.
Sabri Hamiti. Autori dhe autoriteti (Homo Poeticus/Homo Politicus). N: Studime albanologjike,
9 2012/2, Viti XVII, Universiteti i Tirans, Fakulteti i Historis dhe i Filologjis, f. 7.
10Po aty.
Bashkim Kuuku. Tragjizmi n kontekstin e nj letrsie himnizuese. N: Bilal Xhaferri, Vepra
11 letrare 1, Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f.21.
12 Sipas kujtimeve t motrs s Bilal Xhaferrit, zonjs Antika Myrto.
13 Bilal Xhaferri. Vepra letrare 2. Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f. 186.
14 Bilal Xhaferri. Vepra letrare 1. Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f. 81.
15 Bilal Xhaferri. Vepra letrare 1. Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f. 81.
16 Fshat pran Ninatit
Ymer iraku. Artikulimi poezis si dram (B. Xhaferri). N: Shqyrtime kritike nga Historia e
17 Letrsis Shqipe. Albas, Tiran, 2011, f.148.
Bilal
Xhaferri. Vepra letrare 1. Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f. 150.
18
Tasim Besho. Intimitete familjare, t formimit dhe t karakterit. N: Lexime t veprs s Bilal
Xhaferrit.
Arbria, Tiran, 2012, f.161.
19
20 Sipas kujtimeve t motrs s Bilal Xhaferrit, zonjs Antika Myrto.
21 Sipas kujtimeve t motrs s Bilal Xhaferrit, zonjs Antika Myrto.
22 Bilal Xhaferri. Vepra letrare 2. Arbria, Tiran, 2010, f. 186.
23 Po aty, f. 187.
24 Ymer iraku. Artikull i cituar, f. 146.
Po aty.
2

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

Robert Elsie

hameria, 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 AntiFascist 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.

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 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

Chamerian refugees in Kavaja

Document of the Committee of Cham

of the Chams, submitted to the Human

e,
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,
Gardhiq, Paramithia, Margelli, Arpica,
Grikohori, 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

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 Shndellia
were deserted completely by their
Albanian inhabitants.
Under these circumstances, we did not

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

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: Kooni, Pitulejt, 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

The Chamerian Congress opened at Vlora on 23rd September 1945.

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 Zotos,
the notorious criminals Ballumis,
Pantazis, 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 monarchoFascists. The number of the massacred
in the town of Paramithia and vicinity
reached 600 souls.
On 28 July 1944, the forces of 40th

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 Koinja - president,
Stavropoulos - prosecuting attorney,
and four other members, 47 innocent
Albanians were massacred. In Granica
near Filat are buried the corpses of 46

Sali Muhedini, Abedin Bako,

Muhamet Pronjo and Malo
Sejdiu had their fingers,
nose, tongue, and feet cut
off, and while they screamed
with pain, andartes of Zervas
guerrillas sang the song
of their commander, and
rejoiced as they witnessed
this scene of terror. In the
end, they hung them with
butcher hooks.
In the house of Sulo Tari had gathered
more than 40 women. ili Popova from
Popova, wearing a military uniform,
and a group of soldiers, entered the
house, seized the 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 heinousness.
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,

Albanians in exile, on Greek persecution

Rights Commission of the United Nations
Anti-Fascist struggle. The massacres in
Chameria were a result of collaboration
and agreements with the Germans, who
in the . process of retreating, allowed
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 Fanaromen, 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 Vitos entered Filat.
That close collaboration strengthened

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.
Regiment, commanded by Agores,
entered Parga and massacred 52 men,
women and children.
The forces of EOEA under the
command of Theodhor Vito, Ilia Kao,
Hristo Mavrudhi, Hristo Kao, Hari

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 MonarchoFascists 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.

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 Shn
Vlashi, 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 Bako,
Muhamet Pronjo and Malo

10

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

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.

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 Hima, 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. Kamaras, Major Kranja, Captain
Kristo Stavropulli, an attorney; Captain
Lefter Strugari, attorney; sub-lieutenant
Nikolla enos, and others. As soon as
they entered the city, the order was given
that no one should leave, because no
ones 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 St. George,
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
Gallataj, near the house of Dhimitr
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

Refugees from Chameria live in ruined barracks, huts and half-destroyed houses which is all
war-shattered Albania can spare them. They are dressed mostly in rags and have enough to
eat so that they can live and no more.

Chamerian refugees in Kavaja, Central

Albania, receiving assistance.

turned over to Major Kranias 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.
Pae ulani, 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 Muo. 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
Dhimic and his wife. In the house of
Meto Braho, 20 persons, including men,
women and children, were burned alive...
Kije Nuria, 70 years of age, was knifed
to death... In the vineyard of Zule and the
garden of Avdyl Nure, 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 Margellic 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 MonarchoFascist 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

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Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

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

Kasm Demi, Liaison Officer with UNRRA in the Chamerian Anti-Fascist Council, talking with Chamerian refugees in Elbasan.

Malo Muho, an 80-yearold 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.
[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 Shals (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 MonarchoFascists 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
considerations:

most

distinguished

THE ANTI-FASCIST COMMITTEE

OF CHAM IMMIGRANTS
Taho Sejko, Kasm Demi, Rexhep
ami, Tahir Demi, Vehip Demi,
Dervish Dojaka, Hilmi Seiti
Translated from the Albanian
by Peter R. Prifti

12

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

Presioni etnik q ato kisha ushtronin

n mnyr t vazhdueshme ndaj
shqiptarve ortodoks solli asimilimin
e tyre n gjirin e kombsis greke,
bullgare apo serbe. Pr kt arsye,
numri i shqiptarve ortodoks erdhi
vazhdimisht duke u paksuar.

Kristo Frashri

i dihet nga historia kishtare, krishterimi n

viset antike ilire u prhap q n shekullin
e Krishtit. Kt e thot Shn Pali n letrn
q ai pasi kishte kryer udhtimin e dyt n
Maqedoni, u drejtoi nga Korinthi qytetarve
t Roms n vitet 57-58: Arrita tua shpije t gjithve
lajmin e mir (Ungjillin) pr Krishtin nga Jerusalemi
dhe prqark deri n Ilirik. Dihet gjithashtu se n fillim
krishterimi erdhi nga Perndimi dhe se institucionet
kishtare t shekujve t par t krishterimit vareshin nga
Roma. Nj ndr peshkopatat dhe m pas kryepeshkopat
m t hershme t fes s krishter n Evropn
Juglindore e kishte qendrn n Shkup.
Me ndarjen e Perandoris Romake n vitin 395
provincat romake t Maqedonis dhe t Dardanis
si dhe provincat e tjera ilire jugore, u prfshin
administrativisht n Perandorin Romane t Lindjes
apo n Perandorin Bizantine, si u quajt. Rrjedhimisht,
edhe institucionet kishtare t ktyre provincave
prfshir edhe kryepeshkopatn e Shkupit u vun
nn vartsi t Kostandinopojs. Megjithat, perandori
Justinian, i cili ishte me origjin ilire nga Dardania, pa
dyshim nn presionin e tradits kishtare perndimore
t ilirve, krijoi, si u tha, nj kryepeshkopat t re n
shkall ekzarkati me emrin Justiniana Prima, emr me
t cilin ai e pagzoi vendlindjen e tij Taurisin pran
Shkupit. Kryepeshkopata e Justiniana Prima-s, e cila
zvendsoi at t Shkupit, prmendet deri n fund t
shekullit VI, kur furia barbare sidomos ajo e sllavve
pagan, e prmbysi s bashku me administratn
shtetrore dhe administrative kishtare n Dardani dhe
n Maqedoni.
Kur m von Perandoria Bizantine rivendosi
autoritetin e saj administrativ n kto vise peshkopatat
ajo i lidhi me patriarkatin e Kostandinopojs. Kshtu
filloi prhapja e ritit lindor, si shkruan n shekullin IX,
Anastas Bibliotekari, n kto vise. Megjithat, lidhjet
e popullsis s ktyre trevave me ritin perndimor
nuk u harruan. Gjat shekullit X shqiptart t cilt
banonin n viset e ktyre dy patriarkateve patriarkatit
t Kostandinopojs dhe patriarkatit t Ohrit, tashm
prfundimisht t ndara ndoqn pak a shum ritet
lindore t ktyre dy patriarkateve. Si rrjedhim, n
provincn e Dardanis dhe n at t Maqedonis folsit
e gjuhs shqipe tashm qen t ndar n shqiptar t
ritit perndimor (katolik) dhe n shqiptar t ritit lindor
(ortodoks). Por shqiptart ortodoks, meqense qen
prfshir disa nn sqetulln e kishs bizantine, disa n
at t kishs bullgare, madje m von disa prej tyre nn
sqetulln e kish ortodokse serbe, - edhe pse i prkisnin
t njjtit grup etnik nuk quheshin shqiptar, por, si
u tha, emrtoheshin sipas kishs ku ata bnin pjes
romej, bullgar ose serb. Parimisht, apelativi shqiptar
prdorej vetm pr folsit shqip t ritit katolik.
Pr pranin e tyre gjat shekujve IX-XII n hapsirn
e Dardanis e t Maqedonis mungojn krejtsisht
burimet dokumentare. Historia e tyre sht ngushtsisht

Dy fjal pr shqiptart
e ritit ortodoks n
Maqedonin e ditve tona
e lidhur me historin e peshkopats s Shkupit, e
cila rishfaqet, n fillim t shekullit XIII, sidomos t
kryepeshkopats s Shkupit, e cila rishfaqet pak m
von. Prkundrazi, prania e shqiptarve ortodoks
sht anashkaluar, mbasi cilsimi i tyre ishte n vartsi
t kishs ku ata qen prfshir si romej, si bullgar
apo si serb. Megjithat, nuk mungojn disa t dhna
edhe pse t pakta, t cilat dshmojn se shqiptart e
ritit lindor, edhe pse qen pr shekuj nn presion t
egr t bullgarizimit dhe serbizimit, qen vazhdimisht
t pranishm n viset dardane dhe maqedone, madje
ata mbijetojn edhe n ditt tona.
Pra identifikimi i shqiptarve sht tepr i vshtir,
n shumicn e rasteve i pamundur, pr shkak t
emrave t tyre, t cilat kishat i detyronin t respektonin
onomastikn bizantine, bullgare, serbe. Si rrjedhim, n
burimet dokumentare shqiptarsia e tyre konstatohet
kur ata cilsohen katolik ose kur ata jan katolik. Kur
jan ortodoks ata konstatohen kur n kundrshtim me
diktatin e kishave t tyre mbajn emra q i prkasin
onomastiks shqiptare si Pal, Lek, Progon, Tanush,
Gjin, Gjon, etj. etj.
Presioni i sllavizimit t emrave ishte hapi i par
q shpinte n sllavizmin e atyre q mbanin emrin.

N fillim t shekullit XX n kazan

e Tetovs ekzistonin katr fshatra
(Jaxhinci, Elovci i Eprm, Elovci i
Poshtm, Duh), me banor shqiptar t
krishter, t cilt jsht shtpive t tyre
quheshin bullgar ortodoks.

Si rrjedhim, numri i shqiptare ortodoks erdhi

vazhdimisht duke u paksuar. Paksimi i tyre vazhdoi
edhe gjat shekujve t sundimit osman. Hetimi i tyre
ka ardhur vazhdimisht duke u vshtirsuar.
Shqiptart e ritit lindor edhe kur vazhdonin ta ruanin
identitetin e tyre etnik ishin t detyruar t deklaroheshin
pr arsye q sht leht t kuptohet si pjestar t
kombsis greke, bullgare, serbe. Shkrimtari frng
L. Jaray, i cili e vizitoi Shqiprin sapo ajo shpalli
pavarsin kombtare, na jep nj shembull interesant
se si koncepti mesjetar fetar dogmatik ishte ende n
fuqi n erekun e par t shek. XX. Ai gjeti n vitin
1913 nj fshat n rrethin e Shkupit me banor shqiptar
t krishter lindor, t cilt kur i pyeti se far ishin,
ata u prgjigjn se qen bullgar. N nj fshat tjetr
me banor mysliman t cilt flisnin bullgarisht kur i
pyeti than se ishin shqiptar (G. L. Jaray, L. Albanie
inconnue, Paris 1913, f. 10).
N fillim t shekullit XVII, n Ballkan ky koncept
vazhdonte t ishte i rrnjosur si dhe m par. Dihet se
n vitin 1602, n fshatin Dukagjin t Matit u mblodh
nj kuvend shqiptar, ku morn pjes 2656 vet, t
cilt prfaqsonin katrmbdhjet krahina shqiptare
me banor katolik dhe unit, q nga Kosova deri n
Himar. Aty u vendos ti krkonin ndihm Republiks
s Venedikut pr t ndrmarr nj kryengritje lirimtare
kundr Perandoris Osmane. Me kt rast premtonin se
n kryengritje do t merrnin pjes rreth 40000 lufttar
t besimit roman katolik. Atyre do tu shtoheshin
edhe rreth 60000 lufttar t tjer shqiptar t besimit
ortodoks, disa nga t cilt quheshin n kt dokument
grek pr shkak t varsis nga patriarkati grek i
Kostandinopojs, kurse t tjert serbian ngase ishin
nn varsin e patriarkatit serb t Pejs. (L. M. Ugolini,
Pagine di Storia Veneta ai tempi di Scanderbeg e dei
suoi successori. N: Studi albanesi, vll. III-IV,

13

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

Rom, 1933-1934). N kt dokument del haptazi
se edhe vet shqiptart u qen prshtatur koncepteve
mesjetare mbi kombsin, mbasi vllezrit e tyre i
konsideronin shqiptar, vese i cilsonin grek dhe
serb sipas prkatsis s tyre kishtare.
Vetkuptohet se lehtsirat q patn shqiptart e
ritit lindor nga kishat greke, bullgare dhe serbe n
prballimin e problemeve t tyre shoqrore justifikojn
besnikrin e tyre ndaj ortodoksis. Por, nga ana
tjetr, presioni etnik q ato kisha ushtronin n mnyr
t vazhdueshme ndaj shqiptarve ortodoks solli
asimilimin e tyre n gjirin e kombsis greke, bullgare
apo serbe. Pr kt arsye, numri i shqiptarve ortodoks
erdhi vazhdimisht duke u paksuar. N viset e sotme t
Maqedonis procesit t asimilimit bullgaro-maqedon
i shptuan disa rrethina fshatrash malore. Jordan
Ivanovi pranon se shqiptart e krishter ortodoks
t Gostivarit n fillim t shekullit XX ishin tashm
bullgarizuar. (J. Ivanov, Blgarite V Makedonija, Sofie,
1915, f. LXIII). Gjithashtu, n fillim t shekullit XX
n kazan e Tetovs ekzistonin katr fshatra (Jaxhinci,
Elovci i Eprm, Elovci i Poshtm, Duh), me banor
shqiptar t krishter, t cilt jsht shtpive t tyre
quheshin bullgar ortodoks (L. Skndo, Albanais et
slaves, Lausanne 1919, f. 19). N gazetn bullgare
Jehona q dilte n Bullgari m 1913, n pragun e
Lufts s Par Botrore, n nj studim q i kushtohej
Dibrs n nj nga numrat e par t saj pranonte se
nn ndikimin e propagands aktive bullgare jo vetm
sllavt e Dibrs, por edhe t krishtert dibran filluan
t quheshin bullgar. (Sipas L. Skndo, po aty, f. 19).
Shqiptart ortodoks sot ka dhe n rrethinat e Ohrit
e t Presps. Por kta n letrsin zyrtare maqedone
cilsohen maqedon.
Bashksit shqiptare ortodokse q i shptuan
asimilimit t vazhdueshm sllav ekzistojn edhe sot
n masa t konsiderueshme n rrethinat e Manastirit
dhe n Rekn e Eprme t Dibrs. N Buletinin
statistikor t popullsis s vilajeteve q ka botuar
Instituti Gjeografik i Bullgaris n Sofje m 1902, n
kapitullin Kaza e Manastirit jan regjistruar kto 17
fshatra, me shnimin se banort e tyre flasin shqip dhe
bullgarisht: Snegovo, Zllokuqani, Ostreci, Obedniku,
Porodini, Trnova, Margari, Zmirnova e Vjetr,
Dolencka, Suvodolli, Moglica, Kshava, Pribilci,
Bukova, Kozjaku, Vinani, Rakicka.
N po at Buletin jan rreshtuar edhe fshatrat e Reks
s Eprme me banor ortodoks q flasin shqip dhe
bullgarisht, ndonse n at koh shumica e tyre nuk
e njihte fare bullgarishten apo maqedonishten. Aty
rreshtohen trembdhjet fshatra: Veleshica, Kiinica,
Senca, Vallkavia, Zhuzhnja, Krakarnica, Nivishta,
Rimnica, Nishpuri, Nistrova, Porea, Grekaj, Vrbeni.
N t vrtet, kazaja e Reks kishte njzet e pes (25)
fshatra shqiptare. Kt e dshmon nj memorandum i
nnshkruar nga prfaqsuesit e njzet e pes fshtrave t
Reks drejtuar m 1913 ministrit t jashtm britanik, Sir
Edward Gray-it, kryetar i Konferencs s Ambasadorve
t Fuqive t Mdha n Londr, konferenc e ngarkuar
pr t shqyrtuar krkesn pr Pavarsin e Shqipris,
q kishte shpallur Kuvendi i Vlors m 28 Nntor 1913.
N kt memorandum thuhej ndr t tjera:
Ne, t nnshkruarit shqiptar me origjin nga
Dibra, q banojm n Rumani, t deleguar nga
bashkatdhetart tan n kuvendin q mbajtm sot m 12
janar (1913) protestojm energjikisht kundr presionit
q po ushtrohet ndaj bashkpatriotve tan q tju
shprehim juve se ata jan t knaqur nga administrimi
(sundimi) serb dhe t kundrshtojn prkatsin e tyre
n kombsin shqiptare. N kto fshatra t njohura
botrisht shqiptare, njohja e serbishtes nuk provon
fare origjinn e tyre serbe. Serbishtja njihet ktu nga
puntort e ktyre fshatrave q kan mrguar n Serbi
pr t ushtruar zejet e tyre... Memorandumin e kan
nnshkruar: Neofit Simeoni, Manol Gjergji, Manol
Boshko, Niqifor Panteli, Ilia Rafaeli, Grigor Petre,
Vasil Kostandini, Hamdi bej Dibra, Feizi Aliu, Ismail
Fetahu (L. Skndo, po aty, f. 19).
Memorandumi i rekasve nuk ishte nj shfaqje e

Shkrimtari frng L. Jaray, i cili e vizitoi

Shqiprin sapo ajo shpalli pavarsin
kombtare, na jep nj shembull
interesant se si koncepti mesjetar
fetar dogmatik ishte ende n fuqi n
erekun e par t shek. XX. Ai gjeti n
vitin 1913 nj fshat n rrethin e Shkupit
me banor shqiptar t krishter
lindor, t cilt kur i pyeti se far ishin,
ata u prgjigjn se qen bullgar.

izoluar e patriotizmit t tyre shqiptar. Ajo ishte pjell e

pjesmarrjes s tyre n lvizjen kombtare shqiptare t
njohur me emrin Rilindja Kombtare Shqiptare, e cila
oi n shpalljen e Pavarsis Kombtare t Shqipris
m 28 Nntor 1912. Ndonse u ndodhn n presionin e
kishs nacionaliste serbomadhe dhe n t njjtn koh
nn presionin e sundimit shekullor osman, i cili si dhe
kisha serbe ua mohonte shfaqjen e ndjenjave t tyre
kombtare, shqiptart e Reks morn pjes n Rilindjen
Kombtare Shqiptare. Shprehsi m i spikatur i lvizjes

Josif BAGERI
(1868-1915)

Para ftyrs
Naim Frashrit
Ftyr, o ftyr, hie Gjeniu!
Ti skie mish, as kie gjak
As q je mvesh n korp njeriu,
Pr me hap gojn e me mfol pak.
Nuk t kjemi ma, ah! Nuk gjallon,
Oh! Keq t ndrypi mordje e zez.
Po Shqypnia kurri st harron.
Se me tvertet Ti e ki ndez
Kush mund me msheh shrbiminTnd?
Librat me vjersha. Ty predykojn:
Ton Shqypnia me kta u trond!...
Dhe Ty gjithnj knk dot kndojn
Ka me u hup, doba tradhtor
Po emni yt, kurri sharrohet.
Vjershat ke shkru, Ti, o vjershtor.
Dhe tratori sot pendohet

Vjersha Para ftyrs Naim Frashrit e Josif Bagerit

sht botuar pr her t par n gazetn
Shqypeja e Shypnis, Sofje, korrik 1908.

s tyre kombtare ishte Josif Bagri nga fshati Nistrov

i Reks s Eprme, ku ai lindi m 1868. Ndonse
emigroi n Bullgari, ai nuk u shkput nga dshira pr ta
par vendin e tij t liruar me nj Shqipri t pavarur. Si
nj nga aktivistt m t shquar t emigracionit shqiptar
n Bullgari, Josif Bagri mori pjes n themelimin
n Sofje m 1892 t shoqris patriotike Dshira.
Aspiratat kombtare t rekasve shqiptar ai i shprehu
n mnyr t veant n organin q botoi n Sofje n
shqip dhe pjesrisht bullgarisht me titullin Shqypeja
e Shqypnis, midis viteve 1909-1911, me frymzim
patriotik shqiptar. Prve shkrimeve t shumta ai botoi
dhe veprn Kopsht malsori, Sofje 1910, mbushur
me krijime letrare, t cilat edhe pse t shkruara me
dialektin shqip t Reks shijohen dhe kuptohen nga
shqiptart e t gjitha trojeve etnike.
Edhe pse viset ku banonin shqiptart ortodoks t
Maqedonis u aneksuan m 1913 nga Serbia dhe m
1918 kaluan nn mbretrin e Jugosllavis, qeveritart
e Beogradit nuk i trajtuan ata asnjher si shqiptar,
rrjedhimisht nuk i njohn si subjekt i t drejtave
kombtare q gzonin minoritetet etniko-gjuhsore.
Kt qndrim anakronik ndaj shqiptarve ortodoks
po e mbajn edhe qeveritart e sotm t Republiks s
Maqedonis. T gozhduar pas konceptit dogmatik fetar
edhe kta vazhdojn ti trajtojn shqiptart ortodoks si
pjestar t kombsis maqedone. Megjithat, kriterin
mesjetar qeveritart sllav t Maqedonis s ditve tona
vazhdojn ta zbatojn vetm pr shqiptart ortodoks, por
jo pr torbesht, domethn pr shqiptart bullgarofon
ose si i quajn zyrtart nacionalist sllavomaqedon,
maqedont mysliman. M 1913, publicisti frng L.
Jaray njoftonte, sikur u tha, se kishte gjetur nj fshat
n rrethin e Shkupit me banor mysliman (torbesh),
t cilt flisnin bullgarisht dhe meqense kisha bullgare
nuk i merrte n mbrojtje, kur i pyti se far ishin, than
se ishin shqiptar (L. Jaray, si m lart, f. 10).
Prkundrazi, tani n ditt tona qeveritart e
Republiks s Maqedonis jan larguar nj hap nga
koncepti dogmatik mesjetar mbi kombsin, mbasi
tashm torbesht edhe pse mysliman, ata i quajn
maqedon, dhe jo turq. Ky hap meriton prgzime. Por
kmbngulja e tyre pr ti trajtuar shqiptart ortodoks
si maqedon tregon se ata qndrojn ende mbrapa. T
krkosh t hysh n Evropn e prparuar, n Evropn e
kombeve, n Evropn e bashkuar, duke patur ende n
kok koncepte mesjetare, sht nj non sens.
Urojm q shqiptart ortodoks t Maqedonis
t trajtohen prej saj sa m par njsoj si shqiptart
mysliman. T fillohet t paktn me hapjen e shkollave
shqipe n viset e tyre dhe pajisjen e kishave t tyre me
priftrinj shqiptar. Argumenti q mund t dgjohet se
banort e ktyre fshatrave nuk e duan as shkolln shqipe,
as kishn shqiptare sht nj justifikim.
Sot prve komuns s Manastirit, disa nga kto
fshatra ndodhen nn administrimin e komunave
t Demir Hisarit dhe Novacit n IRJM.

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Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

Nj shqiprim i panjohur i Fan S. Nolit

SIKUR (IF)
Sevdai KASTRATI

Rudyard KiplinG

If

Fan S. Noli

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, dont deal in lies,
Or being hated dont give way to hating,
And yet dont look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth youve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build em up with worn-out tools;

udyard Kipling (1865-1936) kur ishte tridhjet

e nj vje (1896) shkroi vjershn antologjike
vetm me nj fjal IF. N t vrtet kt vjersh
Kiplingu e boton pr her t par n prmbledhjen
me vjersha dhe tregime Rewards and Fairies
m 1910. Kipling u frymzua nga sulmi ushtrak
n Luftn e Boers n Afrikn e Jugut (1895) t
udhhequr nga Leander Starr Jameson. Lufta
qe nj fatkeqsi ushtarake, kurse Jameson n
shtypin anglez trajtohet sikur hero.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: old on!
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything thats in it,
And which is more youll be a Man, my son!

Sikur (If)

N mun (If)

Sikur t mban mndjen, kur shokt q ke pran

Humbasin t tyren dhe t fajtojn pa an.
Sikur ti kesh besim vehtes kur t dyshojn
Po bn prjashtim pr sa q s t besojn
Sikur t pre, dhe je i lodhur dyke pritur;
N t gnjefshin mos u mer dyke pifur,
N t urefshin mos mejto ligsira,
Dhe mos u-refe i mir as mos fjalos mnurira.

N mun t mbash n kok terezin

Kur shokt mnden dhe fajtor t nxijn;
N mun t kesh besim, kur t dyshon
Kushdo, dhe s ka njeri q t beson;
N mun t pre, dhe pritjen se kursen,
N t gnjefshin, ti nuk i gnjen,
N t urrefshin, ti s i an me brir,
Dhe s hiqesh as m i mnim as mi mir.

Sikur t ndrosh, dhe ndrat mos t zotrojn;

Sikur t mejtohesh, dhe mejtimet mos t qllojn.
Sikur t bashkosh triumf dhe katrim,
Dhe i prdor kta dy xhambaz pa ndryshim.
Sikur i duruar t dgjosh t vrtetn q ke thn
T shtrmbruar dhe elur dhokan pr t pa gdhn;
Ose t vesh-re gjrat q dhe jetn pr to, t thyera,
Dhe kuspullohesh ti ndrtosh prsri me vegla t gryera.

N mun t ndrrosh e t mejtosh,

Dhe nga kto m mos u-robrofsh;
N mun t pre Triumfin dhe Hatan,
Dhe ti shkelmosh t dy si kallpazan;
N mun t mbahesh, kur nj dreq ta dreth
T drejtn dhe n lak syleshin heth,
Kur sheh kalan e jets s rzuar
Dhe prap e ngre me vegln e kallmuar;

Sikur t bn nj tog me t gjitha fitimet,

Dhe ti rezikosh me zar npr rotullimet;
Dhe ti humba, dhe t zsh prsri nga fillimi;
Dhe t mos hap fare gojn te katrimi.
Sikur t shtrngosh zmrn dejat t dridhen,
T shrbejn radhn pastaj t trhiqen.
Dhe kshtu mbahu kur gj pr ty ska mbetur,
Prve dshirs e cila t thot qndro i pa tretur!

N mun t vsh n grumbull do thesar,

Edhe ti lo t gjitha me nj zar,
Ti hump edhe t nissh prsri
Pa thn asgj pr kt batrdi;
N mun t kesh nj zemr, trup e kok
Q t shrbejn sa t bhen trok,
Dhe t vazhdosh i djegur shkrump n furr,
Dhe t thrret vullneti: Mbahu, or burr!

Sikur t fjalosesh dhe t mban virtutn n zhurm,

Ose t apesh me mbretr, pa u humbur as nj gjurm;
Sikur armiq as miq t dashur st vrasin,
Sikur gjith njerzit numurohen pa krahasim;
Sikur t mban minutn e pa ndjer
Me gjasht-dhjet sekunda dhe udh pa vler;
Yti sht dheu dhe do gj nr t,
Dhe e cila vlen shum t jesh burr, mor djal!

N mun t zbre n turm e t mbash nderin,

T hash me mbretin, t pish me neferin;
N mos t ngaft dot as mik as hasm,
N i da t gjith, po asnj pr dasm;
N mun pr do minut t prpjet
T ren tamam sekunda gjashtdhjet;
Zaptove dhen me do mall dhe hir,
Dhe ca m mir, qenke trim, or bir!

jershn IF Noli e shqiproi nga anglishtja pr

her t par m 23 tetor 1961 me titullin N
MUN. E botoi n gazetn Dielli m 1 nntor 1961
me pseudonimin tashm t njohur Namik Namazi.
Me kt pseudonim boton vjershn Lidhja e
pakputur (1960) dhe poemat epelitnja, Sulltani
dhe kabineti (dy variante) kinse t prkthyera nga
persishtja si dhe shqiprimet nga Hygoi Lule mi varr
dhe Vajtim pr bijn (1961).
Qerim Panariti n paraqitjen q do ti bj vjershs
s shqipruar nga Noli, krkon q t lexohet jo nj
her po t paktn dhjet her. Ai krkon q vjersha t
lexohet edhe n anglishte me qllim q t krahasohet
me prkthimin e bashkpuntorit t Diellit, Namik
Namazit. N fund Panariti krkon nga lexuesit e
gazets, n qoft se dikush sht i shkatht dhe
ka zotsi prkthimi, le ta mbshtet n mur Namik
Namazin me nj prkthim m t bukur dhe m artistik.
M 13 dhjetor 1961 botohet n gazetn Dielli
vjersha IF n anglishte pr t plotsuar dshirn e
lexuesve dhe me nj shnim nga redaktori i gazets kur
bn me dije se ka marr nj prkthim tjetr t vjershs
e, q do t botohet n nj nga numrat e ardhshm t
gazets. E prkthyesi i variantit t dyt ishte prap Noli.
Fan S. Noli e shqipron pr s dyti vjershn IF do
me thn pesmbdhjet dit nga botimi i variantit
t par. Vjersha IF me titullin SIKUR botohet n
gazetn Dielli m 3 janar 1962. N fund sht vn
pseudonimin Gur i Shkabs dhe data 16 nntor 1961
kur sht shqipruar vjersha. Ky sht pseudonimi i
fundit i Nolit, sepse ai n gazetn Dielli ka prdorur
shkurtesat dhe pseudonimet: F.N., F.S.N., S.D.S.,
(kur ka prkthyer noveln Stendhalit Vanina Vanini)
Bajram Domosdova, Diximus, Hieronymus, Nirvana,
Pesimisti, Protagora, Rapush Bilbil Gramshi, Robi
Rogozhina, Robo Rogozhina, Rushit Bilbil Gramshi.
Katr vjershat e shqipruar nga Noli me
pseudonimin Gur i Shkabs dhe nj vjersh origjinale
nuk jan prfshir n Albumin II q ka prgatitur
Qerim Panariti. Me sa duket Noli ia ka mbajtur t
fsheht pseudonimin Gur i Shkabs mikut t tij.
Vjersha e Kiplingut ssht prfshir as n botimin
e veprs s Nolit (1987-1996) t prgatitur nga
Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipris, varianti i par
N MUN sht botuar te veprat e Nolit t prgatitur
nga Nasho Jorgaqi, Vepra 1 Botimet Dudaj, Tiran,
2003, f. 132-133, ndrsa varianti SIKUR sht i
panjohur pr lexuesit dhe studiuesit e Nolit.
Vjersha IF e Kiplingut sht prkthyer edhe nga
prkthyes t tjer shqiptar, por do t veoj Vedat
Kokonn (IF e ka prkthyer n nj fjal N) dhe
Robert Shvarcin (IF e ka prkthyer n dy fjal N
MUNDSH, i ndikuar nga Noli). Q t dy shqiprues
t shquar, prandaj krahasimi i ktyre shqiprimeve
do t ishte me interes.
Do ti japim dy variantet e Nolit dhe vjershn n origjinal:

15

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

turn now to a more in-depth

consideration of the Arvanites
(Arbrort). As a group they
have mostly merged well
with the mainstream Greekspeaking population (e.g. GefouMadianou 1999: 4v, 415-16; Bintliff
2003: 139-41; Magliveras 2013: 15254). As Greek Orthodox Christians
they do not obviously differ from most
other Greeks. At the time of the Greek
Revolution, Greek-Albanian society
was multi-stranded.
Arvanitika (Arbrishtja) was spoken
side-by-side with Greek by upper-class
inhabitants, as well as by ordinary
farmers and sailors, and it was in the
process of becoming a literary, rather
than a purely spoken, language (Sasse
1998: 49). A criticism of an earlier
draft of this study was that I seemed to
consider Arvanites (Arbrort) all to be
poorly educated peasants. Although my
detailed ethnographic analysis below
relates to a rural area, my ethnographic
research has brought me into contact
with a range of Arvanitis professionals,
especially but by no means exclusively
Methanites, and I have academic
colleagues who also claim an Arvanitic
background. Arvanites in many walks
of life are happy to admit to that identity
when they feel safe to do so, one such
example being the parliamentarian
Theodoros Pangalos (Eleftherotypia
2002).
Gefou-Madianou,
whose
work is crucial here, notes that the
Arvanitic group that she met in Attica
was composed of university students
and professionals. Younger people
in particular were coming together,
playing and singing Arvanitic songs,
and dancing to them - acts which they
acknowledged would have worried
older residents who were opposed to
any expression of Arvanitic culture
(Gefou-Madianou 1999: 416). In fact,
as she makes abundantly clear (1999:
412-13), the ideology of Arvanites as
exclusively peasants is that of Greeces
elite (a term she uses repeatedly), and is
very much at odds with reality.
Albanian speakers may have settled
in some parts of Greece as early as
the 9th century ad: their presence is
well documented in the 13th and 14th
centuries (Magliveras 2009: 15). By
the time of the Greek Revolution their
communities were widespread on the
Greek mainland and some of the islands
(Sasse 1998: 44-46). Because of their
large numbers in the Peloponnese, both
in the mountains and in the coastal
islands of Hydra, Spetses and Poros
with their very substantial fleets, it
has been argued that they provided the
main military muscle which realised
the nationalist dreams of the Ottoman
Greek merchant class in the Revolution
(Lawrence 2011: 37). A late 19thcentury Turkish writer identified two
main cinsiyet - a term with a more
limited meaning than nation - in
Greece: Albanian and Greek (Boyar
2007: 50).

Figure 1. Methana: location map.

Arvanites: A Case Study

in Ethnic Alterity
A Contradictory Identity

Despite their long history and positive

contribution to the Greek nation, since
the middle of the 19th century Arvanitic
populations have been stigmatised by
a predominantly Athenian elite which
sees itself as the purest representatives
of the Greek national identity
constructed in that century and which
has traditionally viewed Arvanites
as culturally degenerate, uncivilised,
and marginal - a characterisation still
accepted by the Athenian population
at large (Gefou-Madianou 1999:
412-13 n. 2). Under Greeces longstanding Hellenisation policy towards
unacknowledged linguistic (ethnic)
alterities, Arvanites were considered
particularly problematic in the later
19th and early 20th centuries. In the
mid- and later 19th century, the Greek
states response to emerging Albanian
nationalism and the eventual formation

Scene 4:
The place: the small town of Kranidhi
in the Southern Argolid, part of the
northeastern Peloponnese.
The Time: the mid-1980s.
While shopping for supplies for
an archaeological project, I used
a phrase in Arvanitika, which
was spoken in the area, although
local people never mentioned its

A late 19th-century Turkish

writer identified two main
cinsiyet - a term with a more
limited meaning than nation
- in Greece: Albanian and
Greek (Boyar 2007: 50).
of the Albanian state in 1913, and
to claims that Albanians had largely
replaced the original Greek population
in late antiquity, was an intensive
campaign of linguistic Hellenisation
and assimilation (Sasse 1998: 51-52;
Gefou-Madianou 1999: 420). The
use of Arvanitika was particularly
oppressively discouraged under the

existence to project personnel.

The response was enthusiastic,
with questions about how I knew
any of the language and how
much I knew. In each successive
shop I entered I was greeted
in Arvanitika: word had spread
rapidly! Once it was established
that I valued their minority identity,
they were keen to own it.

Metaxas dictatorship (193640). In

the post-war period, further active and
forcible imposition of Greek occurred,
especially under the military junta
(196774) (Sasse 1998: 55; GefouMadianou 1999: 420-21). Nevertheless
Sasse (1998: 41) estimates that there are
still over 300 communities in Greece of
identifiable Arvanitic descent; Bintliff
(personal communication) considers
this an underestimate.
Official Greek rhetoric clearly
differentiating Arvanites from modern
Albanians (Alvani) (e.g. Bintliff
2003: 139; Forbes 2009: 102) only
developed in the later 19th century as
an artefact of the states Hellenisation
policy. Previously, Arvanites and their
language were simply considered
Albanian (Greek Helsinki Monitor
Minority Rights Group n.d.). In contrast
to official differentiation between
Arvanites and Albanian nationals, recent
ethnographic studies describe Albanian
migrants being recognised and accepted
by Arvanitika-speaking villagers as
culturally related (Athanassopoulou
2005; Magliveras 2009; 2013). I have
observed elderly inhabitants on the
Methana peninsula conversing with
Albanian migrants using Arvanitika in
preference to Greek.
When
I
started
conducting
ethnographic studies and they knew I
was sympathetic, Methanites soon made
me aware of their Arvanitic identity,
emphasising that they were

16

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

better Greeks than those from

some other parts of Greece, whom they
considered uncivilised, badly-behaved
and violent. In Attica, while Arvanites
highly value their distinctive language,
culture and origins, directly challenging
the dominant national discourse on
true Greek identity, they prefer to
hide it from non-Arvanites because of
hostile reactions (e.g. Gefou-Madianou
1999: 416). Boeotian Arvanites
whom Bintliff (2003) met were also
reticent about publicly disclosing and
monumentalising their alterity. Some
Boeotian
communities,
however,
seem prepared to advertise their
Arvanitic heritage. A widely advertised
reconstruction of an Arvanitic wedding
was performed in the village of
Mavrommati in June 2013, although the
emphasis was on traditional music and
dances, not material remains.
Nevertheless, when I visited this
village for the first time in August 2013,
those whom I met were not interested
in discussing their Arvanitic heritage
with an unknown foreigner. It is evident
from these examples and the substantial
ethnographic
and
ethnolinguistic
literature on Greeces Arvanites that
there is considerable variability in the
readiness of people in different Arvanitic
communities to identify themselves,
which may sometimes be affected by
very short-term political considerations
(e.g. Gefou-Madianou 1999: 416).
Thus, in one Arvanitis mountain
community in the Peloponnese, some
of the younger men present their
Arvanitis identity very publically as
a means of aggressively breaching
cultural norms (Lawrence 2011: 4041). Sasse (1998: 56-57), however,
notes very mixed attitudes towards the
speaking of Arvanitika within Arvanitis
populations, especially in villages in
Attica and Boeotia. Gefou-Madianou
(1999: 414) describes Arvanitic identity
in Attica as Greek in a national context,
but Arvanitic in more localised contexts.
Thus there is considerable variability
in Arvanites readiness to self-identify,
and they can take on multiple identities.
These depend heavily on contingent
factors, the specific social contexts
of encounters, the structural position
of the person being addressed, the
speakers values and the overall context,
conversational and social (Tsitsipis
2009; Magliveras 2013; see Scene 4
above, and also below).
The desire for an articulate Arvanitis
voice led to the foundation of a number
of national and regional Arvanitis
associations. Founded in 1981, the
primary aim of the Arvanitis League of
Greece, according to its former website
(which was on-line in August 2012, but is
currently unavailable; the site has come
and gone over the years), was to research
the contribution of Arvanites to Greeces
history and to preserve their language
and traditional songs. Significantly, while
the website made no reference to ancient
physical or monumental evidence of
their origins, there was an emphasis
on the primeval origins of Arvanites
civilisation. This seems to refer to a line
of 20th-century scholarship accepted by

Figure 2. The Kastro Favierou: Charles Fabviers Revolutionary War fortification on the Methana isthmus.

Gefou-Madianou, whose work is crucial here, notes that

the Arvanitic group that she met in Attica was composed of
university students and professionals. Younger people in
particular were coming together, playing and singing Arvanitic
songs, and dancing to them - acts which they acknowledged
would have worried older residents who were opposed to any
expression of Arvanitic culture (Gefou-Madianou 1999: 416).
some Arvanites - and also by a number
of Albanian nationalists - that the
original ancestors of Albanians and of
Greeces Arvanites were the Pelasgians,
a mythical race that the ancient Greeks
believed inhabited Greece before they
arrived (Sasse 1998: 48, 55; de Rapper
2009). While those at the centres of
power have emphasised their millennialong ancestry from the Hellenes of
ancient Greece (Gefou-Madianou 1999:
419-20), Albanians are now attempting
to trump their cards historically by
linking themselves to the prestigious
original inhabitants of Greece, older
even than the Classical ancestors, who
subsequently transferred their civilisation
to the Greeks, who are thus represented
as merely parvenu inhabitants of the land
(de Rapper 2009: 58-61).

Nevertheless, because of the stigma

of their non-Hellenic identity, Arvanites
could not publicly own their historical
roots. The recent major influx of ethnic
Albanians following the collapse of
communism in 1991 has given Arvanites
further reasons not to acknowledge those
roots (Gefou-Madianou 1999: 416;
Bintliff 2003: 138). Of all the migrant
groups in Greece in the 1990s and early
2000s at least, ethnic Albanians were
the most visible, most reviled and most
particularly associated with criminality
in Greek social consciousness (Rougheri
1997; Vidali 1999; Baldwin-Edwards
2004: 58-61).
Alterity and Alternative Monuments:
Methana

Figure 3. Two Greek national flags prominently displayed on the Kastro Favierou.

In the face of the sorts of

marginalisation
discussed
here,
what sorts of material past(s) do
Methanites, as Arvanites, use to
identify themselves as proper
Greeks? To most Methanites, the
impressive remains of the ancient
city of Methana were less important
parts of their cognitive maps of the
landscape than the local cave, the
highest peak or the most recent volcano
(Forbes 2009: 101). Methanites lack
of interest in Classical antiquities is
broadly paralleled by the situation in
the Arvanitic village of Vasiliko near
Corinth, located on the site of the
ancient Greek city of Sikyon. Deltsou
(2009: 181, 183) notes that the issue
of how or even whether Vasilikariotes
connect themselves to the ancient
Classical past on which their
village stands is complex. Villagers
repeatedly stated that they, or the
village, had no interest in antiquities
(Deltsou 2009: 181, 187), yet they
did not ignore them. As incomes from
agriculture declined, they became
aware of the need to develop the
tourism which might be connected
with their ancient site (see above on
connections with tourism). However,
the local museum which, it was hoped,
would attract tourists and their cash,
was closed after earthquake damage
and remained so for two decades.
Many also noted that the Greek
Archaeological Service was currently
not working on their site, whereas
it was actively developing nearby
sites. Their viewpoint was technically
correct, but ignored the existence of
non-excavation survey projects on
the site in which the Archaeological
Service was not the prime mover (e.g.
Lolos et al. 2007; Sarris et al. 2008;
Lolos 2011). Some Vasilikariotes
used these concerns over the lack of
clear direct involvement in their site
by central governmental authorities to
construct an anti-hegemonic discourse
based on feelings of inferiority
(Deltsou 2009: 181-84, 187).
Methanites connected themselves
neither with the glories of ancient
monuments in Athens nor with the
ancient sites on their peninsula. Yet
they have considered themselves to
be every bit as Greek as all other
Greek citizens, and much better
than some badly-behaved sections

17

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

of the nation. Their most significant
heritage site connecting themselves
to unimpeachable Greekness has been
the fortifications constructed by the
French philhellene Charles Fabvier on
the peninsulas isthmus during the War
of Independence (Mee et al. 1997: 16567). He considered Methana an ideal
defensive location in which to train
his force of international volunteers
after it had recently received a severe
mauling in action against Ottoman
forces (St Clair 1972: 291-92). Few
buildings are easily visible now, but
the main fortification remains readily
identifiable (Figure 2). This structure
is evidently the focus of considerable
nationalistic pride. A large painting of
the Greek national flag was placed there
many years ago: the specific design was
superseded in 1978. A second, slightly
smaller version painted nearby is
evidently later, since it uses the current
design (Figure 3) (Army General Staff
2003; Breschi n.d.). Another, much
smaller, painting of the Greek flag yet another design - has been painted
inside a gun-slit (Figure 4).
Over the years that I have spent
on their peninsula, Methanites have
regularly emphasised the importance
of the Kastro Favierou (as it is known),
as a monument and a statement of their
communitys contribution to modern
Greeces foundation. During the
Methana Archaeological Survey the
main fortification was initially thought
to be Venetian. Methanites were very
disappointed when I mentioned this
possibility: for them it was specifically
as a War of Independence monument
that the ruins had their full meaning.
There is only the one site of this
era on the peninsula, however. The
lack of other sites of this period on the
peninsula is significant: some 40 years
ago, during increased repression of
Arvanites by the military dictatorship,
Methanites felt it necessary to increase
their links to this nationally formative
period by constructing a second
Revolutionary War monument in the
form of a memorial stele (Figure 5).
The monument to the Revolutionary
War fallen on Methana commemorates
the leader of a band of Methanitis
fighters, listing the nationallyrevered leaders with whom they were
associated and the battles in which they
fought. It further records that he gave
his life for the cause of independent
Greece - the ultimate patriotic sacrifice.
The monument is associated with the
church of Ayios Yeoryios, a focal point
where Methanites from all over the
peninsula and expatriates from other
parts of Greece, especially Athens and
Piraeus, gather in large numbers every
year for the national celebration of St
Georges Day. This is the place which
represents pan-Methana feeling most
intensely. The steles
significance for Methanites seems to
have grown over time. Until the 1980s
it was tucked away on the margins of a
large empty and dusty area surrounding
the church. The area has since been
landscaped and planted with trees: the
stele now has a prominent place much

Figure 4. Greek flag-design used during

the Revolutionary War, in a gun-slit
of the Kastro Favierou.

Figure 5. Stele commemorating the leader of a Revolutionary War band of Methanites Jani Dedgjika
from Kunupic, set up in 1968.

closer to the church (Forbes 2007: 26364, 370-74).

The significance of the fort for
Methanites also seems to have
increased over time. In March 2013,
a Methanitis journalist uploaded an
article in an online organ describing
itself as the first portal for Piraeus (the
administrative centre for Methanas
region)
and
shipping
matters
(Athanasiou 2013). He describes his
participation in the first ever flagraising at the fort. He then tells the
forts history, emphasising that this was
where Greeces regular army was born,
and the central part it played during
the War of Independence: Methana in
1826 became the centre of the struggle
[for independence]. He then mentions
the contingent of Methanites and their
involvement in the Revolutionary War,
specially noting that the name of their
leader, who made the ultimate sacrifice,
was Arvanitic.
While Methanites cannot connect
themselves to this time through
memory, there are visible monumental
reminders, original and retro-

Conclusion

ver the last two decades, archaeological discussion

has tended to accept the message of those at
the centres of power in Greece that a Classical and
Hellenistic past is essential for a proper Greek identity.
This rhetoric serves to
problematise and marginalise certain groups of others
whose alternative identities -which do not fit this particular
past - have been the focus of other scholars, primarily
anthropologists and legal specialists. I have attempted
here to unite these two strands of scholarship, in outlining
the nature of some of these alterities and the way in which
the dominant archaeological discourse has impacted on
their identities. Since there is far more to be said on such
complex issues than is possible here, I have focused on
one of the less visible others of the nation, the Arvanites,
whose relationship with their own unique material
heritage has been recently identified within the context of
archaeological research in Boeotia (Bintliff 2003).
Arvanites evidently have very complex and variable
relationships with their own alternative identities and
therefore their pasts, which have yet to be fully explored.
Nevertheless, in how they link themselves to those pasts
there seem to be clear differences between Methanites,
who have readily valorised the specialness of their place
(physiccally and metaphorically) in the Greek past, and
Boeotian Arvanites. Although Bintliff (2003: 140-41) is not
completely convinced that Boeotian Arvanites were as
unconcerned with valorising a past recently discovered
via archaeological survey as they would have liked him to

believe, they expressed no desire to connect themselves

to it. The past uncovered there, however, was one primarily
of sherd-concentrations, dots on maps, etc. - essentially
an academic one, only readily accessible via a knowledge
of the conventions of archaeology, a kind of knowledge
generally denied to all but a very few. There was no highly
visible monument to which Boeotian Arvanites could link
their historical identity. These remains also largely date
to a period between Alexander the Great and the Greek
Revolution, which is generally not foregrounded in the
national historical imagination (Bintliff 2003: 137).
The two cases therefore are not directly comparable,
because of differences in the kinds of pasts on offer.
Boeotian Arvanites past(s) were not usable (as defined
by Brown and Hamilakis 2003b) in a dialogical process
with a culturally and politically dominant Other, and could
not be presented without explicitly referencing their ethnic
alterity. In contrast, Methanites were able to treat the two
monuments discussed here as symbolic capital because
they linked them to a past which was highly usable in
presenting the specialness of their place within the context
of a sub-set of the dominant discourse of the Greek national
imagination. Part of that usability relates to the monuments
multivocality. Its historical context is meaningful without
reference to any alterity status. Yet it can simultaneously be
a reminder of their Arvanitic origins and also act as the focus
for minor acts of contestation which remind Methanites of
their regional Peloponnesian heritage in opposition to those
dominant Others in the capital.

18

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

constructed, via which they

can associate themselves with the
events which founded the nation. Local
patriotic pride and identity as worthy
Greek citizens, therefore, is clearly
focused on this aspect of Methanites
historical heritage. These material
links, not the ancient city ruins,
connect Methanites to history and to
the Greek nation: they also demonstrate
Methanites status as true patriots.
Finally, on a somewhat speculative
note, I return to Methanites identity as
thoroughly Greek yet simultaneously
in contestation with those in the centres
of power. The flag in Figure 4 seems
inherently unofficial, being small and
semi-hidden in the embrasure of a
gun-slit, yet it may have considerable
symbolic significance, reflecting the
entanglement of Methanites identity
as others with the overwhelming
specialness for rural Greeks of their
topos, the place where they live
(Bernard 1976: 289). It is one of several
different designs in simultaneous
use during the Revolution, but not

Zef SKIROI
(1865-1927)

About the Author

amish Forbes recently retired as Associate Professor

and Reader in Anthropological Archaeology in the
Department of Archaeology at Nottingham University and
is currently an Associate of that university. His research
interests primarily involve the integration of ethnographic
and archaeological approaches in the Mediterranean
region, particularly Greece. His main focus is on
social issues, and environmental concerns relating to
agriculture, pastoralism and the meanings of landscapes.
He is the author of Meaning and Identity in a Greek
Landscape: An Archaeological Ethnography (Cambridge
University Press, 2007), and Off-site scatters and the
manuring hypothesis in Greek survey archaeology: an
ethnographic approach, Hesperia 82 (2013) 551-94.

the one described in the provisional

governments decree of 15 March
1822. Rather, it is a design that was
especially popular in the Peloponnese,
and which is frequently associated
with one of the greatest war leaders
of the revolution, Theodhoros
Kolokotronis (Army General Staff
2003; Breschi 2003-5; Greekan.d.;
Megas Odigos Ekpaidefseosn.d.). The

connection to Kolokotronis seems

logical, since the war band mentioned
on the memorial stele served under his
nephew, Nikitaras.
However, although it might seem
logical that a Peloponnesian site of this
period should be associated with this
flag design, I believe there are messages
of contestation in its appearance here.
Administratively speaking, Methana

Shqiptarve t Mores

O Shqiptart e Mors,
Drit e fshehur prapa rs,
Ju ndr Grekrat ku jini
Nom e nder m nk kini;
Dhe zakont ju ndrrojn,
Gjak e gluh ju shkatarrojn.
At foln gluh Kanari
Mjauli, Boari e Sturnari;
Edhe e foln Kondurjoti,
Gura, Griva e Varnaqoti,
E Xhavella, e tjer e tjer
T pmundurit ksifter;
Edhe e foln, gr t para,
Mosko e Dhespo t p glara,
E shprt-madhja Bubulin
Se ln gjith nk gjaku jin.
O Shqiptart e Mors,
M t fortit e kodhs,
Pr n Grekrat kit ishn
Po si vllezr, n tr kishn;
Pr lirn me ata luftuam;
Na nk Turqit i shptuam;
Derdhm gjakun m t mir,
T gjith jeta bm mizir;
Forn Turqvet i shuajtim,
Pr ata rrzik ng ruajtim;
E t lnt prn na vm
Mb t knka e burrrs;
Muarn hn e mundss,
Vet e muarn edhe than:
Arbresh mbi dh ng jan.
O Shqiptart e Mors,
Shnim: - N kt vjersh Zef Skiroi e paraqet
gjendjen e vshtir politike dhe shoqrore t
shqiptarve n Greqi, q ishin t gjykuar t
humbin gjuhn, doket dhe zakonet kombtare.
N vargjet e saj tetrrokshe, t karakterizuara
prej apostrofave, thirroreve dhe habitoreve
retorike, me t cilat, si n gjith vjershat e
tij t tjera atdhetare, tendosen ndjenjat, Zef
Skiroi i prkujton shqiptart e Greqis se gjuha
q po e bjerrin sht gjuha q kishin folur
paraardhsit e tyre t famshm, q aq shum

and the immediately adjoining

parts of the Peloponnese belong to
Athens and Attica. They are thus
administratively disconnected from
the rest of the Peloponnese, to which
they belong by all geographical logic:
local government policy is dominated
by the needs of the capital city, with
which Methanites feel they have little
in common. Secondly, Kolokotronis
was a soldier, rather than a politician.
Although now seen as one of the
most influential individuals of the
Revolutionary War, he is also renowned
for being regularly at loggerheads
with the politicians in the new Greek
government. He is also widely believed,
as indicated by the metaliterature
of numerous Greek internet sites,
to have been an Arvanitis. In other
words, while this little graffito can be
read superficially as a straightforward
patriotic statement, it can also be
read as a minor act of contestation in
advertising simultaneously a regional
and an ethnic alterity in opposition to
the centres of power in Athens.

Jorgo Shukuli
(1932)

Gluha e Ngurt

Zoq t rritur jasht fols,

Rrim gat po tue pritur
At her aq e ndrritur,
Aq e lipur mot e mon,
T na thresnj mma jon,
T na tht: - O bijt e m,
T shprishur nd shqeni,
Nd mes tjervet te jeta
Pait embr ju pameta,
Pait embrin e ruar,
Edhe jasht t p hjarruar,
Se edhe juve ndr t huaj
Ng harrova, mma juaj,
Shpejt, o bij t shtrejtit tim,
Ju pres te gjiri jim.
Anangasij, fluturoni,
Gjith at riet kujtoni;
Kush nj shkluh, kush k nj thik,
Pa mbi Turkun qen i lik
U lshofshit si petrit
Edhe u krefshit re nj dit!
ishin shquar n luftrat pr lirimin e Greqis:
Miauli, Boari, Sturnari, Kunderjoti, Karajskaqi,
Varnakioti, Xhavella, Griva, Bubulina, e t tjer.
I qorton pse humbin gjuhn, doket dhe zakonet,
njkohisht, i prkujton se pasardhsit e kujt
jan me qllim q, n fund t vjershs, t mund
ti ftoj q, s bashku me shqiptart e tjer, t
atdheut dhe t kolonive ku jetojn, t ngrihen n
luftn kundr pushtuesve shekullor. - Rexhep
Qosja, Historia e letrsis shqipe (Romantizmi)
III, Botimet Toena, Tiran, 2000, f. 446.

Dua t shkruanj di nga ato kam bn,

kam rruar, kam nxn
edhe nuku onj kshilln
si e thojn prindt, arbrort nd arbrishte
Skam ku t vete, t m ndijn te kuljtonj
pse nd mos e kultonj u i zoti nuk e shkruanj
pse sdua nj nd nj qind t mos jet e vrteta
shkonjn dita, jav, her-her edhe muaj
kam mbetur nd nj mer.
Pienj njerzit tim, miqt, din arbrishte
mos kuljtonen ata si e thojn t vjetrit
po nuk u oj t ndihur te nj nd nj milj
mb t shumt her, si fle,
shtridhnj mendt t priret prapa
trizet vitra gjigjeshe kshilln kam harruar
edhe si zgjonem m ka ardhur nd mendt
e shkruanj shpejt nd nj kart kam atje mnjan.
(Ajani, Korinth)
kshill = fjal; onj = gjej; mer = an; te (gr)= as

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Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

The Cham Albanians of Northern Greece

The view of Janina (Ioannina), was once regarded as the capital of Albania, now in Greece

Lambros BALSIOTIS
This article is continued from the past issue
5. The period of the de facto
existence of a national minority
It was probably not until after 1926, and certainly
after 1928, that Muslim Chams felt secure enough
about remaining in Greece. And in this period the
Greek state seemed to have come to terms with their
presence. Muslim Chams had gradually started to
create a type of leadership strong enough to stand up
for the whole group. This leadership stood at quite
a distance from the Greek political system and had
intimate ties with Albania. These representatives
would complain to the League of Nations against
Greece, apply for the creation of schools where the
Albanian language would be taught, and send their
children to study in Albania. There is sufficient
evidence that the Greek states perception of the
existence of a national Albanian Muslim Chams
minority, living in extreme poverty, was already
present in the early 1930s.
A concrete description of the lives of the Muslims
is clearly referred to in a special report drawn
by K. Stylianopoulos, the Inspector in charge
of Minority issues, who was directly appointed
by the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and
was accountable to him. The report relates to
us in graphic terms that [] persecutions and
heavier confiscations, even led to the decision of
classifying as chiftlik the town of Paramithia []

As Albania became their kin-state and

the discourse of the minority reproduced
the typical national minority claims
of the Interwar period, the Greek
Administration gradually faced up to the
facts. As mentioned above, it is quite
interesting that the ethnonyme used in
the internal administrative documents
shifts from Ottomans and Muslims to
Albanians and of Albanian origin in
the mid -1930s. Even some newspapers
in Athens refer to Albanians without
being condemned by the authorities,
although the official discourse never
adopted the term Albanian minority.
and in that way small properties and gardens had
been expropriated against the Constitution and the
Agrarian law; not a single stremma was left to them
for cultivation and for sustaining their families,
nor were the rents of their properties paid to them
regularly (some of them being even lower than a
stamp duty). They were not permitted to sell or
buy land, and were forced to evaluate their fields
at ridiculously low prices (as low as 3 drahmi per
stremma), [], only to be imprisoned for taxes not
paid for land already confiscated or expropriated.

Moreover, a matter that was also important to

them besides the community wealth/land possession
concerned an entire spectrum of methodical
harassment tactics against the population. The
financial weakness of the community, and
the policies of the Greek administration which
intended to force them to emigrate, led finally to
the (re)appearance of emigration in the early 30s.
This was despite the fact that in 1931 the uncertain
status of the non-exchangeability of the Muslim
Chams was apparently resolved by providing them
with special tablis documents, albeit three years
after the political realization that they would not
be exchanged. In the eyes of the community this
long delay confirmed once more that they were not
welcomed by the Greek state.
In 1931 there was already a rather numerous Cham
community originating from Greece settled in the
Sarand area. We are not quite sure if the emigration
of Muslims, as referred to above, ever came to a
halt. Nevertheless, in the years between 1932 and
1933 a new flow of migration made its appearance.
Various documents indicate that the Greek
Authorities either prompted dislocation, or,
as one document vividly puts it, all of our
services, but most of all the Sub-prefecture
and the Gendarmerie [] f Filati
and Gumenica are working hardly to reinforce
the [migration] flow. Practical incentives were
provided to individuals and most of all to families
wanting to migrate to Turkey. Another mechanism
that was used in some cases was the demographic
disruption of Muslim communities targeting the
disassociation of the social web of the communities
with a view to put additional pressure to emigrate.
This migration flow presents a prima

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Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

The view of Konica: The Bethlehem of Albania

facie controversial acknowledgment in

consideration of the fact that we have mentioned
that an Albanian national minority was called into
being: The great majority of the emigrants chose to
leave for Turkey and not Albania. However, a closer
reading of the relevant documents indicates that the
Greek Authorities were unofficially encouraging
(legal) migration to Turkey while discouraging, or
even forbidding, migration to Albania. One more
fact that should not be underestimated is that there
was an underground migration to Albania, which
was not documented in the reports of Local
Authorities to the Centre (since, for instance, no
passports were issued) and only indirectly referred
to in Greek sources. However, this migration is
testified to by the relevant Albanian bibliography
which includes the testimonies of members of
the community. This underground migration of
individuals and families to Albania continued until
1940.
It is mostly after 1932 that this flow of migration
increased considerably, despite the fact that the
Greek Sate at the time, at least the Government
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attempted to
lessen the hitherto applied hardline policies against
Muslim Chams. Still, in practice these regulations
were not really implemented.
In the 1930s it was obvious that the Chams were
viewed as a hostile population and a lost cause
for Hellenism. Attempts to create any kind of
viable links between the community and the Greek
Administration were deemed fruitless as there
were few limits imposed on the hard line policies
apart from the consideration of the image of the
state abroad and the policies of reciprocity applied
concerning the Greek Minority of Albania, which
in turn had become a major national issue after the
Greek Armys defeat in Asia Minor. It is evident from
various documents at HAMFA that in general the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is sparing of approving
the petitions of local authorities concerning
deportations, prohibitions against entering Greece
(red notes) and deprivations of citizenship of
males, the latter often exaggerating their reports.
As it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which finally
decides on major minority affairs, is not rare to
justify its decisions on the national interests and
the effects on the Greek minority in Albania when

In the official censuses of the Greek State in

the Interwar period there is major manipulation
involving the numbers of the Albanian speakers in
the whole of the Greek territory. In the census of
1920 the Greek State registered 35,959 Orthodox
Albanian speakers in Old Greece, the Albanian
language being absent in Epirus, while in the
1928 census records for Epirus were as follows:
144 Muslims Turkish-speakers, 17,009 Muslims
Albanian speakers and 2,030 Muslim Greek
speakers, completely disregarding the Christian
Albanian speakers from Old Greece, by counting
only 95 persons as Orthodox Albanian speakers
for the whole of Greece. The issue here is not
the underestimation of the numbers of speakers
as such, but the vanishing and reappearing of
linguistic groups according to political motives,
the crucial one being the stabilization of the total
number of Albanian speakers in Greece.
rejecting hard line proposals of the local or regional
authorities, the Army and the Gendarmerie. 4 On the
other hand, local policy makers were often acting
arbitrarily, even without informing the central
administration for their acts. 5
In 1935 half a dozen of teachers were appointed
to teach the Albanian language, a number that
gradually doubled. This was a measure taken on an
unofficial reciprocal basis vis--vis Greek schools
operating in Southern Albania.
For the Greeks, Muslim Chams were by now a
community that was not considered as equal and
was certainly treated as inferior. It appears that
this perception was so widely accepted that it
was explicitly expressed in an official text: When
the Greek government was accused in front of the
League of Nations in 1936 for its policy against the
Albanian Minority, and with special reference to the
issue of the education of children in their mother
tongue, the Greek official response was as follows:

in the free public schools, they learn their local

idiom through the religious teaching which is given
to them in Albanian and is amply sufficient for their
cultural needs.
Finally, so as to exercise better control over
the minority, the Greek state created in late 1936
a new prefecture, that of Thesprotia, consisting of
areas that previously belonged to the Prefectures of
Janina (Ioannina, Yanina) and Preveza, embodying
all the Muslim population.
Although not officially recognized as a national
minority, Muslim Chams gradually gained an
underground semi-official recognition as a national
minority. As Albania became their kin-state and the
discourse of the minority reproduced the typical
national minority claims of the Interwar period,
the Greek Administration gradually faced up to the
facts. As mentioned above, it is quite interesting that
the ethnonym used in the internal administrative
documents shifts from Ottomans and Muslims
to Albanians and of Albanian origin in the
mid -1930s. Even some newspapers in Athens
refer to Albanians without being condemned
by the authorities, although the official discourse
never adopted the term Albanian minority. This
situation is vividly described in a document of 1936
sent to MFA by the Governor General of Epirus: We
would deeply appreciate your particular position
regarding the national and religious minority in
Chameria. Is it considered a recognized minority or
not? (authors emphasis).
In the official censuses of the Greek State in
the Interwar period there is major manipulation
involving the numbers of the Albanian speakers in
the whole of the Greek territory. In the census of
1920 the Greek State registered 35,959 Orthodox
Albanian speakers in Old Greece, the Albanian
language being absent in Epirus, while in the
1928 census records for Epirus were as follows:
144 Muslims Turkish-speakers, 17,009 Muslims
Albanian speakers and 2,030 Muslim Greekspeakers, completely disregarding the Christian
Albanian speakers from Old Greece, by counting
only 95 persons as Orthodox Albanian speakers
for the whole of Greece. 6 The issue here is not
the underestimation of the numbers of speakers as
such, but the vanishing and reappearing of linguistic
groups according to political motives, the crucial

21

Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

one being the stabilization of the total number of
Albanian speakers in Greece.
Language was still an issue even for Christians,
especially in Western Epirus, although the state
felt quite secure about their loyalty towards it.
But those who live amidst Muslims in the newly
created prefecture of Thesprotia continued to be
classified as Albanian speaking homogeneis. The
term homogeneis (c.f. of the same genos) was used
exclusively for non-Greek citizen Greeks living
in the neighboring states, and in the case of Albania,
for both Greek and non-Greek speaking Orthodox
of the south.
6. The cycle of revenge
When the Italian Army invaded Greece from
Albania on October 28, 1940, an Italian supported
irredentist discourse was already present in both
Albania proper and among numerous communities
of Chams who had fled from Greece to Albania.
Individuals who had been educated in Albanian
schools, or had joined the Albanian army and
Gendarmerie, acted - to use a contemporary term
- as a lobby for the Muslim Cham cause. While
the role of Kosovar refugees in Albanian Interwar
politics has been well documented by academic
research, the role played by the Cham diaspora
has been overlooked. An example that shows the
involvement of Cham refugees in these matters is
the appointment of a Cham, rather than a Kosovar
in 1935, as the head of the Refugees Rehabilitation
Committee.
The very day Italy invaded Greece, the leaders
of the Cham community were arrested and sent
into exile, an action which in retrospect has been
heavily criticised, as it gave the Muslim community
indubitable proof of the negative perception
of Greek Authorities towards the Chams. This
measure left them without leadership, a fact
that probably influenced their behaviour against
the Greeks in the ensuing months. When the Cham
refugees went to fight on the side of the Italian Army
that was invading Greece, they turned against the
local Christian population, who were favoured by
the policies of the Greek state. In the following
days however the Greek army reoccupied the area,
exiled nearly the entire male Cham population, and
turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by
local Greeks against Chams.
The clashes that followed for several weeks
should be treated as the final breach between the two
communities. According to Greek historiography, the
subsequent establishment of the Italian occupation
forces in the area and the gradual appearance of a
quasi-administrative network of Chams from late
1942 onwards are responsible for the Muslim Cham
exodus that occurred in 1944 and 1945.
In fact, the reaction of the Muslim population
during the period 1941-1944 could have been
foreseen. The Chams tried to regain some of their
real estate property and the power they had lost
during the preceding decades. By the year 1943
they were more systematically employed as army
personnel by the German occupation Forces that took
control over the area after the Italian capitulation.
The trouble was not caused only by the battles
against Greek resistance guerrillas. Conditions of
war typically offer opportunities to shift the powerbalance between different groups, and the Chams
took advantage of the given circumstances in
a way historically common to the area: Exhibition
of their power through atrocities, murders, theft of
flocks and any other type of movable property etc.
could be witnessed as a recurring phenomenon.100
A striking incidence of such power games
is described by Yannis Sarras. According to his
account, approximately 300 armed Muslims invaded

In 1989 Krapsitis published a book

on the (Christian Cham) Arvanites.
In that book he repeats the
constructions regarding their origin
and their (proto-) Greek language,
as an attempt to disconnect
them from the Muslim Chams.
Simultaneously, an attempt is made
to disconnect their language from
proper Albanian, the corresponding
standard official language, stating
that it is not Albanian but Arvanitic,
an idiom quite similar with the
arvanitika language spoken in
Southern Greece.

the village of Kastri, in order to take revenge for the

lootings which occurred two and a half years earlier
in the Muslim village of Parapotamos (ex-Varfanji)
by the inhabitants of the Albanian speaking,
orthodox villages of Kastri and Shn Vlash (Agios
Vlassios). After three days of negotiations in the
village the two parties came to an agreement. Part
of this agreement was the return of the domestic
animals and the rest of the loot that had been taken.
However when the loot was presented in front of
the committee the Muslims of Parapotamos refused
to accept them saying, We came here to administer
justice and our superiority and left the village.
The final act began to unfold when the Greek
guerrilla forces of EDES, which was active in the
areas inhabited by Muslims, took control of the
situation at a time when the Muslim armed military
forces had already been deprived of the support of
the German Army. EDES [] was an active
and powerful resistance group, operating mostly

foto

The view of the theatre of Dodona, Chameri

in the region of Epirus. The other active resistance

group, which was operating over the whole of
Greece was the left wing guerilla army ELAS
[]. This groups presence in the area extended
to the mountains of Mourgana in the northeastern
part of the present prefecture of Thesprotia, where
no Muslim settlements existed. When the Germans
withdrew, battalions of EDES guerillas shot and
slaughtered not only the surrendering armed forces
of Muslim Chams but also women and children,
a practice which they generally adopted when
entering Muslim villages. This was mainly the case
for the Karbunari, Parga, Trikoryfo (ex-Spatari),
Filati and most of all Paramithia towns where
approximately 300 persons were murdered.7 In total
more than 1,200 persons were murdered. Some
Albanian sources suggest that the number is as high
as approximately 2000. The Muslim population
left the country at the end of 1944 and the local
Christian population contributed to this exodus8 by
looting and killing, although there were cases where
local people offered protection, and thus some lives
and properties were saved from the EDES guerillas
and the threat posed by the armed groups or even
families of local Christians.
A few hundred Muslims stayed behind. 127 of
them were counted in the 1951 census, while the
rest, whose number remains unknown and in need of
research, converted to Christianity and intermarried
with Greeks.
7. A predictable exodus
It is not certain whether the ethnic cleansing that
occurred during this period was part of a wellorganized plan. This is perhaps a question that
we will never be able to answer given the total
absence of written evidence. The assumption that
the Paramithia massacres that took place on June
1944 were an ad hoc, isolated incident is rather
unconvincing since it was followed by other similar
events. The same tactics were used in September of
the same year and were repeated again later. On the
other hand, even if we assume that the massacres
that happened had been spontaneous, their results
were nevertheless later welcomed by

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Qershor 2015, Nr. 5

the re-established Greek state after the

liberation from Nazi occupation.
The conflict with the Muslims appears to have
been foretold for some time: It emerges from a
great number of reports and relevant documents
and published work, that Zervas seemed to have
no intention of any collaboration with the Chams
from the very beginning of [EDES].
The creation of the Cham-Albanian sideadministration in the area should have played a role
in the decisions of the politicians in 1945: An area
south of Northern Epirus, which all the political
parties, even the Communist Party of Greece, were
demanding to be annexed to Greece in 1946, had
been threatened with quasi-annexation by Albania.
How can the persistence of EDES fighters in
attacking the unarmed and miserable Chams who
had returned to the Filati region in early 1945 be
explained if not with the purpose of their expulsion
from Greece?
In 1945 and 1946 the prosecution of more than
2100 Chams, mainly males, followed. They were
sentenced as war criminals and collaborators with
the Occupation Forces in absentia. Their real estate
assets (occasionally even those of their spouses and
children) were subjected to general confiscation.
The same regulations applied for the rest of the
Muslim Chams, as persons who abandoned their
properties and acted against the [Greek] nation
abroad. These confiscated properties passed onto
the hands of the Greeks, and not always through
formal legal means. Similarly, urban real estate
properties passed to the Greek state by means of
a law passed in 1938. Rural estates had the same
fate after the implementation of new legislative
provisions of the period between 1952 and 1959.
All these regulations did not exclusively target the
Chams. They also affected the communists who
left Greece after their defeat in 1949. In addition
there were more austere provisions adopted for the
populations that lived near the border [
in Greek], which at that time included nearly all of
Northern Greece. It is evident from the legislation,
that the consequences of these policies, suffered by
the Slav Macedonians and the Chams, were known
and consciously carried out as an essential aim of the
state policy during that period. This is also proved
by the fact that these regulations did not apply to the
Muslim Turks of Western Thrace who left Greece
after 1940. 9
8. The disappearance
of the minority
and ethnic cleansing
The atrocities that took place against the
Muslim population are not mentioned in any
official documents. They are absent even from
confidential documents exchanged between the
administrative bodies themselves. This does not
only demonstrate that the Cham issue was a closed
case for the Greek state but it also suggests that the
state wished to completely eradicate any evidence
of what had happened during that turbulent period.
After the war, a very limited number of printed
material mostly originating from local writers
undertook the task of presenting the realities
of the period of war, with the implicit aim of
justifying the ethnic cleansing that had taken place.
A few years after the expulsion, a propaganda
booklet was published entitled Chams and
Chameria. Descendants of perjurers - Yesterdays
collaborators with the Occupation Forces and war
criminals -Todays chiefs of the communist gangs.
The booklet referred to the crimes of the Chams
even though the Greek state stood scandalously in
favour of [them].The writer is making an argument
for the Greek origin of the Chams, who according

to him were converted to Islam and were obliged

in time to learn the Albanian language, and
estimates their number at 16,661. This booklet was
the second printed work that made reference to the
case. The first one was published in 1945, but never
attracted any attention. As Giorgos Margaritis notes,
the theory arguing for a natural criminal tendency
among the Chams was put forward and, in a fashion
also adopted by the later booklet, was meant to
justify the bloody cleansing of the minority. During
the interwar period a similar theory had been used to
explain the financial destruction of the community:
It was a result of their laziness and their dislike of
education.
As has become apparent, the theory of the Greek
origin of Muslim Chams became dominant after the
exodus. The aim was to prove that all the lands
that comprised Chameria had been inhabited by
Greeks in fact, that the whole of the Greek territory
had a purely Greek history which could not have
been claimed by foreign states and opponent national
histories, protecting the unredeemed part of their
nation, so the solution was to consider them former
Greeks who betrayed their nation by converting
to Islam in the first instance and by identifying
themselves with an alien nation in the second. The
territory was claimed through its population, which
in the era of the nationalities principle became the
normative approach.
Another book entitled Grief and tears of
Thesprotia, published most probably in the late
1960s, repeats the assertion that the Muslims of
the area were local Greeks converted by force to
Islam and forced to learn the Albanian language.
The Muslims of Thesprotia were counted at 16,661,
once again through playing with the numbers of the
unofficial figures of the 1940 census. The writer
refers to the outrageous favours they enjoyed
due to the efforts of the Greeks and the Greek state
and describes the crimes of those human-looking
monsters.
In 1986 Vassilis Krapsitis published what turned
out to be the most popular book to that date. A large
part of it is dedicated to the atrocities committed
by Muslims, while reference to the Paramithia
massacre occupies no more than a footnote. The
narrative of the Greek origin of the Chams is
repeated, just like the arguments about their forced
conversion to Islam and their Greek-mother tongue,
for a majority of the population. Following the
1940 census the author claims that 18,576 Muslims
were registered in the area. A year earlier, the same
author had published another book, dealing with the
history of the town of Paramithia. Evidently, there
were certain chapters focusing on War crimes of
Muslim Chams but utter silence on the Paramithia
massacres. More importantly, the same book
includes a sub-chapter entitled [The Paramithia
Muslims]. Full Greeks converted to Islam, where
the usual references and arguments are made. A
slightly different approach appears in the writings
of Spyros Mousselimis, a local teacher. In his major
work, first published in 1973 but best known after
its 1997 edition, he accepts the forced conversion
theory, and takes a step further, declaring that the
Albanian [ in the original text] language
of Christian and Turk Chams has Greco-Pelasgic
roots and that both were descendants of the Dorians.
He avoids focusing on the 1940-1945 period, except
for scattered references, one of which was the looting
and burning of the Muslim village of Gardhiqi. In a
line he refers to the revenge and pogrom against
the Turks at Paramithia by the guerrillas.
These publications going back as far as the mid1980s clearly show a deliberate erasure of memory
regarding the Muslim Chams from public discourse.
What is specifically understated each time is the
fact that for a lot of Christians of the area Albanian
maintained.

Notes:

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).
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, , Yanina 1995, vol. VII, pp. 253254). 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 , . , Athens 1926. See also
K. Naska (ed.), passim and E. Manda, op. cit., pp. 17-136.
At 1935 the local Administration of the Gendarmerie of Preveza proposes the
re-settlement of semi transhumant families, namely skinits [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). See for example the document:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, .. 8089//21/, 12.08.1932 confirming the definite
settlement of 17 Muslim (Cham according to the document) families from
the subprefecture of Filati 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 Filati for the
year 1932, 86 Muslims settle to Turkey against 51 to Albania (The Sub-prefect of
Thyamis to MFA, Filat, 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.
4 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 Lgation de Grce 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, . 21).
5 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 Chameria.
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, . 21).
6 In this way, only 20 non-Muslim Albanian-speakers are recorded in Epirus. Its
only in Macedonia that 1,119 persons are listed, leading to a total of 18,773
Albanian speakers for all of Greece. 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, Lalbanophonie, op. cit., pp. 170-171).
7 For the case of Paramithia 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 Paramithia 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.
104According 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 ami
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 Chameria.
8 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 popullsis shqiptare
myslimane t amris, Univers1(Tirana), 2001, pp. 83-96.
9 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 (authors
field research in the area, 1996-2008).
10 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).
11 Indicatively, the figure for Parga has no Muslim inhabitants in contrast to 150
Muslims in that of Krapsitis counting.
12 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,
Lalbanophonie, op. cit., pp. 591-594).
13 The Suha line is not an invention of the writer, but of the irredentist Greek
policies of the last quarter of nineteen century.
14 Interview in 2000, ex-mayor of Paramithia appointed during the dictatorship.
15 Today there are only three semi-demolished minarets standing, one in
Marglli (Margariti), the other in Luarat (Katavothra) and the third one in Koska
(Kotsika).
16 No process of pursuing charges against the offender took place (Authors field
research 2004).
17 Authors field research 1997-2008.
18 This article was later modified and entered the Greek Nationality Code (Act) as
article 19, which was in force until 1998.
19 Another relevant order was sent at the 29th of Dev. 1947 entitled Erasure of the
Males Registration Roll of Muslims of Albanian origin (.9905/13/2/, General
Headquarter (...)). Both documents are in the authors personal archive.
20 After the petition of M. D. to the Municipality of Paramithia 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 nonexistence of the relevant
registration (authors personal archive).
21 This affected a few dozens persons. These data result from the authors
unpublished research in the Council of Citizenship Archives.
22 The protagonist of the expulsion, N. Zervas, in a letter to one of his comrades,
dated 1953 writes: Our fellow countrymen of the area must recall once more who
got rid of the Muslim Chams [Arvanits 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.
23As 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).
24The 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. Its also
the result, according to our view, of the erasure process that took place.
Notes of The Voice of Chameria: In an interesting case, Nusret Ali Zekria, who had
been appointed as teacher of the Muslim religion at the school of Kui (today
Polyneri) doc. 15784/1939) applied again in 1976 to be appointed as teacher of
religion and language, but the administration denied that possibility as such a
post does not exist according to the relevant legislation, Secretary General of the
Ministry of National Education, doc. F. 361.1/103/130559 of 26.3.1976.

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In contrast, prior to the 1990s there were only two
books that had the courage to address the facts. The
first one, written by a local named Yannis Sarras,
member of the leftist resistance organization EAM,
reveals the atrocities against Muslim Chams, by
reference to distinct incidents. His book, although
not well known and difficult to find even at the
time it was published, is also the only one that
examines the Albanian linguistic tradition of the
area. The second book is written by a member of
the armed leftist resistance group [ELAS],
in which the atrocities and murders against the
Muslim population are also described. The fact
that from the early 1980s onwards the Albanianspeaking communities of Southern Greece started
to investigate their roots and linguistic traditions
necessitated the invention of yet another conceptual
construction. This new concept appeared at the
same time with reference both to the Arvanitic
communities of southern Greece and to the Chams.
In 1989 Krapsitis published a book on the (Christian
Cham) Arvanits. In that book he repeats the
constructions regarding their origin and their
(proto-) Greek language, as an attempt to disconnect
them from the Muslim Chams. Simultaneously,
an attempt is made to disconnect their language
from proper Albanian, the corresponding standard
official language, stating that it is not Albanian but

t could be argued that it was not officially

the state that committed ethnic cleansing, an
argument put forth worldwide by various states and
for a variety of similar cases. In the Cham case,
however, the state herself was both undisturbed
by this ethnic cleansing and received its results
favorably. Napoleon Zervas, the leader of EDES,
was considered a hero by the state and had a
subsequent career as a prominent member of the
political system. Furthermore, the state backed
up the ensuing absolute obliteration of Chams.
Their expulsion was far from being perceived as
an historical mistake: it was seen as an act of
salvation for the area and for Greece at large. 22
As we have shown, the continuous anxiety
of the Greek authorities to reduce as much as
possible the existence of the minority and to mute
the development of a national Albanian minority
in Chameria, was transformed into physical
expulsion when these measures were not
deemed sufficient. This reduction included the
numbers of persons and their representation
in registries, their land and property, leading
to a reduction finally in their total presence,
their national affiliation and their entitlement to
fair treatment. The dominant perception was that
the lands near the border had to be Greek, not
only because it adjoined the frontier of another
state, but also because it was inconceivable after
the Lausanne Treaty that a non-Greek in every
sense (i.e. religion and language) could own
Greek land, or simply exist inside Greek territory,
while claiming not to be Greek. In this sense the
compactness of the Albanian speaking area in
Western Epirus, from a certain period onwards,
did not constitute a danger to the Greek state in
terms of a possible shift of its Christian Albanian
speaking population towards Albania. The danger
lay in the fact that this land could continue to be

One of the last acts of the

cleansing of history is the
blowing up of the mosque at the
village of Polyneri (ex-Kui,) by a
(Christian) villager, during the time
of the Colonels Dictatorship. A
tiny Muslim community and, until
recently, the last imam of Epirus
still survive in this village.
Arvanitic, an idiom quite similar with the arvanitika
language spoken in Southern Greece.
The theory of the Greek origin of the Chams
appears even in scientifically oriented works.
As it often happens in such cases, sources are
purposefully left without verification. In the
following example a Greek propaganda book is
employed to support the hidden argument that those
lands were inhabited by Greeks: these Albanian

speaking Moslems, who were descendants of the

Christian inhabitants of Thesprotia and who had
been converted to the Muslim religion and had
lost contact with the Greek language during the
Ottoman rule (authors emphasis). In one sentence,
the writer manages to support the Greekness of the
people and of the area. They were autochthonous,
so there were no population invasions; they were
Greeks who lost their language and Christians
(the other accompanying trait of Greekness) who
lost their faith; those facts changed due to the evil
Ottoman rule. These conclusions are based on two
footnotes from the book of Ioannis Archimadritis, a
propaganda book par excellence.
The erasure of the Cham past in general was further
assisted by the fact that the Chams were considered
to be a hostile population even in communist
Albania, a black sheep in the heroic resistance
of the Albanian people.10 Leonidas Embirikos
has pointed out that there is a complete absence
of works by local authors presenting the history
of their village, in contrast to a common practice
throughout Greece. If we consider that even in the
case of Macedonian/Bulgarian speaking villages
there are at least a dozen books on the history of
the villages, with some actually making direct or
indirect references to their linguistic alterity, we
presume that in the case of Chameria there

Conclusion
viewed as Albanian, the land of Arvanits (see
above). [T]he idea of hellenising the land of
the Chams was made possible by the ideology of
human exchanges and the lack of legal protection
for these minorities during the interwar period, as
stated by Georgia Kretsi. This deep rooted anxiety
of the Greek state, as disclosed by the patterns
of policy implementation in the region, led to the
gradual minoritization and nationalization of the
group, 23 a process that shaped its complete and
utter exclusion from the Greek nation-state.
Following these processes the next step for a
solution to the issue was their expulsion, given that
there would be no major bilateral or international
risk of protest and conditions of war presented the
most favorable chances for a total expulsion to take
place. The expulsion was facilitated by the general
tendency of Eastern European states to proceed
to the mass expulsion of their German minorities
at the end of the War through the argument of the
explicit intervention of the German state, as well
as their open identification with Germany.
The intention of the State was quite clear: the
expulsion of Muslim Chams through their inclusion
in the Greco-Turkish population exchange.
Although not realized through this exchange, state
policies directed at the reduction of the population
of Muslim Chams were a prelude to the expulsion
that would take place later. The exact time and
means of this expulsion were under a constant
process of negotiation. We argue that the intention
of the state found, at the time, nomination in the
actions of the Armed Forces which were acting as
forces of national resistance. These forces, in the
presence of an absent or later weak state and with
its blessing, were acting on behalf of the nation
and the state. As the state gained back its strength,
the actions of the guerilla forces were accepted
as the states own operational policy. When we

look at other war-related cases in the postwar

Greek state, despite its staunch anti-communism
and partial staffing by members of armed groups
responsible for atrocities, there still were cases
where individuals responsible for atrocities were
sentenced and were far from being rewarded. The
absolute non-punishment and the reward of
those individuals related to the expulsion of Chams,
are strong indicators that these policies were both
accepted and formed part of state policy.
The total disappearance of an-albeit officially
unrecognized minority that once existed was
disturbed only after the emergence of the issue
in post-communist Albanian politics. But less than
fifty years were sufficient to erase all memory
of the Chams from the minds of the Greeks.
With the exception of the locals themselves,
everyone else in Greece, from politicians to most
historians, 24 is convinced or pretends that (Muslim)
Chams never existed in Greece. The process
of erasure/muting was so successful, that even
the anchormen of Greek television speak of the
pseudo-Chams or the self-so-called Chams.
For the importance of the operation of Greek
schools at Himar and the significance it played
at the decision of the Greek Administration to
permit the instruction of the Albanian language in
a few schools see E. Manda, op. cit., p. 105,
where relevant Albanian and Greek sources sited.
Although the instruction of the Albanian language
is related on the point of time with the opening
permission of private schools for the Greek minority
in Albania and such reciprocity tactics are traced in
Albanian archives (see N. Clayer Lalbanisation
de la zone frontire albanogrecque et ses alas
dans lentre-deux-guerres , Actes du colloque
Frontires et territories dans les Balkans, EFA,
Athnes, September 2006 (under publication)),
there is no relevant evidence in Greek archives.

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The view of Arta, Chameri

are two issues that local authors do not

want to deal with: the linguistic alterity, a common
language with Muslims (and Albanians) and the
1944-1945 incidents.
In view of the above, the sudden reappearance
of the Cham issue in Albanian political and
public discourse surprised and frightened Greece
in every respect. Greek semi-official discourse was
based on propaganda books and leaflets published in
the previous decades and was unable to address the
evidence that sprang forth from the opposite side.
Even local Greeks were frightened, as they started
to worry about their properties.
It is in this context that in 1993 when the Cham
issue was already being discussed in Albania, a
scholarly book attempted to reconstruct the history of
the interwar period. In this book, arguments related
to the Greek origin of the Muslims are supported
and the non-Albanian national consciousness of
the Chams is emphasised. With regard to the whole
spectrum of the issues specific to this period,
key questions such as the property issue and past
discriminatory policies are not examined. There is
a mention of the unsuccessful denunciation by the
Albanian Government to the League of Nations in
1928. At this point the writer conflates the issue of
Greek refugees (from Turkey) with that of the estate
policies, a common trick, aimed at justifying Greek
positions.
From mid-nineties, with the emergence of the
issue in bilateral Greek-Albanian politics, a few
more publications came into view. Their common
aim was to emphasize the criminal behavior of
Muslim Chams and conceal the ethnic cleansing
they were subjected to. The theories of Greek origin
and forced conversion to Islam were still present.
Krapsitis 1986 book and Michalopoulos book,
are easily found in bookstores accessible to the
wider public. These are the two books which have
shaped public ideas on the Cham issue.
In all these published works it is common practice
to focus only on numbers of Albanian speaking
Muslims, leaving out those who were considered
by the Greek censuses as Greek speaking. In
this manner the total number of Chams is
underestimated as a mere 2,000 persons. But
even when presenting the census the authors use
various ploys in order to reduce the number of
Muslims. Although Krapsitis in his 1986 book counts
18, 576 Muslims according to the unofficial data of

The ELAS colonel and dedicated

communist Nikos Ziangos, in his
books describes as witness the
collaboration issus, the same time
he records in detail the atrocities
and the massacres against the
Chams for the first time in Greece.
According to N. Ziangos in one house
30 children under the age of three
were massacred.
the 1940 census, others using the same census arrive
at a figure of 16,661 persons, following Chariton
Lambrous lists. Lambrou used rather primitive
manipulations in order to reduce the number of the
Muslim population: He totally omitted the Muslim
population of certain villages11 and in villages where
there was a mixed population the count for Muslims
is transferred to the category of Christians and vice
versa.12 Besides, there is enough evidence to prove
that even Krapsitis census underestimates the
Muslim population for at least 2,500 persons.
The stigma of the killings, or as we name it the
blood stigma, which is carried by the local Christian
population, helped the administration to make
the Cham issue absolutely disappear from public
discourse. Unlike the case of Slav-Macedonians,
Muslim Chams were all gone, with no signs of any
natural presence after the War. By collaborating
with the Occupation Forces they had also lost their
support from the Left. Moreover the local Christians
generally benefited from the expulsion in addition
to the fact that quite a lot took part in the 19441945 incidents. Consequently, it was easy for state
institutions to render the Chams invisible.
The Albanian language, and the Christian
population who spoke it- and still do - had to be
concealed also, since the language was perceived
as an additional threat to the Greekness of the
land. It could only be used as a proof of their link
with the Muslims, thus creating a continuum of

non-Greekness. In this way, in the History of the

Greek Nation [ ], a
collection, and most importantly, a multi-volume
work with the official purpose of securing as well as
of normalizing Greek history, the Albanian language
is reportedly absent in the south of the Souha line.
In other words, south of Himar-Gjirokastr-SuhLeskovik the population was Christian and Greekspeaking. 13
The process of extinguishing any signs of
previous minority existence occurred both
in real and symbolic ways. The villages of
Muslim Chams were repopulated by Greek
speaking
populations
from
the
adjacent
mountainous areas and Vlachs, immediately
after their expulsion.14 The central Holy Mosque
of Paramithia was not only blown up but
was symbolically gouged in order to underline
the end of the Muslim presence in the area.
Gradually, in a period of less than ten years,
nearly all mosques and especially minarets, visible
symbols of Muslim presence, were demolished.15
One of the last acts of the cleansing of history
is the blowing up of the mosque at the village of
Polyneri (ex-Koutsi,) by a (Christian) villager,
during the time of the Colonels Dictatorship. 16
A tiny Muslim community and, until recently, the
last Imam of Epirus still survives. 17
What has turned the Chams into an absolutely
invisible minority is the erasure of their existence
from every public registration roll. In their case it
seems that the withdrawal of their citizenship was
not the outcome of a legal procedure. In accordance
with the regulations in force at the time (under
article 4 of the 12.08.1927 Decree) persons
not belonging to the Greek genos [ in
Greek] could be deprived of their citizenship if
they had left Greek territory with no intention
of return. Even though the legal paths of these
deprivations of citizenship can be traced for the
cases of Slav-Speaking Macedonians, Muslim
Turks, Jews and other groups deprived of their
citizenship rights, this is not the case for Muslim
Chams. Seemingly, a different procedure was
employed for them. The reason for this difference
is, we presume, that what we are dealing with in the
Chams case it is not an issue of deprivation of
citizenship through individual decisions, issued
by the prefect/ the Ministry of Interior (Affairs)
and the Ministry of Military Affairs, but rather an
erasure or destruction of all relative documents.18
Specifically this refers to the destruction of the
municipality registrations records [in
Greek], and the special Males Registration Roll
[ in Greek]. The latter registry was,
at that time, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Military Affairs. According to a document classified
as urgent and secret of the Ministry of Military
Affairs to the Recruiting Office of Gumenica
(Igoumenitsa) and the Prefecture of Thesprotia
(doc. A. . 50862/. 38254, Athens, the 16 th
of Dec. 1947) the Ministry directed the above
mentioned local authorities to erase the names of
Muslims from the Males Registration roll as they
were considered as being already deprived of
their Greek citizenship (under the 1927 Decree).19
Today, no registration of a Muslim Cham can be
traced in the municipality or Males registries.
Municipalities, on the other hand, have fabricated
untenable justifications for this irregularity. 20 It is
worth mentioning that the deprivation of citizenship
was also implemented in Epirus, in the remaining
population of Moslems, numbered a few hundred
persons, in accordance with article 19 of the Greek
Nationality Code (Act) up until its revocation in
1998. 21 The implementation of article 19 in Epirus
demonstrates best that the state policy was that the
slightest sign of Muslim Cham existence in the area
had to be eradicated.