By Gani Vila
Part One
– The Greek genocide and the silence of Albanian governments in over 100 years! –
Memorie.al / The obligation I feel to write about these planned anti-human crimes, committed in those years by the regular army of the Greek state, does not stem solely from the fact that I am from that area, nor from the fact that among the 375 people massacred between July 2nd and 10th, 1914, in the village of Panarit in Korçë, 25 individuals were my ancestors – who were burned alive by the Greek army in the house of Rrape Vila in the “Vilë” neighborhood. Rather, I am mostly troubled by the anti-national and anti-human stance of the Albanian state itself and all its previous governments, from the time of the Greek genocide until today.
Despite more than a century having passed, not only have they failed to denounce the genocide of the Greek state to international organizations, not only have they failed to accurately reflect it in the history of Albania, and not only do they lack accurate or even approximate statistics of the population massacred by the Greek army in the villages and towns where this genocide occurred – they do not even have a commemorative date, a place to lay flowers, to light a candle, or to mourn them. Graves and headstones are missing in our land full of stones, and thus there is no sign of respect for the souls of our massacred ancestors!
These are the reasons I have written, am writing, and will continue to write until my sacred state restores the honor, dignity, and rights of our ancestors who were barbarically massacred on our land, in our homes, and at our hearths. The genocide that the Greek state committed against our people in the years 1913-1914 and beyond, though it is the most painful history of our people, has remained orphaned by the state; however, it has been preserved and passed down through generations in the memories of individuals, families, clans, and the regions that experienced these anti-human Greek crimes.
Similarly, we must highly value and respect the writings of authors in Albanian and foreign newspapers of that time, as well as books that reflected this period both in the United States and in Europe, which provided extraordinary help by writing about the macabre events committed by the Greek state in intimate detail. This information and these statistics are, fortunately, the sole evidence, but it is a great misfortune for the Albanian nation that they have not been studied, researched, verified, or reflected with the necessary scope and truthfulness in the ‘History of the Albanian People’ and in world genocide statistics.
The massacre of the civilian population by the Greek army in the towns and villages of south-eastern Albania in 1913-1914 – in Përmet, Leskovik, Kolonjë, Korçë, Tepelenë, Memaliaj, Skrapar, Berat, Gjirokastër, Sarandë, Delvinë, etc. – regardless of religion (Muslims and Christians alike), involving the elderly, men, women, youth, children, and infants, was carried out in the most macabre and anti-human manner that world history has ever seen or heard.
They slit the bellies of pregnant mothers with daggers and knives and mocked them in front of their living, unborn children…! They decapitated children and adults with axes; they sliced open the stomachs of the living with knives and cleavers, telling them they would hang them with their own intestines; they severed limbs while people were still alive, burned them, and threw them alive into wells, continuing even with psychological torture. Greek soldiers would bind the men with chains and ropes, and before their very eyes, they would dishonor their mothers, brides, and underage daughters, who often died as a result.
They burned thousands upon thousands of houses in villages and towns, barbarically stole all the wealth that this region had in its homes, and looted numerous livestock and agricultural products – damages and thefts exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars. All these deportations and massacres carried out across the south-eastern villages and towns of Albania, based on UN General Assembly Resolution 260-A, which entered into force on January 12, 1915, are classified as genocide for ethnic cleansing.
Although the population of South-eastern Albania in those years suffered incalculable losses – around 50,000 people killed or deported, and material damages such as burned houses and looted property amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars – they survived in these areas for many decades. They continued to experience the pain of terror and the poverty caused by these crimes, but above all, they suffer from the unusual indifference of the Albanian state.
It is unbelievable, but there are villages in these areas even today, such as the village of Panarit in Korçë, that are left in complete oblivion; they have never had, and still do not have to this day, an automobile road. A century has passed, and although we live in the era of globalization, the Albanian people of this region still manage and preserve the criminal events of those years in their memory from generation to generation, while the Albanian state continues to remain silent, killing national memory every day.
All the long-lived Albanian regimes following the Greek crimes in South-eastern Albania in 1913-1914 – both the Zogists and the Enverists, and surprisingly even after the 1990s – have never taken into consideration the issue I am writing about. It was not fully and correctly reflected in the History of Albania under the communist regime, and even the republishing of the ‘History of the Albanian People’ in the days of democracy is a photocopy of the few pages written in the existing republished text.
Albanian historians, generation after generation, when writing or speaking about the internal situation of Albania during those years, revolve and struggle around Prince Wied, Haxhi Qamili, Essad Pasha, and their offspring. Even those Albanian historians who studied and reflected the stance of international actors of that period have written thousands of pages in books, brochures, and newspapers about the difficult situation Albania was going through in those years between partition and existence, particularly due to our neighbors!
But it is a strange fact that no Albanian historian who studied that period – both the internal and external situation – has written at all about the genocide of the Greek army, which aimed to achieve ethnic cleansing against the Albanian population by barbarically deporting and killing the civilian population of South-eastern Albania in 1913-1914 and beyond.
The only one has been the talented writer and journalist Blendi Fevziu, who, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Greek massacres committed in Panarit, Korçë, with courage and professionalism and in respect of all the souls of the slain, dedicated an episode of “Opinion” to them. Therefore, he deserves a public thanks: Thank you, Mr. Fevziu. One of the most successful Albanian historians, Professor Pëllumb Xhufi, was also invited to this show, and during the conversation, he declared that even he did not know the reasons why the Albanian state remains silent about these crimes and offered a self-criticism that he himself had not written about this period. This statement by the prominent Albanian historian, Xhufi, speaks volumes.
There are historians and professors in Albanian universities who, after the year 2000, have dug through British and French archives, etc., and have written more accurately (copied books) about Northern Epirus to earn a few coins, yet have not written a single word about the Greek genocide committed during those years in Albania. By writing about Northern Epirus, they have intentionally manipulated the genocide that the Greek army committed in these areas, as the background of these intellectual historians was sufficient to classify these massacres at least as crimes against humanity.
Recently, many others like me have written articles and books reflecting the history of their ancestral villages from the South-eastern Albanian region, which is to be commended. But I must emphasize: the classification of the treatment of the crimes that the regular Greek army committed in South-eastern Albania in 1913-1914 and beyond is not a “massacre” as it is treated by contemporary authors; for example, one cannot simply write “The Massacre of Panarit.”
Naming it in this form avoids revealing the identity of the subject of the crime – the Greeks. One should not always adhere to tradition; the rules and laws of writing history belong to historians to implement, but the issue I am writing about, although left in oblivion by Albanian history for 100 years, is already “tempered” in the memory of our people. To make this clearer, I refer to my village of Panarit in Korçë, where unfortunately, the Greek genocide in this village was of greater proportions than in any other area or village in South-eastern Albania.
When articles or books are written by historians and people with intellectual potential, social influence, and patriotism under titles like “The Massacre of Panarit,” “The Massacre of Hormova,” “The Massacre of Përmet,” etc., they are understood as massacres among Albanians. Unintentionally, one falls prey to the devilish propaganda sown by the Greeks over these hundred years – that Albanians killed each other. We should not spare words that complete the meaning; we must write them correctly: The Greek Massacre in Panarit, or the massacre the Greeks committed in Hormova, the Greek massacres in Frashër, the Greek massacres in Kolonjë, etc.
On the other hand, it is true that the form of the crime was mainly through deportation and massacre, but all these specific cases in different villages or areas complete the objective and the figure of the crime committed by the Greeks in South-eastern Albania in 1913-1914, which, as mentioned above, is classified as “Genocide” for ethnic cleansing through deportation and the massacring of the civilian population.
The reflection of Greek crimes against the civilian population of South-eastern Albania until the 1920s by Albanian and foreign authors always condemned and clearly cited Greece’s crimes in their titles and content – for instance, Kosta Papa’s book Greek Barbarities in Albania, and articles by various authors found online like “The Massacres of Greek Andartes in Këlcyrë and Hormovë,” “The 100th Anniversary of Greek Massacres in Toskëria,” etc.
Under these conditions, the Greek government was very careful regarding the crimes it committed in 1913-1914 and beyond, especially after the proceedings of the Paris Peace Conference, when the Greek dream of Northern Epirus came to an end. To avoid facing international laws, they began to manipulate the crimes committed against Albanians and falsify history, which they achieved by intensifying intelligence work among Albanians, particularly with paid historians, threats, etc.
They formed information networks that still exist today in the arteries of the Albanian state. Consequently, the Albanian state not only has not dealt with documenting the crimes the Greeks committed in this period in Albania, but has surrendered to the manipulations made by Albanian historians who had ties with the perpetrators of these crimes and the Greek state – names that are already known.
This is also proven by the fact that no state institution, no Albanian historian, or individual to date has taken it upon themselves to write, study, research, and create the corresponding file for the Greek genocide of this period in South-eastern Albania, even just to defend a thesis or a diploma. These philo-Greek “Albanian” historians achieved their goal! During the communist regime, speaking about these crimes was forbidden and impossible – a taboo created by Enver Hoxha’s regime itself.
Indeed, when the crimes of that period were mentioned to the officials of the communist regime, the population of this area was told under their breath to shut their mouths, to forget these crimes, and as if by order, they used expressions like: “a lid has been placed on those crimes,” or “let’s not peel the layer off the lakror (pie).” Well, here is the thread of the mess entangled by the spy-historians.
Years pass and take their toll; the names and souls of over 50,000 Albanians massacred by the Greek army are forgotten, continuing to suffer and groan also from the serial killings by their grandsons and great-grandsons that have been and are in power in Albania. We thought democracy would set things right, but this was not realized! Thus, even though we have had a quarter-century of democracy, one day the “lid” of Enver Hoxha’s regime found its “Rama pot” – which, if you open it, smells of treason.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Ditmir Bushati, during his visit to Greece and in meetings held on March 21, 2016, with the President of Greece, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, the Speaker of Parliament, Nikos Voutsis, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Kotzias, declared that Albanians and Greeks should resolve problems and disputes starting from the Second World War, essentially referring to the Chameria issue.
He did his duty by speaking about the Chams, but he was incorrect when he, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, established the Second World War as the chronological baseline for improving Albania-Greece relations. This was an irresponsible statement, more dangerous than the silence of previous Albanian ministers, as ill-considered state declarations damage the interests of our people.
But what happened when all Albanians were waiting for the reaction of the Albanian Government to Mr. Bushati’s irresponsible statement in Athens? The Prime Minister of Albania himself, Edi Rama, at the PDIU Congress on June 4, 2016, eager for electoral votes, appeared as the savior of the Chams. Yet in that same Congress, in the “home” of the Chams, he betrayed them and all Albanians when he repeated the statement of his minister Bushati – that problems with the Greeks should be looked at starting from 1945 – thus sealing the latest betrayal and shame of the Albanian government, which tramples on the blood of our ancestors.
The Chams should indeed seek the responsibility that the Greek state must bear for the genocide it exercised against that population and for the return of their properties, which were looted from them. They are Albanian citizens, and especially when dealing with grave crimes like genocide, the Albanian state itself must prepare the file and represent its people in the relevant international organizations. Why do the Chams need a party? They are the same as the people of Panarit, Dardha, Dukagjin, Hoti, Frashër, Labëria, Mitrovica, Presheva, the highlanders, Prespa, etc. – they are Albanians and the state has its own constitutional obligations to protect the interests of its people.
But “when trouble strikes, open the door,” says a folk proverb. For the Chams, the trouble they faced with the Greeks was not enough; they have been paying the tribute for 72 years and more to Albanian governments which, during the communist regime, viewed this population as second-class. They imprisoned them, interned them, killed them, and kept them under control.
After 1990, in the democratic system, the Chams believed deeply but fell again into the “trap” of the parties. This time, into the electoral trap of pluralism for the interest of votes. They lied to the Chams about what they were seeking and made them “shareholders” in the Industry of Parties which, in these three decades, have unfortunately turned into the largest profitable economic industry for their owners in Albania.
How did the Chams fall into the electoral trap of the parties when they are just like all our Albanian people?! Who is interested in evaluating the Chams differently from the rest of the Albanian population? No one but the Greeks. The Chams have suffered enough; let them join Albanian parties of the left, right, and center as they wish, and let us all work together as Albanians to make the Albanian state function, as the “Cham Issue” is a nationwide Albanian issue. The genocide that the Greek state committed against the Cham civilian population must be pursued by the Albanian state, not by a Cham Party. The Albanian state must be the author of the file and the lawyer for the Cham case in The Hague; otherwise, the state is a “Rrumpallë” (a mess)! Memorie.al
Director of the Television of Albanians in America
Michigan, USA
To be continued in the next issue
