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1946 - Document of the Committee of Cham Albanians in exile,
on Greek persecution of the Chams, submitted to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations
Chameria, also known as southern Epirus, is a region, now part of Greece, that extends from the Greek-Albanian border down the coast of the Ionian Sea to Preveza and the Gulf of Arta. Its largest town, Janina (Ioannina), was once regarded as the capital of Albania. Chameria had an Albanian majority population, the Chams, until the region was invaded and incorporated into Greece during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. At that time, large sections of the native Albanian population, in particular the Muslims, were driven out of the country by Greek forces. The remaining Cham Albanians were expelled from their homeland in 1944, following massacres committed by Greek resistance forces under Napoleon Zervas (1891-1957). The Chams fled for the most part to Albania as impoverished refugees, having lost everything they owned. Regarded with suspicion by the new Communist authorities in Albania, they nonetheless managed to form an organization to defend their interests. This so-called Cham Anti-Fascist Committee protested and campaigned in the years immediately following the Second World War for a return of their property and Greek citizenship, but in vain. The following is a Memorandum sent by this committee to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 1946.
We, the Anti-Fascist Committee of Cham immigrants in Albania, having faith in the democratic and humanitarian principles of the UN, and acting in the name of Cham immigrants in Albania, do hereby address the Investigating Commission concerning our lost rights, oppression, persecutions and massacres committed by Greek Fascists in order to exterminate the Albanian minority in Greece.
In pursuit of the protests and appeals that we have addressed to the Great Allies and the United Nations, we ask for justice with regard to the following:
For 32 years in succession, Greek chauvinist and reactionary cliques, in brutal violation of every humanitarian principle, and in total disregard of international treaties, have carried out a policy of extermination toward the Albanian minority in Greece.
Beginning with the Greek occupation of Chameria on February 23, 1913, the gang of Deli Janaqi, incited and assisted by the local authorities, massacred without cause whatsoever 72 men, in the brook of Selani, district of Paramithia.
This massacre marked the beginning of the drive to exterminate the Albanian minority, and made clear the orientation of Greek policy toward our population.
The hounding, persecutions, imprisonment, internment, tortures, and plunder carried out on the pretext of disarming [the population] in the years 1914-1921, the terrorist actions of outlaws, and the provocations of Gjen Baire in 1921, reveal the reality of the sufferings to which our population was subjected during the Greek occupation.
Koska, Lopsi, Varfanj, Karbunara, Kardhiq, Paramithia, Margëllëç, Arpica, Grykohori, and others, are some of the villages that paid an especially high price as a consequence of the terror.
In 1922-1923, the Greek authorities decided to displace the Moslem element of Chameria, in exchange for the Greeks in Asia Minor, on the pretext that we were Turks. This shameless act of the Athenian authorities ran into opposition on our part and the intervention of the League of Nations which, upon ascertaining the Albanian nationality of our people, rejected the decision of the Greek Government.
But despite the intervention of the League of Nations, and the solemn commitments undertaken by the Greek Government in Lausanne on 16 January 1923, the authorities in Athens continued their policy of extermination. They resorted to every device to make it difficult for the Albanian element to remain in Chameria, and confiscated 6,000 hectares of land owned by hundreds of families in Dushk, Gumenica, Kardhiq, Karbunara, and others, without compensating them in the least.
The government in Athens settled the immigrants from Asia Minor in Chameria, with the intention of peopling it with Greeks and creating conditions that would lead to the emigration of the autochthonous Albanian population.
Entire families were forced to abandon their birthplace and migrate to Turkey, Albania, America and elsewhere, and villages like Petrovica and Shëndellia were deserted completely by their Albanian inhabitants.
Under these circumstances, we did not enjoy any national rights, not even the use of our mother tongue. Fanaticism and ignorance were given support, instead of developing our national culture and stimulating progress. Instead of opening schools, they subsidized religious clubs in the Arab language. Ninety-five percent of our population remained illiterate. The province of Chameria, a fertile and prosperous land, remained backward, without economic development, without communication facilities, and in the hands of money-lenders and monopolists, such as: Koçoni, Pitulejtë, Kufalla, Zhulla, Ringa and others, who impoverished and enslaved the entire region.
In the war against Fascism, and more precisely at its conclusion, the reactionary Monarcho-Fascist forces of Llaka of Suli, which were created by the reaction to serve the occupier under the command of General Napoleon Zervas, turned on and treacherously massacred the Moslem Albanian inhabitants of Chameria.
At that time, when the troops of ELAS [National Popular Liberation Army] and our troops were committed to fighting the Germans, the leadership of EOEA [National Troops of Greek Guerillas], in league with the Germans, maneuvered to gain positions to fight a civil war. And when our forces, in keeping with the spirit and decisions of the protocol of Caserta (Sarafis-Zervas), August 1944, implemented the orders of the Joint Command in pursuit of the Germans, General Napoleon Zervas, commander of the resistance forces in Epirus (ELAS – EOEA), gave orders to massacre the innocent population of Chameria.
The massacres in Chameria were a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles, and a shameless disregard for the principles and the nature of the Anti-Fascist struggle. The massacres in Chameria were a result of collaboration and agreements with the Germans, who in the process of retreating, let Zervas forces take their place. Here is a concrete example of the collaboration between Zervas forces and the Germans. Theodhor Vito, the commander of the Zervas forces in the district of Filat, met the commander of the retreating German forces on 22 September 1944, in the village of Panaromen, 3 km. from Filat, just one day before the entrance of Zervas forces in Filat. Right after that meeting, and even before the German forces cleared out of Filat entirely, the forces of Theodhor Vito entered Filat. That close collaboration strengthened the position of the Zervas forces, and enabled them to initiate the terror and the massacres on a broad scale in all the districts of Chameria.
The forces of the 10th Division of EOEA, under the command of Col. Vasil Kamaras, and specifically the 16th Regiment of that division, which was led by Kranja and his aides Lefter Strugari, attorney Stavropullos Ballumi Zotos, the notorious criminals Patazejt and others, entered the town of Paramithia on 27 June 1944. Contrary to their promises and the agreement arrived at between mufti Hasan Abdullaj, on the one hand, and Shapera and the Bishop of Paramithia, on the other, who acted as agents of Zervas, the most ignoble massacres were set in motion. Defenseless men, women and children became targets for the Greek Monarcho-Fascists. The number of the massacred in the town of Paramithia and vicinity reached 600 souls.
On 28 July 1944, the forces of 40th Regiment, commanded by Agores, entered Parga and massacred 52 men, women and children.
The forces of EOEA under the command of Theodhor Vito, Ilija Kaqo, Hristo Mavrudhi, Hristo Kaqo, Hari Dhiamanti and others, first encircled the town of Filat, then on Saturday morning of 23 September 1944, entered the town. The same day they also entered Spatar. They plundered and seized all of the families, and whatever else they found. On the eve of [September] 23 and the dawn of 24 September 1944, there entered also the forces commanded by Kranja, Strugari and others. As soon as these forces arrived, the massacres began. Forty-seven men, women and children were massacred in Filat, while 157 were killed or missing in Spatar, many of whom had gone there from other villages. All of the young women and girls were abused and raped by Zervas criminals. A few days later the Monarcho-Fascists rounded up all of the men that remained, and following the decision of a kangaroo court, consisting of Koçinja – president, Staropull – prosecuting attorney, and four other members, 47 innocent Albanians were massacred. In Granica near Filat are buried the corpses of 46 persons who were slain with knives, and 45 others on the plain bordering the field of Xhelo Meto.
Other families were wiped out, including parents, children and babies in their cribs. Women and young girls were raped. Hundreds of declarations by those who survived, describe the killings and endless suffering. They make plain the crimes and aims of the Monarcho-Fascists in Chameria.
Here are some examples:
Sanie Bollati of Paramithia was burned alive with gasoline, after her breasts were cut off, and her eyes were plucked out. Ymer Murati was murdered and his body was chopped up in Paramithia.
In the house of Sulo Tari had gathered more than 40 women. Çili Popova from Popova, wearing a military uniform, and a group of soldiers, entered the house, seized the prettiest women and girls and began to rape them in another room. The screams of the girls and the women were deafening. This debauchery continued all night. Seri Fejzo, Fizret Sulo Tare and others, were victims of their baseness.
Hilmi Beqiri of Filat was wounded in front of his family and left there, as the attackers took off. Wanting to shelter him, the family brought him over to the dentist Mavrudhiu. He kept him for a few hours, but later sent word to have him taken away. The family then took him to Stavro Muhaxhiri, after which they went over to Shuaip Metja, where many other families had gathered. The Andartes [Greek irregulars] were informed about this, and they went over and seized him, and after pulling his gold teeth with pliers, killed him. Malo Muho, an 80-year-old man, who had been ailing for four years, was butchered with a hatchet in front of his wife. His brain splattered on the lap of his wife, who gathered it together, and after covering him with a quilt, ran away.
Abdyl Nurqe was seized in Spatar and taken barefooted to Filat, where he was dragged through the streets of the town, and finally killed in front of the house of Nidh Tafoqi.
The family of Lile Rustemi from Sullashi, numbering 16 persons, most of them children, was totally wiped out, without anyone being able to survive.
Xhelal Miniti of Paramithia was beheaded with a bayonet over the body of mufti Hasan Abdullahu.
Sali Muhedini, Abedin Bakos, Muhamet Pronja and Malo Sejdiu had their fingers, nose, tongue, and feet cut off, and while they screamed with pain, Andartes of Zervas sang the song of their commander, and rejoiced as they witnessed this scene of terror. In the end, they hung them with butchers’ grappling irons.
The following is the declaration of Eshref Himi, a resident of Paramithia, concerning the massacres in Paramithia:
“On Tuesday, 27 June 1944, at 7 in the morning, the Greek Monarcho-Fascists entered Paramithia, commanded by Col. Kamora, Major Kranja, Captain Kristo Stavropulli, an attorney; Captain Lefter Strugari, attorney; sub-lieutenant Nikolla Çenos, and others. As soon as they entered the city, the order was given that no one should leave, because no one’s honor, liberty or property would be threatened in any way. Immediately in the afternoon, there began the arrest of men, women and children, and thievery as well. By next morning all the men were murdered.
“After imprisoning me for four days, they let me go, so as to bury the dead. On the site called ‘The Church of Ajorgji’, I was able to identify five of the bodies. The others were beyond recognition, on account of the tortures inflicted on them. The five victims I was able to identify were: Met Qere, Sami Asimi, Mahmut Kupi, Adem Beqiri, Haki Mile. Two days later, they sent me over to ‘Golataj’, near the house of Dhimitër Nikolla, where they had murdered eight people. I could not recognize them, because they had cut them to pieces. All around there were corpses of people. A woman by the name of Sanie Bollati was subjected to frightful tortures and burned alive with gasoline. This tragedy took place on Wednesday, while on Friday morning, her body was removed, covered with a blanket by her mother and two townspeople, and placed in a cellar by order of the Monarcho-Fascists, who would not let anyone to see her. The wretched woman died there five days later. By then, her cadaver was full of maggots.
“All of the things I declare here, I have seen with my own eyes. At first, I hid for five days in the attic, but was arrested by the Monarcho-Fascists and turned over to Major Kranja who, after questioning me briefly, ordered that I be imprisoned. In prison I found 380 persons, including women and children. One hundred twenty of them died of starvation. Four persons and me were in prison for 15 days, after which they transported us to Preveza, and from there to Janina, where we stayed for 40 days. There we were subjected to indescribable tortures. We were freed after the arrival in this town of troops of the EAM [National Liberation Front].”
Dervish Sulo from the village of Spatar in [the district of] Filat, describes the massacres in Spatar as follows:
“In the morning of a Saturday in September, 1944, the entire population gathered in front of the (Spatar) village mosque. The soldiers began seizing and raping women, girls, and even old women. Paçe Çulani, 50 years of age, was raped, her hair was cut and even her ears, and finally she was killed in her own orchard, in the vicinity of Muço. In our house was installed the family of Sako Banushi from Skropjona, which numbered eight women, men, and children. After raping the women, whose breasts were pierced with knives, all were massacred….
“In the house of Damin Muhameti, 5 women and 3 children were killed... In the house of Fetin Muhameti, Hane Isufi and another woman were tortured and raped...
In the house of Dule Sherifi, they cut off the heads of 80-year-old Sulejman Dhimicë and his wife. In the house of Meto Braho, 20 persons, including men, women and children, were burned alive... Kije Nurçia, 70 years of age, was knifed to death... In the vineyard of Zule and the garden of Avdyl Nurçe, I saw 20 people who had been massacred. In the house of Haxhi Latifi, the daughter of Haxhi Gulani was raped, while in the dwelling of Mejdi Meto, Hava Ajshja was raped, and Nano Arapi was both raped and killed.”
According to statistics available to date, the victims and the missing among the Albanian minority in Greece, during the massacres in the years 1944-1945, number 2,877, broken down as follows:
Filat and vicinity, 1,286; Gumenica and vicinity, 192; Paramithia and vicinity, 673; and Margellëç and Parga, 626. This was the fate of all those who were unable to flee Chameria, with the exception of a few women who are today living witnesses of the chilling massacres in Paramithia, Parga, Spatar, and Filat. The words that come from their mouths make clear the naked criminality and barbaric acts, organized by the Greek Monarcho-Fascist reaction in Chameria.
This carnage, inspired by the basest sentiments of chauvinistic and religious hatred, resulted in the displacement of nearly 23,000 Chams, who afterward found shelter in Albania under the most miserable conditions.
A total of 68 villages with over 5,800 houses, were seized, destroyed and burned down.
An account of the damages reveals that the Monarcho-Fascist forces of Zervas seized the following assets left behind [by the Chams] in Chameria: 17,000 heads of sheep and goats, 1,200 heads of cattle, 21,000 quintals of cereals, and 80,000 quintals of [olive] oil; plus the produce of the year 1944-1945, which totaled 11,000,000 kg. of cereals, and 3,000,000 kilograms of [olive] oil. During the exodus, 110,000 sheep and goats, and 2,400 cattle died or were lost.
This shows clearly the economic catastrophe that befell our people, which was forced to take the roads of immigration with only the clothes on their back.
This catastrophe happened because our people, together with the Greek people, fought alongside the EAM, rather than join the camp of the collaborationists who were allied with the occupiers.
Chameria contributed materially and morally to the great Anti-Fascist war. Hundreds of young Chams joined the ranks of ELAS, when EAM sounded the alarm for freedom. With the broadening of the Anti-Fascist war against the German occupiers, the population of Chameria threw itself unreservedly into the war against the occupier, and formed the Fourth Battalion of the 15th Regiment of ELAS. Out of the small population of Chameria, stepped forward over 500 troops who fought with determination against the Nazi-Fascist occupiers and the traitors in the camp of Zervas.
The blood of the national hero, Ali Demi, and of the martyr Bido Sejko; and the blood of martyrs Muharrem Myrtezaj, Ibrahim Hallumi, Hysen Vejseli and others, that was shed together with that of the Greek Partisans at the Pass of Qeramica, bears out this fact.
In Chameria at the end of the war, the troops commanded by General Napoleon Zervas operated in our districts and villages not as liberators, but as executioners and sworn enemies of the Albanian element.
In accordance with the Agreement of Caserta (Sarafis – Zervas) in August, 1944, the troops of the resistance were placed on a common front against the Nazi armies, under a joint command, in designated operational zones. This agreement was violated in Chameria. Zervas troops compromised with the Germans, and attacked our troops and obstructed the activity of the 4th Battalion of the 15th Regiment in the zone of Filat. The operations and massacres in the district of Filat are directly connected with this situation, and in open contradiction to the trust and spirit of cooperation established in Caserta. The last village of Chameria, Koska, which was one of the bases for organizing the resistance forces of the National-Liberation Front in Chameria, was destroyed and burned. It was the final action in the destruction of Chameria.
A Committee of the Cham Anti-Fascist Council was dispatched to Athens on 30 October 1944, to meet with the Greek Government of Papandreou, and protest against the massacres in Chameria, as well as demand that they be condemned. The Government of Papandreou refused to take any measures, or commit itself in any way regarding this matter.
Following the operations of December 1944 and the liberation of Chameria from the Zervist occupation, a portion of our population was repatriated and settled in the district of Filat. Then, on 12 March 1945, government forces of the garrison of Corfu, in violation of the Agreement of Varkiza (February 1945), organized and treacherously carried out the vile massacres in Vanre (Filat). This exposed once again the attitude and policy of the responsible authorities of the Greek Government, concerning the extermination of the Albanian population of Chameria.
In the wake of our immigration to Albania, the democratic Government of Albania gave to our masses boundless material and moral assistance. A fund of 240,000 francs was set aside by the Albanian Government for our people, and all-round efforts have been made to alleviate our deplorable condition.
Responding to this situation, the UNRRA Mission in Albania won approval from its headquarters in Washington [D.C.], to dispense 1,450,000 dollars as immediate relief to the immigrants, in view of our difficult situation.
Even in these conditions, Cham immigrants continued to contribute more and more to the Front. At the Conference of Shalës (Konispol), held at the end of September, 1944, the voice of the Chams in exile was raised strongly in favor of collaboration against the occupier, and the injustices of the Greek Monarcho-Fascists.
At the Congress of Vlora on 23 September 1945, the Cham delegates, who represented all the groups of Cham immigrants in Albania, spoke against the massacres that Greek Monarcho-Fascists had perpetrated among them, and demanded by means of memoranda addressed to the London Conference, an inquiry into their problem, and the condemnation of those responsible for the pointless bloodshed and immeasurable sufferings in Chameria. The Congress concluded with a resolution summarizing all of its proceedings.
While in exile, we have many times addressed appeals to the world, regarding the rights that have been denied us, and asked for repatriation.
On 30 October 1944, the Cham Anti-Fascist Council addressed a protest note to the Greek Government of National Unity, the Mediterranean Chief-of-Staff, the Allied Government, and the Central Committee of EAM, discussing the barbaric actions of the Greek Fascists in Chameria.
On 9 May 1945, the Cham Anti-Fascist Council dispatched to the Military Missions a copy of the telegram addressed to the President of the Conference in San Francisco, concerning the rights of the Chams, based on the Atlantic Charter.
On 27 June 1945, telegrams of protest by the Cham Anti-Fascist Council, against the massacres in Chameria, were addressed to the democratic Government of Albania, the Allied Military Missions including the Soviet, the English, the American, the French, and the Czechoslovak; the Yugoslav Legation, and the Albanians in America, Italy and Bulgaria. A memorandum was addressed to Mr. Hutchinson, Labour [Party] Deputy in Great Britain, on 26 November 1945.
Telegrams were addressed to the General Directorate of UNRRA, by the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee (25 September 1945), asking for aid.
A memorandum was addressed to the Presidency of the Conference of Allied Foreign Ministers in London, by the delegates of the Cham Congress, in September 1945.
A memorandum was addressed to the Assembly of the United Nations in London, by the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee, on 11 January 1946, bringing up again the issue of the massacres, and asking for the rights due [the Chams].
A memorandum was addressed to the United Nations Assembly in New York, by the Cham Anti-Fascist Committee on 25 October 1946 and later.
We are victims of the Monarchist regime that reigns in Greece today. Together with the fraternal Greek people, we are suffering the consequences of the dark terror that was inflicted on them throughout Greece.
For two and a half years now, we roam Albania in misery, away from the Fatherland, while our fertile lands are exploited unjustly by the agents of the Monarcho-Fascists in Chameria.
Our travails in exile have been, and continue to be without bounds. Thousands have perished owing to the situation that has come into being.
Despite our protests and the rights to which we are entitled, we continue to live in exile, while the Greek Government, without any justification, is busy settling alien inhabitants in our Chameria, in order to prevent our return.
In the name of our people, we protest once again against all these things, and present before the Investigating Commission of the UN Security Council, the tragedy that has taken place in Chameria, drawing attention to the barbaric acts carried out with the intention of wiping out the Cham people.
We stress the need for a speedy resolution of the Cham problem, and being persuaded that our demands will be met, we set them forth, as follows:
1. That immediate steps be taken to prevent the settling of foreign elements in our homes,
2. That all Chams be repatriated,
3. That all our properties be returned [to us] and all damages to real and moveable properties of ours be compensated,
4. That assistance be given to rebuild our homes and resettle [our people],
5. That steps be taken to insure the benefits that derive from international treaties and mandates, such as the security of civil, political, and cultural rights, and the security of the person,
6. That all persons responsible for crimes committed be tried and punished.
With our most distinguished considerations:
THE ANTI-FASCIST COMMITTEE OF CHAM IMMIGRANTS
Taho Sejko, Kasëm Demi, Rexhep Çami, Tahir Demi, Vehip Demi, Dervish Dojaka, Hilmi Seiti
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Notes from the Balkans : locating marginality and ambiguity on the Greek-Albanian border, 2005, Sarah F. Green. - pages 74-76
Finally, there is the immediate south, Thesprotia, which I have thus far mentioned only in terms of its being a major transhumant destination for the winter months. I have left that area until last deliberately, because it is the area that all people I met on both sides of the mountain mentioned the least. When people did discuss it, it was to describe three things. First and most commonly, the routes transhumant peoples used to take (and sometimes still take) through the Pogoni area to go south for the winter months; second, how these same routes were used to trade goods between the north and south (predominantly olive oil and salt going north, wool and cheese going south); and third, how those routes had been extremely dangerous in the past because of high levels of animal rustling and other kinds of theft that used to occur along some of the narrower and more hilly sections of those routes (Green 1998b). “The people down there were goat thieves, “one woman from Argyrohori said, “terrible people, no morals at all.” This sentiment about the past dangers of Thesprotia and the people who lived there was expressed often by people all around the Kasidiaris—though once again, as with Albanians and Northern Epiriots, opinions about this varied. What did not vary was the people’s sense that there were few past or even present close relations between Pogoni and Thesprotia, even though there had been many trade and transhumant routes between the areas. It was evidently not a place to stay for any length of time, marry into, or to visit for festivals.
Over time, and with some difficulty, I began to understand that the particular part of Thesprotia being referred to was the borderland area, and that the ‘terrible people’ were not all the peoples associated with Thesprotia but more specifically peoples known as the Tsamides –though they were rarely explicitly named as such in the Pogoni area . One of the few people who did explicitly refer to them was Spiros, the man from Despotiko on the southern Kasidiaris (next to the Thesprotia border) who had willingly fought with the communists during the civil war. He blamed widespread negative attitudes toward the Tsamides on two things: first, that in the past they were perceived to be ‘Turks’ in the same way as Albanian speaking Muslims had been perceived to be ‘Turks’; and second, there had been particularly intense propaganda against them during the two wars –propaganda that had led to large numbers of Tsamides’ being summarily killed by EDES forces under General Zervas. Zervas believed they had helped the Italian and later German forces when they invaded Greece, and thus ordered a campaign against them in retribution. Spiros went on to recall that two young men from Despotiko had rescued one endangered Tsamis boy after they came across him when they were in Thesprotia to buy oil. They brought him back to the village with them, and Spiros had baptized him in a barrel (many Tsamides were Muslim) in the local monastery. In the end, the boy had grown up, married in the village, and stayed there.
That was the only instance I came across of an assertion by anyone on the Kasidiaris area that he or she had helped a Tsamis; most people expressed either deeply ambivalent or explicitly negative attitudes were expressed toward the area in Thesprotia with which Tsamides were associated. For most Greki Pogoni peoples, Tsamides and the borderland region to the south signalled both danger and otherness; it was not a place they would have gone willingly in the past unless they absolutely had to, and few people in the Kasidiaris area said they had gone there, or that they knew any Tsamides. Yet this area seemed to me more like Lower Pogoni than almost any other: the same kind of landscape, the same border-straddling status, and a lot of the same mixed cultivation and pastoralism. But while the people in Lower Pogoni were constituted as having been nothing in particular, the Tsamides seemed to be at the opposite extreme.
At first, I was struck by a strong similarity between the way some people talked about Tsamides and the way Albanians were sometimes negatively described since the border had reopened. Indeed, many people said that the Tsamides were Albanians, after a fashion. But it was the ‘after a fashion’ that was the difficulty: everyone I met, and everything I read, asserted something different, and often contradictory, about the Tsamides. Nobody could even agree on the language of these people (Greek, Arvanitika , Albanian their own language, or a combination of these), their religion (Muslim or Orthodox Christians), or a whether they were ‘originally’ from Thesprotia or somewhere else. Most, though not all, suggested that in the past, they were Muslim and spoke Albanian (or some dialect of Albanian, or a language akin to Albanian); but opinions differed about whether they had been orthodox at some point before becoming Muslim, and they also differed about whether they were ‘ethnic Albanians’ or something else. Some texts even denied that they even existed in Epirus anymore, following the end of the Second World War .
In short, there was a continual production of ambiguity in Epirus about these people, and an assertion that a final conclusion about the Tsamides was impossible. The few people I meet in Thesprotia who agreed that they were Tsamides were singularly reluctant to discuss anything to do with differences between themselves and anyone else. One older man said, ‘Who told you I’m a Tsamis? I’m no different from anyone else.’ That was as far as the conversation went. Another man, Having heard me speaking to some people in a Kafeneio in Thesprotia on the subject, followed me out of the shop as I left, to explain to me why people would not talk about Tsamides; he did not was to speak to me about it in the hearing of others.
They had a bad reputation, you see. They were accused of being thieves and armatoloi . But you can see for yourself, there not much to live on around here. If some of them did act that way, it was because they had to, to survive. But there were good people too, you know; in any population, you get good people and bad people. My grandfather and my father after him were barrel makers, they were honest men. They made barrels for oil and tsipouro . I’m sorry that people have not been able to help you do your work. It’s just very difficult; it’s a difficult subject.
This man went on to explain that his father was also involved in distilling tsipouro, and he proceeded to draw a still for me in my notebook, to explain the process of making this spirit. But he would not talk about any more about Tsamides and certainly never referred to himself as being Tsamis. After a time, the only thing that became relatively clear was that this insistence on ambiguity was different from the sense of ambiguity in Lower Pogoni areas. Tsamides were also closely associated with the ambiguities surrounding the Greek-Albanian border, but the difference was that whereas Lower Pogoni people were represented as Greeks living on the Greek side of the border who had close relations with the Greek people living on the Albanian side of the border (Northern Epirots), Tsamides were perceived as Albanian-like peoples living on the Greek side of the border, and having close relations with the Albanian-like peoples on the Albanian side of the border, even though they were Greeks –or at least all those I met on the Greek side of the border considered themselves to be Greek. Moreover, and as I have already mentioned in discussing Spiros, what Tsamides did, and what was done to them, during various parts of ‘big history’ (practically the debate about them during the exchange of population between Greece and Turkey in 1923, and the events of World War Two) was even more hedged around with tension and ambiguity, and usually discussed outside public places and in hushed tones.
The drawing on the cover of Dimitris Mikalopoulou’s book on Tsamides seemed to sum this up: it is a drawing of one man whispering into the ear of another man (Mikalopoulou 1993). Mikalopoulou’s prologue to the book gives a sense of the anxiety surrounding these peoples; it recounts how the author was awakened early one morning (in Greece) by a hostile police officer who wanted to question him about his research (Mikalopoulou 1993: 11). He goes on to state that the topic of the Tsamides is not a ‘mirror image’ of the Northern Epirots, because Tsamides were never accorded a clear ‘minority’ status in the same way that Northern Epirots had been (Ibid,:12-14); they remained an ambiguity, despite various interventions on their behalf, both by the league of nations in the 1920’s and by the Albanian government. In fact, the involvement of these bodies exacerbated the ambiguity. The League of Nations never mentioned Tsamides by name; they were included in the category ‘Muslims of Albanian origin’ (Ladas 1932: 384), which covered a great number of Muslims in Epirus as a whole. This criterion was important at the time, because the general definition of who should be included in the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey was based solely on religion: Muslims living in Greece; Greek Orthodox Christians living in Turkey (Hirschon 2003: 8). That created something of a complication, since the whole point of the exchange was to establish ‘ethnically homogenous populations’ in each (national) territory out of previously ‘ethnically mixed’ populations of the Ottoman territories (ibid.: 15,19). Yet Muslims of ‘Albanian origin’ were evidently not Turkish by those criteria so should not be included in the exchange; but they were also not Greek by those criteria either (Ladas 1932: 384-390). That left them in an officially ambiguous position.
The sense of anxiety over the more recent Second World War issue was exacerbated in the early 1990’s by another intervention from the Albanian government (which claimed moral responsibility for Tsamides, asserting they are ‘ethnic Albanians’). Albanian officials began making demands of the Greek government for compensation to Tsamides for the loss of their property and their treatment during the Second World War at the hands of EDES. The Albanian government stated that Tsamides were killed in their thousands in the summer of 1944 by EDES forces under the orders of Gerneral Napoleon Zervas (as was reported to me by Spiros). Many of those who survived the onslaught (other than those few rescued by people like Spiros) fled to Albania, leaving their property and possessions behind. Fifty years later in 1994, the Albanian parliament went so far as to declare June 27 as a day of remembrance of the actions taken against Tsamides by EDES. The Greek government steadfastly refused to entertain the idea of negotiations about compensation, declaring the whole thing a ‘nonissue’ .
In contrast with the ambiguities of the Lower Pogoni peoples, this was an example of the polar opposite of indifference: indeed, the (contested) difference between Tsamides and others was important in a highly charged way for almost everyone I met. That was clearly related to the long-term, ongoing disputes concerning past and present relations between neighbouring states, the kind of thing that Michalis and Tasos had described as causing chaos. And once again, it was an issue about which I was exhorted to remain confused, to let go; ‘poking around’ in it was troublesome and sensitive, liable to cause upset. Those disputes had led to repeated debates between and among peoples in Epirus about what did and did not happen, who did what to whom and why, and how division and alliances, enmities and loyalties were forged, broken, remembered, and forgotten, deliberately. Most peoples did not want the memories anymore.
The ambiguity surrounding the subject of Tsamides was yet another object lesson to me the active and deliberate practises involved in the production of incoherence, which spread to an equally incoherent image of the physical place in Thesprotia with which Tsamides were associated. A symptom of this is what I came to view as the ‘name game’: as I have already said, most peoples and most places in Epirus had more than one name, and also, different places and different peoples occasionally had the same name, just to add to the confusion. Thesprotia was known as ‘Tsamouria’ by those studying the history and character of Tsamides as a distinct ethnic group; Tsamouria’s boundaries were not exactly the same as the administrative boundaries of today’s Thesprotia, but Tsamouria did usually include most if not all of Thesprotia, and some other areas as well. This continual ambiguity about peoples and places –a condition of shifting, occasionally blending, occasionally separating, occasionally forgetting, occasionally recalling, and occasionally ignoring how things seem and how they are –meant, in practice, that resolving the issues’ once and for all’ was precisely not the point.
As a result, a few people’s attempts to help me to become less confused about Tsamides invariably ended in frustration. For example, Socrates, a man living in Thesprotia who ran a small restaurant, spent around an hour one summer afternoon trying to explain to me all the different opinions about Tsamides. I asked him to do this, for at the time I was still guilty in pursuit of clarity. Even though he had his own preferred version, he was well versed in others. He attempted to compare and contrast them so that only one would emerge as acceptably true, thus clarifying things to me. This endeavour led to ever more complicated delving into historical accounts, theories of language and ethnicity, religion and ‘Great Power’ politics. Not to long after Socrates had finished covering several scraps of paper with scribbling and flowcharts, he succinctly expressed his decision to abandon the enterprise: ‘Oh the devil with it. How do I know? They’re just people in the end, aren’t they? We’re all just people, in the end,’ For the time being, then, Socrates had given up on separating things out and decided to opt for leaving things unclear: it did not matter in the end, because everyone was ‘just people.’
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Si hyri Zerva ne Cameri
Rreziku i një raprezaljeje nga bandat shoviniste te Zerves i bën mete vetëdijshëm nacionalistet çame qe te ngulnin këmbë ne pikëpamjen etyre se rruga e bashkimit të tyre ishte rruga e bashkimit te forcavepolitike shqiptare.
Edhe pse Marreveshja e Mukjes (gusht 1943) ishte denoncuar nga PKSHne mënyrë te njeanshme, nacionalistet çame i referoheshin asaj si evetmja rrugë për te zgjidhur çështjen kombëtare shqiptare.
Për këtë ata bene disa here thirrje për te shmangur luftënvellavrasese dhe për bashkimin e të gjitha forcave për mbrojtjen eçështjes kombëtare, ne këtë kuader dhe atë te Camerise.Ne një leter qe Nuri Dino i dërgonte me 21 shkurt 1944 Shefqet Pecit,konstatonte se ne Greqi po bëheshin përpjekje pe bashkimin e dyforcave kryesorepolitike te EAM-it dhe EDES-it me synimin qe "greket te shkaterrojneShqipërinë edhe nën masken komuniste... ".
Dhe me tej ai i kujton Sh.Pecit se "mjaft gjak shqiptari vaditi tokën tonë, mjaft larg u degjuaafshi i popullit tonë për liri dhe kjo mjafton për te nesërmen, por enesermja duhet te na gjeje te bashkuar me shumë se kurrë".Thelbin e kësaj letre e perbente kerkesa kembengulese përbashkim "për hirë te gjakut qe na bashkon dhe te zakonit qe s'mund tena ndaje".Ai kërkonte mendimin për bazat e bashkimit, por me "kusht qe të mospreken parimet tona dhe karakteri kombëtar".Perballe bashkimit te armiqve te kombit shqiptar, një qëndrim i tillëpër bashkimin e forcave politike shqiptare ishte me se i justifikuar.Por një gjë e tillë nuk ndodhi, sepse denoncimin e Mukjes e kishtesanksionuar edhe Konferenca Nacionalclirimtare e Labinotit (shtator1943).Ne anën tjetër, popullsia çame gjendej përballë veprimtarise seethshme antishqiptare te EDES-it te Zerves, i cili e kërcënonte atëme raprezalje dhe shfarosje. Zerva u perpoq ta perdorte popullsineçame si force kundër ELLAS-it.
Kjo manover djallezore synonte së parita fuste popullsine shqiptare ne kurthin e luftës midis forcavepolitike ne Greqi, se majtes ekstreme dhe se djathtes ekstreme, mesynimin qe cilido te ishte rezultati i konfrontimit politik ne Greqi,te krijohej preteksti dhe konjuktura e përshtatshme politike përshfarosjen dhe debimin e saj.Së dyti, te shtonte forcat për te goditur EAM-in kundershtar, pra taperdorte popullin shqiptar si mish për top.Ne bisedimet e zhvilluara ne fshatin minine ne 3-6 korrik 1944, tederguarit e Zerves i parashtruan popullsise çame këto kushte:1-Carmatimin e plotë2-Mobilizimin e pergjithshem te popullsise çame ne radhet e EDES-itsi dhe te pranonin pushtetin e EDES-it ne Cameri.
Populli çam u gjend ne pozita te vështira. Ai nuk pranoi te futet neluftën midis forcave rivale ne Greqi dhe si ndeshkim Zerva filloindaj kësaj popullsie sulmin e pergjithshem te 8 korrikut 1944 qe kapatur ato konseguenca qe dihen.Ky fakt pohohet dhe ne letren e Këshillit Antifashist te Camerisedërguar: Qeverisë greke te Bashkimit Kombëtar, Shtabit tePergjithshem te Mesdheut, Qeverive te Fuqive te Medha, KomitetitQendror te EAM-it, Guvernatorit te Epirit, Komitetit Panepirot te EAM-it.Ne arkivat e Shqipërisë ruhen shumë deshmi te emigranteve çame lidhurme krimet e forcave zerviste.Pozita e Camerise dhe e cameve gjatë Luftes se Dyte Botërore Porpërpara masakres se korrikut, forcat e EDES-it kishin kryer një valetjetër masakrash ne qershor.
Gjithashtu, pas veres pasoi një fushatetjetër ne tetor te vitit 1944 e cila bëri te plotë spastrimin etnikte Camerise.Rezultatet e këtij spastrimi kanë qenë me te vërtetë tragjike.
Nganjë popullsi prej 35000 vetesh qe ishte para luftës mbeten vetëm disadhjetera familje. Vetëm ne tragjedine e Filatit dhe te Paramithise qeu zhvillua ne qershor dhe tetor te vitit 1944, rezultati ishte: 2000te vrarë, gra, fëmijë, pleq dhe burra te paarmatosur, te masakruar nemënyrën me cnjerezore nga bandat zerviste.
Ne fshatrat e Paramithise, Gardhites, Dhrahumit, Karbunarit, Veliat,Filatit, Galbaqit dhe Spatarit u grabiten 4949000 oke drithe, 2217500oke tershere dhe elb, 361500 oke djathte, 457700 oke vaj ulliri,12850 oke gjalpe, 27020 krere bageti te imta, 18500 oke duhan, 26800oke oriz, 37000 oke bajame, 2500-3000 shtepi te djegura dhe deme tetjera te prones qe arrinin ne 84700 frs.
Një pjesë e mirë e historiografise greke te pasluftes di dhediplomacia greke gjatë periudhes se luftës se ftohte, por edhe sot,kanë mbrojtur tezen absurde se populli çam (an blok) ishtebashkepunetor i nazisteve dhe fashisteve dhe u largua me ta për neShqipëri në fund te luftës.Por si qëndron e vërteta ? Është rasti te (konfirmohet) pohohet se neluftën antifashiste popullsia shqiptare e Camerise inkuadroi neformacionet luftarake shqiptare dhe greke mbi 1000 luftetare, pallogaritur qindra te tjerë qe punonin ne terren.
Vetëm ne radhet e ELAS-it dhanë jetën 68 partizane çame. Është tashmëe provuar se masakrat dhe debimin e dhunshem te popullsise shqiptarete Camerise i kreu Zerva, i cili ishte dhe bashkepunetor igjermaneve.
Pikërisht këtu mendojmë se duhen rikujtuar disa dokumenta qe provojnebashkepunimin e tij me gjermanet dhe kështu do të mbetet absurdpretendimi grek se një aleat i gjermaneve ka debuar nga trojet etnikenjë popullsi te tërë pse ishte ne bashkëpunim me aleatët e tij.Bashkepunimi i Zerves me gjermanet është i provuar nga dokumentatgjermane si dhe nga shtypi grek i kohës dhe i pasluftes, i cili kadhënë dhjetera deshmi ne këtë drejtim.
Nga arkivat sekrete te Vermahtit gjerman për greqine, zbulohet njëmarrëveshje bashkepunimi midis Zerves dhe pushtuesve gjermane qe tegodiste greket e tjerë. Autori qe ka publikuar këtë marrëveshjeshprehet se "ekzistonte ne thellesi një miqesi me ujkun".Ne dokumentin gjerman thuhet: "Gjatë nate«s se 1-2 shkurtit 1944,Zerva i arashtroi Komandes se Korparmates XXII malore, me anën e njëoficeri te plotfuqishem propzimin për bashkëpunim mbi bazat qevijojne: armepushim, bashkëpunim ne luftën kundër ELAS-it ne azhornimte vazhdueshem mbi qëllimet e tij, mbi vete poziten e tij si dhe mbiforcat armike".
Propozimi i Zerves iu parashtrua dhe te Plotfuqishmeve te Posacem teRajhut për Evropen Juglindore, ministrit Nojbaher. Pergjigja ishte:te vazhdojme traktativat deri sa te merret vendimi perfundimtar.Me 9 shkurt 1944 u arrit aprovimi për marrëveshje lokalisht teperkufizuar. ..Kjo situate vazhdoi deri ne fillim te korrikut 1944.Forcat e Zerves ne mars 1944 rreth 10000 luftetare. Sipasmarreveshjes me autoritetet gjermane duhej te mbetej e lirë ngaushtria e Zerves një rrip bregdetar prej 10 km.Mirëpo me 3 korrik 1944, trupat e Zerves e pushtuan zonen bregdetarepranë Parges.Po ashtu, gjatë nates 6-7 korrik filluan ne befasi veprimet luftarakete trupave te Zerves kundër reparteve gjermane ne perëndim te Artesdhe ne rrugët Janine-Arte dhe Janine-Gumenice.Siç shpjegohet ne dokument "ndryshimi i qendrimit te Zerves ngamarreveshja e arritur me gjermanet ndodhi si rezultat i nderhyrjes seoficereve te nderlidhjes aleate, te cilët moren përsipër veteudhëheqjen e ushtrise se Zerves.
Madje thuhet se edhe urdhrin për sulm kundër gjermaneve e dhanëoficeret nderlidhes te aleateve.Nisur nga ngjarje te tilla as edhe gjermanet nuk ishin te qete përmarreveshjen qe nenshkruan. Lajmet e sherbimeve sekrete gjermanekonstatonin qe në rast zbarkimi te aleateve, EDES-i do të luftojëkundër gjermaneve, duke iu referuar dheheqesit te EDES-it papajoanu.Ne gusht 1944 forcat zerviste arrinin rreth 21000 vete.
Ne vitin 1947, pavarësisht nga dëshira e amerikaneve, qe qeveriagreke te mbeshtetej mbi një koalicion sa me te gjerë, Departamenti iShtetit shfaqi hapur pakenaqesine e tij ndaj kandidatures se Zervessi ministër i Puneve Publike, duke e akuzuar atë hapur sibashkepunetor te gjermaneve.Ky qëndrim parimor i Departamentit te Shtetit ishte aq i vendosursaqë ai shkonte deri atje sa te kërcënonte udhëheqësit greke se, nërast te kundërt, do të terhiqte misionin ushtarak.Ambasadori amerikan ne Athine Macveagh i deklaroi hapur N. Zervos sesi shtypi, ashtu edhe publiku ne SHBA ne shumicë ka opinionin se aika tendenca diktatoriale dhe fashiste qe janë ne kundërshtim meidealet e demokracise sone".Kështu, atij iu be e qartë se nuk meritonte besimin si anëtar indonjë qeverie qe propozohej te bashkëpunonte ngushtë me SHBA.Po kështu, një personalitet tjetër me peshe, Guvernatori Grisuold,duke refuzuar ta priste Zerven, i deklaronte sekretarit te tij tenjëjtën gjë, se ekzistonte një opinion i fortë publik, i cili ishtekundër Zerves ne SHBA dhe ne vendet e tjera si Franca dhe Anglia, tecilat ishin mike te Greqise dhe se ai e ndjente se për këto arsye neqoftë se Zerva do të bëhej ministër i Rendit Publik, kjo do të ishtenjë fatkeqësi e madhe për Greqine dhe mund te permbyse punën qe pobën Misioni Amerikan për te".
Bashkepunimi i Zerves me gjermanet,ishte deshmuar edhe ne Senatin Amerikan nga oficeri i ushtriseamerikane me origjinë greke Kouvras me 31 mars 1947, duke e cilësuaratë si një kolaboracionist te tipit te Mihaillovicit te Jugosllavise.Kouvaras i paraqiti Senatit një dokument shumë kompromentues, i ciliprovonte marreveshjen qe ekzistonte midis forcave te armatosuragjermane ne Epir dhe EDES-it te Zerves.
Ky dokument ishte një memorandum i Shtabit te Pergjithshem teKorpusit te 22 te Ushtrise Gjermane.Tezen greke e hedhin poshte edhe dokumentat diplomatike angleze tekohës, te cilat nuk mund te dyshohen për ndonjë tendence antigreke,por përkundrazi për tolerance ndaj aleateve të tyre dhe ne radhe tëparë ndaj forcave te se djathtes, te cilat ishin pikembeshtetja e tyre.Kështu, sipas deshmive te njerit nga zyrtaret e lartë te misionitanglez ne Shqipëri, majorit Palmer, i cili kreu një udhëtimeksplorues ne Greqine e Veriut pohohet se "Forca 399" kishtepercaktuar deri ne 2000 veta qe bashkepunuan "me gjithë zemër megjermanet", por ai nuk mohonte faktin qe pati edhe rreth 700 veta qeluftuan ne radhet e ELLAS-it kundër gjermaneve.
Terheq vemendjen një fakt se shifra qe jep Palmeri, perkon me numrine te denuarve nga gjyqi famekeq i Janines, i ashtuquajtur "Gjyqi ikolaboracionisteve" , i zhvilluar ne vitin 1945-1946, i cili dënoi nemungese 1930 shqiptare te Camerise.
Palmeri, i cili është mbeshtetur siç e thotë dhe vete ne te dhenat epales greke e konkretisht te majorit Sarandis, i cili-thotë Palmeri-"pranoi pergjithesisht veprimet e kryera prej grekeve kunerminoritetit shqiptar" hedh paksa drite edhe mbi një çështje tjetërmjaft te rëndësishme, e cila ka te beje me faktin se c'vend patëngjermanet ne genocidin qe kryen forcat ultrashoviniste dhe fashistegreke kundër popullsise shqiptare, te cilin Palmeri, pa u shqetësuarpër tragjedine e dhimbshme te kësaj popullsie, me gjakftohtesi e quanthjesht një "situate grindjesh".Ai pohon sidoqoftë, një te vërtetë se ky akt "padyshim ishte iinkurajuar nga gjermanet".Genocidin zervist për spastrimin etnik ne Cameri e konfirmonte edhekoloneli Monague @oodhouse, ish kryetar i Misionit Anglez ne Greqi, icili thotë se "Zerva i ndoqi camet nga shtepite e tyre ne 1944...Debimi u krye me gjakderdhje te madhe.
Qëllimi ishte debimi i popullsise s padeshirueshme shqiptare ngavendi i vet". Madje këtë genocid ndaj shqiptareve te Camerise e kapohuar vete N. Zerva.Ne letren dërguar me 4 gusht 1953, Jani Dani Popovitit eporosiste: "Të marrë përsipër detyren e sqarimit te bashkeatdhetareve(grekeve) se kush e pastroi Camerine nga shqiptarët".Këtë fakt e dëshmojnë edhe dokumentat e Komitetit AntifashistNacionalclirimtar te refugjateve çame ne Shqipëri.
Ne një memorandum te këtij Komiteti dërguar Ministrave te Jashtëm neMoske i cili u publikua ne gazeten "Bashkimi" dhe pastaj edhene "Pravda", pohohej se "Para shpartallimit te gjermaneve,monarkistet greke dhe faashistet, bashke me Gestapon, sulmuanpopullsine dhe shkaktuan emigrimin e minoritetit shqiptar neterritorin e Shqipërisë.
Ajtet e autoriteteve greke ishin ne kontradikte te qartë me Karte«n eAtlantikut dhe me vendimet e Jaltes dhe te Potsdamit".Poziten e gjermaneve lidhur me genocidin e bandave zerviste kundërpopullsise çame e kompromenton me tej një dokument tjetër qe vjen nganjë ditar i njerit prej nacionalisteve çame, Rexhep Dino, i cilishpjegon dhe një enigme tjetër, se si hyri Zerva ne Cameri, kurpopulli çam ishte i armatosur.
Ky dokument provon se Zerva nuk guxonte te hynte ne Cameri, sepse itrembej konfrontimit me popullsine çame, e cila ishte e vendosur tevetembrohej.Prandaj, ai nderhyri pranë autoriteteve gjermane te pushtimit qe atate bënin carmatimin e saj dhe ia arriti këtij qëllimi.Carmatimi i popullsise u krye nga gjermanet me një urdher direkt teHitlerit.Autori i lartpermendur pohon se gjermanet ne këtë rast nuk perfillenas lutjet e nacionalisteve shqiptare çame, qe kishin besim tek atapër te realizuar aspiratat e tyre, për bashkimin kombëtar.Me pas Zerva hyri ne Cameri dhe kreu krimet monstruoze qe tashmë dihen.