Stefanopullos: “Harrojeni Çamërinë”

[Xhuxhumaku]

TAKIMI/ Presidenti grek dhe ai shqiptar, deklarata kundërshtuese lidhur me pronat e të dëbuarve në vitin 1944

Stefanopullos: “Harrojeni Çamërinë”

Moisiu: “Problemet e së shkuarës duhen zgjidhur”. Homologu grek: “Për mua, ky problem është i mbyllur”

Albana LIKA

TIRANË – “Çështja çame është një çështje e harruar, që i takon së kaluarës. Nuk e di se cilat janë takimet politike mes dy qeverive, por personalisht them se ky problem është i mbyllur. Nuk ekziston më”. Kjo ishte deklarata e Presidenti grek, Kostantinos Stefanopullos dhënë pas takimit kokë më kokë me Presidentin e vendit tonë, Alfred Moisiu. Duke iu përgjigjur interesit të vazhdueshëm të gazetarëve, Stefanopullos u shpreh se “nuk kam dëshirë të kujtoj të kaluarën që i përket vitit 1944. Greqia ka hequr dorë nga ide dhe pretendime të tilla”. Krejt të kundërtën e deklaratës së homologut të tij grek, ka shprehur Presidenti i Shqipërisë, Alfred Moisiu. Pasi vuri në dukje se ekzistenca e ndonjë problemi të trashëguar nga e kaluara nuk përcakton marrëdhëniet mes dy vendeve dhe se zgjidhja e kësaj çështjeje duhet të jetë me dialog dhe drejtësi, kreu i shtetit shqiptar kujtoi Traktatin e Miqësisë dhe Bashkëpunimit mes dy vendeve dhe takimin e majit të këtij viti mes kryeministrit Nano dhe atij grek, Karamanlis. “Ne mendojmë, sikurse kanë rënë dakord kryeministrat, të fillojnë sa më parë negociatat dypalëshe në nivel ekspertësh për t’i dhënë zgjidhjen e drejtë juridike problemit të pronave të popullsisë çame dhe të shqiptarëve në Greqi si dhe të atyre greke në Shqipëri”, - theksoi Moisiu. Gjithashtu edhe legalizimi i emigrantëve shqiptarë në Greqi dhe respektimi i minoriteteve ishin dy çëshje, për të cilat të dy kryetarët e shteteve fqinje theksuan rëndësinë e respektimit të të drejtave të njeriut. Në takimin Moisiu-Stafanopullos, zhvilluar në Pallatin e Brigadave është rikujtuar edhe ngjarja e rëndë që ndodhi në Greqi pas ndeshjes së futbollit mes përfaqësueseve të dy vendeve. Ndërsa Stefanopullos e cilësoi “fatkeqësi” ndikimin e politikave të shtetit nga ngjarje të tilla, për Moisiun probleme të tilla zhvlerësojnë punën e qeverive të dy vendeve. Forcimi i mëtejshëm i marrëdhënieve në fushën ekonomiko-tregtare, nevoja për kthimin e kufirit shqiptaro-grek në një kufi ku zbatohet ligji dhe respektohet qytetari, ishin të tjera tema konkrete të marrëdhënieve mes dy vendeve fqinje që zunë vend jo pak të rëndësishme në bisedën mes dy homologëve. Ndërkohë, kundërshtia mes dy presidentëve është vënë në dukje edhe përsa i përket situatës në rajon. “Problemi i Kosovës ndikon në sigurinë në Ballkan, sepse sa më shumë të zgjatet çështja e zgjidhjes së statusit, aq më tepër hapësirë përfitojnë ekstremistët e të dyja paleve”, -ka thënë Moisiu, duke vlerësuar se siguria rajonale është pjesë e rëndësishme e integrimit evropian. Ndërsa Presidenti grek u shpreh për domosdoshmërinë e respektimit të Rezolutës 1244 të Këshillit të Sigurimit të OKB-së. Pëveç takimit të zhvilluar kokë më kokë mes dy presidentëve u zhvilluan edhe bisedime zyrtare mes dy delegacioneve që shoqëronin të dy presidentët. Sot Stefanopullos do të takojë kryeministrin e vendit, Nano, kryeparlamentarin Pëllumbi si dhe kreun e opozitës, Berisha.

KRYEMINISITRAT/ Nano e Karamanlis: Ekipe ekspertësh për pronat

TIRANË – Takimi që u zhvillua në muajin maj të këtij viti mes kryeministrit shqiptar, Fatos Nano dhe atij grek, Kostas Karamanlis në Athinë shënoi hapin e dytë institucional për zgjidhjen e çështjes çame. “Shprehëm vullnetin e përbashkët politik për të zgjidhur të gjithë çështjet e mbetura pezull nga e shkuara historike si çështja e pronave të shtetasve shqiptarë në Greqi dhe atyre grekë në Shqipëri dhe ndaj vendosëm për të filluar më gjerë konsultimet e përbashkëta të ekspertëve për implementimin e detyrimeve që rrjedhin nga Traktati i Fqinjësisë së Mirë, Bashkëpunimit dhe Sigurisë midis dy vendeve tona, në mënyrë të veçantë nga neni 15 i këtij Traktati, i nënshkruar në vitin 1996 dhe i ratifikiuar nga parlamentet e dy vendeve tona në vitin 1997”, u shpreh Nano pas takimit. Ndërkohë, në të njëjtën linjë me Nanon është shprehur pas këtij takimi edhe Karamanlis.

ÇAMËT/ Deklaratat e grekut, të çuditshme

TIRANË – Kryetari i Shoqatës “Çamëria”, Servet Mehmeti shprehet i zhgënjyer nga deklaratat e Presidentit të Greqisë, Stefanopullos, pas takimit me Presidentin e Republikës së Shqipërisë, Alfred Moisiu. Gjithsesi, ai ka besim se funksionarët e lartë të shtetit do të veprojnë si “shqiptarë në mbrojtje të çështjes shqiptaro-çame”.

Z. Mehmeti, Presidenti i Greqisë, Stefanopullos, i cili ka filluar një vizitë triditore në Shqipëri ka diskutuar dje me Presidentin Moisiu edhe për çështjen e Çamërisë. Besoni se këto bisedime dhe ato që do të pasojnë gjatë këtyre tri ditëve, do të mund të ndikojnë pozitivisht për këtë çështje?

Një president që thotë se nuk di se çfarë ka bërë qeveria e tij, ne nuk e marrim në konsideratë. Të bësh të qenurit, të paqenë, është absurditet. Nëse ky është oreksi i ndonjë individi, kjo do të thotë se ai është shumë larg ndërkombëtarëve dhe konventave universale të të drejtave të njeriut. E drejta e shqiptarëve dhe e Çamërisë do të zgjidhet patjetër. Çamët janë autoktonë mijëravjeçarë si shqiptarë. Ne, ato që kanë ndodhur këtu e para 60 vjetëve, na duket sikur kanë ndodhur dje.

Kjo do të thotë që ju nuk keni shpresë te zgjidhja e kësaj çështjeje, pas këtyre takimeve?

Jo, përkundrazi, ne kemi shpresë se çështja jonë do të zgjidhet, jo vetëm nga politika shqiptare, por edhe nga konventat ndërkombëtare, SHBA-ja etj. Besojmë te burrnia dhe patriotizmi i Presidentit Moisiu. Gjithashtu besojmë edhe tek kryeministrit Nano apo dhe te kryeatri i PD-së, Berisha, që si shqiptarë që janë do ta mbrojnë çështjen shqiptaro-çame.

Cili do të jetë hapi juaj i radhës për zgjidhjen e kësaj çështjeje?

Nuk mund të them ende asgjë konkrete, pasi vendimi për këtë nuk më takon vetëm mua, por gjithë anëtarëve të kryesisë së shoqatës.

Intervistoi: Albana Lika

KOMENTI/ Si t’i tejkalojmë problemet

Duke iu përgjigjur gazetarëve grekë, Presidenti Moisiu tha dje mes të tjerash: “Unë mendoj se ndjenjat dyshuese që shfaqen mes shqiptarëve e grekëve, nuk kanë lindur kohët e fundit dhe nuk janë vetëm të fundit. Ato kanë origjinë më të hershme. Por unë nuk mund të ngatërroj veprimet e një, dy apo pesë grekëve me ndjenjat e popullit grek, po ashtu dhe të popullit shqiptar. Ne jemi dy popujt më të lashtë në Ballkan. Sigurisht gjatë historisë kemi pasur edhe probleme, por në të njëjtën kohë i kemi qëndruar pranë njëri-tjetrit në momente të vështira. Shqiptarët kanë ndihmuar popullin grek në përballimin e zisë pas Luftës së Dytë Botërore, ndërsa populli grek iu përgjigj qindra mijëra emigrantëve që shkuan dhe vazhdojnë të punojnë në Greqi. Ne, shqiptarët kemi një thënie të vjetër: “Pyll pa derra s’ka”. Nuk e di nëse e përdor edhe populli grek. E rëndësishme është që organet shtetërore të jenë në rregull. Unë i thashë zotit Stefanopullos se ne, kryeministrat, ministrat takohen, por në qoftë se kjo ndjenjë mirëkuptimi dhe mirëbesimi nuk shkon poshtë në postat kufitare, te polici i trafikut rrugor apo te ndonjë punonjës që lidhet me këto probleme, sigurisht që ato na zhveftësojnë punën”.

http://www.gazetadita.com/index.html
E Martë 19 Tetor 2004

[Hyllien]

As mos te kishte ardhur fare ky president. Boll na bejne si trima andej ne Greqi, tani u dashka me ardh dhe ne mes te Shqiperise e me bere deklarata te tilla skandaloze. MOS BEJ GAFE TE SHKELI NE HIMARE KY PERSON, dhe mire ja bene qe ja dhane mesazhin para se te vinte. Ja dhe kunderpergjigja ne syte e Evropes. Nese per ty eshte ceshtje e mbyllyr atehere do te thote se kjo ceshtje ekziston.
Skan faj keta jo

[Xhuxhumaku]

E Marte, 19 Tetor 2004


STEFANOPULOS: S'KA ASNJE CESHTJE CAME

Kreu i shtetit helen, Konstadin Stefanopulos, e ka cilesuar ceshtjen came si nje kapitull te mbyllur. Qysh diten e pare te mberritjes ne token shqiptare, presidenti grek u shpreh se nje problem i tille tashme s'ekziston dhe se detyrimisht ai duhet te shkoje drejt shuarjes. Kete qendrim Stefanopulos e beri publik gjate nje konference te perbashket shtypi te organizuar dje me homologun e tij shqiptar, Alfred Moisiu, ne Pallatin e Brigadave.

"Per mendimin tim ceshtja came eshte mbyllur qysh ne vitin 1944. Ky problem lidhej me pretendimet territoriale te te dy vendeve gjate kesaj periudhe dhe se per te miren e te dy popujve keto probleme tani duhet te harrohen dhe te shkojne drejt shuarjes, pasi jetojme ne vitin 2004", nenvizoi mes te tjerash Stefanopulos duke nenkuptuar njekohesisht dhe shuarjen e pretendimeve te popullsise came per ceshtjen e pronave matane kufirit. Sipas ketij te fundit ceshtja me thelbesore qe kerkon aktualisht nje vemendje te vecante nga ana e te dy shteteve eshte ajo e te drejtave te njeriut per pakicen greke ne Shqiperi dhe per komunitetin shqiptar ne Greqi. Ne argumentet sqaruese per temen ne fjale, Stefanopulos kerkoi gjithashtu t'u jepej fund spekulimeve ne media sa i perket shenjes se barazimit qe vihet mes te drejtave qe duhet te perfitoje nje minoritet dhe nje komunitet. "Pakicat greke ne Shqiperi perbejne nje minoritet ndersa e kunderta ndodh me shqiptaret ne Greqi qe jane nje komunitet i formuar kryesisht pas vitit 1990", nenvizoi kreu i shtetit helen. Krejtesisht i kundert ka qene reagimi i presidentit Moisiu bazuar ne te njejten ceshtje. Gjate prononcimit dhene per mediat ai u shpreh se gjate takimit konfidencial te zhvilluar me homologun grek ishte rene dakord per zgjidhjen urgjente te ceshtjes came, mbeshtetur kryesisht sipas parimit te se drejtes juridike. Madje sipas tij ky problem ka qene dhe kryefjala e ketij takimi per te cilin te dy autoritetet rane dakord t'i kushtojne nje vemendje te vecante. "Ne mendojme sikurse kane rene dakord kryeministrat, te fillojne sa me pare negociatat dypaleshe ne nivel ekspertesh per t'i dhene zgjidhjen e drejte juridike problemit te pronave te popullsise came dhe te shqiptareve ne Greqi si dhe te atyre greke ne Shqiperi. Rame dakord qe keto probleme te shkojne drejt zgjidhjes se tyre", deklaroi Moisiu. Nderkohe qe nga burime konfidenciale brenda takimit mesohet te jete prekur nder te tjera dhe situata ne rajon e ne vecanti percaktimi perfundimtar i statusit te Kosoves. Sa i perket tematikes ne fjale, kreu i shtetit shqiptar u shpreh se sebashku me Stefanopulos u ra dakord qe fale intensifikimit e bashkepunimit rajonal edhe Kosova, si pjese e Ballkanit Perendimor, te anetaresohet ne familjen europiane.

[Hyllien]

ÇAMËRIA
The Patriotic-Political Association "Chameria" ("cameria") that represents the protection of the human rights and freedoms of the Albanian population of Chameria evicted with violence and terror from its own native land in Chameria (ThesprotiaGreece),

Taking into account the positive processes that are going on in Europe today and the efforts made by the international community, the CSCE and other organizations to guarantee the fundamental democratic national and human rights and freedoms,

Making more attainable the rights that should be enjoyed by the national minorities and ethnic groups that have remained outside borders in certain historical circumstances,

Addresses itself with great respect to the international public opinion and organizations concerning very important problems of the Chams (cam), Chameria Albanians.

THE CHAM TRAGEDY - AN INJUSTICE THAT SHOULD BE REDRESSED

The Albanian region of Chameria or Thesprotia as it is called by the Gréèk administration, begins from the most southern part of today’s Albania.

It comprises the ‘southern part of the ethnic territories of Southern Epirus, inhabited by Albanians since the ancient times (Pellazgico-Illyrian times) until today.

One people and one ethnic territory continuity is testified to by Greek authors of ancient times and also by the Great Greek Encyclopedia, as well as by many world wide known scientific authorities. This is also proved by the real presence of Albanians there and their language, culture and tradition.

The population of Chameria has been ethnically Albanian. It comprised 99% in the cities and 100% in the villages. Till the beginning of the 18th century, the population of this region was of the orthodox faith. After this period, the process of Islamization began among the Albanians. As a result of this process, according to the statistical data of the Turkish administration, 50% of the Albanian population converted to Islam and 50% kept the Orthodox faith. These figures. have been misrepresented even today, harming ethnic Albanians. The census held by the Turkish administration in 1910 testifies that in the region there were 83.000 orthodox and Muslim Albanians. While the statistical yearbook of the Greek government in 1936 shows that only 26.000 Chams lived in Chameria, it does not mention the Orthodox Albanians, because the Greek government considers them Greeks.

As a result of the 1944-1945 ethnic cleansing and genocide, 30.000 Albanian Muslims, violently expelled from the Chameria region, were received in the Republic of Albania, where they still live today. -

There are 205.OOO members of this population, a figure which has increased because of the high birth rate of the population after the genocide.

At present, the community of native Albanians of the orthodox faith of Chameria-Thesprotia(Greece), has reached the figure of 250.000-300.000 persons. Today, as a result of the assimilation policy followed by the Greek circles towards other nationalities on Greek territory, this community is under such circumstances which do not allow it to assert its own identity.

The demographic map of the British military mission sent, to the British government in London, which indicates that on the eve of the Second World War, 75% of Chameria’s population was Albanian, is an authentic testimony by western sources about the Albanian presence in the region.

An incontestable testimony about the presence of the Orthodox Albanians in Chameria (Greece) today are the early kinship links that the Muslim Chams have with them, a fact which the Greek circles try hard to deny.

With the decisions of the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1913, the region was cut off the motherland and annexed to the Greek state, despite its resistance, the native population of Chameria was subjected to a tragic fate; it was considered an Albanian ethnic minority under Greece.

The destiny of the Albanian minority of Chameria is an Albanian national tragedy not only in terms of territory, but of people as well.
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THE GREEK POLICY AND OFFICIAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE

ALBANIAN MINORITY IN CHAMERIA

After the annexation of Chameria in 1913 until today, its population during all these years under the Greek state has not enjoyed national or human rights.

•Greek official circles, sticking to the concept of absolute denial of the existence of ethnic groups on Greek territory, have followed a well-studied chauvinistic policy in. two directions:

1. Towards the Albanians of the Orthodox faith it has followed an assimilation policy denying them every ethnic, cultural or language rights, considering them Greeks and intentionally mistaking faith for nationality, an action they still apply today towards Albanians, pretending that all the Orthodox are Greeks.

2. Towards the Albanians of the Islam faith, they followed the policy of genocide, denying their nationality as well. In many cases, they have intentionally considered them as Turkish Chams and not Albanian Cham
as they really are.

This strategy worked out about one century ago by Greece was achieved at the end of the Second World War, in 1944-1945, when the criminal bands of the notorious General, Napoleon Zervas perpetrated the ethnic cleansing of the Chameria Muslim Albanians.

THE CONTINUOUS GENOCIDE IN CHAMERIA (ETHNIC CLEANSING) AGAINST THE ALBANIANS.

To realize their aims, Greek official circles have never respected the Albanian population of Chameria, being so ungrateful for the historic valuable help it has given to the Greek population through the centuries.

1. Immediately after annexation they violently persecuted the. innocent Albanian population, perfidiously killing 72 of the most influential men of this region in 1913, in a place called Selan Paramithi (Ajdonat) who had gone there to negotiate with the Greek party. Other dozens of innocent people suffered the same fate.

To prevent persecution by the Greek government, Cham patriots protested to European circles on June 8, 1913.

2. The Chams were shocked at the Satanic attempts of the Greek government in 1923-1924 to include even the Muslim Chams among the Muslim Turks living Greece, who according to Lozana Agreement reached on January 19, 1923, between Turkey and Greece, were to be exchanged with the Greeks of Anatolia

The Greek government flagrantly violated this Agreement; it did not stick to the statement of its representative in Lozana, Kalamanos, on January 19, 1923, whoa declared that his government didn’t intend to exchange the "Muslims of Albanian origiif who, as he himself admitted, "lived in a region clearly determined as Epirus" and though they share the same religion as the Turks, they are in no way their compatriots"~2].

The Greek-Turkish Joint Commission decided on March 1924~4] not to observe any procedure or formality in the framework of the exchange of the Greek-Turkish population, towards the Albanian population of Chameria, an ethnic and historical reality, that was recognized also by the Greek party.

Contrary to historical reality and the Agreement reached, the Greek official circles imposed the exchange of( as black slaves in the Middle Ages) tens of thousands of Chams realizing at that time part of their plan for ethnic cleansing of the "minorities" in their territories.

3. With the coming to power of the Yoannis Metaxas fascist government in

1936, the situation of the Albanian population of Chameria became even more difficult. That government applied an unheard of discriminatory policy;: it continued colonization with Greeks aiming to change the proportion of the population. The name of the places inhabited by Albanians were replaced by Greek place names. It resorted to real genocide, arrests, deportation, and confiscation of property. The program
stepped up further making the life of the Albanians unbearable.
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4. The situation in Chameria became more troubled and tense especially on the eve of the World War II. Prior to the fascist Italian occupation of Greece, the Greek government made the general Mobilization of the population for war. The Albanians of Chameria, as citizens of the Greek state, asked the then Greek government to mcbiize them to fight against the common enemy.

"Acknowledging" this peace-loving gesture of the Chams, the Greek government thanked and mobilized them, but instead of arms, it gave them picks and spades to do construction work.

With this act, the Greek government showed its lack of confidence in theili overlooking their readiness and estranging them from itself; with the intention of accusing later on the Muslim Chams of being collaborators with the occupiers.

Shortly prior to the occupauon ot Greece by Italy, the Greek authorities, out of fear for what they had done towards the unprotected Cham population, deported the men from 14 years old and more to concentration camps on the isles of the Aegean Sea, the islands of Medilin, Hio and Corinthus, etc.

On the way to the concentration camps the Greek official circles created the psychosis that they were prisoners of war who had killed the sons of the Greek people, thereby hiding the truth that they were innocent people forcibly torn away from their homes and from the war front.

During the exile in the camps of the Mathausen type, the Chams were illtreated and physically liquidated, meanwhile, in the Chameria region there were only unprotected women, old folk, children, subject to killings, robbery and rapes by Greek criminal gangs.

UNHEARD OF GENOCIDE AND EVICTION OF ETHNIC ALBANJANS

FROM THEIR HISTORICAL NATWE LAND

The last act, of genocide, against the Albanian Muslim population in the Chameria region, that led to their ethnic cleansing, began on June 27, 1944.

The criminal bands of Greek chauvinism resorted to cruelest atrocities in this region. The cruelty committed against this population were beyond imagination. They included killings, rapes, inhuman treatment, such as cutting different body organs, the nose, ear, etc. massacred women, babies and pregnant women. More than 600 men, women and children were killed within 24 hours in the town of Paramithy, on Tuesday, June 27, 1944, which is the date of St. Bartholomeus for the whole Chameria. During the June 1944 - March 1945 period, 1286 persons were massacred and killed in Filat, 192 people were killed in Gumenica, 626 persons were killed in Margellic and Parga.

There were hundreds of other unidentified and missing persons. During 1944-1945, the Greek chauvinists perpetrated massacres, acts of robbery and rapes against the Albanian population of Chameria; 2900 young and old men, 214 women, 96 children were massacred, 745 women were raped, 76 women abducted, 32 children, younger than 3 years were massacred, 68 village were razed to the ground, 5800 houses and sites of worship were burned down or destroyed, all the furniture houses and 84752 kilos of olive oil, 67434 quintals of corn, 4453 work animals, domestic animals were stolen. The terror was of such proportions that the Albanian Muslim population had to leave their ancestral land for Albania, after March 1945.
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EFFORTS TO INTERNATIONALIZE THE CHAM QUESTION

After their violent expulsion, the Cham immigrants who had Greek citizenship and Albanian nationality, were immediately organized in Albania during 1945 and under the direction of the Cham Antifascist Committee sensibilized different international bodies as well as the mother state over their tragedy and lawful demands.

The new Albanian government after the war took the Cham issue to the Peace Conference in Paris and the conference of Foreign Ministers of the Allied Powers, not only supporting the very difficult position of the Chams, but also demanding their repatriation and recovery of their own property. This was their legitimate right that was also defended by the then international decisions on the rights of national minorities.

The miserable situation of the Chams and their demands were also presented to the Paris Peace Conference (1945) by the then Albanian Foreign minister.

As well as this, many attempts to internationalize the question and to secure the support of the Allied Powers were made by the Cham National-Liberation Committee, as the most direct representative of the Cham population.

Many memorandums and telegrams of protest were sent to the Allied Powers

and relevant for as to the General Assembly of the United Nations in London and New

York, to the Council of the Allied Foreign Ministers in London and Mosóow, to the

San Francisco Conference, to the governments of Great Britain, United States of

America, to the House of Representatives ‘in Washington D.C., to London and

Moscow, to the Mediterranean General Staff; etc.

These demands were not supported or answered. No support or answer was given even by the representatives of the British, Russian and Yugoslav missions that took part in the second Cham Congress held in Vlora-Albania (September 194.5) and saw for themselves the catastrophe of this population.

The international Investigation Commission of the United Nations, during the verification of the tragedy on both sides of the border, drew the proper conclusions in 1946-1947, replete with real facts and evidence about the massacre and painfuI tragedy of the Cham people.

After this, only the international fora, after having specified the displaced Cham population as immigrants, gave an economic aid of about 1.2 million dollars and other material aid for thousands of Cham refugees who had no bread and no home.

THE 1947 - 1990 ENIGMATIC SILENCE

At a time when the Chams hoped for a solution of their legitimate rights, their attempts were ensued with total silence. The 1947-1990 period is one the most grave acts of this tragedy, because that was done by the Albanians themselves. It is the state of the antinational, communist dictatorship of E. Hoxha itself that kept silent. Such silence is still a mystery.
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THE GREEK OFFICIAL ATTITUDE AFTER THE EXPULSION OF THE MUSLIM ALBANIANS OF CHAMERIA

1. Greece violently put an end to every attempt to preserve the identity of the Albanian population of the Orthodox belief; who still continue to live in Chameria. Albanian, their mother tongue, was not allowed to be spoken in public and a number of other measures of assimilation were taken in order to deny completely its Albanian national origin.

As a result of this assimilation and discriminatory policy, it was impossible for them to assert themselves in Chameria.

2. After 1945, the action to change the demographic structure of Chameria and it colonization with Greeks, Arumuni and gypsies began. Greece changed the demographic structure of the province because they did not trust the rest of the Albanian population who remained there though it was of the Orthodox confession.

3. The property of the expelled Chains was given by the Greek government to new settlers without the legal right of ownership.

4. The present Greek government follows a discriminatory policy towards the Chams in Albania, by preventing them from visiting their homes. It is afraid of the truth about the Chams, of the revival of traditional brotherhood among the Orthodox and Muslim Albanians.

5. The Albanian place names were replaced with Greek place names.

THE DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS IN ALBANIA

AND THE PROBLEM OF CHAMERIA

The victory of democracy and the destruction of the communist system in Albania created the conditions to analize this great national misfortune.

As e result of pluralism, on January 1991, the "cameria" Patriotic-Political Association was created in continuation of the efforts and aspirations of the martir population of Chameria.

The Chameria question is part of the program of most of the political parties in’ Albania, which are trying to solve it in accordance with the spirit and standarts of the international human rights documents of the UN, the CSCE and the Council of Europe.

First of all, the "Chameria" Association as well as the Albanian democratic government have asked the Greek state and government to settle this outstanding problem, judging that the bilateral way is the most efficient manner to deal with it. So far, the Greek government and its high officials have adopted a negative attitude.

According to the Greek official stand, the Muslim Chams will not be allowed to return to Greece "because they have collaborated with the Italian-German invaders during the Second World War and as such they are criminals of war and are punished according to Greek laws" (Statement ,of Prime Minister Mitsotakis, in Tirana, May 1992)
MASSACRES AND ROBBERY PERPETRATED BY GREEK CHAUVINISM

AGAINST THE ALBANIAN POPULATION OF CHAMERIA

(1940-1945)

Killed persons:

1940-1941: Internment of all male persons from 16 to 75 years of age, started by the Metaxa regime two months before Greece’s occupation by fascist Italy and continued. Thousands of Chams were interned to the islands of the Aegean Sea.

During the internment, 450 people died of tortures.

June 27, 1944
Paramithi, Margellic,Gumenice and villages:1.030
Parge: 130

August 1944
Filat and villages: 259

March 1945
Filat and villages: 431
Deaths in internment: 450
Total:2300

Deaths en route

(diseases and afflictions): 2 400

Victims (total): 4 700

Raped women: 475

Kidnapped women: 76

MATERIAL DAMAGE:

villages / burnt houses

Parge, Preveze, Arta

Paramithi, Margellic: 21 / 2300

Gumenice: 26 / 2300

Filat: 44 / 1200
_____ ______

Total: 91 villages / 5800 burnt houses

RELIGIOUS OBJECTS BURNT DOWN:

Paramithi (town) 7 mosques

“(villages) 54 "

Gumenice and villages :25 "

Filat (town) 2 "

“ (villages):22 "
__________ ________________________________________
Total: 102 mosques

Large scale plunder of agricultural and livestock products, as well as more than 46 000 sheep and 5 137 cattle
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This is a false and an untrue "hypothesis".

- To consider the Chams criminals at a time when they have shed their blood together with the Greeks for liberation is a political-diplomatic crime.

Because:

* The Chams did not collaborate with occupiers of any kind; they are their victims.

* If Chameria had some "collaborators" (a common phenomenon for all the states under Nazi-Fascist occupation during World War II, what about the 30.000 such people in Greece, with general Ralis at the head. Nobody accuses them in Greece, on the contrary they are Eehabilitated by the general amnesty of the Greek state.

* It is a historical fact that the Chams were the first to take part in the Greek resistance against the invaders (together with ELAS and EAM).

* Documents that testify to the undeniable truth of the Cham tragedy, do exist.

* There are documents of the German state which prove that Napolon Zervas, one of the persons, most responsible for the genocide against the Chams, was a collaborator of the German Gestapo.

The Greek official stand does on honour to the Greek democratic government, which has signed all the international documents on human rights, we don’t blame it today for this tragedy, but it is not human to be a partner of the authors of gravest tragedies in Europe, following World War II, by using false accusations in order to hide the truth.

THE CHAM TRAGEDY MEANS:

* GENOCIDE
* ETHINC CLEANSING
* RELIGIOUS WAR
* VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
* A PROBLEM THAT MUST BE SOLVED

The Albanian martyr population of Chameria wants that today’s Europe of human dimension, all the international fora, all European political-diplomatic circles, the USA and other countries, the Greek government and people support and help meet its legitimate human demands:
******************************************
1.We request that the Greek Democratic government as a member of the European Community, as a state that has signed all International Acts on Human Rights and respect for national minorities, recognizes our denied rights

2. We request that the Greek state and government should accept the historical reality of the Cham question.

3. It should recognize the civil and legal rights of the Albanians evicted from their own territories in 1944-1945, as well as their right as legitimate owners of the property they have been robbed of. 4. We request that the Greek state and government should allow and make possible the free movement of this population to visit its ancestors’ land.
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[Hyllien]

Ethnic Albanians in Greece

The Balkan Peninsula of the European continent is ethnically, linguistically and religiously one of the most complex areas of the world. Within last two decades, the world community was alerted many times to the repression of the various ethnic minorities in the Balkans. Though much have been said and written about the ethnic minorities of the Balkans region throughout 1980s and 1990s, Greece’s century-old policy of assimilation against its Turkish, Macedonian, Albanian, Vlah and Roma minorities has escaped attention.
The Greek government had officially acknowledged the existence of the Albanian minority in Greece by the Sevres Treaty of August 10, 1920. Yet, in the mid-twentieth century, Greek authorities changed their mind and started to deny the existence of any ethnic minorities within Greek boundaries.
Denial of ethnic identity, brutal forms of assimilation, restrictions on the cultural rights and harassment against minority leaders are the main methods employed by Greece against its ethnic minorities. However, in recent years, in the light of the progressive changes occurring throughout eastern and central Europe and the increasing concern of the international human rights organizations over the minorities of the Balkans, considerable number of minority activists in Greece have dared to speak out against and expose Greece’s long kept secret : That there are Turkish, Macedonian, Albanian, Vlah and Roma minorities in Greece and that they desire to be recognized as such by their government and the world at large.
Ethnic Albanians in Greece can be grouped under three headings :

a)Orthodox Albanians (Arvanitis)
b)Cham Albanians
c)Albanian nationals who have sought refuge in Greece for economic reasons.

Although their predicament may take different forms, there is one characteristic common to all : persecution.
Early Twentieth Centruy: Forceful Assimilation of Ortodox Albanians (Arvanitis)

Just like the Turkish and Macedonian minorities, there existed the Albanian minority in Greece at the start of the twentieth century. In the early twentieth century, there were many Albanian-speaking people in Attica, Boeotia, Southern Euboea, and Hydra while the Plaka district in Athens near the Acropolis was the Albanian quarter of the city with its own law courts using the Albanian language.
Albanians are Orthodox Christians or Muslims by religion. Ever since the mid-twentieth century, Greece pursued a sophisticated assimilation policy against Orthodox Albanians or Arvanitis: by alleging that they are Greeks, they denied their ethnic, cultural, linguistic rights. Also by intentionally equating faith for nationality, and pretending that all the Orthodox people are Greeks, they exploited the religion factor in attempts to Hellenize the ethnic Albanians. The Greek church still endeavours to assimilate Orthodox Albanians, namely Arvanitis, into the Greek nation.
Today, as a result of the government’s discriminatory treatment against the non-Greeks, those Orthodox Albanians who demand their right to be recognized as Albanian, cannot speak out. This unbearable racism against the non-Greeks in Greece finds its expression in the statements of the Greek statesmen as well. Following is a declaration by the famous politician and present Foreign Minister George Papandreu in the “Two-day Meeting On Racism in Greece” on 19 June 1995:
“There is clearly racism in our country as well. Yet, the causes for Greece possibly differ from those neighboring countries. There is racism which springs from the acquaintance with the other and racism which is the result of taboos and prejudices without direct contact with the different. Racism is not always the manifestation of superiority; it is sometimes feeling of inferiority or fear.”
Cham Albanians

Though today divided between Greece and Albania, the Epirus region of the Balkan peninsula has been ethnically Albanian since the ancient times. During the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1913, the southern part of the region was cut off from the motherland and annexed to the Greek state despite the fact that people of the southern Epirus were Albanians of Orthodox and the Muslim faith. While the orthodox Albanians were targets of hellenization, the muslim Albanians were either exterminated or expelled from their ancestral lands by the Greek government.
The muslim Albanians or Chams who lived in Southern Epirus (Chameria or Thesprotia as it is called by the Greeks) were the victims of the first ethnic cleansing in Europe at the end of the Second World War. The Cham tragedy is one of the most painful tragedies of the European continent. Statistical yearbook of the Greek government in 1936 showed that 26.000 Chams lived in Chameria region in Greece at that time. As a result of the 1944-1945 ethnic cleansing and genocide, 30.000 Albanian Muslims were violently expelled from the Chameria region, and sought refuge in the Republic of Albania, where they still live. Today, there are 150.000 members of this population in Albania, a figure that has grown because of the high birth rate of the population. On the other hand, current number of Cham Albanians living in Greece is estimated at around 100.000. Yet these people are deprived of every sort of minority rights like other minorities living in Greece. To cite but one example, they can speak Albanian only in their homes.
The population of Chameria has always been ethnically Albanian :
- A lot of voyagers and foreign historians wrote that Chameria had been populated by Albanians. Even the Greek historian Herodotus underscored this fact in his book “Historia” and called Albanians of the Chameria “barbarians”, a term used by the ancient Greeks to distinguish non-greek people.
- The census held by the Turkish Administration in 1910 established that there were 83.000 orthodox and muslim Albanians in the region. The demographic map of the British military mission sent to the British government in London indicates that on the eve of the second World War, %75 of Chameria's population was Albanian.
- The pro-Greek historian Spiro Muselimi, in his book “Historical Sight Through Thesprotia”, edited in Joannina on 1974, wrote that “The bishop of Thesprotia in the year 1870 translated some parts of Bible into Albanian, as the people of orthodox faith of the region did not understand any word in Greek”.
The Greek authorities, sticking to the concept of absolute denial of the existence of ethnic groups on Greek territory, have followed a well-established chauvinistic policy and, as history recorded, they committed genocide against the Albanians of muslim faith.
The racial assault on Chameria’s Muslim Albanians began to be first applied at the end of the Second World War, in 1944-1945, when criminal bands of the notorious General Napoleon Zervas perpetrated ethnic cleansing against them.
On June 27, 1944, Greek criminal bands resorted to the worst atrocities witnessed in this region. The terror committed against this population was beyond description. It included killings, rapes, inhuman treatment, massacre of women, babies and pregnant women. More than 1400 men, women and children were killed within 24 hours in the town of Paramithy, on Tuesday, June 27, 1944, which happened to be the date of St.Bartholomeus day for the whole Chameria.
During the June 1944-March 1945 period, 1286 persons were killed in Filat, 192 people were killed in Gumenica, 626 persons were killed in Margellic and Parga. There were hundreds of other missing persons. In the same period, as a result of Greek massacres, acts of robbery and rapes against the Albanian population of Chameria; 2900 young and old men, 214 women, 96 children were massacred, 745 women were raped, 76 women abducted, 32 children, younger than 3 years were massacred, 68 villages were razed to the ground, 5800 houses and places of worship were burned down or destroyed. Furthermore, 30.000 Albanian Muslims were violently expelled from the Chameria region who took refuge in the Republic of Albania.
The Albanian government, after the war, took the Cham issue to the Peace Conference in Paris. The conference of Foreign Ministers of the Allied Powers not only recognized the very difficult circumstances the Chams were subjected to, but also demanded repatriation and recovery of their property.
The International Investigation Commission of the United Nations, appointed for the verification of the tragedy on both sides of the border, concluded its report in 1946-1947, replete with facts and evidence about the massacre and painful tragedy of the Cham people.
Realities of the recent history of Chameria require the attention of the international community. Greece cannot avoid but recognize the genocide of the "Cham Albanians." The civil and legal rights of those currently living in Greece, estimated around 100.000 today, must be respected by Greece.
According to the official Greek stand, the Muslim population of Chameria, which numbers around 150.000 and still refugees in Albania will never be allowed to return to Greece because they allegedly collaborated with the German occupiers during the Second World War. “They are considered as war criminals according to the Greek laws” (K.Mitsotakis, Tirana, May 1992).
This “hypothesis” is untrue and fabricated. To consider a whole community as “criminals”, many members of which died in Greece’s liberation struggle in the Second World War, is a political and historical crime against Cham Albanians.
In 1994, the Parliament of the Albanian Republic proclaimed 27 June 1944 as the commemoration day for the massacred Albanians of Chameria, and a monument was built up in Konispol in memory of the victims of Chameria.
After 1945, with a view to changing the demographic structure of Chameria, its colonization with Greeks, Aromens and Gypsies was begun. Greece wanted the demographic structure of the province changed because it did not trust the rest of the Albanian population who remained there, even though they were of the Orthodox confession. Greece violently put an end to every attempt to preserve the identity of the Albanian population of the Orthodox belief and Albanian was prohibited to be spoken in public. Thereby, the assimilation of orthodox Albanians gained momentum. The fate of the orthodox Albanians was not much different than that of their Muslim brothers when it came to maintaining their ethnic identity.
---------------------------------
The Predicament of the Albanian Nationals in Greece

Beyond the predicament of the Orthodox and Muslim Albanians of Greece, Greek persecution extends to the nationals of the Albanian Republic as well. In recent years, reliable human rights organizations consistently cited Greece in their reports for its significant abuses of human rights against Albanian nationals in Greece.
After the collapse of communist regime in Albania in 1991, thousands of Albanian nationals left Albania for Greece for better economic conditions. Yet, the Greek government tried to use the migrant Albanian nationals in Greece as a trump card against the Albanian government for political ends. Deterioration of the relations between two countries have many times induced the massive expulsions by Greece of these Albanian nationals.
In 1990s, the Greek police, using unjustified physical violence, deported about 300.000 Albanian citizens who had the required documents, along with those who for dire economic needs had to work illegally in Greece. Their savings earned through hard work were confiscated. Thus, thousands of Albanians who were paid far less than the Greek workers were deported from the country. They used to send to their families in Albania a contribution of about 9.375.000 Dollars per month, a great part of which returned to Greece for imported food products, thereby increasing Greek exports as well. Greece also gained no less than 1 billion Dollars a year from the cheap labour of Albanian workers. As a result of unexpected and violent expulsions, many Albanian immigrants could not take with them even their own savings and personal belongings, estimated at about 10.000.000 dollars. On the other hand, in recent years, torture and ill-treatment against the Albanian nationals under custody have been observed and reported by reliable human rights organizations. It has also been established that those Albanian nationals who accept to become Greek and change their religion are given work-permissions and even Greek passports. In other words, Greece, a member country of the European Union and a state which has put her signature under almost every international agreement related to the protection of human rights forces people under duress to exchange their ethnic and cultural identities for economic livelihood.
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The Offical Stance of the Greek Government on the Question

- Denial of ethnic identity, brutal forms of assimilation, restrictions on the cultural rights and harassment against minority leaders are the main methods employed by Greece against its ethnic minorities. Ethnic Albanians are subject to these treatments as well.
- Official Greek allegations that both northern and southern Epirus are historically greek lands are in dispute with the historical facts. The famous King Pirro, who founded the Kigdom of Epir in III. Century AD is called “Barbarian”, namely “not Greek”, in the writings of many greek historians. As the Western sources confirmed, the Epirus region has always been ethnically Albanian.
- Even supposing that Cham people cooperated with Nazis during the second World War, the repatriation of the greeks who collaborated with Nazis during the second World War with general amnesties in 1970s as against the violent expulsion of 300.000 Cham Albanians from the lands that bequeathed to them from their forefathers, is bitter evidence of the chauvinist approach of the Greek government against ethnic minorities.
- While the Greek political leaders demand from the Albanian government to recognize the minority rights of the Greeks in northern Epirus, they vehemently deny the existence of an Albanian minority in Greece.
Following excerpts from a statement made by the then Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis on 14 July 1993 are noteworthy with regard to the double standard employed by the Greek government in the case of the Albanian minority in particular, and other minorities of Greece in general.
"The Albanian government must end all interference with the right of Albanian citizens to declare whatever ethnic identity they wish according to international principles . . .”
(Presently, despite the provisions of the international agreements, not only the existence of ethnic Albanians, but also all other ethnic minorities, namely Turks, Macedonians, Vlahs and Roma, are vehemently denied by the Greek government. The government maintains that Greece is a “homogeneous” country.)
“The Tirana Government refused to allow the teaching of the Greek in public schools beyond the first few grades and even then, it was allowed only in a few arbitrarily designated “minority zones”
(Teaching of the minority languages in Greek schools, except Turkish, is strictly forbidden in Greece. Albanians and Macedonians are not even allowed to speak their mother tongues.)
“Breaking all rules protecting religious freedom and in violation of article 16 of Albania’s own human rights law, the Tirana Government hampered the operation of the orthodox church in the country by failing to return church property taken during the hard years of communist rule, by insisting that the liturgy be conducted in Albanian and by harassing the few priests allowed to serve Greek communities.”
(Though the Greek government accepted the right of Albanians, Macedonians and Vlahs to establish their own autonomous Orthodox churches with the Sevres Treaty of 1920, today this is only on paper and the religious life of all orthodox communities in Greece is under the tight control of Greek Orthodox Church. )
“The Albanian government did not facilitate the repatriation of the tens of thousands of ethnic greeks who were forcibly removed from Northern Epirus during 40 years of the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha. It did not restore their property to them..”
( In this context, one should remember thousands of Chamides, Macedonians and Turks who were expelled by Greece in the course of twentieth century to Albania, Macedonia and Turkey respectively. )
Today, the ethnic minorities of Greece, namely Turks, Macedonians, Albanians, Vlahs and Roma demand no more than what the Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis asked for the so-called Greek minority in Albania, in 1993.
A Just and Peaceful Solution to the Greece's Albanian Question

International pressure should be exerted upon Greece, a member of EU, Council of Europe, OSCE, to stop its persecution of ethnic Albanians and to compensate their material losses . Everyone who advocates the supremacy of law and contemporary humanitarian values should extend their support to the Chameria Albanian Associations all around the world. They stand for the recognition of 4000 Albanians who have been exterminated by Greece, for the rights of 150.000 who have been forced away from their ancestral lands and thus who do not even have a chance to see the graves of their parents, and 100.000 currently living in Greece.
In this context, the realization of the following points are of vital importance for a just solution to the question of ethnic Albanians in Greece :
-Summoning an international conference with the participation of the Albanian government for the restoration of the rights of Albanian minority in Greece and for the recognition of the genocide of Cham Albanians.
-Greece’s recognition of the ethnic identity of the orthodox Albanians and Cham Albanians, in the same way as the Albanian Government is recognizing and respecting the rights of the Greek minority in Albania.
-Compensation of the properties of the Cham population by the Greek Government.
-Permission for the establishment of an independent church for orthodox Albanians, which is a right conferred to them by the Sevres Treaty signed by Greece in 1920.
-Repatriation to Greece of the Cham population expelled to Albania and indemnity of the losses resulting from the exploitation of the real estate of the Cham population for the last 55 years.
-Restoring to the Cham population their Greek citizenship which was unlawfully taken away from them.
-Bringing an end to the discriminatory treatment against Albanian nationals in Greece and giving them back their properties which were unlawfully confiscated by the state authorities.
Relevant Provisions of the Sevres Treaty of August 10, 1920, Through Which the Greek Government Recognized the Albanian Minority and Its Rights

Article I
Greece undertakes that the stipulations contained in Articles 2 to 8 of this chapter shall be recognized as fundamental laws, and that no law, regulation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations, nor shall any law, regulation or official action prevail over them.
Article II
Greece undertakes to assure full and complete protection of life and liberty to all inhabitants of Greece without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race or religion.
All inhabitants of Greece shall be entitled to the free exercise, whether public or private, of any creed, religion or belief, whose practices are consistent with public order or public morals.

Article III
Greece admits and declares to be Greek nationals ipso facto and without the requirement of any formality Bulgarian, Turkish or Albanian nationals habitually resident at the date the coming into force of the present Treaty in territories transferred to Greece by Treaties subsequent to January 1, 1913.

Article VII
All Greek nationals shall be equal before the law and shall enjoy the same civil and political rights without distinction as to race, language or religion.
In particular, Greece undertakes to put into force within three years from the coming into force of the present Treaty an electoral system giving due consideration to the rights of racial minorities.
Differences of religion, creed or confession shall not prejudice any Greek national in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil or political rights, as, for instance, admission to public employments, functions and honours, or the exercise of professions and industries.
No restriction shall be imposed on the free use by any Greek national of any language in private intercourse, in commerce, in religion, in the press or in publications of any kind, or at public meetings.
Notwithstanding any establishment by the Greek Government of an official language, adequate facilities shall be given to Greek nationals of non-Greek speech for the use of their language, either orally or in writing, before the courts.

Article VIII
Greek nationals who belong to racial, religious or linguistic minorities shall enjoy the same treatment and security in law and in fact as the other Greek nationals. In particular they shall have an equal right to establish, manage and control, at their own expense, charitable, religious and social institutions, schools and other educational establishments, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their religion freely therein.
OTHER IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS VIOLATED
I.UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Article 18, Freedom of Religion
Article 19 Freedom of Expression

II.INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
Article 18, Freedom of Religion
Article 19 Freedom of Expression

III.EUROPEAN CONVENTION FOR PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS
Article 9-Freedom of Religion
Article 10-Freedom of Expression
Irakki Kochollari, Arvanites
- Edwin E. Jacques, The Albanians : Ethnic History From Prehistoric Times To The Present
- UNPO Yearbooks and UNPO News
- International Journal of Albanian Studies
- Border and Territorial Disputes, Third Edition, Albania Greece (Northern Epirus), Longman, Harlow, 1992
- Eastern Europe Newsletter, Albania : A General Briefing, 10 August 1992
- Minority Rights Group, The Balkans : Minorities and States in Conflict, London, 1991
- RFE/RL Research Report, vol.2, No:33, Albanian-Greek Relations : The Confrontation Continues, 10 August 1993
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When the Greek state was conceived in 1830 it was comprised of four ethnic groups: the Greeks, the Albanians, the Turks and the Vlach. Later, with a number of expansionist wars that served to fulfill the plans of the Megali-idea (The grand idea: a notion where extreme Greek nationalism and religious intolerance are intertwined, another large group was added, the Slays. Thus the country that: called itself Greece had a Greek population that did not surpass thirty per cent of the total local population. This changed in 1922 when the migrations from Asia Minor added one million and three hundred thousand Greek refugees for a total of four million inhabitants.

Now, after 150 years, Greece claims to be the most homogeneous country in the Balkans with only two percent of-its population declaring that they do not belong to its dominant Hellenic-orthodox group. How did Greece achieve this unparalleled homogeneity which the other Balkan countries have strived to imitate without results? They achieved this by way of annihilation of linguistic, cultural and religious identities. (National identities had not been created in the rest of the Balkans, or they were being created without the support of a central state and as such they did not pose any threat) They imposed the Greek language as the only official language of the state and the church, they instituted coercion practices, social and economical boycott and rejection of all those unique identities. Through the confusion of the time, they resorted even to ethnic cleansing in those areas where their assimilation methods would not succeed. In 1945 the Greek army, under general N. Zervas, expelled to Albania thirty-five thousand Chains, Moslem Albanians, from Southern Epirus in Northwestern Greece.

One of the most successfully assimilated groups is the Arvanitas, .Albanians that had moved through out Greece during the 13th and 14th centuries. However, considering that perhaps the Arvanitas were the largest non-Greek group and settled in compact units before the urbanization of the Greek society, and since Greece is bordered to the North by Albania, the Greek system has always doubted as to whether it had fully accomplished its, goal of assimilation with regard to this ethnic group.. This uncertainty increased in. the beginning of the 1990s with the tide of Albanian immigrants to Greece.

The old generation of Arvanitas began to bring out their lost Language and along with it suppressed feelings. They started remembering lullabies, songs of their youth, ballads of valorous men who fought and defeated the Turks ‘under their leader Gjerg Kastrioti (Scanderbeg), who was their source of pride in the Albanian ancestry.

During these developments, instinctively, the Greek governance reactivated all its national resources to protect the Greek ethnicity. From 1993 on the image of the Albanian immigrant was demonized and as a result he suffered such a terror that makes one think of the pogroms against the Jews Greek "democracy" which the Greeks have already claimed as their invention like all achievements of the ancient Hellenic civilization, was violating the most basic human right, that of protecting and respecting human dignity.

This anti-Albanian hysteria Was successfully propagated through the masses and served well to achieve two objectives:

On one hand to create distance and hostility on the part of the Arvanitas towards the newly arrives Albanians. They should not be identified again with a condemned and castaway ethnic group.

And on the other hand it fueled a belief among the immigrants themselves that being an Albanian is dishonorable and that they themselves deserve what was happening to them by virtue of being Albanian.

The torch of anti-Albanian propaganda was carried out and is still being carried out by Greek mass media, which on these occasions display a cultivated unity of purpose, through which the image of the Albanian was successfully created: a poor, wretched, ignorant and especially criminal human being. These media outlets have zealously supported the ethnocentrism of the Greek elite that is in accordance with and serves the creation of a homogenous society - meaning, it has a profile that is established upon a dominant ethnic, cultural and religious Greek model and as a result a society more amenable to a chauvinistic posture.

Thus the Albanians who live in the Greek society, having become victims to this propaganda, try to avoid any kind of connection with Albania. At the same time they try to purge themselves from all distinguishable Albanian traits so that they are not identified with the cultivated demon of a xenophobic society, the Greek society. At the same time the Albanian emigrants have been victims of an institutionalized racism that has denied them the most basic of human rights known by all international conventions. Infringements and abuses from state organs especially the Greek police have been and are a daily phenomenon. This is in sharp contrast with the behavior of these same organs towards Albanian citizens who "declare" that they are not of Albanian nationality but fellow countrymen" (a word that in Greek is the same as "homogenous") from Vorio Epirus.

According to Greek sources there are over one hundred and fifty thou- . sand Albanian citizens who have, a document that proves that they are from Northern Epirus That document immediately guarantees them a much broader set of rights (free medical care, more ease for "vorioepiriote" students in Greek Universities, travel opportunities in Europe etc.) and the "hope" that in the near future they will acquire Greek citizenship.

These social pictures completed with the work of the ‘Greek educational system that makes sure that all. Citizens are imbued with the tenets of Greek culture. No aspect of the Greek educational system has changed since the beginning of the state when it adapted the myth of the three thousand years of continuity and the position of the historian Paparigopoulos, who was not only a grecocentrist but also campaigned with fervor for the ideas of Pan Hellenism. As a consequence, every immigrant child attending Greek schools, at any level, is subjected to a process of indoctrination with the idea of the superiority and the uniqueness of the Greek culture and race.

Comparing the Greek economic achievements with those of the neighboring countries, thus exploiting its neighbor’s misfortune with their communist experience, further enhances this campaign, Albania and the other countries of the Balkans who went through some fifty years of communism, for the time being, cannot face to this Greek challenge. With this economic disadvantage the Albanian immigrant is further inclined to succumb to the successful assimilation campaign of Greek propaganda.

While the "democratic" Greek state complain in every international forum that Albania is abusing the Greek minority and that the country does not comply with present day visions of a civil society, the Greeks themselves are forcefully assimilating the Albanian immigrant and doing so with impunity. As they expect that most of the Albanian immigrants will settle permanently in Greece, the Greek government is bent on assimilating completely the Albanian immigrants thus violating the principal value of a civil society that requires that Greece accept the Albanians with their own culture, whatever the differences, instead of the current policy of forcing the ethnic Greek credo upon the new immigrants.

The assimilation of the Albanians in Greece is a desperate and hopeless situation, as it follows in the footsteps of the Arvanitas and therefore the Albanian intellectuals, wherever they are, should be aware of the situation. This democracy, that even

the USA offers as an example to be imitated by the other, Balkan countries, has reached the level of perfection in the art of hypocrisy. Nothing exists that cannot be proven.

However, Greece is facing a dilemma. On one hand it cannot ignore the Albanian immigrants, since eventually it will be obligated to give them wider recognition, and the other hand, when this happens, Greece will not be known only for the repression of religious freedom but also for. the repression. of. ethnic minorities. (Greece comes first, far ahead of the second country. so ranked,, with regard to the cases presented at the European court for human rights for the repression of minority religions that are not members of the Orthodox Church in Greece).

Then. everyone will discover what is hidden behind the curtain of make believe that claims the temple of a civilization emerging from the grave, namely that the temple is a corpse without any signs of revival.
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[Hyllien]

Ket te bejne ata qe rrine atje ne qeveri, e jo me llafe kot. Po na tregoka minoritetet ky me Vasil Melon e 5-6 Greke te tjere qe as nuk i hyne ne pune njeriut se eshte gjynah prej Zotit me e ngacmu njeriun. Ska faj ky presilesh, kan faj ata qeveritaret tane qe nuk e ngrejne Zerin aty ne Evrope per keto probleme, po shkojne dhe i fusin nje dru te mire Cameve kur protestojne para parlamentit. Hajde Mojsi te keqen mos harro ti japesh dhe ketit Stephanopulopulosit ndonje Urdher Skenderbeu, se eshte bere si pacavure ai urdher, e marrin te gjithe, edhe pse asnje permiresim, asnje patriotizem nuk shohim ne rradhet e qeveritareve tane.

[dodoni]

Duhet ngritur zërin në institucionet ndërkombëtare e veçmas europiane për këtë çështje. Poashtu edhe këto institucione duhet t'i bëjnë presion atyre qelbësirave që të zgjidhet ky problem sa më parë.

[Labeati]

Kush te çoje zerin ne europe more?

Qeveritaret tone me ne krye krieministrin jane te gjithe te shitur te greku. Ky kryeminister vagabond qe kemi, pervec vjedhjes qe po i ben popullit, pervecse ka ne shtrat agjenten e Asfalise, ky legen qe i thote vetes shqiptar diten e tragjedise ku u vrane 15 femije kosovare, iken ne Selanik e kalon naten neper buzuqe sic e kishte filmuar tv-klan.
Kryeadministratori i Kosoves (qe nuk eshte shqiptar) kthehet nga brukseli per te shku ne varrim, ky "i joni" kalon naten ne buzuk.

E ju pritni te ngreje ceshtjen came.

Presidenti Moisiu ka celesat e kashtes se eshte thjesht ceremonial as nje gjyqtar se cakton dot se ja rrezojne ne parlament.

Po do i vije rradha edhe ceshtjes came, do ti paguaje Greqia vjedhjen e pasurise te 25000 cameve qe deboi megjithe kamate bile.

Po me pare le te heqim qafe ushujzat qe po i pine gjakun vendit. Parazitet!

[Albo]

Bravo president qe pate kurajon qe ta ngresh kete problem me homologun grek. Mohimi i ceshtjes came i Stefanopullos ishte i pritshem, pasi kjo ka qene dhe vazhdon te jete politika e ndjekur nga shteti grek. Megjithate, presidenti Moisiu realizoi sot ate qe nuk e realizoi dot kuvendi shqiptar me rezoluten e vetme per ceshtjen came qe eshte votuar ne kuvendin popullor, e cila u hodh poshte nga kartonat e socialisteve.

Ceshtja came do te gjeje zgjidhje pasi politika e ndjekur nga BE dhe SHBA eshte ajo e "çminimit" te rajonit, ne menyre qe ti hapin rrugen sigurise rajonale afatgjate dhe zhvillimit ekonomik. Presidenti grek mund ta mohoje ceshtje came ne Shqiperi, por nuk e mohon dot kur vihet perballe rezolutave te Kongresit amerikan dhe Keshillit te Evropes. Ashtu si greket kerkojne njohjen e Turqise se qeverise se Qipros, ashtu edhe shqiptaret do te kerkojne me insistim njohjen e ceshtjes came.

Albo

[manoklla]

Po ca kerkojme ne shiqptaret, bashkimin e camerise me shiperine a gje tjeter? Se kjo sma merr mendja se do ndodhe kurre. Maksimumi do i jape ca demshperblime monetare greqia cameve qe humben pronat dhe ky muhabet mbyllet me duket.