Expulsion of Cham Albanians
Encyclopedia
The expulsion of Cham Albanians from Greece was a forced emigration of thousands of Cham Albanians
after the Second World War to Albania
, by the Resistance
National Republican Greek League (EDES) forces. The EDES and the Joint Allied Military Mission in the Axis-occupied Greece accused Chams for collaborating with the German Nazis
and Italians during the war. A part of the Cham population had collaborated with the Axis troops, while some others enlisted in the resistance forces of the communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the Albanian Liberation Front. Various sources put the death toll between 200-300.
since at least the 12th century, when the first migrations are recorded. During the Middle Ages they created two states in the area. In 1912, the area of Chameria, as the whole Epirus
came under Greek control
. Cham Albanians were given no minority status and they were discriminated. Muslim Chams were counted as a religious minority, and some of them were transferred to Turkey
, during the 1923 population exchange
, although they were not officially part of it, while their property was alienated by the Greek government. Orthodox Albanian speaking communities were counted as Greeks, and their language and Albanian heritage were under pressure of assimilation. The Second World War marked the expulsion of Muslim Chams from Greece
.
, the Albanian Kingdom
became a protectorate
of the Kingdom of Italy
. The Italians, especially governor Francesco Jacomoni
, used the Cham issue as a means to rally Albanian support. Although in the event, Albanian enthusiasm for the "liberation of Chameria" was muted, Jacomoni sent repeated over-optimistic reports to Rome on Albanian support. As the possibility of an Italian attack on Greece drew nearer, he began arming Albanian irregular bands to use against Greece.
As the final excuse for the start of the Greco-Italian War
, Jacomoni used the killing of a Cham Albanian leader Daut Hoxha, whose headless body was discovered near the village of Vrina
in June 1940. It was alleged by the Italian-controlled government in Tirana
that he had been murdered by Greek secret agents. Daut Hoxha was a notorious bandit killed in a fight over some sheep with two shepherds. According to some other specific works Hoxha was a military leader of the Cham struggle during the inter-war years, leading to him branded as a bandit by the Greek government.
From June of that same year up to the eve of the war, due to the instigation of Albanian and Italian propaganda, many Chams had secretly crossed the borders in order to compose armed groups, which were to side with the Italians. Their numbers are estimated of about 2,000 to 3,000 men. Adding to them in the following months the Italians urgently started organizing several thousand local Albanians volunteers to participate on the "liberation of Chamuria" creating an army equivalent to a full division of 9 battalions (4 blackshirt battalions -Tirana, Korçë, Vlorë, Shkodër-, 2 infantry battalions -Gramos and Dajti-, 2 volunteer battalions -Tomori and Barabosi-, one battery corps -Drin-). All of them eventually took part in the invasion to Greece at October 28, 1940 (see Greco-Italian War
) under the XXV Italian Army Corps which after the incorporation of the Albanian units renamed to “Chamuria Army Corps” under General C. Rossi, although with poor performance
.
The Greco-Italian War started with the Italian military forces
launching an invasion of Greece from Albanian territory. The invasion force included several hundred native Albanian and Chams in blackshirt battalions attached to the Italian army. Their performance however was distinctly lackluster, as most Albanians, poorly motivated, either deserted or defected. Indeed, the Italian commanders, including Mussolini, would later use the Albanians as scapegoats for the Italian failure.
These two Albanian battalions, namely, battalion Tomorri and Gramshi, were formed in the Italian army only three months before the invasion, and during the Greco-Italian War
, the majority of them crossed to the Greek Army. The leader of these two battalions, Spiro Moisiu, would become the general in chief of the Albanian Anti-Fascist Army, and eventually a head of the Albanian Army after the war.
when the war ends. Under these circumstances, as Italy managed to control most of Greece after the German invasion, Cham Albanians formed armed groups and provided active support to the occupation forces. These armed bands under the leadership of gendarmerie officers Nuri and Mazar Dino participated in the Axis operations (village burnings, murders, executions) and committed a number of crimes in both Greece and Albania. However, it seems that local beys (most of them were already part of the Albanian nationalistic and partly collaborationist group Balli Competar) and the mufti did not support such actions.
Although the Italians wanted to annex Chameria
to Albania, the Germans vetoed the proposal. An Albanian High Commissioner, Xhemil Dino
, was appointed, but his authority was limited, and for the duration of the Occupation, the area remained under direct control from the occupational military authorities.
. In the ELAS, Cham Albanians formed the IV Ali Demi
battalion , named after a Cham Albanian who was killed in Vlora fighting against the Germans. At the time of its creation in 1944, it comprised 460 Muslim Albanians, and 340 Greeks and some Orthodox Albanians, being the second largest battalion in Epirus region
.
At the same time, the National Anti-Fascist Liberation Army of Albania formed the Chameria
battalion , in 15 June 1943, during the meeting of the Regional Committee of the National Anti-fascist Liberation Army in Konispol
. The decision was adopted on June 30, 1943, when three resistance groups were united. These groups were Hasan Tahsini group, Father Stathi Melani group and Alush Taka group, from which the first was based in Konispol
, the second in Filiates
and the third in Paramithia. Each group numbered about 170-180 members, from which only 75 were not Cham Albanians, of whom 35 were from Delvinë
and 40 were members of the Greek minority in Albania
. In total about five hundred Cham Albanians were conscripted, more than half of whom were from the Greek part of Chameria, while the rest came from Konispol
and Markat
, as well as from the Greek minority in Albania
from the Delvinë District
.
This battalion was the first big partisan organization in the Gjirokastër County
(which at that time included Gjirokastër
, Sarandë
and Delvinë districts
) and were led by Haki Rushit Shehu from Konispol
and with group leaders, Taho Mehmet Sejko from Filiates
, Lefter Miço Talo from Ampelia , Ali Demi from Filiates
and for political commissar, Qazim Kondi from Polyneri .
On October 10, 1943, the battalion was renamed IV "Chameria" Group , which had more than 2,000 troops, about half of them were Cham Albanians, and the rest Albanians and Greeks from southern Albania. Cham Albanians claim that more than 1,500 Chams were part of the Resistance forces, of whom 300 were killed by Nazis or EDES forces. However, during the World War II occupation the majority of the elites of the Cham community had become corrupted by the occupying forces and the atmosphere against the local Greeks who had suffered under Germans, Italians and Chams, led to an explosive polarization which would have constrained any motivation for joint Greek-Cham resistance.
, asked the Cham Albanians to join EDES, but their response was negative. After that and in accordance to orders given specifically to EDES by the Allied forces to push them out of the area, fierce fighting occurred between the two sides. According to British reports, the Cham collaborationist bands managed to flee to Albania with all of their equipment, together with half million stolen cattle as well as 3,000 horses, leaving only the elderly members of the community behind. On 18 June 1944, EDES forces with Allied support launched an attack on Paramythia. After short-term conflict against a combined Cham-German garrison, the town was finally under Allied command. Soon after, violent reprisals were carried out against the town's Muslim community, which was considered responsible for the massacre of September 1943.
Moreover, two attacks
took place in July and August with the participation of EDES Tenth Division and the local Greek peasants, eager to gain revenge for the burning of their own homes. According to Cham claims, which are not confirmed by British reports, the most infamous massacre of Albanian Muslims by Greek irregulars occurred on 27 June 1944 in the district of Paramithia, when this forces entered the town, and killed approximately 600 Muslim Chams, men women and children, many having been raped and tortured before death. This day, was announced in Albania
in 1994 as The Day of Greek Chauvinist Genocide Against the Albanians of Chameria.
British
officers described it as "a most disgraceful affair involving an orgy of revenge with the local guerrillas looting and wantonly destroying everything". British Foreign Office reported that "The bishop of Paramythia joined in the searching of houses for booty and came out of one house to find his already heavily laden mule had been meanwhile stripped by some andartes".
But Colonel Chris Woodhouse, head of the Allied Military Mission in Greece during the Axis occupation, who was present in the area at the time, in his "Note on the Chams" official military report of 16 October 1945, clearly accepting the full responsibility for the expulsion of the Chams although criticized the vendetta way in which that was carried out, including a brief description of the situation led to the events: "Chams are racially part Turk, part Albanian, part Greek. In 1941-3 they collaborated with Italians, making the organization of guerilla resistance in that area difficult. I never heard of any of them taking part in any resistance against enemy. Zervas encouraged by the Allied Mission under myself, chased them out of their homes in 1944 in order to facilitate operations against the enemy. They mostly took refuge in Albania, where they were not popular either. Their eviction from Greece was bloodily carried out, owing the usual vendetta spirit, which was fed by many brutalities committed by the Chams in league with the Italians. Zervas' work was completed by an inexcusable massacre of Chams in Philliates in March, 1945, carried out by remnants of Zervas' dissolved forces under Zotos. The Chams deserved what they got, but Zervas' methods were pretty bad - or rather, his subordinate officers got out of hand. The result has been in effect a shift of populations, removing an unwanted minority from Greek soil. Perhaps it would be best to leave things at that."(PRO/FO,371/48094)
region in late 1944 forcing EDES to leave in Corfu
.
As a result of the ELAS victory, in January - February 1945, about four to five thousand Albanians returned to their homes from Albania, mainly in the border areas of Filiates and Sagiada. But after the final defeat of ELAS during the battle of Athens and its capitulation (see Varkiza Agreement), EDES quickly regained control of the region, eager to take revenge for the Cham's participation in the attack against its forces.
Led by a former Zerva's officer, Col. Zotos, a loose paramilitary
grouping of former EDES guerrillas and local men went on a rampage. In the worst massacre, at the town of Filiates, on 13 March, some sixty to seventy Chams were killed. Many of the Cham villages were burned and the remaining inhabitants fled across the border into Albania. The incident came under an investigation of the Greek army four years later during the second circle of the Greek civil war, in which time, the by-then communist Albania was actively helping the communist DSE army
in its second armed confrontation to win the country's control, concluding that no crimes took place. At this time, Col. Zotos himself was part of the Epiros High Command of the Army, something that apparently played role to the resulted decision. The active involvement of Albania in the internal affairs in Greece in that period (see Greek civil war
) and the anomalous political situation also played a role in the disguise of the case.
After the Albanian communist regime gave compulsory Albanian citizenship to the Chams, the Greek government confiscated their properties (both of those who collaborated with the Nazis and those who did not) and permitted Greeks to settle in the area. After the war, only 117 Muslim Cham Albanians were left in Greece.
The exact number of Cham Albanians that were expelled in Albania and Turkey, is unknown. Mark Mazower
and Victor Roudometof, state that they were about 18,000 in 1944 and 4 to 5 thousands in 1945. while Miranda Vickers says that they were 25,000 that fled into Albania. Chameria Association claims that Cham Albanians that left were 35,000, from whom, 28,000 left to Albania and the rest to Turkey. Today, most Chams live in Turkey, and some 150,000 live in Albania. Those of the Orthodox faith are considered Greeks by the Greek government.
, with the help of the newly established communist government of Albania
. It was established, during the first wave of refugees, and it aimed to make Greece allow, the returning of Chams in their homes. They organized two congresses, adopted a memorandum
and sent delegates in Greece and in European allies. After three years activity, the organization did not manage, neither to re-allocate Chams in Chameria
, nor to internationalize the Cham issue. Greece did not acknowledge that EDES had expelled Chams, saying that they fled and that they could return, although this was impossible. The international community did not respond to Chams plea, but they acknowledged the humanitarion disaster. Since 1947, the Committee was charged with the normalization of living situations of Cham refugees in Albania. In 1951, Chams were forcibely given the Albanian citizenship and the Committee was disbanned. The Cham issue would regain momentum only in 1991, when the communist regime collapsed, and the National Political Association "Çamëria"
was established.
Cham Albanians
Cham Albanians, or Chams , are a sub-group of Albanians who originally resided in the coastal region of Epirus in northwestern Greece, an area known among Albanians as Chameria. The Chams have their own peculiar cultural identity, which is a mixture of Albanian and Greek influences as well as many...
after the Second World War to Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, by the Resistance
Greek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
National Republican Greek League (EDES) forces. The EDES and the Joint Allied Military Mission in the Axis-occupied Greece accused Chams for collaborating with the German Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and Italians during the war. A part of the Cham population had collaborated with the Axis troops, while some others enlisted in the resistance forces of the communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the Albanian Liberation Front. Various sources put the death toll between 200-300.
Background
Cham Albanians have lived in the area known by Albanians as ChameriaChameria
Chameria is a term used today mostly by Albanians for parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and northwestern Greece It was also used by Greeks till the mid of 20th century and is frequently found in Greek literature. Today it is obsolete in Greek, surviving mainly in Greek folk...
since at least the 12th century, when the first migrations are recorded. During the Middle Ages they created two states in the area. In 1912, the area of Chameria, as the whole Epirus
Epirus (region)
Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë in the north to the Ambracian Gulf in the south...
came under Greek control
Kingdom of Greece
The Kingdom of Greece was a state established in 1832 in the Convention of London by the Great Powers...
. Cham Albanians were given no minority status and they were discriminated. Muslim Chams were counted as a religious minority, and some of them were transferred to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, during the 1923 population exchange
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
, although they were not officially part of it, while their property was alienated by the Greek government. Orthodox Albanian speaking communities were counted as Greeks, and their language and Albanian heritage were under pressure of assimilation. The Second World War marked the expulsion of Muslim Chams from Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Chams as excuse for the invasion
Following the Italian invasion of AlbaniaItalian invasion of Albania
The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom. The conflict was a result of the imperialist policies of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini...
, the Albanian Kingdom
Albania under Italy
The Albanian Kingdom existed as a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. It was practically a union between Italy and Albania, officially led by Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III and its government: Albania was led by Italian governors, after being militarily occupied by Italy, from 1939 until 1943...
became a protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
of the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
. The Italians, especially governor Francesco Jacomoni
Francesco Jacomoni
Francesco Jacomoni di San Savino was an Italian diplomat and governor of Albania before and during World War II.He was born in Reggio di Calabria on 31 August 1893 to a banker's family. In 1914 he enlisted in the army for his national service. Named Lieutenant of Fortress Artillery in June 1915,...
, used the Cham issue as a means to rally Albanian support. Although in the event, Albanian enthusiasm for the "liberation of Chameria" was muted, Jacomoni sent repeated over-optimistic reports to Rome on Albanian support. As the possibility of an Italian attack on Greece drew nearer, he began arming Albanian irregular bands to use against Greece.
As the final excuse for the start of the Greco-Italian War
Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...
, Jacomoni used the killing of a Cham Albanian leader Daut Hoxha, whose headless body was discovered near the village of Vrina
Vrina, Albania
Vrinë is a village in Xarrë municipality, in Saranda District of Albania. It is the only Orthodox Cham Albanian village in Albania....
in June 1940. It was alleged by the Italian-controlled government in Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
that he had been murdered by Greek secret agents. Daut Hoxha was a notorious bandit killed in a fight over some sheep with two shepherds. According to some other specific works Hoxha was a military leader of the Cham struggle during the inter-war years, leading to him branded as a bandit by the Greek government.
From June of that same year up to the eve of the war, due to the instigation of Albanian and Italian propaganda, many Chams had secretly crossed the borders in order to compose armed groups, which were to side with the Italians. Their numbers are estimated of about 2,000 to 3,000 men. Adding to them in the following months the Italians urgently started organizing several thousand local Albanians volunteers to participate on the "liberation of Chamuria" creating an army equivalent to a full division of 9 battalions (4 blackshirt battalions -Tirana, Korçë, Vlorë, Shkodër-, 2 infantry battalions -Gramos and Dajti-, 2 volunteer battalions -Tomori and Barabosi-, one battery corps -Drin-). All of them eventually took part in the invasion to Greece at October 28, 1940 (see Greco-Italian War
Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...
) under the XXV Italian Army Corps which after the incorporation of the Albanian units renamed to “Chamuria Army Corps” under General C. Rossi, although with poor performance
.
The Greco-Italian War started with the Italian military forces
Military history of Italy during World War II
During World War II , the Kingdom of Italy had a varied and tumultuous military history. Defeated in Greece, France, East Africa and North Africa, the Italian invasion of British Somaliland was one of the only successful Italian campaigns of World War II accomplished without German support.In...
launching an invasion of Greece from Albanian territory. The invasion force included several hundred native Albanian and Chams in blackshirt battalions attached to the Italian army. Their performance however was distinctly lackluster, as most Albanians, poorly motivated, either deserted or defected. Indeed, the Italian commanders, including Mussolini, would later use the Albanians as scapegoats for the Italian failure.
These two Albanian battalions, namely, battalion Tomorri and Gramshi, were formed in the Italian army only three months before the invasion, and during the Greco-Italian War
Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...
, the majority of them crossed to the Greek Army. The leader of these two battalions, Spiro Moisiu, would become the general in chief of the Albanian Anti-Fascist Army, and eventually a head of the Albanian Army after the war.
Collaboration
In October 1940, the Greek authorities disarmed 1800 Cham conscripts and put them to work on local roads. In the following month they seized all Albanian males not called up and deported them to camps or to island exile. On the other hand the Axis forces adopted a pro-Albanian policy, promising that the region will become part of a Greater AlbaniaGreater Albania
Greater Albania or Ethnic Albania is an irredentist concept of lands outside the borders of the Republic of Albania that are considered part of a greater national homeland by most Albanians, based on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas...
when the war ends. Under these circumstances, as Italy managed to control most of Greece after the German invasion, Cham Albanians formed armed groups and provided active support to the occupation forces. These armed bands under the leadership of gendarmerie officers Nuri and Mazar Dino participated in the Axis operations (village burnings, murders, executions) and committed a number of crimes in both Greece and Albania. However, it seems that local beys (most of them were already part of the Albanian nationalistic and partly collaborationist group Balli Competar) and the mufti did not support such actions.
Although the Italians wanted to annex Chameria
Chameria
Chameria is a term used today mostly by Albanians for parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and northwestern Greece It was also used by Greeks till the mid of 20th century and is frequently found in Greek literature. Today it is obsolete in Greek, surviving mainly in Greek folk...
to Albania, the Germans vetoed the proposal. An Albanian High Commissioner, Xhemil Dino
Xhemil Dino
Xhemil Dino was an Albanian politician and diplomat.He was born in Preveza in the 1880s to a distant branch of the notable Dino family of the area. He studied in Galatasaray University and after the declaration of independence of Albania he was elected deputy of Dibër...
, was appointed, but his authority was limited, and for the duration of the Occupation, the area remained under direct control from the occupational military authorities.
Resistance
More than a thousand Cham Albanians became part of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), as well as National Anti-Fascist Liberation Army of AlbaniaMilitary history of Albania during World War II
The Albanian Resistance of World War II was a movement of largely Communist persuasion directed against the occupying Italian and then German forces in Albania, which led to the successful liberation of the country in 1944....
. In the ELAS, Cham Albanians formed the IV Ali Demi
Ali Demi
Ali Demi is a Hero of Albania of World War II, born in Filiates, Greece in 1918, and died during a battle with German forces in Vlora, Albania in 1943....
battalion , named after a Cham Albanian who was killed in Vlora fighting against the Germans. At the time of its creation in 1944, it comprised 460 Muslim Albanians, and 340 Greeks and some Orthodox Albanians, being the second largest battalion in Epirus region
Epirus (region)
Epirus is a geographical and historical region in southeastern Europe, shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay of Vlorë in the north to the Ambracian Gulf in the south...
.
At the same time, the National Anti-Fascist Liberation Army of Albania formed the Chameria
Chameria
Chameria is a term used today mostly by Albanians for parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and northwestern Greece It was also used by Greeks till the mid of 20th century and is frequently found in Greek literature. Today it is obsolete in Greek, surviving mainly in Greek folk...
battalion , in 15 June 1943, during the meeting of the Regional Committee of the National Anti-fascist Liberation Army in Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...
. The decision was adopted on June 30, 1943, when three resistance groups were united. These groups were Hasan Tahsini group, Father Stathi Melani group and Alush Taka group, from which the first was based in Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...
, the second in Filiates
Filiates
Filiates is a town and a municipality in Thesprotia, Greece. It is located in the northernmost part of the prefecture, bordering western Ioannina Prefecture and southern Albania.-Municipality:...
and the third in Paramithia. Each group numbered about 170-180 members, from which only 75 were not Cham Albanians, of whom 35 were from Delvinë
Delvinë
Delvinë is a small town in Vlorë County in southern Albania, 16 km northeast of Saranda. Delvinë is the seat of the Delvinë District. Delvinë has lost over a third of its citizens since 1990, having a population of 4,200 .The city is built on a mountain slope...
and 40 were members of the Greek minority in Albania
Greek minority in Albania
About a general view on history, geography, demographics and political issues concerning the region, see Northern Epirus.The Greeks of Albania are ethnic Greeks who live in or originate from areas within modern Albania...
. In total about five hundred Cham Albanians were conscripted, more than half of whom were from the Greek part of Chameria, while the rest came from Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...
and Markat
Markat
Markat is a municipality in the Sarandë District, Vlorë County, southern Albania. The municipality consists of the villages Dishat, Vërvë, Shalës, Markat, Ninat and Janjar....
, as well as from the Greek minority in Albania
Greek minority in Albania
About a general view on history, geography, demographics and political issues concerning the region, see Northern Epirus.The Greeks of Albania are ethnic Greeks who live in or originate from areas within modern Albania...
from the Delvinë District
Delvinë District
The District of Delvinë or District of Delvina is one of the thirty-six districts of Albania, part of Vlorë County. Its population of 11,985 includes a substantial Greek community. The district has an area of 348 km² . It is in the south of the country, and its capital is Delvinë...
.
This battalion was the first big partisan organization in the Gjirokastër County
Gjirokastër County
Gjirokastër County is one of the 12 counties of Albania. It consists of the districts Gjirokastër, Përmet, and Tepelenë and its capital is Gjirokastër. Its population includes a substantial Greek minority. To the southeast, Gjirokastër shares a border with Greece...
(which at that time included Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër District
The District of Gjirokastër is one of the thirty-six districts of Albania. It has a population of 56,720 containing a large Greek minority, and an area of 1,137 km². It is in the south of the country, and its capital is Gjirokastër...
, Sarandë
Sarandë District
The District of Sarandë is one of the thirty-six districts of Albania, found in southern Albania, in the County of Vlorë.The area of the district is 749 square kilometers. The population of the district was 48,474 . According to the census of January 1993, it was 53,700.The centre of the district...
and Delvinë districts
Delvinë District
The District of Delvinë or District of Delvina is one of the thirty-six districts of Albania, part of Vlorë County. Its population of 11,985 includes a substantial Greek community. The district has an area of 348 km² . It is in the south of the country, and its capital is Delvinë...
) and were led by Haki Rushit Shehu from Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...
and with group leaders, Taho Mehmet Sejko from Filiates
Filiates
Filiates is a town and a municipality in Thesprotia, Greece. It is located in the northernmost part of the prefecture, bordering western Ioannina Prefecture and southern Albania.-Municipality:...
, Lefter Miço Talo from Ampelia , Ali Demi from Filiates
Filiates
Filiates is a town and a municipality in Thesprotia, Greece. It is located in the northernmost part of the prefecture, bordering western Ioannina Prefecture and southern Albania.-Municipality:...
and for political commissar, Qazim Kondi from Polyneri .
On October 10, 1943, the battalion was renamed IV "Chameria" Group , which had more than 2,000 troops, about half of them were Cham Albanians, and the rest Albanians and Greeks from southern Albania. Cham Albanians claim that more than 1,500 Chams were part of the Resistance forces, of whom 300 were killed by Nazis or EDES forces. However, during the World War II occupation the majority of the elites of the Cham community had become corrupted by the occupying forces and the atmosphere against the local Greeks who had suffered under Germans, Italians and Chams, led to an explosive polarization which would have constrained any motivation for joint Greek-Cham resistance.
First expulsion by EDES
During the summer of 1944, the right-wing head of the National Republican Greek League (EDES), Napoleon ZervasNapoleon Zervas
Napoleon Zervas was a Greek general and resistance leader during World War II. He organized and led the National Republican Greek League , the second most significant , in terms of size and activity, resistance organization against the Axis Occupation of Greece.-Early life and army career:Zervas...
, asked the Cham Albanians to join EDES, but their response was negative. After that and in accordance to orders given specifically to EDES by the Allied forces to push them out of the area, fierce fighting occurred between the two sides. According to British reports, the Cham collaborationist bands managed to flee to Albania with all of their equipment, together with half million stolen cattle as well as 3,000 horses, leaving only the elderly members of the community behind. On 18 June 1944, EDES forces with Allied support launched an attack on Paramythia. After short-term conflict against a combined Cham-German garrison, the town was finally under Allied command. Soon after, violent reprisals were carried out against the town's Muslim community, which was considered responsible for the massacre of September 1943.
Moreover, two attacks
Offensive (military)
An offensive is a military operation that seeks through aggressive projection of armed force to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational or tactical goal...
took place in July and August with the participation of EDES Tenth Division and the local Greek peasants, eager to gain revenge for the burning of their own homes. According to Cham claims, which are not confirmed by British reports, the most infamous massacre of Albanian Muslims by Greek irregulars occurred on 27 June 1944 in the district of Paramithia, when this forces entered the town, and killed approximately 600 Muslim Chams, men women and children, many having been raped and tortured before death. This day, was announced in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
in 1994 as The Day of Greek Chauvinist Genocide Against the Albanians of Chameria.
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
officers described it as "a most disgraceful affair involving an orgy of revenge with the local guerrillas looting and wantonly destroying everything". British Foreign Office reported that "The bishop of Paramythia joined in the searching of houses for booty and came out of one house to find his already heavily laden mule had been meanwhile stripped by some andartes".
But Colonel Chris Woodhouse, head of the Allied Military Mission in Greece during the Axis occupation, who was present in the area at the time, in his "Note on the Chams" official military report of 16 October 1945, clearly accepting the full responsibility for the expulsion of the Chams although criticized the vendetta way in which that was carried out, including a brief description of the situation led to the events: "Chams are racially part Turk, part Albanian, part Greek. In 1941-3 they collaborated with Italians, making the organization of guerilla resistance in that area difficult. I never heard of any of them taking part in any resistance against enemy. Zervas encouraged by the Allied Mission under myself, chased them out of their homes in 1944 in order to facilitate operations against the enemy. They mostly took refuge in Albania, where they were not popular either. Their eviction from Greece was bloodily carried out, owing the usual vendetta spirit, which was fed by many brutalities committed by the Chams in league with the Italians. Zervas' work was completed by an inexcusable massacre of Chams in Philliates in March, 1945, carried out by remnants of Zervas' dissolved forces under Zotos. The Chams deserved what they got, but Zervas' methods were pretty bad - or rather, his subordinate officers got out of hand. The result has been in effect a shift of populations, removing an unwanted minority from Greek soil. Perhaps it would be best to leave things at that."(PRO/FO,371/48094)
Involvement in the Greek Civil War, repatriation by ELAS and final expulsion
Towards the end of the Greek occupation, the communist-controlled ELAS, having limited people's support in the Epirus region due to the right-wing EDES dominance in the area and in preparation of taking up the country's control after the German withdrawal from Greece, turned to the Chams for conscription. Seeing the omens several hundred Muslim Chams enlisted in its ranks. With the German withdrawal and the start of the Greek civil war, local ELAS forces with the participation of those Chams volunteers, aided with ELAS forces from the central Greece, attacked EDES in Epirus and succeeded to take the control in the ThesprotiaThesprotia
Thesprotia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital is the town of Igoumenitsa. It is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity.-History:...
region in late 1944 forcing EDES to leave in Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
.
As a result of the ELAS victory, in January - February 1945, about four to five thousand Albanians returned to their homes from Albania, mainly in the border areas of Filiates and Sagiada. But after the final defeat of ELAS during the battle of Athens and its capitulation (see Varkiza Agreement), EDES quickly regained control of the region, eager to take revenge for the Cham's participation in the attack against its forces.
Led by a former Zerva's officer, Col. Zotos, a loose paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
grouping of former EDES guerrillas and local men went on a rampage. In the worst massacre, at the town of Filiates, on 13 March, some sixty to seventy Chams were killed. Many of the Cham villages were burned and the remaining inhabitants fled across the border into Albania. The incident came under an investigation of the Greek army four years later during the second circle of the Greek civil war, in which time, the by-then communist Albania was actively helping the communist DSE army
Democratic Army of Greece
This article is based on a translation of an article from the Greek Wikipedia.The Democratic Army of Greece , often simply abbreviated to its initials DSE , was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War, 1946–1949...
in its second armed confrontation to win the country's control, concluding that no crimes took place. At this time, Col. Zotos himself was part of the Epiros High Command of the Army, something that apparently played role to the resulted decision. The active involvement of Albania in the internal affairs in Greece in that period (see Greek civil war
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
) and the anomalous political situation also played a role in the disguise of the case.
After the Albanian communist regime gave compulsory Albanian citizenship to the Chams, the Greek government confiscated their properties (both of those who collaborated with the Nazis and those who did not) and permitted Greeks to settle in the area. After the war, only 117 Muslim Cham Albanians were left in Greece.
The exact number of Cham Albanians that were expelled in Albania and Turkey, is unknown. Mark Mazower
Mark Mazower
Mark A. Mazower is a British historian. His expertise is Greece, the Balkans and, more generally, 20th century Europe. He is currently a professor of history at Columbia University in New York City.-Career:...
and Victor Roudometof, state that they were about 18,000 in 1944 and 4 to 5 thousands in 1945. while Miranda Vickers says that they were 25,000 that fled into Albania. Chameria Association claims that Cham Albanians that left were 35,000, from whom, 28,000 left to Albania and the rest to Turkey. Today, most Chams live in Turkey, and some 150,000 live in Albania. Those of the Orthodox faith are considered Greeks by the Greek government.
Reaction
After their expulsion to Albania, Chams organized the Anti-Fascist Committee of Cham ImmigrantsAnti-Fascist Committee of Cham Immigrants
The Anti-Fascist Committee of Cham Immigrants was an organization created by Cham Albanians, when they were expelled from Greece, with the help of the newly established communist government of Albania. It was established, during the first wave of refugees, and it aimed to make Greece allow, the...
, with the help of the newly established communist government of Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. It was established, during the first wave of refugees, and it aimed to make Greece allow, the returning of Chams in their homes. They organized two congresses, adopted a memorandum
Memorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
and sent delegates in Greece and in European allies. After three years activity, the organization did not manage, neither to re-allocate Chams in Chameria
Chameria
Chameria is a term used today mostly by Albanians for parts of the coastal region of Epirus in southern Albania and northwestern Greece It was also used by Greeks till the mid of 20th century and is frequently found in Greek literature. Today it is obsolete in Greek, surviving mainly in Greek folk...
, nor to internationalize the Cham issue. Greece did not acknowledge that EDES had expelled Chams, saying that they fled and that they could return, although this was impossible. The international community did not respond to Chams plea, but they acknowledged the humanitarion disaster. Since 1947, the Committee was charged with the normalization of living situations of Cham refugees in Albania. In 1951, Chams were forcibely given the Albanian citizenship and the Committee was disbanned. The Cham issue would regain momentum only in 1991, when the communist regime collapsed, and the National Political Association "Çamëria"
National Political Association "Çamëria"
The National Political Association "Çamëria" , a pressure group advocating the return of the Chams to Greece, receipt of compensation and greater freedom for the Orthodox Chams in Greece, was founded on 10 January 1991.This assosciations holds a number of activities every year, with the help of the...
was established.
See also
- Axis-Cham Albanian collaborationAxis-Cham Albanian collaborationDuring the Axis occupation of Greece between 1941 and 1944, large parts of the Albanian minority in the Thesprotia prefecture in Epirus, northwestern Greece, known as Chams collaborated with the occupation forces. Fascist Italian as well as Nazi German propaganda promised that the region would be...
- Expulsion of Germans after World War IIExpulsion of Germans after World War IIThe later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
- Muhajir (Albania)Muhajir (Albania)Muhajir , in Albanian-populated regions including Albania and Kosovo, refers to Albanians from Chameria and parts of Vilayet of Kosovo which were ceded to Serbia and Montenegro....
- Population transferPopulation transferPopulation transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
- World War II-era population transfers
- Population transfer in the Soviet UnionPopulation transfer in the Soviet UnionPopulation transfer in the Soviet Union may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population, often classified as "enemies of workers," deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite...
- Expulsion of Poles by GermanyExpulsion of Poles by GermanyThe Expulsion of Poles by Germany was a prolonged anti-Polish campaign of ethnic cleansing by violent and terror-inspiring means lasting nearly a century. It began with the concept of Pan-Germanism developed in early 19th century and continued in the racial policy of Nazi Germany asserting the...
- Ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
- Victor GollanczVictor GollanczSir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian.-Early life:Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking...