This article presents a list of Albanian villages Epirus and Chameria that were forcibly Hellenised 1844-1940.

Albanian villages of Epirus

Pano Bej Frashëri writes:

“The French newspaper, « Journal des débats politiques et littéraires – Paris », published, on Saturday, September 27, 1913, on the front page, the letter of Pano Bey Frashëri (Gjergj Adhamidhi bey Frashëri) regarding the false and unjust claims of the Greeks in the regions of Gjirokastra and Korça as well as the misunderstanding and misuse of the words “Epirot” and “Albanian” by French journalists.

The Albanian patriot, thanks to his origin and knowledge, and also relying on foreign authors such as Strabo, Pliny, Justinian, Plutarch, Deplessis, Choppin, Virchow, Hahnn, Müller, Neroutzos, Robeinstein, Apostolides and Zambako, argued at that time the connection between Epirus and Albania.

We have received the following communication regarding the issue, so often disputed recently and treated in a superficial and one-sided manner, of Albanian nationality in the disputed region between Greece and the new Albanian state:

Allow me to ask you to publish in your great newspaper the historical and ethnographic corrections on the false and unjust claims of the Greeks in the regions of Gjirokastra and Korça in Southern Albania.

In my dual capacity as an Albanian of Epirus origin and as a historian, I find myself obliged to put an end to the unscientific confusion of the use of the names “Epirot” and “Albanian” by well-known newspaper correspondents, in fact these names are synonymous, just like the names “French” and “Gaulois”, “German” and “Germains” or “Deutsche”.

Albanians have always been Epirotes and Epirotes Albanians, as we will demonstrate with historical arguments borrowed from Greek and French authors.

The historian of the Balkan peoples, Choppin, mentions the following passage from another French historian of the 16th century, Deplessis: “The Epirotes, also called Albanians and their dialect Epirot or Albanian, are descended from ancient peoples. etc., etc. » It is clear that in the eyes of French writers the Epirotes and Albanians are synonymous, that they are the same race and this evidence is later confirmed by Anglo-French travelers of the last century.

For these, Epirus is Southern Albania, its inhabitants are distinguished from each other only by religion, all have the same skull, according to the studies of scientists Virchow and Dr. Hahn.

The name Albanian has been used historically in recent times by provinces that have never been part of Greece; but they were governed by various princes and kings, of whom only one is mentioned in Albanian legends, namely Burrus the Great, whom the Germans pronounce as Pliny and Justinian quote, « Burrus dicebatur… ». While Plutarch, knowing that the Hellenes could not pronounce « B », changed the name to Pyrrhus.

The Albanians lived in Old Epirus (Southern Albania) and Upper Epirus (Northern Albania) with their own rules and customs. Their archaic dialect characterizes them as much as their skulls of the unique type (precise) so well studied by Virchow (very pronounced frontal hump…) and they constitute a very distinct ethnic element, which is easily recognized at first glance.

Deplessis’s assertion is confirmed by a Greek scholar archaeologist, Neroutzos Bey, a physician in Egypt, who studied the Albanian colonies in Greece and Italy from the 9th to the 18th centuries according to the treaties between the despots of the Two Epiruses and the sovereigns of Greece. All these contracts (treaties), found in the archives of Venice, clearly show that the princes attracted the Epirotes of the Two Epiruses to various regions of Greece devastated by pirates.

These immigrants transported, with their dogs and cattle, the customs and toponyms of their country of origin, the Epirote language, which they still use today, that is, their dialect is Albanian, as well as the costumes of their old country, the fustanella, a typical Albanian or Epirote dress that was previously unknown in Greece.

Thus, the Epirotes, who had lived in the Two-Epirotes and emigrated to Greece from the 9th to the 18th centuries, still speak Albanian and call themselves Arbër or Albanë, that is, Albanians.

Robeinstein counted 700,000 Epirote Albanians in Greece, who preserved their Epirus dialect until 1870.

Long before the 18th century In the 17th century, the Duke of Navarre wrote to the King of France: “I have visited 700 cities and villages of Morea and I have found that the inhabitants, all strong and warlike Albanians, can form an excellent army capable of expelling the Turks, who cannot stand them…”. It is always about the immigrants from the Two Epirus who speak Albanian and bear the same name.

And as we read in the work of Doctor Apostolides, in Greece: “They are those Albanian heroes who exterminated the Slavo-Bulgarians from Greece by regenerating the fallen Hellenism, preparing the war of 1821 for the independence of this Greece, which is the work of the race of the inhabitants of the Two-Epires, that is, of the Albanians. »

All these sailors, Miaulis, Kanari, Korintoriotis, Topaksis, Shaturis, Bonbulli, Suljotët Boçari, Dangllitë, etc., etc., are Albanians and still use the Albanian dialect in their homes. They still have the names of the tribes and clans of the Two-Epires.

The Albanians of Sicily, Naples or Venice, originating from Albania, remembered their ancient Epirote denomination; thus the Albanians of Shkodra, sheltered in Venice, had the Association of Epirote Albanians.

Finally, the city of Ioannina, at the time of its capture by the Turks, contained no Greeks, as evidenced by a historian of that period, who said: “The Turks, penetrating it, massacred the inhabitants and formed a circle of 3,000 severed heads of Albanian warriors. There were no Greeks. Greece itself lacked inhabitants and would have been completely depopulated if the Albanian colonies had not come to its aid.”

There has never been any Hellenic emigration to Epirus since the time of Strabo, who tells us: “All these regions of northern Greece, Epirus, Illyria, Macedonia, have a common language, traditions and customs different from those of the Greeks.” And, as the great Müller has testified, they were all Albanians or Illyrians. Are not the toponyms of Arta, Preveza, Suli, etc. simply Albanian? But are not the mythologies of Mount Tomor of Albanian origin?

Although we do not have a Greek family in Epirus, we have used Greek as a language of instruction and for trade. We, the Greek Orthodox Albanians, founded the great school of Ioannina, which served as a beacon (example), not only for Albania and the Ionian Islands, but also for Greece.

Family ties and religious identity brought us closer to the Greeks. The Patriarchate, thanks to these privileges and its clergy, drew us towards Hellenism and the persecutions of the Turkish government distanced us from our Muslim Albanian brothers.

So in the eyes of Europe, Hellenism created rights over us Greek-Albanian-Epirotic Orthodox, while our brothers of the same Muslim Albanian tribe were denounced as belonging to another barbaric race.

And yet how many Muslim Albanians still bear Christian surnames! They recognize themselves as cousins. Thus, in my large family, we still have Muslim cousins ​​who are converted, who are considered by French newspaper correspondents as part of another race, while my brothers and I, as Orthodox, are presented as pure Greeks.

It is enough to have a Greek school and to be Orthodox so that the French who travel to Epirus will take us for Greeks! It does not matter if my mother does not know a word of Greek and if my skull resembles the purest Albanian skull, while the Hellenic one is Semitic dolichocephalic, according to the studies of the Greek scholar Zambako Pasha.

But for the chauvinists of Athens and for some journalists, ethnology and “craniology” are not taken into account, it is enough for the Greek metropolitan to tell them that such and such a village is inhabited by Christian Albanians of his diocese for them to call us Hellenes.

According to this idea, we should consider all Orthodox Russians as Hellenes! It is not surprising to read in the official newspapers of Paris that in the city of Gjirokastra, my homeland, there is a majority of Muslim Albanians and the rest are Hellenes. But the Christians of this city belong to the same families and bear the same names of Muslim tribes.

Religion has never changed the cells of the members of a family. In this case, physical characteristics cannot be changed by spiritual ideas.

But I hope that King Constantine will moderate the ultra-philhellenism of the French press, and these same Frenchmen, who live in our souls from the pupils of French schools, will return one day and find that the race which has only given birth to heroes, as the Frenchman Adrien says, deserves more sympathy from the former defenders of the Mirditors, at the time when they were Latins.

I conclude that Epirus, since Strabo, has never been inhabited by anyone other than Albanians, and I invite everyone to come and find two real Greek families in the Albanian cities that I know, such as Permet, Gjirokastër, Leskovik or Korçë. I donate 50,000 francs to that member of the International Commission for the Relocation of Frontiers who can find me two or three families that are truly from Greece and not from Albania.

I am not talking about the new immigrants of Greece, nor about the new ultra-philohellenic feelings, where some of my compatriots and relatives find themselves under the pressure of the clergy and the threat of the sword of the conqueror, or from the anxiety of falling again under the rule of Ismail Bey, pursued by Isa Boletini with his pistols.”¹

Chameria

Ismail Skeja writes:

“Epirus and Chameria – part of Albanian territories
(Part of the book titled “Albanian Border”)

“Chameria is an inseparable part of Albanian land. Northern Epirus is a sick fantasy of the Greek military circles of the 1913s. It is a chauvinist policy, just like the law of war, established by it in 1940, when Italy attacked Greece. With the invasion, Italy no longer recognized the Albanian army, so how did an occupied country attack Greece?

The Greek Prime Minister of 1926 Pangallos admitted that there was an Albanian population in Greece, for which he had made an official statement. The same thing was declared by his nephew in 1924, Theodoros Pangallos. The Turkish officers and pashas kept and treated the Greek and Slavic population better than the Albanian one. They married beautiful girls, especially Slavic-Greeks, and as a result, their nephews took high positions and gave Albanian territories to their uncles.

Slavic-Greek terrorism has forced Albanians to emigrate to 83 countries around the world, and there are 30 million of them, over 18 million in the Illyrian Peninsula. On June 27, 1944, Napoleon Zerva’s gangs in Paramithi killed and slaughtered 600 men, women and children, and 200 others died.

On August 28, 1944, 49 men and 8 women were slaughtered and buried in Parga, on September 24, 1944, 259 people were slaughtered and killed in Filat, 157 people were executed in the village of Spathar, in Kloger in the winter of 1944-1945, hundreds of Chams were buried, in March 1945, 70 people were killed in Filat.

The urban centers of Chameria are: Paramithia, Filat, Parga, Margariti. Filat was the most important Epirote city in Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa has been known since 1235, near it, in Ledhis, Pyrrhus of Epirus (319-272 BC) was born. Margelliçi had 50 shops, 2 flour factories, 6 oil factories, 5 inns. Paramithia brought 2 thousand rifles to war, had a treaty with Sulin, Parga was famous for grain, oil, wine, citrus fruits, and bird hunting.

Preveza, the great lemon of Albania, traded with France and Italy. Lluri is in the Philippiadhe plain. Sulin, on the cliffs of the coast of Parga, live men that only old Dorian mothers can give birth to, writes Lord Byron. Greek immigrants to Gjirokastër have come as farmers in Albanian estates, as workers, their wedding and funeral songs are Albanian, only they are sung in Greek. Chameria covers an area of ​​9,360 km2.

Chameria means the centers: Sajadhë, Pleshavica, Murganës mountain, with l. 1,808 m, Lista, Aranovica, Vajanetic, Plosia, Kato, Angona, Skapa, Peta, with coast Preveza, Luca, Parga, the bay of Igumenica, Sajadha. Chameria sings: In the fight with the enemy, we throw a dance.
Marko Boçari has made the Greek-Albanian dictionary. The English Lord Byron dressed in the costume of the Sulioti.

In history, they have made a name for themselves: Hasan Tahsini, Abedin, Ali, Arif, Lejta Dino, Muhamet Kuçuku, Maksim Artioti, Dora d’Istria, while Abedin Pasho Dino participated in the League of Prizren in 1878, the Greek state in the years 1925-1926, took 20,000 Epirotes to Turkey, 5,000 took them deep into Greece, killed 2,300 people, destroyed 80 cult objects.

Albanians in history have also fought Albanians, Ali Pasha Tepelena subdued Suli and Chameria, Omar Pasha, Vrioni of Berat as well. The Acheron River separates Suli from the regions of Chameria. The Litharica Castle is in the middle of Lake Ioannina. The hills of Murgu, Zavruh, Turlia are part of the Suli area. In the years 1800-1850, Suli had 5,000 families, 29 tribes, and produced 7,000 warriors.

In 1803, 172 Suli women were thrown into the abyss so as not to surrender to Ali Pasha, the criminal of Albanians, bloody and treacherous. Only in the moments when the end was coming, when he saw death with his own eyes, did he want to become Albanian and connect with the eagles of Suli, who were thrown from the mountain of Zallongjin.

Suli has been the cradle of ancient Albanian bravery, which has shaken freedom. Suli has 4 large provinces, Teamurin, Burga, Kapanza, Dobliri, has 71 villages, 4 centuries it was an independent republic. The English Lord Halifax trampled 60 villages of Suli, threw sterling to the Suljots, but the oldest one said: “We ask that you love us, not buy us”. In Sul, when a boy was born, they said: “The house has a man” and rifles were thrown… The battalion of Suljot women and girls before they were thrown into the abyss, linked hands and sang: “O homeland, our blood, / your flag, O Albania.”

The origin of the Boçar tribe begins with Skanderbeg, the first of them is Gjoni, a fellow warrior of the hero Skanderbeg. Later comes Marko Boçar (1790-1823) who made a Greek-Albanian dictionary, a copy of which Pukëvili took to France. He fought in Sul, Paramithi, Berat, Delvinë, Gjirokastër, Margelić, Muzuric, Gumenicë, Konispol. The Turks called him a tiger, a savage in battles.

On 5.10.1821, the Greek Kolokotron made him commander-in-chief of the Greek army. He fought the first battle in Tripolitsa, where he captured 10,000 Turks, released the captives, and liberated Artë.
On 8.02.1922, the Greek Mavrokordaton made Marko commander of the Greek army, he left for Morea, and made an agreement to fight together against Turkey.

On 17.01.1822, Marko exterminated in K500 infantry, entered Thesprot, Cassiopi, Xhumerke and the mountain of Poliana, Akeleos, Agrafa, Mkrinaros and Artë. Marko had the idea: “Homeland, freedom and religion”. The Suliots defended the trust, the nephew of Ali, defended the plateaus of Qafë, Avarik, Kungji, Dembe, Strecat, Serezana, 300 Suliot women also fought, a separate unit. The mountains of the Albanian Sul were giant warships, as well as the mountain of Vuc, Palahoti, Qafa e Stavroit.

On 30.06.1822, the pasha of Berat, Omer Vrioni, beat Sul with 32 artillery guns. The women of Sul killed the Turkish Vizier Rushid Pasha, who was supported by the English admiral Majlandi. Fierce fighting took place on 22.07.1922, in Rapchiste, Peristan, Serezani, Dodona, Kopanxe, Variadhe, Devizhan, Parga, Gliqine and especially in Dodona Pelasgian of Thesprotia, in Lihovo, Kanxe and in the 5 wells … in Pori of Nafpaktos, Lepeneo, Agrima, Gavalan, on the Aspropotam River.

On 5.09.1822, the Greek command appointed Marko Bochari, appointed by Alexander Ypsiland, as commander-in-chief of Eastern Rumelia. Bochari, on 18.08.1923, attacked the Turkish camp in Kefallovrisa, but killed an Arab at the age of 33, he was killed for his homeland. He said: “I lost my desire for freedom, I went to battle to die …”. Greek envy sacrificed him, it did not help him. The Greek press release said: “The Immortal General has died!” Karaiskaq said: “I would like to die such a death”.

The French sculptor David D’Anxhe erected a monument to him, the English consul, Gray, took 2 of his bones. The Turks took the bones as a talisman, while a Greek writer said: “Marko was an internationalist, a sincere hero”. A bust was erected in Athens, while in Paris a street is named “Marko Boçari”. The English Lord Byron came to fight with the brave men of Sulis in defense of Messalonj, he came with 40 Sulios and said: “Albania is a strict mother, and of wild men, who have cannon hearts and protective chests”.

Boçari left his son Demetrius and his wife Crisulla, his sister Mara, and Hector parted with Andromache before facing Achilles. In this battle, Suli was defeated, but not the heart, soul, glory and bravery of the Suli. Kosovo and Suli are the centers of attack, heroism and Albanian glory, Drenica, Suli, and Kuçi are the combat centers of Albania, which have written history with blood and not with ink.

Chameria is called the southern part of Epirus, which was part of Epirus in the administration of the territories conquered by the Romans in Illyria. In Roman literature, it was called Northern Epirus. Researchers say that Chameria comes from the river that winds through this region, a river mentioned in Roman literature.

According to the tradition of Albanian blood, it was distinguished by its tribal tradition. In 1449, Chameria, after many wars, fell under Turkish rule, in the administrative unit centered in Ioannina.

The wars of Kosovo and the north defended the lands, freedom, flag, language, identity. In Kosovo, blood is filled by the bucket. In ancient times it was called Thesprot, there were 14 Epirote tribes, such as the Kaons and the Mollos. The Greeks called them barbarians, non-Greeks, as a place of division the Gulf of Ambracia.

The linguistic data belonged to the Illyrian ethnos, the elite of Epirote society. The Gulf of Ambracia and the Pindus highlands separated the Greek world from the Illyrian one. The Acropolis includes the Pindus mountains. The Illyrian tribes in Epirus were: Aetolians, Arkans, Amphilacians, Thesprotians. The Mollos, Kaons, currently from Albanians, Illyrian origin.

Chameria was included in the borders of the Despotate of Arta.

Vagenitia was included in the borders of Albania, its province. There were Albanian settlements in Arkania. Arbëria was called Epirus. Chameria was also called Lower Albania. Parga, Ioannina, Paramithia are Albanian places. The coastal strip opposite Corfu was the Albanian Riviera. After the Kaons, the Molossians became famous. Dodona belonged to the Kaons, then to the Molossians. Pyrrhus crossed into Italy, scoring a victory against Carthage. There were 19 Albanian tribes in Epirus.

In Epirus, the political and administrative center became Nicopolis, when Christianity spread. Paramithia was named Ajdonat. The Roman Emperor Diocletian (294-305) created old Epirus in Nicopolis and new Epirus in Durrës. Old Epirus had 11 cities. In 587, the Slavs descended on old Epirus. The Byzantine family of the Angels was established in the lands of Epirus.

In Epirus, there were the Shpata, Zenebishti, Losha, Klada, Mazaraku, Malakosi, Gjin Bua families. Shpata became the ruler, Pjetër Lesha. He occupied the territories of old Epirus centered in Arta. At the walls of Arta, the Albanians defeated the army of the Joannites. Gjin Bua Shpata extended his rule from Gjirokastra to Vagenetia, these were the Albanian rulers in Epirus. The Despotate of Arta played a role.

In 1386, Gjon Zenelishti took Lajadh, a conflict arose with Venice. Arta was under the rule of the Shpatajs. Gjon Zenebishti held Gjirokastra, Delvina, Vagenetia. Venice held Corfu. In 1431, the Ottomans created the Albanian sanjak centered in Gjirokastra, which included Kruja. Chameria greatly increased its wheat production, as did the island of Corfu.
After the death of Skanderbeg, the Turks occupied the Albanian coast ptar, attacked Parga, Butrint, the invasion caused Chameria to emigrate to the Ionian islands.

The Sanjak of Vlora included up to Preveza, Delvina up to Margelliç and Parga, Ioannina captured Arta and Preveza. From 1533, Chameria adopted the Islamic religion. In 1486, Turkey undertook punitive expeditions against Chameria that did not accept Islam. They fought Margelliç, Igoumenitsa, Sopot, a people that would not be subdued by fire or iron. The invader burned houses, killed 500 people, and seized livestock.

The Cham anti-Ottoman uprisings aimed at taking Preveza and Paramithi, and entered Ioannina. Bishop Dionis was captured alive – he was captured. Margëlliçi fought in 1631, and in 1707, the villages of Mazarek, Kuç, Glloboçar, Betisht, Kurtes. 1,500 Paramithi rebels fought the Turkish army. The leader of Margëlliçi, Sulejman Bey, did not obey Turkey. When Turkey was defeated by Russia in 1774, the Sultan lost his authority over Albania and especially over Chameria, where the power of local leaders operated, Greek nationalism spread.

Chameria is part of Albanian territory, history, language and Albanian identity. Himara itself was the land of the Kaons and the Epiriot tribe with the 7 pearls: Palasë, Dhërmi, Vuno, Pilur, Kudhës, Qeparo. Himara is the flower of the Vilayet. It was a place of captains and freedom of songs. She participated in the Kosovo War in 1389.

Byzantine authors affirm the Arbëresh character of Himara and the Albanian character of Himara, they are Albanians by blood and history, it is an Albanian Ionian project. As all the coastal people and Himariots have gone to the west of Italy, their place has been taken by newcomers from Gegëria like the Gjokas, Gjiks, Koleks, Gjinleks etc., all of Labëria is from newcomers from Gegëria.

In the 2nd century BC there is talk of a Pellasgian Dodona. Dodona was Illyrian. In the 7th century BC, the famous oracle was Epirote. The famous Illyrian donors of the oracle were the Illyrian king of Taulants Glaucus. Gifts also came from the land of the Ardians, from Pyrrhus of Epirus and Alexander, brother of Olympias. In the last century BC Dodona was an interethnic Illyrian-Epiriot oracle. Zlusi ​​was Pelasgian-Epirot. In Epirus, the Albanian language was spoken, in the oracle of Dodona it was Illyrian.

The tragedy and the Cham resistance have been great.

In implementation of the second Assembly of Margëllić, a force of 30,000 Cham warriors was raised, led by Hysen Bey Çapari. Another unit was raised from the Lebëri, in case of danger 70,000 Ghegs would come. A letter was sent to Sultan Hamit to avoid Greek greed against Albania. We preserve the Albanian language, life and honor, we will not lose Ioannina, Narta and Preveza.

On 15.07.1879, in a memorandum, the Turkish government was addressed not to implement the Berlin Congress. In 1944-1945, Greece deported 35,000 Chams. The people of the south sing: Preveza and Philippiadh / in Ioannina there are mosques / Thessaloniki is the first step / it is all of Albania.” Greece changes the names of the Cham population and turns them into Greek, from Mehmet to Mihal, changes the names of the villages to Greek, but does not change the Illyrian-Albanian land.”²

Old Epirus and New Epirus

Zef Mazi writes:

“The geographical and political concept of Epirus has been – Old Epirus and New Epirus. The division and definition of Epirus into Northern Epirus and consequently also Southern Epirus has no historical truth.

For nearly 100 years, Greek politics has begun and continues today to propagate the meaning or image of Northern Epirus (Vorio Epirus) and the claims to it. The extremely intensive and even inaccurate propaganda, everywhere massively involves the media and political spheres and has caused the meaning “Northern Epirus” to be adopted and used today by various European and other offices. But it is used in its false sense; it is treated as a phenomenon that exists, that constitutes a concern and that requires some kind of treatment and solution without delving into historical truth.

Perhaps not entirely in this sense, but simply as a term of reference for a geographical territory inhabited by a certain Greek population, again without going into sufficient depth, it has also been used by various Western authors, including Robert D. Kaplan in his book “Greece, the Mistress of the West, the Wife of the East”. “Media reports, instead of explaining modern Greece, have done nothing but shed light on the West’s ignorance of the wider and more important dimensions of Greek history”, writes Kaplan. Therefore, it is appropriate to include here some basic clarifications on this issue.

Until 1912-1913, with the division of the Balkans according to the lines established by the Berlin Congress in 1878, the terms or meanings Northern Epirus (Vorio Epir, Northern Epirus) and Vorioepirotes (Vorioepirotes), as the Greeks today call the population living there, were absolutely not mentioned in any document. This reflects a truth, because the term Northern Epirus does not represent any geographical meaning of Epirus as a territory.

To correctly understand the problem of the southern borders of Albania, one must carefully study the administrative division of the Byzantine Empire before the Ottoman conquest, as well as the names that these territories received in the organization of the Ottoman state in the 15th century and beyond. In this context, Epirus also occupies a special place, about which, in summary, without claiming new discoveries, some main things can be said with proven historical accuracy.

Epirus is a province and one of the states of Southern Illyria. It extended from the Vetëtima Mountains (ancient Acrokeraunes) and the middle course of the Vjosa River, to the Gulf of Ambracia in the South, and from the Pindus Mountains in the East to the shores of the Ionian Sea in the West. As a specific geographical name, it began to be known from the end of the 6th century BC, until in the 4th century BC it also took on a definite political meaning.

The tribes that inhabited this region were the Thesprotians, the Chaonians and the Molossians. Those tribes emerged in history as separate political entities in the Peloponnesian War (432-404 BC) and were allies of Sparta in 429 BC. The ruler of the Molossians, Tarypa, also created the state that was called the League of the Molossians.

After the mid-4th century BC, they came under Macedonian influence, but the local rulers continued the process of unification further until they came to the Epirote League, a federal state of the time of Alexander the Great (342-31 BC). The third stage is the rule of Pyrrhus (307-272 BC), who also took over parts of Macedonia, Thessaly and some provinces of Ambracia, Amphilochia and Acarnania.

The monarchical Epirote state lost its importance in the 30s of the 3rd century BC and turned into a republican state known as the Epirote League. In 167 BC it fell under Roman rule and after 148 BC it became part of the Macedonian province. With the reform of Diocletian (end of the 3rd century AD), the name Epirus extended to the banks of the Vjosa and was called New Epirus (Epirus Nova) to distinguish it from the traditional part that was called Old Epirus (Epirus Veins).

In the territory of Old Epirus, at the beginning of the 13th century, the so-called Despotate of Epirus was created and from the 15th century there was no longer a distinction between New and Old Epirus. So, New Epirus was created as a province of the prefecture of Illyricum-Illyria, by the reforms of Diocletian.

It included the regions of present-day Albania, central and southern, from the Mat River to the Vjosa River and was governed by a consular officer with its center in Dyrrachium. Old Epirus was also included in the prefecture of Illyricum and extended from the Vjosa River to the Gulf of Ambracia, was governed by a hegemon and had its center in Nicopolis (present-day Preveza).

Many ancient authors such as Herodotus, Thucydides, Strabo, who are considered the fathers of Greek history, have reached conclusions about the definition of Epirus as a territory and as a people, proving that this area (Epirus) did not include part of Greece. According to Strabo, Greece was bordered by Acarnia (today the Pindus Mountains) and the Gulf of Ambracia in the North, as well as the territory called Epirus inhabited by barbarians, as the ancient Greeks called them.

All those who did not speak Greek. So, they belonged to another race, the “barbarians”. There are quite a few serious European authors and scientists who have proven that Epirus was never Greek. We can also mention some official maps published in England, Germany and Austria-Hungary in the past centuries where the term Southern Albania is used and not the designation Epirus.

Therefore, the geographical and political concept of Epirus was the one we described, Old Epirus and New Epirus. The division and designation of Epirus into Northern Epirus and consequently also in Southern Epirus has no historical truth. The term “Northern Epirus” is an imagination, a political meaning, a falsification of the historical truth about Epirus, about its heritage and geography.

It is the creation of those circles which, as a state political platform in the National Assembly of Greece in 1844, through the mouth of Prime Minister Jan Koteli, proclaimed Megali-Idene (Great Idea) as the foundation of the existence of Greece. The aim was the creation of a great Greek state within the borders of the Byzantine Empire, which would also include other Balkan populations, such as Albanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, etc.

Among other things, the object of this platform was the inclusion in the Greek state of a part of the Albanian lands, more precisely the provinces of Korça and Gjirokastra (possibly even more), which the Great European Powers recognized as part of the Albanian state after they donated to Greece the southernmost Albanian regions in Epirus, such as Chameria and other provinces, such as Ioannina and Kostur.

To achieve this aim, the so-called “Vorio Epirus” was created, used and continues to be used incorrectly. This was the basis of Greek policy during the 19th and 20th centuries in international relations. Unfortunately, it still seems to dominate the direction of Greek policy towards Albania today, no matter what veil and labeling it tries to cover itself with.

(Part of the preface to the book “Greece, the lover of the West, the wife of the East”)”³

Sources

1. https://www.balkanweb.com/epiri-eshte-shqiperi-dhe-shqiperia-epir-zbulohet-letra-e-pano-bej-frasherit-drejtuar-gazetes-franceze-1913/#gsc.tab=0 ↩︎
2. Gazeta “Dibra”, 2021. (Pjesë nga libri me titull “Kufiri shqiptar”), Ismail Skeja. ↩︎
3. https://www.gazetatema.net/2018/02/06/epiri-i-veriut-nje-falsitet-i-shtrire-ne-20-shekuj-dhe-qe-helmon-marredheniet-shqiptaro-greke ↩︎