by Mimoza Elezi

“BROTHERS! Even though we call you and address you as brothers, and although we are separated by land and religion, we never cease to be brothers, because we are all Arvanites. We have all been and remain descendants of the ancient Pelasgians, who were the first to come from Asia to Europe and settle in Arvanitia.

Because we are descendants of Alexander the Great, that first great man of the world who conquered Asia. Because we are the children of Pyrrhus, that great king and strategist of Arvanitia, who fought against the Romans and would have defeated them like Alexander the Great, had he not been gravely wounded in those battles he undertook; just as Alexander would not have faced such difficulty had his enemies not been barbarians like the Persians, Medes, and Indians, rather than the well-armed and well-prepared Romans.

Because we are the children of the great Skanderbeg, who defeated three sultans and preserved the freedom of Arvanitia until the moment he gave his life, after the severe wounds he received in battle against the enemies of his homeland, Arvanitia.

Because, in the end, we share the same homeland, the same blood, the same customs, and the same language.”

Source

“Προκήρυξη του Αρβανίτικου Συνδέσμου της Αθήνας…”. (Proclamation of the Arvanite League of Athens). Dated around 1899