MARKO BOCARI

MARKO BOCARI: the hero of patriotic and cultural concerns
(MARKO BOÇARI 1790-1823)
editor of the first bilingual dictionary Albanian-Greek

rise brave Marko
rise, the Greece is calling thee
for Marko the Albanian to come

the most famous of the “Suliots” Marko Bocari was born in the village “Sul” of “Janina” in 1790, member of a famous family of brave men like Kico Bocari, Kosta Dhimitri, Jorgji and also the great commander of the Revolution of 1821, Noti Bocari. Marko bocari is remembered for his heroism, his beauty but also for a literal work, the famous bilingual dictionary Albanian-Greek. Marko's father, Kico Gj. Bocari was married 3 times and had 18 children. Five of them died in their childhood. From his first marriage with Krisulla Papazoti he had Jani, Lena, Maria, Anastas and Marko. Kico Gj. Bocari was murdered in “Arte” in 1813 from Gjoko Baloka. During the time of the rebellion in 1821 Marko met with Gjoke Baloka and forgave for the common interest of the revolution him not seeking vengeance for his father's murder. According to Historical records the first inhabitants of “Sul” (Marko's birthplace) were soldiers of Scanderbeg. After Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu's death about 200 albanian (arvanitas) warriors and their families, like the clan of Bocari, Xhevalasit etc formed the region of “sul” and fought against ottoman turks for their language and religion. the region of sul grew up after the first settlement and was populated by orthodox albanians (cam) that moved from their villages in “Cameria” to “Sul” of Janina in the 1500s to escape from ottoman captivity and who founded new villages with albanian names. the fact that the Suliots oare “cam” is comfirmed by the Englishman V.M. Lik who states “the origins of suljot are from Cameria, one of four branches of Albanian population”. while the scholar Cipollini writes “the suliots didn't know Greek at all. the language they used was Albanian, the dialect of Cameria”. Part of the suljot population, after Ali Pashe Tepelena captured the region, were deported to Corfuz and the other ionian islands.After Ali Pashe Tepelena was executed most of the “Suli” population fleed to the sacred mountain of Tomorr to escape from turkish executions and genocide. there they founded the villages of Shën Mëri, Shën Mitri, Dardhzezë, Sulki, Dushkë, Kushov, Janç, Tunjë etc, in the region of Sulova, near modern town of Gramsh. the suliot Marko Bocari wasn't only the most important hero of the greek revolution, celebrated for his courage and military skills, he was also a man interested in education and reading. Marko, along with Odise Andruco and Gjeorgjio Karaiskaqi were educated in the court of Ali Pashe Tepelena where they studied the political and military sciences. Marko helped Ali pashe Tepelena fight against the turks ottomans during the siege of “Janina” and after the fall of the “pasha” continued to fight against turks in the “Rumelia” (balcanic part of the turkish empire) with the center of his rebellion at “Mesollogjia”. Marko's dream was to educate the “suliots” to cast them out of their warrior's life without a future and to make them live in a free and just society.In the mean while Marko was concerned that education could make people lose some known characteristics that made the “suliot arvanitas” a particular popular figure that even not educated, poor and in bad life conditions, was still adorable. Marko wrote once to his son, Dhimiter, who lived at the time in Ancona, Italy: “I want you to study, but I want you also to have in your character the suliot heritage and to remain suliot forever, like your father did”. at the epoch of the great changes in the Balcan peninsula it was clear to Albanians that their virtute, their desire for freedom and the might of their swords weren't sufficient to have a better life, a better society. People's education was needed, this need was the main concern of the “arvanitas” who survived the 1821 Revolution. they in fact used to sell all their properties so their children could study. And by “studying” in that epoch was intended the studying of the modern greel language that was used at the time in many greek cities. But in fact the “arvanitas” rejected the life of foreign societies, their lies, their submission, their unfairness, their gossip etc. The arvanitar charachter made them desire always to be the first, to show the world their pride, courage and refusal to submission. And the arvanitas longed the education, but not the alienation of their culture and the lose of their individual and social traditional virtutes. This was Marko Bocari's concern and this concern he used to stress when he adviced his son. While Marko was imprisoned in the island of “Korfuz” in 1909 he learned Greek and wrote the famous “bilingual dictionary of people's Greek and simple Arvanitas (Albanian) language”. Marko wrote it himself with the help of his father, Kico Bocari, his uncle Noti Bocari and his father in law Kristaq Kallogjeri from Preveza. This dictionary was the idea of the French consul Pukëvili, like the French diplomatic claimed, and it was supposed to help Albanian suliots learnGreek and communicate with greeks. No matter what the french diplomatic claimed or other versions of this matter, Marko Bocari is a hero who was concerned about education and culture, who wrtote an important litteral work and he can be celebrated as the first writer of the simple dictionary greek-Albanian. The Dictionary of Marko Bocari was a consequence of the situation in Greece, where the Arvanitas had abandoned the weapons and they had the need to fit in the civic society, not an easy goal for them. The dictionary is particulary important because it has many albanian expressions in the “Cameria” dialect and this dictionary was also used as a mean to bring Albanians and greeks nearer. one of the other reasons of the creation of this dictionary is the fact that at the time in vaste areas of the Balcans the official trade language was Greek. so the arvanitas were forced to learn greek if they wanted to trade in the Balcans. The Albanian language in fact wasn;t at the time known to many non-albanians, because the Albanian population had lived for centuries in remote and inaccessible mountains to escape from invaders' persecution, and they used to lead an extremely isolated life away from any interrelation with other nations. so the Albanian language conserved it's purity and it's antient form, and was spoken exclusively by Albanians, a “National Language” indeed, but it didn't evolve and didn't adopt new words that were required by the technological development and changes in the world's society, and besides that it was not known by the many foreign people who visited the Baltans at the time of the Ottoman captivity. And the hero Marko Bocari with great courage and hard work wrote the first greek-Albanian dictionary when he was 19 with the original title “Fjalori dygjuhesh romaiko_Arberishtja e thjeshte” that was compoused of 111 pages, 1496 Albanian words, and 1701 Greek ones. The original book can be found at the National Museum of Paris with the code Grec 251 number of the page 244, and was donated to the museum by the consul Pukëvili in 1819. the general French consul in Janine made himself a smaller vocabulary Albanian-French (about 440 words) while he was studying the dictionary of Marko Bocari, and the original can be found at the same museum, the National Museum of Paris. Before the grat battle at Mesollogji marko thought of sending his family in the town of Ancona in Italy. all the suliots were divided from their wives with tears ain their eyes and without saying a word. in those touching moments Marko said to his wife: “in freedom I want to be with you, but in battle leave me alone”. this was the last time they were together. Marko was commander of the western greek army. when the greek government sent him the general commander's diploma, many jelousies arose among other commanders. But mMarko answered to these jelous people with nobilty and tolerance, saying: “if somebody is skilled, he will recive his diploma tomorrow in the battle”. Marko was a lovely and taciturn person.

this “arberishte” language
is a language of courage
it was spoken by the Admiral Miaul
Marko and the whole Sul

Marko Bocari fell in the battle of 9 August 1823 fighting against the armies of Mustafa Bushati. This fact became notorious in all Europe for he had sent a letter while he was on his way to Mesollogjia to the famous British writer, Lord Byron. The grat poet partecipied at Marko's funeral and held a speech dressed with the Albanian national clothes. Some time after the funeral the Turkish and the Egyptians endavoured to desacrate Marko's tomb, but the muslim Albanians fought them defended his sepulchre. they took then his body and buried him with honor in a simple funeral.

When “Laberia” heard
that Marko the eagle was lost
fell all in mourning
and the song was interrupted

In 1832, Mamurasi and Pakaopsta, ordered by the Greek government seized and burned down the house of Noti Gj Bocari and they managed also to destroy all the historical documentation of the Bocari clan lineage. Marko Bocari died but his name is still a legend. The fact that Marko Bocari was Albanian is once more comfirmed by his own lineal descendant who bears his own name, the Professor Marko Bocari of the university of Queensland in Australia. He reacted fiercely in 1994 to the declaration of a greek congressman who denied the Albanian contribution in the Revolution of 1821 and Marko Bocari's Albanian origins. “my comments are related to a letter written by a greek minister who declared that there are no Albanians in Greece. It seems like the minister has no idea about what's happenin in his own homeland, or he has deliberately decided to ignore the facts. It's a fact that in Greece live today more than 1 million orthodox Albanians. My parents have never spoken greek with me. they have exclusively spoken Albanian. because they were proud of their Albanian origins and heritage.”

Notice: with the word Arvanitas we mean the Albanians before the creation of the modern Balcanic countries. The Byzantine chroniclers call modern Albanians “Arvanitas”, the Latin chroniclers call them “Albani” and the Turkish and Arabic chroniclers call them “Arnaut”. So Arvanit Alban and Arnaut are different names for the same nation, Albania. in the modern greek dictionary the word “Arvanit” is said to be of albanian origins.
The library of “the Arvanitas Organization of Greece” and the book of the greek schlar Titos Johalas “the bilingual dictionary of Marko Bocari” were consulted for the writing of this article