OPPRESSION POLICIES IMPOSED ON THE ALBANIAN MINORITY BY GREECE

A. FOLLOWING THE GREEK’S CLAIMS THAT THE ALBANIANS COLLABORATED WITH THE OCCUPYING ITALIANS IN WORLD WAR II AND CIVIL WAR, THE ALBANIANS WERE BANISHED IN MASSES BOTH ALONG THE BORDER OF ALBANIA AND IN THE OTHER REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY, MASSACRED OR DRIVEN A WAY TO VARIOUS REGIONS OF GREECE.

THE GREEKS MASSACRED 3.242 CIVILIAN, PEOPLE IN WHOLE CAMERIA FROM JUNE 1944 TO MARCH 1945; 2900 OF THEM WERE OLD PEOPLE OR YOUNG MEN, 214 WOMEN AND 96 CHILDREN. IN ADDITION, 745 WOMEN WERE RAPED, 76 WOMEN ABDUCTED, 32 BABIES YOUNGER THAN 3 YEARS WERE MASSACRED, 68 VILLAGES WERE DESTROYED, 5.800 HOUSES AND SANCTUARIES, INCLUDING MOSQUES WERE BURNED DOWN AND DESTROYED AND THE HOUSES WERE PILLAGED.

B. EDES (DEMOCRATIC GREEK UNION) FORMING THE ANTI-COMMUNIST FRONT IN THE GREEK CIVIL WAR AND MOVING FIRST ON THE REPUBLICAN, THEN ON THE MONARCHIST LINE AND ITS HEAD GENERAL NAPOLEON ZERVAS, ON THE ONE HAND FOUGHT AGAINST THE COMMUNIST FORCES AND ON THE OTHER HAND CONDUCTED CLEANSING ACTS AGAINST NON-GREEK ELEMENTS, MACEDONIANS AND ALBANIANS. A PART OF THESE ATTACKS WAR DIRECTED TOWARDS THE EPIRUS REGION AND THE ALBANIANS LIVING IN CAMERIA.

GENERAL ZERVAS WARNED OUT A WIDE-SCOPE MASSACRE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING IN CAMERIA IN JUNE 1944. THE IS SUE THAT OTHER STUDIES ALSO POINT OUT IS THAT CONDUCTING ETHNIC CLEANSING HAS BECOME A STATE TRADITION IN GREECE.

C. NOWADAYS, THE CAMERIAN ALBANIANS CONTINUE TO LOOK FOR THEIR RIGHTS AS VICTIMS OF THE GENOCIDE APPLIED TO THEM BY THE GREEK. WHILE THERE WAS 99% ALBANIAN POPULATION IN THE CITIES OF THE REGION AND 100 % IN THE VILLAGES UNTIL THE CAMERIAN GENOCIDE DAYS 24 JUNE 1944, THIS POPULATION IS NOW SPREAD. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF THE ORTHODOX ALBANIANS IS DENIED AND ENDEAVORED TO BE SHOWN AS IF IT DOES NOT EXIST.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE 1945 EVENTS, THE GREEK ADMINISTRATORS SETTLED GREEK, ULAH AND GYPSY POPULATION HERE TO UPSET THE DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF THE REGION AND THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE ANY RIGHTS OF THE ALBANIANS OF ORTHODOX SECTS WHO COULD REMAIN THERE. AS A RESULT OF THIS POLICY OF ATHENS WHICH DENIES THE ALBANIAN ETHNIC IDENTITY EXCEPT FOR THE ORTHODOX IDENTITY, THE CHAMERIAN ALBANIANS ENDED UP NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK THEIR OWN LANGUAGE ON THEIR OWN TERRITORIES AND WERE RESTRICTED THE GOODS AND PROPERTIES OF THE CHAMERIAN ALBANIANS WHO HAD BEEN EXPELLED, FO THE NEW RESIDENTS, HAVING NOT BASED ON ANY LEGAL GROUNDS.

NOWADAYS, THE GREEK GOVERNMENT DOES NOT GIVE PERMISSION TO THE CHAMERIAN ALBANIANS TO ENTER THE COUNTRY AND CONDUCTS A POLICY OF ISOLATION AND DISCRIMINATION TOWARDS THEM. THE GREEK ADMINISTRATION HAS CHANGED ALL THE NAMES OF THE PLACES IN THE REGION INTO GREEK BY APPLYING A CULTURAL ASSIMILATION POLICY.