by Turhan Şen, Mardin Artuklu University
The concepts of atrocity, massacre and genocide have been politicized throughout history in terms of the way they are used and their purposes. Some genocides or massacres have been exaggerated, while others have been ignored. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries numerous conflicts and consequent mass atrocities occurred, particularly as a result of the new political formations that were established in the areas from which the Ottoman Empire withdrew. Within this context, many of the events and murders in the Balkans have been ignored, or forgotten for many years. Apart from a small number of researchers, there are not many academics who have discussed or documented these issues.
One of these unseen and forgotten massacres took place during the years of the Second World War in the region of Chamerya (Çam-Çamë-Tsamuria-Epirus-Epirus), which is located in the northwest of today’s Greece. In the past this region had a very dense Muslim and Albanian population, and in the course of history this has always caused sovereignty problems between Greece and Albania (Barış, 2009).
According to the census conducted throughout the Ottoman Empire in 1908, there were 73,000 inhabitants in the region of Chamerya. Of this population, 93% were ethnically Albanian, while the rest were Greek, Vlach and Roma. In terms of religious origin, 50% of the Albanians from Chamerya were Muslims and 50% were Orthodox Christians. However, after the First World War, the Albanian population in the region dropped to 50%. One of the biggest reasons for this was the confiscation of the land of the Albanians of Chamerya as a result of the land reform implemented by the Greek Government in Chamerya after the region was ceded to Greece as a result of the decision taken at the London Ambassadors Conference in 1913. However, this reform was not applied to the Greeks (Kaynar, 2017: 83).
Before the 1944-45 Chamerya massacre, especially after the region fell to the Greeks, many events took place; one of these occurred during the Balkan Wars and the years that followed. With the transfer of the administration of the region to Greece, the Muslim and Orthodox Christian people, who had been living here together for centuries, began to experience great pressure as the Greek government brought people from all over the country and settled them in this region. As a result of these developments, the inhabitants of the region were displaced and occasionally subjected to cruel practices. In one of these incidents, the Greek Army took harsh measures in the Plassa (Palasë, Paljasa) region of Albania, especially against the Christians there, and as a result many villages in the region were burned and destroyed. Such a political climate prevailed in the Çamerya region until the Second World War (Kaynar, 2017: 81).
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939. Italy then attacked Greece in October 1940. While these developments were taking place, Greek domination in Epirus continued. The region came under German control for a short time in November 1944, and was taken back from the Germans as a result of the cooperation of the Greek resistance movement and Albanian Communist resistance fighters and reverted to the rule of Greece. (Kaynar, 2017: 83)
With the expulsion of the Germans from the region, some 25,000 Albanians living in the Chamerya region were deported to Albania by the Greek government on the grounds that they had collaborated with the Germans. In return, the Albanian regime gave the Greek communist army a base behind the front lines during the Greek civil war. Greece, on the other hand, stated that Northern Epirus was a major security problem for them. In addition, it also tried to prevent Albania from becoming a member of international organizations. It was in this political climate that the Greek government entered Albanian territory after the 1944-1945 Chamerya operation by using the right of hot pursuit in the Greek civil war that took place from 1943 to1949. This situation caused the problems between the two countries to continue for many years (Kaynar, 2017: 83-84).
From the beginning of the Second World War until 1941, the Greek government was headed by Ioannis Metaxas. The situation of the Chamerian Albanians worsened under his autocratic rule. With the war, incidents with heavy human casualties began to occur in the region. Between June 27, 1944 and March 1945, the Greek administration carried out major military operations against the Albanians in the region. It is claimed that the alleged „non-Italian hostile attitude“ of the Albanians was a justification for the attacks carried out by the Greeks. (Cin, 2007: 79) The largest of these operations and the mass killings that would follow occurred on June 27, 1944, the day the operation began (Muhasilovic, 2021).
In early 1944, the Greek government recruited all Albanian Muslims males over the age of 14 in the region of Chamerya with the justification of „fighting against the occupation armies“; the intention was to reduce the male population in the region as much as possible. However, it is claimed that the Greeks, instead of being sent to fight, they were confined to labor camps in Lesbos, Chios and Corinthos, and that this event may have been used by the Greek Government to create a justification for the operation that was to be undertaken (Barış 2009).
As a result of the operations carried out by the Greek army in the region of Chamerya on June 27, 1944, great human losses occurred. On the first day, some 600 Albanians lost their lives. As a result of the events that lasted until March 1945, 3,242 people from the civilian population of Chamerya lost their lives, including 2,900 old or young men, 214 women and 96 children. Historical records claim that many inhumane practices such as rape took place throughout the region, and that 68 villages were destroyed, including 5,800 houses and places of worship (Muhasilovic, 2021; Kaynar, 2017: 88).
Following these developments, the Albanians of Chamerya were forced to leave the region. Between 1946 and 1949, the properties and assets of Albanians who fled or were expelled from the region were divided among Greek settlers. Since the early 1990s these exiles who settled in other parts of Albania, many of whom were granted refugee status and some of whom sought asylum in Turkey, have been demanding compensation from Greece for their property and possessions that they left in the region. (Coşkun, 2001: 67-101; Gözübenli, 2018) Despite the numerical data mentioned above, it is not known how many people were killed in the process or how many people were forced to seek refuge or emigrate to neighboring countries after the war.
Except for the Albanian People’s Assembly declaring June 27, 1944 as the day of commemoration of the Chamerya genocide on June 30, 1994 and a few initiatives from various organizations and individuals, no country has made any effort to investigate the practices (Kaynar, 2017: 91).
It is understood that the point of view known as „Albanophobia“, which causes prejudice against and criminalization of Albanians who try to live legally or illegally and which is irrational and a shame to humanity, continues today in Greece and even in Albania. (Kaynar, 2017: 91)
Today, there are between 100,000 and 150,000 Chamerian Albanians living in Albania (Yılmaz, 2021). Even 79 years after the massacres, these people continue to make representations to the Greek and Albanian governments in order to return to the lands where their ancestors lived, to regain their properties and assets, and to become citizens in the countries in which they live. One of the leading civil society organizations is the Chamerya Political Patriotic Association, located in Tirana (Cin, 2007: 81).
In order to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies, both political and civil society initiatives should yield results, the relatives of the Chameryans who lost their lives in the tragic events should be able to return to their ancestral lands, and most importantly, countries should be able to face their own political histories.
Turhan Şen, 1st year PhD student in History at Mardin Artuklu University.
SOURCE
1- BARIŞ, Hasan, „Forgotten Massacre in Greece: Çamerya“, Western Thrace Online News Agency, 10.08.2009. (https://www.batitrakya.org/yazar/baris-hasan/yunanistanda-unutturulan-katliam-camerya.html)
2- CİN, Turgay, „Greece’s ‚Pontic Genocide‘ Claims and Turkey“, Journal of Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Law, C.8, S.2, İzmir, 2006, pp.27-89.
3- COŞKUN, Birgül Demirtaş, „Albania’s Foreign Policy and the Albanian Problem in the Balkans“, ASAM Publications, Ankara, 2001.
4- GÖZÜBENLİ, Abdullah Sencer, „Greece committed Genocide against the Albanians of Chameri“, Besa Time News Website, 25.05.2018. (http://www.tr.besatime.com/index.php?newsid=64)
5- KAYNAR, Mete Kaan, „A „Modern“ Greek Tragedy in the Balkans: The Massacre of Çamerya Albanians“, International Journal of Academic Value Studies, V.3, Issue 9, Ankara, 2007, pp.79-93.
6- MUHASILOVIC, Yahya, „Forgotten Tragedy: Chamerya Massacres“, Balkan News News Website, 27.06.2021. (https://www.balkannews.com.tr/unutulan-trajedi-camerya-katliamlari-makale,10.html)