Are they trying to lay claims on our 1821 war heroes, or are they insinuating that these men of valor were Chams?
One word: ELEOS
Authorities may have moved the supporters away from the presidential halls but the messages on their banners were shocking.
This was the message to Papoulias:
"Papoulias is a fellow countryman, an Orthodox Cham, and only he who is not afraid can say the truth. He is a living example of the genocide that took place in his own family. He knows that we as a community have not cooperated with invaders (Nazis). He knows because he fought alongside the "Tsamouria" guild. He knows, because our community is full of his childhood friends who were either killed or forced to flee".Check out the pictures below!
Firstly let us examine what the PDIU party is:
The Party for Justice, Integration and Unity (PDIU) is a nationalist political party in Albania whose primary aim is the promotion of national issues. The President of PDIU is Spetim Idriz. The party focuses on highlighting national issues, including Kosovo, Albanians in FYROM, Montenegro, Presevo Valley and especially the Cham issue. (In other words... the Greater Albania).
What is the Cham issue:
The Cham issue is an issue which has been raised by Albania since the 1990s over the repatriation of the Cham Albanians, who were expelled from the Greek region of Epirus between 1944 and 1945, at the end of World War II, citing the collaboration of some of their number with the Nazis. While Albania presses for the issue to be re-opened, Greece considers the matter closed.
The official Greek position on the issue is not to allow Cham Albanians to return in Greece because they collaborated with the Italian-German invaders during the Second World War, and as such they are war criminals and are punished according to Greek laws.
Attempt to Resolve Issue:
In an attempt to give a solution in 1992 Prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis proposed a trade-off in relation to their properties, saying that only in cases:
"When it could be established that Chams had not convicted or participated in crimes against their fellow Greeks and their fleeing from the country was only due to fear.This proposal, however, obviously never reached any results.
"If the Albanian government would agree to mutually compensate ethnic Greeks who had lost properties due to persecution during the communist regime in Albania
Turkey Finds Cham Issue Useful Tool... Coincidence?
It is also interesting to note that Turkey finds the Cham dispute a useful tool with which to draw international attention to the plight of the Turkish minority in Greece. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already accused Greece for genocide against Muslim Albanians. Ankara has also asked Greece to acknowledge the Albanian nationality of Albanian-speaking Orthodox Christians in the same area, so as to compensate the displaced Chams for the property they have lost, to provide an Albanian Orthodox Church for Albanian Christians, to repatriate the Cham minority and finally to provide them with Greek citizenship
Why Greece Will Not Acknowledge Cham Issue - The Truth
The main part of the Cham issue is the regaining of the Greek citizenship, by Cham Albanians. As Greece does not acknowledge the Cham issue, as an existent problem between Athens and Tirana, the returning of the citizenship has not been discussed at all. Cham Albanians were Greek citizens of Albanian ethnicity, since 1913 when they chose the Greek nationality and not the Turkish one. When they were expelled, in 1944, the citizenship of 1,930 Cham Albanians was removed after they were sentenced to death as collaborators. The rest, which formed the majority lost their citizenship, under a special law of 1947. Orthodox Chams remained in Greece and retained the Greek citizenship, but without any minority rights. The evicts were organized as refugees in Albania, under the authority of the National Anti-Fascist Cham Committee, until 1953. At that year the Albanian government disbanded the committee and granted forcefully the Albanian citizenship to the Chams. In Turkey and the United States, Cham Albanians got the Turkish and American citizenship.
Article in Greek - Olympia
Photos - himara.gr
Other Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cham_issue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Justice,_Integration_and_Unity
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