Why do we call it Greece while it's Albanian land?

[erix77]

erix77
Asgjekundi nuk kam lexuar se greket ishin ata qe shtyne Porten e Larte ne konfrontim me Ali pashen. Nga sa eshte shkruar, Ali pasha e pesoj nga pangopesia e tij. Dhe pika u mbush kur u konfrontua me Ismail Pasho bej te Vlores dhe ky i fundit arriti te shpetoje dhe mberriti gjer ne Stamboll dhe beri c`ishte e mundur per tu denuar Ali pasha. Dhe ia arriti qellimit.
Greket kane gisht vetem ne kete. Shume pak kohe para revolucionit, Veliu, djali i Aliut ishte pashai i Tripolices, kryeqendres se Morese. Qeverisja e tij ngjalli shume reagime dhe per here te pare nje Grek, nje Turk dhe nje Hebre i dergojne nje leter te perbashket Sulltanit ku ankohen per qeverisjen e tij. Porta e Larte e shkarkoj Veliun dhe e dergoj ne Trikalle. Ndoshta ketu qendron gabimi i Aliut qe nuk mbeshteti me ndikimin e tij djalin e tij ate moment, se keshtu kontrollonte dhe Morene dhe mund te thuhet mbare territoret helladike. Dhe nqs do ishte Veli pasha akoma ne More gjate shperthimit te Revolucionit Grek, kuptohet qe edhe per Aliun gjerat do ishin ndryshe.

ky eshte versioni grek i historise dhe ne versionin grek nuk permendet kurre roli dhe ndikimi i patriarkanes dhe i zyrtareve greke mbi porten e larte.por gjerat jane matematike e thjeshte, nje lufte midis portes dhe aliut ju interesonte vetem fanarioteve,dhe ne e dime shume mire se kush perfitoi nga kjo lufte.

[elikranon]

erix77
Ne rastin tend vlen ajo thenia (se mbaj mend kush e ka thene):
"Per shqiptaret faktet asnjehere nuk kane qene problem. Nqs faktet nuk perputhen me te thenat e shqiptareve aq me keq per faktet"

Megjithate per te te bindur per vertetesine e te thenave te mia po te sjell nje material. Eshte pjese nga nje shkrim rreth 40 faqesh i PETER OLUF BRONDSTED: "Me Ali pashen ne Janinen vjeshten e 1812".

"Se cfare jane ne gjendje te bejne (Shqiptaret), sidomos ne kohe lufte, eshte provuar ne ditet tona ne menyren me tmerruese nga Ali pasha, tipin me te kompletuar te Shqiptarit qe ka ekzistuar ndonjehere, dhe nqs do mund te perdorja kete shprehje, lulen e Shqiptarizmes.
Kohet e fundit pame te bie kjo koke, e njollosur me vite aktiviteti kriminal dhe e shenuar nga mallkimet e mijera viktimave te tij midis popullsise greke te territorit te tij. Nuk ishin ama krimet e Ali pashes qe e cuan ne kete perfundim fatal – gje qe vertet do te mund te perbente ngushellim per njerezimin, per fat te keq behet fjale per krejt te kunderten. Sistemi i mireorganizuar i padrejtesive te tij dhe i zbatuar me korrektesi, ishte qe e ngriti gradualisht ne nivelin e fuqishem te nje dinasti tmerrues lindor. Por shkaterrimi i tij erdhi nga nje e mete e vetme, “filargyria”- pangopesia e tij, sepse kjo ishte arsyeja e vertet e katastrofes se Ali pashes. Kjo pangopesi e kishte verbuar ne nje shkalle te tille, qe nderkohe qe ishte i mbyllur ne keshtjellen e Janines me nje grusht njerezish besnik, vazhdonte te ushqente shpresen paraloge se mund te shpetonte, pa hapur thesaret e tij tek Greket dhe Shqiptaret, qe ishin po ashtu te afte ti shpetonin jeten ose ta shisnin per ar.
Kushtet qe pergatiten perfundimin fatal te tiranit te Epirit, me sjellin ndermend pikerisht ato qe i paraprine rrenies se tiranit te fundit te pavlere te Maqedonise se Lashte, Perseut, ne pangopesine e te cilit, sipas Plutarkut, Emilio Pavllo dhe Romaket kane borxh fatin e tyre te mire.. Keshtu, pikerisht ne kete ngulmim te verber te Ali pashes gjendet dhe fati i Hurshit pashes dhe Turqve te tij, qe ishin mjaft te dobet per te lidhur ne zinxhire tigrin mbreteror te moshuar te Shqiptareve, nqs kjo e mete konkrete, demoni i tij personal, Κακοδαιμονια e tij nuk kishte rendur ti ndihmonte”.

[erix77]

por mire ne te gjithe e dime qe Aliu ishte nje diktator i pangopur ti spo na thua ndonje gje te re.Mgjth kjo as nuk mohon as nuk verteton prapaskenat e grekeve ne stamboll te nxitur prej ruseve,ata qe perfituan prej renies se Aliut ishin greket dhe ti smund ta mohosh dot kete.Porta nuk do ta levizte kurre ushtrine per nje tentative vrasjeje te nje pashai cfaredo kur ne perandori prerjet e kokave te medha ishin ne rend te dites,por kur portes i fshiheshin te ardhurat dhe nuk i jepej pjesa qe i takonte askush nuk ishte me i paprekshem,greket duhej thjesht ta bindin porten qe Aliu po i fshihte tributet qe duhej tia jepte portes.Kjo ishte nje gje qe ata mund ta benin ne cdo kohe sepse ata mbanin llogarite e perandorise dhe e bene ne momentin e duhur per TA.Per cdo vrasje ka nje motiv dhe per vrasjen e Aliut vetem greko-ruset kishin nje motiv!

erix77
Ne rastin tend vlen ajo thenia (se mbaj mend kush e ka thene):
"Per shqiptaret faktet asnjehere nuk kane qene problem. Nqs faktet nuk perputhen me te thenat e shqiptareve aq me keq per faktet"

Po me siguri ndonje filogrek do ta kete thene,por edhe sikur ta kete thene dikush tjeter duhet qe ta marrim si te vertete universale per Shqiptaret?Ti do thuash qe e the per mua dhe jo per gjith shqiptaret,por une jam i sigurt qe ti keshtu e mendon per te gjithe ne,ndoshta sepse faktet nuk kane patur kurre rendesi per ju Greko-helenet.

[ALBPelasgian]

The Westminster review, Volume 61

[ALBPelasgian]

The Modern Traveller: Greece By Josiah Conder

http://books.google.com/books?id=R7oaAA ... an&f=false

[AgrianShigjetari]

Turku dhe "greku"

[AgrianShigjetari]

Today the main port of Andros is on the north-west coast at Gavrion,
which has a decent beach and numerous tavernas where
Athenians whoop it up on their summer holidays. The towin is of little interest itself,
but it is a good base to explore the northern end of the island, particulary the
villages of Kato and Ano Fellos, Makrotandalo, Hartes, Kalivari, Varidi, Amolochos and
Vitali, which are populated entirely by ethnic Albanians.

The Cyclades: Discovering the Greek Islands of Aegean', John Freely, p.85

[AgrianShigjetari]

Nor has the modern Epirote, or Albanian J, any resemblance to the Slavonic dialects.

Dalmatia and Montenegro. With a Journey to Mostar in Herzegovina ... - Page 36

[AgrianShigjetari]

Doubtless, too, the Southern Albanians are to some extent the descendants of the Epirotes who followed Pyrrhus. It matters little whether we identify them with the Pelasgi, the Epirotes, the Macedonians, or the Illyrians.

Macedonia; its races and their future

[AgrianShigjetari]

They are descendants of the old Epirotes or Illyrians;

Turkey Its History and Progress: from the Journals and ... - Page 25

[Arbëri]

They are descendants of the old Epirotes or Illyrians;

Turkey Its History and Progress: from the Journals and ... - Page 25

http://books.google.com/books?id=6ZIizz ... &q&f=false

[AgrianShigjetari]

apulation of Greece.] The whole population of Modern Greece is composed of three races, Turks, Albanians, and Greeks: equally distinct in their origin, manners, and character. With these are mingled a sonar! number of Jews, Armenians, and Wallachians. In what proportion these three races are combined, it is impossible accurately to determine. It m certain that the Turks are fewest in number. They are most numerous in Macedonia, Thessaly, and Negropont, are thinly scattered over the rest of Greece and Albania, and scarcely exist at all in the islands.
Albanians.] The Albanians constitute the next class, and are very numerous. As to the etymon of the name, and, consequently the origia of the people so denominated, we are much in the dark. A people called Albani, and the city Albanopolis, are mentioned bv Ptolemy; and the city *o called is placed by him in 41° W N. lat. whilst the Albani are placed north of the Taulantii. They were, of course, an lllyrian tribe. Albanopolis is mentioned by Pliny, and is assigned by him to the district of the Almopians, who, by Ptolemy, are placed south of the Albani. There can be no reasonable doubt, that as both the Albani and Albanopolis are described by Ptolemy, and the latter is mentioned by both Ptolemy and Pliny, the Albani were the ancestors of the modern Albanians. History makes no mention of the extinction of the Illyrians, nor of the entrance of a new tribe which has since grown up into the modern community of Albanians. The Byzantine historians, to whom we are chiefly indebted for an account of the history and progress of this now interesting people, mention them at once as the inhabitants of a part of the region in which they now dwell—the high tract of mountains on the frontiers of Illyricum and Macedonia. It is probable that, on the extinction of the Macedonian power, always formidable to the Illyrians, and the depopulation of Epirus and the dismantling of all her towns to the number of 70, the Illyrians would gradually encroach on Epirus, now rendered comparatively defenceless. Among the lllyrian tribes the Albani would gradually gain the ascendency, till the name of lllyrian would be lost in that of Albanian. In the reign of Constantino the Great, southern Illyria, or that part which bordered on the ancient Epirus, was erected into a prefecturate called Epirus Notms. Hence the new denomination serves as a reason to explain why the famous Scanderbeg, born in the Illyrian provinces, assumed the title of prince of Epirus. During the 11th century, they bore a part in some of the wars of the Greek empire. In the times of the separate principality, which, under the name of Acarnania or iEtolia, was erected by Michael Angel us, in the commencement of the 13th century, we find them extending themselves by a predatory warfare ; and spreading themselves at intervals over the whole of Epirus, Thessaly, &c. in the middle of the 14th century, in spite of a powerful expedition against them by the second Andronicus. They ennobled themselves by the powerful resistance which they made to the Turkish sultans, Morad and Mohammed, under the auspices of the celebrated George Castriota, who defeated the Turks in 22 battles. He ruled over the territory extending along the coast, from the river Bojana and the Palus Labeates, or lake Schiabak, or lake of Scutari, to the mouth of the Thyamis, now Kalama, opposite the isle of Corfu. It was in his days that the designation of Albania prevailed, as the Albani of Ptolemy were properly his subjects, and at that time inhabited the districts of Kroja, Tyrano, and Dukagini, and to whom he was chiefly indebted for his victories. The Albani, strictly so called, are at present denominated Merediti, and live in the pashalik of Scutari. The appellations Albani and Albania are of Roman and Greek origin; for in their own language they call themselves Arnauts, and their country Arnautlich. They differ in language, manners, and dress, from both Turks and Greeks, and as a people are greatly superior to both. Various colonies of them have settled in Greece, from time to time, even more than four centuries since. It is probable that many of them have lost their distinctive character from this circumstance, and become blended with the mass of the Greek population. The whole of the peasantry in Attica, and the eastern part of Bceotia, and one-fifth of the inhabitants of Athens itself, are Albanians. They are found preserving their distinctive character, and are generally employed as shepherds in the districts of Elis, Argolis, Arcadia, and Laconia. In Thessaly they are estimated at one-third of the population. In the districts south of Mount Gita, as Doris, Phocis, and part of Boeotia, they are more numerous. Considering the revolutions Greece has undergone, the Greek population cannot be unmixed. Many of the mountaineers may be of Albanian descent, or the offspring of other tribes, distinct in manners and character from the people of plains. Major Leake remarks, that the Greek mountaineers closely resemble the Albanians in character and customs. If we suppose the Albanian population to be double that of the Turkish—and it can hardly be less, in the rising circumstances of the Albanians—or 1,200,000, then the whole population of these two classes in Greece will amount to 1,800,000; while that of the Greeks may be 1,600,000 or nearly equal.
The Greeks.] The Greeks are numerous in iEtolia; and in Acarnania, now Karli-Ili, they form the entire population. In Joannina, the capital of Southern Albania, they are the most numerous and respectable class of inhabitants; and in the towns and villages of that province, they generally constitute the basis of the population. Every where the Greeks form a conspicuous part of the population of towns; and in all those south of Mount Gita, with a very few exceptions, they are the great majority of the population. Now that the Turks have been expelled from the Morea, the GreeKs may be said to form the entire population, with the exception of a few districts, where the Albanians are regularly colonized. The descendants of the ancient Hellenes still exhibit in their persons the beautiful classical forms which we admire in the works of ancient masters. They are still as giddy, vacillating, vain, and boasting, as they were in the times of Alcibiades; but they have also proved themselves not less gallant than their heroic ancestors. They have in general a fine and slender shape, their motions are noble, their features expressive, and their dress clean and elegant. The women are slender, with fine features, and manners full of dignity; their countenance is expressive. Mr Emerson maintains that on an examination of the traits of Greek character peculiar to each district, we shall upon the whole, find the seeds of numerous virtues, however slightly developed, still discernible under a mass of vices; and which, when properly cultivated, under an equitable government, caanot fail to raise the Greeks high in the scale of nations. The Albanians have long since ceased to be considered either Mussulmans or Greeks. In the Morea, a closer connection with the Turks, and various minor causes, produced a character less amiable and exalted than that of the Ro the inhabitants of what is now termed Eastern and Western Greece, the Messenians, or natives of the south-western coast, the traits of i ment are peculiarly perceptible. But there are two singular i from these remarks to be found in the Morea: the inhabitants of La) I a Elis, and those of Maina in the south-eastern promontory. The former are a colony of Albanian peasantry; the latter are the descendants of the ancient Spartans, and seem possessed of the common virtues of barbarians, accompanied by almost all their vices. In the Hyduots and Spezziots we find much to admire and esteem, especially among the higher orders.
Greek Religion.] Christianity nowhere appears more degraded than among the modern Greeks: they have covered it with the accumulated abuses of more than twelve centuries. The Greek church never felt the benign influence of general knowledge, nor the salutary control of rival sects; it never knew the genial influence of a reformation, as in the west of Europe, by which popery itself was in some measure benefitted. The crooked policy or fanatical bigotry of the Greek princes who filled the throne of Byzantium,—the pious frauds of their monks and papas, combined with the credulity and superstition of an ignorant populace, nursed but never controlled,—have been continually loading it with new errors, ties, and new corruptions. Though its priests those of any other church, its rites and forms infinitely i its fasts and festivals absorb about two-thirds of the year, it is scarcely possible to trace one genuine idea of Christianity in the minds of either the clergy or the laity, or one trait of its influence on their practice. It is not easy to discriminate the religion of the Greek church from that of the Romish, there is so close a similarity of the one to the other in its doctrines, and even in its forms. Though they are professed worshippers of Christ, in opposition to the Mohammedans, yet it is certain that the -J'anagia or Holy Virgin has more worship and more worshippers than ' He who was made flesh, and dwelt among us.' She has, in fact, succeeded among the modern Greeks to the worship formerly paid to the virgin-goddess Minerva. In every cottage you will find her ] ' a lamp burning before it. In the number of its sacraments, t| of saints, the belief of the real presence, auricular confession, :
• for the dead, the Greek church agrees perfectly with that of Rome. The Eucharist is administered to new-born infants; and the chrism or sacred unction being a part or appendage of the baptismal ceremony, is substituted for confirmation. Hie sacrament of the Euchelaion or Holy Oil ia not, like the extreme unction of the Romish church, confined to the dying, but administered to devout persons upon the slightest malady, or even in perfect health. On Holy Thursday, the Greek Archbishop, like the Pope, washes the feet of 12 priests or monks. It is not certain whether the Greek church admits of a purgatory, at least in the same sense as the Roman Catholics; and the Greeks themselves, at the present day, are too ignorant to be able to tell. The most palpable difference in the eyes of the common people, between the two communions, is that the Greeks abhor the Popish images, and employ only paintings in their churches. The number of fasts and festivals among them is enormous. The secular Greeks have four lents, and the Caloyers or monks have two more. The first of these secular fasts lasts two months, the second forty days, the third is variable in its length, and the fourth lasts from the first of August to the festival of the Assumption. Every Wednesday is a fast, because it was on that day Judas received the money for betraying Christ; and every Friday is kept in remembrance of the crucifixion. A vast number of saints' days are also observed ; so that of the whole year, there are only about 130 days free of festivals oi fasts. Their clergy are made up of two bodies: the monks, and the Papades or priests. Both are extremely ignorant. They are moreover excessively numerous; and the people, who are extremely credulous and superstitious, are entirely under their influence. In Albania the priests are much less numerous and much less respected. All classes are devoutly attached to the doctrines of their church, and hold other sects in such contempt that they regard themselves and the Russians as the only Christians. The few wellinformed men among them are generally sceptics, or lean that way: as has always been, and always will be, the case, where religion is debased by absurdities which shock the understanding of all those who are disposed to think for themselves.

The Greek Synod and Patriarch.'] The Greek synod, at whose head is the patriarch, is composed of 10 archbishops chosen by the primate, who cannot alone decide in any affair whether civil or ecclesiastical, nor evon nominate to a vacant see, without the consent of the synod. When the clergy are dissatisfied with their patriarch they memorialize the Porte, and demand the departure of their superior, with which demand the sultan immediately complies, enjoining the synod to choose a new head, whose election he confirms. The Porte never otherwise deposes the patriarch, unless, as in a recent case, it be on the charge of high-treason. The patriarch and archbishops pay annually into the imperial treasury 25,000 piastres. The patriarch has a certain jurisdiction in civil affairs, taking cognizance of wills, marriages, divorces, and even minor offences committed by members of the Greek church. He holds a court in his own house, and has a prison to which he can consign any Greek, lay or clerical.
Greek Language] The modern Greeks speak a language resembling that of their ancestors in almost every respect; but time, conquest, slavery, and the barbarism of ages, have introduced some new terms, and altered the rules of syntax in certain points.* The Greeks, however, understand pretty
4 In the Romaic alphabet the same sound is given to no fewer than 5 letters, or combinations of letters; n> i, u, u, «, are all pronounced alike, as the sound of the e in me i mt and e are both pronounced iu the same manner like a in ofc. B la Bounded like exactly the ancient Greek when it is spoken in the pronunciation now in use, which seems to have been that of the time of Constantino. As the two languages accord in so many points, it might be well to consider the modern Greek as the vulgar dialect, and to recall the ancient if practicable as the language of letters. In Constantinople the Greeks speak both Greek and Turkish, but only the former to each other; in Asia Minor, along the coast, they generally use the Turkish, but can speak Greek; and in the interior parts of Asia Minor they know no other language than Turkish. Dr Robertson has published a very useful little grammar of the modern Greek language.
CHAP. IV.—GOVERNMENT— REVENUE-MILITARY AND MARINE FORCE—COMMERCE.
Government-] There is no security under the Turkish government either for life or property. The sultan is entirely despotic, uniting in himself, like the first caliphs, the whole power of the State. He not only makes the laws but also executes them, and is at the same time the supreme head of the church. The lives and fortunes of his subjects are entirely in his hands ; but he is obliged to respect the laws of the Koran. His title is that of Padishah or ' prince.' The succession is hereditary in the male line of Osman's family, but is not always allowed to descend in regular order from father to son; the people, and the military—as is well-known—frequently exercise a violent right of election, and elevate another member of the royal family than the hen- direct to the throne. The sultan is not crowned at his inauguration, but is solemnly girded with the sabre of Osman, and swears to support Islamism. The mother of the reigning sultan is called the Sultana Valide; she enjoys distinguished prerogatives, and a fixed revenue, and is usually possessed of great influence in the State. The first of the sultan's wives or Kadin who brings him a son is called Chasseki Sultana. The heir of the throne is educated under close confinement in a part of the seraglio called the Kqfer or ' cage.' All the suitan's sons indeed are kept in a state of imprisonment; the daughters are generally espoused to viziers and pashas. The sultan's titles run in a fine style of Eastern hyperbole, thus: " Most Puissant and Highest Monarch of the Turks, King above all Kings, a King that dwelleth upon the Earthly Paradise, Son of Mahomet, Keeper of the Grave of the Christian God, Lord of the Tree of Life, and of the River Fliskey, Prior of the Earthly Paradise, Conqueror of the Macedonians the Seed of Great Alexander, Prince of the Kingdoms of Tartary, Mesopotamia, Media, aud of the Martial Mamelukes, Anatolia, Bithynia, Asia, Armenia, Servia, Thracia, Morea, Wallachia, Moldavia, and of all Warlike Hungary, Sovereign Lord and Commander of all Greece, Persia, both the Arabia.*, the Most Noble Kingdom of Egypt, Tremisen, and the African Empire, of Trebisond, and the Most Glorious Constantinople, Lord of all the White and Black Seas, of the Holy Cities Mecca and Medina, shining with Di
v ; , before some letters is a harsh gutteral; before the soft vowels its sound is liquid : thus is pronounced geenaka. The modern Greeks have no symbol for the Eng
lish sound of il i but they pronounce the r after , in this manner, « 7<*r«, ton drynon. They pay no regard to quantity, but all their books are printed with accents. They have rejected the dual number and middle voice. The augments are retained, but in vulgar usage 'are frequently omitted. In the conjugation of verbs, the Romaic differs from the classic Greek in respect to some moods and tenses.

A system of geography, popular and scientific: or A physical ..., Volume 2 By James Bell, Adrien Balbis

[AgrianShigjetari]

ia vlen te sillet edhe ky liber:

AMONG THE ALBANIANS OF SOUTHERN EPIRUS.

[AgrianShigjetari]

It is not a matter of old Albanian settlements that have lost their language. There are whole districts as far south as Boeotia and Attica, where the peasants are bi-lingual. The present writer has conducted excavations near Thebes with a gang of local workmen every man of whom talked Albanian as well as Greek. The characteristic Greek national costume is Albanian. The uniform of the Evzones, or Highland Regiments, is Albanian. The war of Independence was largely fought by Albanians. Not only is this true of the Clefts of the mountain district, but the seamen of Hydra and Spetsae. No wonder that the Albanians of Epirus, proud from time immemorial of their orthodoxy religion and their Hellenic culture, find themselves at home in the kingdom of Greece, and they are welcomed there, not as aliens but as natives. We have often heard of the schools and fine buildings founded at Athens by North Epirotes, and that it was one of them, Averoff, who gave Greece Navy its most modern cruisers. It is less widely known that the commanders of the Greek Army and Greek Fleet in the Balkan wars, General Danglis and Admiral Condouriotis, are both Albanian by blood. They formed, with Venizelos, the Triumvirate who raised the standard of revolt at Salonica in 1916 and saved the honor of Greece. Mr. Repoulis, Venizelos’s right hand in the present Cabinet, is an Albanian and speaks Albanian when in his own home.

The new Europe: Volume 9 Robert William Seton-Watson -

[AgrianShigjetari]

Greeks and Albanians in Greece by Alexis Heraclides,AIM Athens, December 7, 2000

"Well before the upsurge of Greece ultra-nationalism, which manifested itself during the first part of the 1990s with the Greek-Macedonian dispute over "the name of Macedonia" and more recently with the hysterical fundamentalist nationalism of the Orthodox Church of Greece, nationalist sentiments were instilled in Greece by way of the most traditional and effective method: namely primary and secondary education (and in some cases even at university level). Education, as it is well known, has been used as a vehicle of political socialization, the process whereby young individuals learn to become enthusiastic patriots and loyal citizens of their country and state. The Greek educational system is of course not unique in pursuing such aims and hardly the inventor of such forms of socialization to the nation. Similar processes are more than obvious in all the countries of Southeastern Europe and beyond"

"In the Greek case, the pupils are thought to be intolerant of other nations and ethnic groups (outside and within Greece). The Greek educational system teaches them and makes them believe that the Greeks are superior to all others; that the Greeks are the direct descendent of the illustrious ancient Greeks, who are said to be the greatest civilization of ancient times and the point of departure of Western civilization; and that the Greeks (presumably the ancient Greeks) are the creators of all major human values with an incomparable contribution to world culture. Greek students are also taught that their nation is more than 3000 years old. They do not recognize the well-known fact that nationhood is a very recent phenomenon in human history and that hardly any Greek nation or people existed in the classical ancient Greek cultural-linguistic milieu of antagonistic city-states. Again the attempt at historical depth is characteristic of most national historical narratives, but the Greek case is one of the most extreme, comparable only to the Israeli or Ethiopian cases. Furthermore it is deeply held and provides the Greeks of today with one of the most glorious myths ever conceived. It gives rise to self-esteem but also to arrogance and haughtiness towards all others. "

"But let us focus on the Albanians and how they feature in the Greek national narrative. Throughout the 19th century with the Greek War of Independence ("Greek Revolution" as it is known in Greece) as the point of departure, the Albanian-speakers, notably the Orthodox Christian Albanian-speakers known as "Arvanites" were largely regarded as Greeks by the Greeks and Greeks-speakers, as Greeks in substance, "Greeks and Arvanites: two races, one nation" as some had put it at the time. And indeed this was to a considerable extent the self-definition of the Arvanites themselves at least in the southern part of the Balkan peninsula at a time when no sense of Albanian national self-consciousness had emerged. Albanian nationhood began in the last quarter of the 19th century in Kosovo, particularly as a reaction to the Serbian and Greek threats to those parts of the Ottoman Empire where the bulk of the Albanians lived for centuries. Prior to that the Orthodox Albanians in the Southern Balkans were among the most active and renown "Greek" guerrilla leaders on land and sea during the Greek War of Independence and with the advent of Greek independence and until today, fully assimilated and very prominent in politics, diplomacy, the army, etc. "

Alexis Heraclides is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Panteion University in Athens
Alexis Heraclides (i)

full text here
http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/arch...6-trae-ath.htm