"Chamerya Massacre" protest in front of the Greek Embassy in Skopje
In Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, a demonstration was organised in front of the Greek Embassy in Skopje within the scope of the "Chamerya Week" events.
Dozens of people marching from Skopje Castle to the Embassy gathered to protest the massacre and rights violations committed by Greece against the Chameryans within the scope of the events that started on 21 June and to deliver a letter of protest to the Embassy.
Due to the demonstration, intensive security measures were taken in front of the Greek Embassy, the roads leading to the Embassy were closed and the demonstrators were not allowed to approach the building. The demonstrators carried Chameria symbols and Albanian flags.
Afan Sherifi, who read a letter of protest on behalf of the demonstrators, stated that they asked Greece to allow Chameryan Albanians to visit their homes and the graves of their ancestors.
"There will be no sincere friendship and neighbourliness between the two nations until the issue of Chamerya is resolved," Sherifi said, adding that they called on Greece, a member of the European Union (EU), to end ethnic and religious discrimination against the Chameryans.
Emphasising that Albanians will demand their rights and the solution of the Chamerya issue wherever they are, Sherifi said, "That is why we say 'Stop' to Greece's racial and religious discrimination against the Chamerya Albanians."
The organisers handed the letter of protest to the police in front of the Greek Embassy in Skopje after it was read.
The events within the scope of the Chamerya Week in North Macedonia are organised by a commission consisting of some associations operating in the country under the slogan "I love Chamerya".
What happened in the Chamerya region?
Starting from the south of Albania, the Chamerya region covers the area from Ioannina to Preveza, which is still within the territory of Greece.
Albanians living in this region of Ioannina province were Ottoman citizens until 1913.
The Chamerya region was handed over to Greece as an ethnic and minority region at the London Conference held in 1913 at the end of the Balkan War. According to the 1910 census, 83 thousand Albanians lived in the region.
During the Second World War, forces under the command of Greek General Napoleon Zervas carried out massacres against the Albanians of Chamerya.
During the "ethnic cleansing" that lasted from June 1944 to March 1945, 2,900 men, 214 women and 96 children were killed, 745 women were raped, 5,800 houses in 68 villages were burnt down, and over 2,000 people died due to poor living conditions and migration.
Due to the ethnic cleansing initiated by the Greek general, around 35 thousand Albanians had to flee from the Chamerya region to Albania.
Albanians from Chamerya want the events of 1944 to be recognised as "genocide", to visit their homeland lands on the border with Greece and to deliver their property rights.
Source: AA