Declaration of the Northern Epirotes from the Districts of Korytsa And

DECLARATION OF THE ( J Northern Epirotes from the Districts of Korytsa and Kolonia Demanding Union of their Native Provinces with Greece PAN-EPIROTIC UNION IN AMERICA « 7 WATER ST., BOSTON, MASS. MAY, 1919 2>i \m SEP. We, natives of Korytsa, Kolonia, Moschopolis, having been informed tliat the Committee on the Greek Questions has de- cided in favor of the union of Chimarra, Argyrocastro, and Delvino with the mother-country, Greece, congratulate our brothers of these provinces on their good fortune, and the Peace Delegates on their wisdom and justice. But we protest against the intimation that we are intended for the future Al- banian State. We regret that the Peace Congress has allowed itself to be deceived as to the aspirations of the great bulk of the inhabitants of Korytsa and Kolonia. What reasons could have induced the members of the Committee on the Greek Questions to arrive at a decision un- favorable to us? Perhaps ethnological and cultural. Ethno- logically, Korytsa is Greek. It is true that the district of Korytsa is inhabited by as many Moslems as Christians, and that these Moslems, in the hope that under a Moslem Albanian rule, will be able to exploit the Christians as slaves (rai;ahs), as they did under the Turkish regime, prefer a Moslem Albanian state. The 47,827 Christians constitute the object of the Peace Delegation's concern. The Moslem Albanians cannot be said to run the risk of being deprived of their right to exercise their religious and political rights under an enlightened Chris- tian Government, such as the Greek Government has proved to be to the tens of thousands of Moslems in Macedonia. On the other hand, wherever Mussulmans have been the ruling class, the Christians have been reduced to the condition of slavery. But the question now arises, what is the will of the 47,827 Christians from the districts of Korytsa and Kolonia? The will of the Christian Korytseans and Koloneans now living in Northern Epirus is easy to determine. Fortunately, the most liberal French Government has permitted freedom of expres- sion in the districts occupied by the glorious soldiers of France. We know that practically all the Christian population in 1 Korytsa and Kolonia wants union with Greece. The letters we receive from our relatives, and the news that, on the re- opening of the schools in Korytsa, only 200 children enrolled in the Albanian schools, while 2,100 enrolled in the Greek schools, is for any candid judge an irresistible proof of the Greek aspirations of the great bulk of the Christian population. But we are informed that the Committee on Greek Affairs has been influenced by the reported pro-Albanian aspirations of the Christian Korytseans residing in the United States. We have seen published in Paris papers that the Albanian Delegation there has told the Peace Delegates that there are in the United States from 60,000 to 70,000 Epirotes who want union with Albania. The Albanian Delegates, moreover, claim that practically all of these hail from the districts of Korytsa and Kolonia. Now,w, in 1908, according to the Turlvish statistics, there were in all 95,)5,762 inhabitants in those two districts. If 70,000 have emigrated to x\merica, there should be now only 25,762 inhabitants left. But according to official information the city of Korytsa alone has more than 30,000 inhabitants at this moment. That the Albanian Delegation has deliberately exaggerated the number of Albanians in this country is very evident. The United States census of 1910, taken on the basis of mother- tongue, indicates that the Albanophones in America were 2,235. As all the Northern Epirotes, from Korytsa and Ko- lonia, of Greek sentiment, have the Albanian as their mother- tongue, it will be easily seen that a very large number of these 2,235 Albanophones cannot be considered Albanians. The Bureau of Immigration reports that in their records there is no Albanian nationality recorded. This can be easily explained. All the Northern Epirotes who come to America are of Greek sentiment. When once they settle down here the Albanian propaganda, subsidized formerly by Austria, and now by Italy, make's it its business to convert the Greek North- ern Epirotes to the Albanian nationality. Thus, there are to- day numerous instances of two brothers from Korytsa, one who has retained his Greek nationality, and the other, by occupying a lucrative office in the Albanian organization, has turned to be a fanatic Albanian in sentiment. This is true in 2 the case of the younger people, who are deceived with prom- ises that when Albania is constituted into a free state these young men will be appointed mayors, governors, and other such officers. Upon thorough investigations it has been established that the entire number of Albanians, Mussulmans, and Christians in America is not more than 5,000, almost equally divided between Christians and Mussulmans. Granting that all the Christians come from the districts of Korytsa and Kolonia, we have 2,500 Albanophiles. Will the 2,500 Albanophiles residing in America have a deciding vote against the 40,000 inhabitants of Korytsa and Kolonia who live in Northern Epirus and who want union with Greece? But let us see if this assumed exaggerated number of Christian Albanians is not inferior to the actual number of Christians from Korytsa and Kolonia now residents of America, and who desire union with Greece. We submit a list of signatures of Christians from Korytsa and Kolonia. Their native towns are indicated and their addresses in America set down so that verification may be possible. Moreover, we submit the list to publication so that our enemies may easily discover our errors, if any. Will it be too much to ask the Albanians to submit a similar list with the genuine signatures of the natives of Korytsa and Kolonia and the addresses in America, and give publicity to such a list in order that verification may be possible? It has been found that the x\lbanian Federation has deliberately deceived the Conferees at Paris by cabling messages supposed to proceed from Christian Albanians from Korytsa, residing in America, but actually sent by Moslem, natives of provinces not included in Northern Epirus. On April 1, 1919, the Paris New York Herald published an official statement of the Albanian Delegation there, which statement claimed that there were in America 52 Christian Albanian churches. This is a deliberate falsehood. There are only 5 Albanian Orthodox churches, wath a very limited membership, none exceeding 150 members. 3 It is evident that the Delegates at Paris have trusted the Albanian Delegation explicitly, when it would have been so easy to have asked the State Department at Washington to find out officially the number of Christian Albanians and their churches and societies in America. In fact, we have in our possession information that the Albanian Federation at Paris has urged the Albanian Federation in America to insist that every Mussulman Albanian should sign a Christian name. We now come to the cultural argument. Our schools have been Greek for centuries. We were brought up to love Greece as our mother-country, and to look forward to the glorious day when the Greek flag would fly over our beautiful city of Korytsa, and over our fertile plains, We have taught our children to drink deep of the wonder- ful Greek literature and culture. We revolt at the very idea that we are now, after centuries of bloodshed and untold sac- rifices for that culture, to bid farewell to light, and to embrace darkness, to drive out of our country the immortal Greek language and Greek culture and to adopt a barbarous language and to associate ourselves with the Albanian brigands who have persecuted us, robbed us, and tyrannized us for centuries. Can we abandon our splendid educational institutions which we ourselves have reared, in spite of the opposition and the persecution of the Moslem Albanians? Shall we now be ordered to forget Homer, to turn our back on Xenophon, and on Plato, whose writings have lighted our path during the dark slavery of Turks and Moslem Albanians? The trial was made in 1914. We raised 5,000 volunteers and fought desperately against Albanian domination. Never will we submit to an Albanian rule. Neither we nor our families, nor our properties can be secure in a state where the majority will be wild Moslem tribes whose only mode of livelihood has been for ages robbery, depredations, and looting. We declare, therefore, and solemnly swear that we will resist unto death any other solution of our problem except union with our mother-country — Greece. No Americans would readily submit to be ruled by Chero- kee or Sioux Indians, even if these were in the majority. 4 No Englishman would tolerate the rule of the Bengals. No Frenchman would submit to the domination of Senegalese. No Italian would accept the rule of the Libyans. Why, then, should we be asked in the twentieth century, and by the Peace Congress at Paris, to submit to the rule of ignorant and fierce Moslem tribes, such as the Guegues, the Liaps, and the Tosks, whom we have known so long, whom we fear and detest, and who hate and despise us? Whatever the Congress at Paris decides, we have made our minds either to be united with Greece or fight until we win or perish. There can be no peace in Albania until Korytsa and Kolonia are joined to Greece. This is our will. This is the will of nine-tenths of the Christians in Korytsa and Kolonia.

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