International Journal of Academic Research and Reflection Vol. 4, No. 4, 2016 ISSN 2309-0405 CHAMS' FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (1930-1939) Blerina Sadiku European University of Tirana, ALBANIA ABSTRACT Chams are the inhabitants of the region of Chameria. This toponym was used under the Ottoman Empire jurisdiction up to the 1937, during the Metaxa's Regime in Greece. This paper aims to show how chams' rights were almost always disrespected since the beginning of the annexation. The methodology will focus on the qualitative analysis of historical data through a deductive approach. In the 1930s, three main issues characterized the background of this minority's rights: the property disputes, the difficult implementation of the right for an education in their mother-tongue and the propaganda aiming at forcing them to emigrate. During the 1930s, Chams tried to appeal also at the League of Nations for their conflicts with the Greek authorities. Anyway, these conflicts in most of the cases were closed as soon as the observations of the Greek Government were made present to this international organization. In the 1930s, their fundamental rights were still suppressed in the greater part of the cases, while they neither had the international support. Keywords: Cham, Chameria, Fundamental Rights, 1930s, League of Nations. INTRODUCTION Chameria is a region in north-western Greece. Nowadays it is known as Thesprotia. The toponym of this region was changed during the regime of Ioannis Metaxas. Chameria was annexed by Greece after the Conference of London in 1913. Since the beginning, the population faced several problems from the central and especially local governmental authorities. These problems were due to the juridical transfer territory from the Ottoman Empire, which meant a new legislative approach, especially in regard to property issues (Tsitselikis, 2012: 303; Manda, 2015: 44), and a new societal approach. The latter concerned the cultural differences between this minority and the society that Greek authorities sought to construct according to the old ideas of Hellenization of the territory, alias the "Megali Idea", which can be found also with the term of "integration" in Greek resources. (Manda, 2015: 43, 54) However, integration should not have included the suppression of minorities' national [ethnic] consciousness, as Greece was aiming to achieve. (Manda, 2015: 54) Before the 1930s, Chams had gone through various difficulties after the annexation by Greece. The first decade was characterized mainly by the turmoil of the Great War, and an overall instability not only for Greece. The second decade was characterized by the uncertainties brought up by the exchange of population between Greece and Turkey, where Chams were involved as Turks due to their Muslim religion, while being Albanians. This phase created the major chaos for the Chams living in their own land. In order to fulfill the exchange process, their properties were expropriated and confiscated. In the first stage, despite the political declarations for their exclusion from this process, because they were Albanians, Chams were considered as Muslims, and consequently their properties were confiscated up the finalization of their transfer to Turkey, or the clarification of their status of non-exchangeability, which almost always delayed for years. On the same time, many of their properties were expropriated with the aim of accommodating the Greek refuges from Minor Asia. As a result, for the remaining population, it was difficult to co-exist peacefully while Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 58 www.idpublications.org International Journal of Academic Research and Reflection Vol. 4, No. 4, 2016 ISSN 2309-0405 sharing their private property with other individuals/families for a public aim, without a proper compensation. In the 1930s, Chams' fundamental rights were still facing several issues. The main disputes concerned property rights. The mixed commission closed its workings in 1934, while a new entity, the Council of Citizenship, took the final issues in examination. Some Chams were still facing the problems regarding the status of exchangeability. However, the Greek government pledged to take into consideration the solution of this issue and certificates of non-exchangeability were distributed to the involved parties. Delay in the procedures of property issues had a frequent occurrence. Not only in this situation, but also in the right to education it was a regular phenomenon. The right of Chams to be educated in their own language was the next most notable problem during the 1930s. Albania applied the principle of reciprocity in closing Greek minority's schools in 1934, while opening them in 1935 after the League of Nations' intervention, while in Greece Albanians schools were penalized in several ways. Albanians very often did not receive instruction from teachers who spoke, read, and wrote Albanian. Many times, the appointed teachers used a harsh behavior towards children. The proposed list of teachers from the Albanians' political representatives in Greece was not taken into consideration very often. Another problem, which was noticed especially after 1938, was the propaganda for immigration to Turkey. Nonetheless, Albania was the other destination as well. Many Chams chose to flee from their land, because of the pressure they were suffering especially from the local authorities. However, in 1935, the authoritarian regime in Greece, exercised an overall pressure on the entire population, and "the alien entity"1 the Cham population was seen more strictly by the authorities. Moreover, Chameria and its towns and villages were attributed new toponyms during this period. Finding themselves under pressure from the Greek authorities time after time, the Chams considered appealing to the League of Nation for the protection of their minority rights. Several petitions were send to this international organization, but almost in every letter the Chams claims were closed and not considered for further examination after the Greek government observations. LITERATURE REVIEW This article will be elaborated through primary and secondary resources. The primary resources consist in the Albanian Central Archives (AQSH), the League of Nations Archives, and the Greek Official Gazette. In addition, the secondary resources concern the works of Greek authors like Kostantinos Tsitselikis, Lambros Baltsiotis, Eleftheria Mantha. Their works include a larger period of time starting from the annexation of Chameria up to nowadays, however these authors point out some interesting arguments about the 1930s. Tsitselikis and Baltsiotis depict in their works reports on the fundamental rights of Chams during the 1930. They both refer to the reports of Stilianopoulos, the Inspector of Minorities who conveyed the situation of Chams as it had been transformed from wealth landowners to poor individuals left with almost no property, a background which can hardly be found in Greek historiography. Manda shows another perspective of the mistreatment of this minority 1 Considering their overall isolation from the rest of the Greece, since they were neither integrated, nor helped in the enjoyment of their fundamental rights Progressive Academic Publishing, UK Page 59 www.idpublications.org International Journal of Academic Research and Reflection Vol. 4, No. 4, 2016 ISSN 2309-0405 rights focusing on two periods: before 1935 where the relatively liberal relations between Greece and Albania had brought to periods of agreement between the two governments and consequently more facilities for the Chams wellbeing; and after 1935, were the repressive measures applied upon this minority characterized also the entire Greek nation, but in particular these "irredentists"2. The limitations of this topic's literature regard the archival Greek resources of the time, most of which will be evaluated from the secondary resources. METHODOLOGY This research will held a deductive approach through analyzing the historical data based on primary and secondary resouces. Considering the historical timeframe, qualitative methods will be applied like the comparative method and case study method. Due to the sensitivity of this case, several authors tend to have a biased attitude towards the problem. For this reason, it is important to compare and contrast the Albanian and Greek attitude (authors) through primary and secondary resources. The case study method will be applied through focusing on the treatment that League of Nations, and also Greek authorities made to this issue, while neglecting several times the importance of respecting minority's rights in the national and international level. PROPERTY RIGHTS 1930-1938 On February 1930, representatives of the Cham population in Paramithia sent a letter to the General Secretary of the League of Nations, stating the obstacles they were facing in regard to the enjoyment of their property rights. (Societe des Nations, Doc. C.359.1930.I) Despite the Agrarian Law and article 119 of the Greek Constitution, they were expropriated from their lands under 30 hectares, and sometimes even half of hectare. They considered the measures of the Greek government as arbitrary due to the fact that Paramithia was a city, and not a farm, and furthermore, the property taken from a large number of owners was distributed to a smaller number of peasants thus leaving the expropriated landowners without any property3. On the response that the Greek Government sent to the League of Nations, it stated that a representative