Read the historical statements of Greek politicians about Northern Epirus, as compiled in an article by the President of PA.SY.VA. Trikala and Colonel of the Hellenic Army, Vasilios Ziozias.
IOANNIS KAPODISTRIAS October 18/30, 1828 First Governor of Modern Greece. His mother Diamantina, née Gonemi, came from Argyrokastro, where until recent years her ancestral home was, and perhaps still is, preserved. "If we look to history and to the still surviving monuments and to the opinions of travelers and geographers, the extent of this land (the territory of Greece) is defined northward from the mouth of the Boeotian (Aoos) River towards the Adriatic Sea.».
KING CONSTANTINE November 19, 1913 Characteristic is the statement of King Constantine to the Ambassador of Austria-Hungary, to whom he emphasized: "The Epirotes will fight to the end to nullify the unjust decision of (the Florence Protocol), even adding that if things got worse, he would abdicate the throne and be placed at the head of the Northern Epirotic Struggle.»
GEORGE STRAIT February 8, 1914Minister of Foreign Affairs during the government of El. Venizelou. The excerpt is from the response of the Greek Government to the Great Powers' Communication, that Greece leave either the Northern Continent or the Islands of Chios, Mytilini, Samos by March 31, 1914.Παρ’ ολην την οδύνην, την οποίαν δοκιμάζει η βασιλική κυβέρνησις, εκ της υποχρεώσεως να αποχωρισθή χωρών κατά συνείδησιν και κατά πολιτισμόν από χιλιετηρίδων Ελληνικών, αι οποίαι μετά τόσους αιώνας εχαιρέτησαν με αισθήματα ασυγκρατήτου πατριωτισμού την εθνικήν των αποκατάστασιν, η Ελλάς συμμορφουμένη προς τας αποφάσεις των Δυνάμεων, θα δώση διαταγάς εις τα στρατεύματά της να εκκενώσουν εντός της ταχθείσης προθεσμίας τα επιδικασθέντα εις την Αλβανίαν εδάφη».
ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΡΑΛΛΗΣ March 20, 1914 «…Φρονώ, ότι (η επερώτησίς μου) αύτη ανταποκρίνεται εις πόθον ολοκλήρου του Ελληνισμού, διότι δεν είναι δυνατόν την στιγμή κατά την οποίαν ο Ελληνικός Στρατός αποχωρεί εκ των αιματοβρέκτων εκείνων χωμάτων, τα οποία δια πάσης θυσίας ανεκτήσαμε, δεν είναι δυνατόν, λέγω, παρά να συγκινείται δια το πάθημα, το οποίον υφίσταται το Ελληνικόν ΄Εθνος, εκ της τοιαύτης αποχωρήσεως, του στρατού εγκαταλείποντος όπισθεν αυτού εις την τύχην του, πληθυσμούς ακραιφνούς Ελληνικούς υπέρ τας 200.000..
Η επερώτησίς μου εις εν και μόνον αποβλέπει: εις το να απόστείλω τον αδελφικόν ασπασμόν εις τους αγωνιζομένους αδελφούς υπέρ της ιδίας αυτών ελευθερίας, υπέρ της ιδίας των υπάρξεως, και να βεβαιώσω αυτούς, ότι μετά παλμών καρδίας αποβλέπομεν εις την εξέγερσιν αυτών κατά μιάς αδίκου, αλλά και αγρίας καταδίκης, την οποίαν αι πολιτισμέναι Μεγάλαι Δυνάμεις εξήνεγκον κατ’ αυτών".
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ ΒΕΝΙΖΕΛΟΣ – Πρωθυπουργός March 20, 1914 "The Member of Parliament of Arcadia, before taking the step, assured the fighters in Epirus of the sympathy of the Parliament and sent them a fraternal embrace.
That the competitors in Epirus have on their side the sympathies not only of the Greek people, but also of the Greek Race is of course absolutely safe.»
GEORGIOS THEOTOKISMarch 20, 1914 «The race of the competitors today, is a-race. not only of freedom, but of struggle for existence Mr. Prime Minister. I think that after sympathy you should anticipate the fate of the Greek populations condemned by Europe.»
(The above excerpts are taken from the purchases in the Parliament made for the northern Continental Struggle).
ELFTHERIOS VENIZELOS December 2, 1934 «Η τύχη των Ελληνικών κοινοτήτων της Αλβανίας θίγει τόσον βαθέως την ελληνικήν ψυχήν, ώστε εάν προς στιγμήν εγίνετο δεκτή,υπόθεσις απολύτως αδύνατος, κατά την οποίαν ο Διεθνής Οργανισμός της Γενεύης δεν θα κατορθωνε να ασφαλίσει τα μειονοτικά των δικαιωμάτων, η Ελλάς δεν θα εδίσταζε να φθάσει μέχρις αποχωρήσεως από την Κοινωνίαν των Εθνών και καταγγελίας κάθε υποθήκης, η οποία θα ήτο πρόσκομμα προς τούτο, διά να καταφύγει εν ανάγκη εις την χρήσιν της δυνάμεως της προς ανόρθωσιν του παραβιαζομένου δικαίου των εν Ηπείρω ομοεθνών της.»
(The declaration was made in December 1934, because Albania had replaced the Greek schools of the Northern Epirus people with Albanian ones and the Northern Epirus people had denounced Albania to the League of Nations. It was published in the Athens newspaper "Patris" on 2-12-1934).
ALEXANDROS PAPAGOS 1940 -1941 «Northern Epirus is Greek. 1. Historically, because for about 5,000 years it has been an integral part of the Greek body. Because from the prehistoric era of the Sellians or Hellenes or Hellenes, until the medieval era, around the Gjirokastron Despotate, it never wanted to separate its fate from the fate of the Panhellenic people.
2. Geographically, because Acrokeraunia is the westernmost natural border of the Greek mainland, because Strabo already places the northwestern borders of Greece at Oricon, today's Himarra, and Ptolemy calls it "primitive Greece".
3. Intellectually, because the first city that enlightened the post-medieval times with printing and in general with its intellect, from the beginning of the 16th century, is Moschopolis.
4. Spiritually, because her children always turned towards mother Greece, because Sinas from Moschopolis, Arsakis from Premet, the Zappa brothers from Lambovo, Bagas from Korytsan and others gave the honorable fruit of their labor to beautify the capital of the Nation, Athens,
5. Economically, because the entire Epirus, north and south, with Ioannina as its center, constitutes a single geo-economic complex and one part cannot survive without the other, nor the Epirus capital without its natural hinterland.
6. Strategically, because a secure defense Of Northern epirus greece, without possession Of the tepelenio-Kleisouras straits and The mountain range around korytsan, is inconceivable.
7. Legally, its Greekness was recognized by a series of international acts, with the Protocol of Corfu of May 17, 1914, with the invitation of the Great Powers to Greece, as they occupied it in October 1914, with the Titoni-Venizelos Agreement of July 19, 1919, with the decision of the Paris Conference of January 13, 1920.
Finally and above all, Northern Epirus is emotionally Greek, because three times, during a period of thirty years, in 1912, 1914, and 1940, its soil was watered with abundant and precious Greek blood, and its peaks were sown with the sacred bones of Greeks. Northern Epirus was, is and will remain Greek for centuries.»
EMMANUEL TSOUDEROS – Prime Minister November 15, 1941 (Prime Minister of the government in exile, during the Italian-German occupation). "I envision Greece, after the war, greater and prouder, including Northern Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, the Dodecanese and Cyprus.».
(From a speech given in London on 15-11-1941).
GEORGE PAPANDREOU October 18, 1944 «Our goal is not only National Liberation. It is also our National Integration. The Lebanon Agreement, which has been signed by all the parties participating in the Government, defines as the content of our national program "our complete national restoration and the complete security of our new borders.".
Northern Epirus Is an integral part of Greece. And it has recently been consecrated by the tombs of our Heroes. The dodecanese will return to Greece.».
THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE OF GREECE June 20, 1945 (This Committee was formed by six (6) former Prime Ministers and six (6) Ministers of Foreign Affairs). "The tragic turn that events in Northern Epirus have taken in recent years and the sad fate of the Greek population of this region (…) compels us to address the following announcement to the Greek government, in order to draw its undivided attention to this issue. (…..)
Λαμβανομένων υπ’ όψιν των ανωτέρω η Επιτροπή θεωρεί, ότι η μόνη επιβαλλομένη λύσις, όπως τεθή τέρμα εις την αφόρητον αυτήν κατάστασιν θα ήτο, όπως αι Σύμμαχοι Δυνάμεις, προβώσιν εις την κατάληψιν της Βορείου Ηπείρου χρησιμοποιούσαι προς τούτο και Ελληνικάς Δυνάμεις, αποτελούσας τμήμα και τελούσας υπό τας διαταγάς του Συμμαχικού στρατού(….). Μόνον δια τοιαύτης προσωρινής κατοχής, μέχρι του οριστικού καθορισμού των νοτίων συνόρων της Αλβανίας υπό της επικειμένης Συνδιασκέψεως της Ειρήνης, θα ηδύνατο να τεθή τέρμα εις την προεκταθείσαν τραγικήν κατάστασιν εν Βορείω Ηπείρω,(….).
The former Prime Ministers: Gonatas S, Kafantaris G, Plastiras N, Sofoulis Th, Tsouderos Em, Papandreou G. The former Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Alexandris A, Theotokis I, Maximos D, Rentis K. The former Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Dragoumis F, Melas G.»
NIKOS ZACHARIADIS 1945 «We are against any violent change of the 1939 borders from any side. The only democratic principle that we recognize is the principle of self-determination of peoples. This principle applies to the Dodecanese, Cyprus and Northern Epirus. At the same time, we insist on the application of another democratic principle for national minorities, the principle of equality and respect for them.».
KONSTANTINOS KARAMANLIS – President of the Government 1962 «Always following with emotion your struggle for the satisfaction of the inalienable rights of Hellenism in the martyrdom of Northern Epirus and your active interest in the progress of the free part of your glorious homeland, I wholeheartedly wish for the success of the work of your Congress and the realization of the goals of your Federation.»
KING CONSTANTINE February 21, 1965 He visited, with the approval of the government of George Papandreou, the Kakavia outpost and on the pyramid there he wrote in paint: "THE BORDERS OF GREECE DO NOT STOP HERE».
ANDREAS PAPANDREOU February 21, 1984 «At the same time, we should send a message to the Albanian government: There is an umbilical cord that rests on the Nation between the Greeks in the Greek area and the Greeks elsewhere. We will not tolerate violations of the human rights of the Greeks in Albania.
But it should be clear, in all directions, that the Government of Greece has a special commitment and obligation towards Hellenism, whether it is in Turkey, or in Albania, or anywhere on earth. (…) We cannot fail to stand by this Hellenism, which is wintering, and we will judge which are the most appropriate measures in this direction, both at the bilateral level, but also at international levels, such as at the United Nations.".
CHRISTOS SARTZETAKIS – President of the Republic June 9, 1985 «Here in Epirus, there is more pain, since national restoration came much later, only in the days of your fathers, but it was also truncated. That is why your embittered brothers, our brothers who live beyond the borders in the region that is geographically called Northern Epirus, this region is not forgotten by the entire Hellenism.»
