Historical irresponsibility

From: Uran Butka

In the presentation to the media of the project of the Academy of Sciences, "New History of Albanians", leaders and members of the drafting committee expressed the dimensions, criteria and values ​​of this new project. For several years, Albanians interested in history inside and outside Albania, but also researchers, historians, people of culture, etc., have been asking for the rewriting or correction of history, due to a still politicized, distorted and one-sided history. but also because during these three decades of democracy, many new documents have come to light, which necessarily require the revision of history.

Personally, I presented the need for this rewriting in time, therefore I received the news of the preparation of a new history of the Albanians with positivity. However, in these two weeks of media presentation of the project by the Academy of Sciences, I was disappointed, and not only me. In the first outing of the drafting committee, Professor Paskal Milo said that there are plenty of new facts that will be included in the new text.

"We will start with an unknown historical fact, which has to do with Mid'hat Frashëri, who on May 1-3, 1944, met Napoleon Zerva, one of the main people responsible for the extermination of the Cham population. The chairman of the National Front is sitting in talks with him to cooperate during the war".

This so-called "historical fact" constitutes a "discovery" and a "news" for Pascal Milo, while in my opinion, it is a political tendency of his, according to the typology of former communist propaganda, which pre-damaged historical personalities to tarnished and then annihilated.

Why did he have to trumpet this personal bias so urgently, when for a period of two years of study, the members of the drafting commission would face the documents and historical facts and conclude objectively? Why does he declare that "we will start the new history of Albanians with an unknown fact that has to do with Mid'hat Frashëri?" What document did Pascal Milo rely on in order to prioritize this "new historical fact"?

Indeed, it is not an unknown testimony. Filip Liço, author of the book "Problems of Greek-Albanian relations", published in Tirana in 2009, includes in this publication a fragment of the memoirs of Napolon Zerva's secretary, Colonel Th. Sarandis, on a meeting, according to him, between Napoleon Zerva and a group of Albanian nationalists, among them Mid'hat Frashëri, in the village of Voskop in Korça from May 1-3, 1944. So, we are not dealing with any document or fact. historical, but with a memory of a Greek soldier from Zerva. Memoirs cannot be considered as genuine historical documents or facts. Prof. himself. Pascal Milo and prof. Pellumb Xhufi have emphasized several times that history is not made with memories, because they contain subjectivisms or interests.

However, when they are interested, they take the memories and present them as true facts, as in this case. I think that Albanian or foreign politicians, at different times, have made meetings and even agreements with political opponents or enemies, under certain historical conditions and contexts. Why doesn't Paskal Milo talk about a meeting of Enver Hoxha with a German officer during the war? I have read that document and I say that E. Hoxha met, but did not make an agreement with the German officer. This is the truth. I am also aware of meetings between the Albanian right and the Greek right for agreements during the war, although they did not materialize.

I also know that PKS has made meetings, agreements and collaborations with the Greek communist movement. According to a British report "An agreement between the Albanian NK Front and the EAM" (Greek Communist Movement), it is believed to have been signed between the given dates in July or September 1943. Greek EAM officers attached to the Albanian NK Front have been reported to have been: Alexis Janaris, Angelos Doupis, Alias ​​Dhimitriu (military representative) and Kristoferos Prinos. A military agreement between the NC Front and ELAS is reported to have been made during December 1943, when Allied aid to ELAS was cut off. A subsequent meeting between the NC Front and ELAS was reported to have taken place in Nepravishte, during March 1944".

These issues should be analyzed objectively, without the need for political accusations. However, Paskal Milo draws deliberately eclectic conclusions: "Mid'hat Frashëri, on May 1-3, 1944, met Napoleon Zerva, one of the main responsible for the extermination of the Cham population. The chairman of the National Front is sitting in talks with him to cooperate during the war".

First, according to Th. Sarandis, N. Zerva met with a group of nationalists, such as: Midhat Frashëri, Xhafer Dibra, Ali Këlcyra, Suat Asllani, Tane Malishova, Ali Nivica, Shukli Zakomeri, Qazim Prodani, Thoma Orollogai, etc. and not only with the chairman of the National Front, M. Frashëri.

Secondly, the meeting between them, always according to Sarandi, took place on May 1-3, 1944, when it is known that the Zervist operation against the Cham population had not yet started, it began on June 27, 1944 and should never be confused with Mid'hat Frashëri , the greatest defender of the Cham issue, when he was ambassador in Greece or in international forums, as well as in his now published work.

Thirdly, neither Th. Sarandis doesn't say a deal was made, but a meeting. In fact, he does not quote Mid'hat Frasher at all, but only the words of Suat Asllani, who was not part of the National Front.

Fourthly, the author of the book "Problems of Greek-Albanian relations", Filip Liço, argues: "We think that the data presented from the meeting in Voskop of Korça by Th. Sarandis are very truncated. From his assertions that Greece "will unite with Albania in any way", or "we will convey your views to (Zervë), it appears that in that meeting different opinions were expressed regarding Albanian-Greek cooperation", but no deal was made. Meeting does not mean agreement or cooperation.

Pascal Milo and Pëllumb Xhufi even connect the "meeting" with Zerva, the "exterminator of the Cham population", deliberately adding this tail for effect. It is known who N. Zervasi was, who committed genocide against the Cham population of Greece, but the meeting with M. Frashëri and the representatives of the Albanian right have nothing to do with this genocide.

Dr. Ermal Frashëri, a graduate of Harvard University and lecturer at this university, opposes these insinuations: "Milo creates a sensation with Mithat Frashëri. He spoke about Mithat Frashëri and Zerva without giving the context. Speaking about a meeting, without giving the reasons and circumstances, Milo created insinuations about Mithat Frashëri".

Starting from this fact, but also from the media appearances of the leaders of the History Commission, I think that the project of the Academy of Sciences for the new History is outdated, an official model that has already failed. Ideation, conception, leadership, financing, publication, as well as the selection of historians participating in the drafting commission, was done by the Academy itself according to its preferences, without competing projects. Although it is said publicly that it is not an official project, they themselves reveal the opposite. Historian Paskal Milo claims: "The project is led and monitored by the Academy of Sciences", while historian Marenglen Kasmi says more bluntly: "There must be an official version of history and they do this no better than the state institutions!".

As can be clearly seen, a totalitarian concept of history. It has already been proven that all official publications of the "History of Albania" have been highly politicized and historically distorted, because they were guided and created by this principle.

Director and historian of the project, prof. Pascal Milo and especially prof. Pëllumb Xhufi, etc., have witnessed during these three decades an obvious and harmful politicization in dealing with the events of the period of Independence, the Second World War and the post-war period. "Like Paskal Milo and Pëllumb Xhufi who have shown political protagonism at different times", emphasizes Ermal Frashëri. But even during these days of the presentation of the Academy's project, they have demonstrated this, dictating their views and mindsets, that is, trying to put the dots on the i's on historical events and personalities.

Dr. Ermal Frashëri, involved in this debate, gives the arguments why the new text "will not produce anything new. It will be an official history, which has the color of totalitarian mentality... The very officialism of scientific work is the antithesis of science. The seal of the Academy of Sciences is not a shield for history. Wrong approach and evil organization".

In the televised debate on "ABC-News", dt. 13. 5.2021, the moderator Endri Xhafo asks the presenters of the project: Was there a civil war in the years 1943-44?

Skender Gjinushi: "There was no civil war".

So, the president of the Academy of Sciences, the owner of this project, put his stamp on this very debatable phenomenon, instead of saying: historians of the commission will decide this on the basis of documents. It is known that in these 30 years of democracy, hundreds of publications have been published documenting the existence of the civil war in Albania after the communists unilaterally broke the Mukje Agreement. Historian Beqir Meta, director of the Institute of History, has publicly affirmed the existence of the civil war and its consequences. Let's remember his debate at the National Museum with President Moisiu.

Historian Ana Lalaj, who is not part of the Commission, contradicted Gjinushi and the others, saying that this war started after the decision of the KPS at the Labinot Conference, September 1943, where the armed war against the National Front and any tendency was declared other.

Consequently, there was a civil war between the communist and nationalist forces, documented by the documents of the State Archives, the Army Archives, the Archives of the Ministry of the Interior of Albania, the archives of Britain, Germany, the USA, Yugoslavia, etc. Almost all the British officers who were attached to Albania during the war, about 150, have affirmed and confirmed the civil war, as well as foreign historians such as R. Bejl, B. Fisher, etc. But it is enough to read the military reports of the commanders and commissars of the divisions, brigades and battalions of the National Army, such as Mehmet Shehu, Dali Ndreu, Shefqet Peçi and many others, to understand the authentic truth and the tragic dimensions of the civil war in Albania and the crimes of communists during the war. It is enough to mention the civil war in the Great Highlands, December 1944-February 1945, a frontal civil war for a month and a half without interruption, in which divisions and brigades of the National Army took part, which attacked militarily with fire and iron and where they were killed with hundreds of warriors and mountaineers from both sides, 34 houses were burned and hundreds of mountaineers were shot and imprisoned, hundreds of families were interned in internment camps all over Albania.

Enverist historians have hidden and still hide the civil war today, in order to raise and protect the myth and glorification of the NC War and the figure of Enver Hoxha, denying and muddying the war and other factors of the anti-fascist war. I want to remind them that the nationalists started the war against the Italians as early as April 7, 1939, that the biggest battle against them, the battle of Gjormi, December 1, 1942-January 1943, where Colonel Klementi was also killed, was fought by the The National Front of Hysni Lepenica, Skënder Muço and Isuf Luzaj, along with Neki Ymeraj's partisan squad; that the first war against the Italians immediately after the Mukje Conference, August 4, 1843, was fought by the united nationalist and partisan forces commanded by Abaz Kupi, where the Italian captain Scampa was also killed; that the first major battle against the Germans was fought by the nationalist detachments of Safet Butka on August 13, 1943 at the Barmash bends (according to the Bill McLean-Safet Butka agreement, August 8, 1943), a battle in which the British Major David Smail also participated, where 25 Germans were killed and many military vehicles were destroyed (see D. Smajl, "On duty in Albania"). remembering that she was Italian, and ran away, leaving the whole area without protection, and the Germans burned Barmash in revenge, killed 1943 innocent victims in Borovo, etc.). Also, we mention the battles of Muharrem Bajraktar against the Germans, as the communists fell behind his wings; the wars of Gani Kryeziu against the Germans, etc. However, these new documents extracted from the archives after the overthrow of the communist dictatorship do not mention historians Pëllumb Xhufi, Marenglen Kasmi, etc., to show that only the National Liberation Front led by E. Hoxha fought, while Balli and Legaliteti cooperated with the invaders.

I value the NC War against Nazi-fascist invaders, the blood of partisan martyrs for freedom; I also appreciate the struggle of other anti-fascist factors, such as the National Front, and the blood of nationalist martyrs for freedom and ethnic Albania. There were cooperative elements with the occupiers from both sides. I single out the collaborationist governments under the Italian occupation (1939) and the regency under the German occupation (1943-1944), which in my opinion are aligned in the wrong and reprehensible historical direction. The cooperation of PKSH and E. Hoxha with the Yugoslav and Russian communists during and after the war to the detriment of Albania was also of this nature.

To the journalist Xhafo's question, how do you value Enver Hoxha, the historians answered:

Pellumb Xhufi: "There have been good and bad".

Paskal Milo: "Positive during the war, dictator after the war".

Ana Lalaj: "Enveri, the blackest face, during and after the war, ordered the killing of people, not only political opponents, but also anti-fascists within the NC movement, such as Mustafa Gjinishi, Zai Fundo, etc. E.vHoxha tells the British representative Palmer: They killed my close friend, Mustafa Gjinishi, when Enveri had ordered Gjinishi's murder himself. Enver was a tool of the Yugoslavs".

In my opinion, individuals, but also historical characters, should be presented in their complexity and not black or white. But in their final assessment, what is dominant in their work must be weighed. Dominant for Enver Hoxha during the war was terrorism and demagoguery, the fight to take power with violence and blood (as he himself claims) and after the war - the most ferocious communist dictator, to keep power through a more extreme dictatorship than in all countries of the communist East.

However, the leaders of the drafting commission of the "New History of Albanians" judge differently. In the televised conversation on May 17, in the confrontation between Pëllumb Xhufi, Marenglen Kasmit, Dritan Egro and Erald Kapri, different opinions were expressed about the History project, about Enver Hoxha, and about Mid'hat Frashëri.

The researcher Erald Kapri presented his argument that "the project of the Academy, directed by Skënder Gjinushi, is of the Soviet type. There is no alternative, there is no competitive procedure. The new history should be made by young, non-ideological researchers and historians, there should be researchers from the diaspora, as well as foreign historians. We need a new model".

But the professors ask him:

Kasmi: "What are you discussing? Do you have reviews for your publications? You don't have!"

Eraldi: "Are you questioning my education? I have published 6 scientific articles and two books. For the 'King Bird' study, I had Roderick Bailey's review".

Dritan Egro: "We have the same model of writing history, as during communism, when the ideological line was determined and historians were obliged to fill it with facts. All the publications of the history of Albania until now have been official and politicized. This is happening even now. It was said that we will start the new history of the Albanians with Mid'hat Frashëri who had a meeting with Napoleon Zerva, an Albanian originally from Suli... The meetings should be seen in their time and context. Even Ismail Qemali made an agreement with the Greek side, for a single Greek-Albanian state in 1907. This is documented, I have the document".

However, Pëllumb Xhufi, instead of historical arguments, behaves with a lot of "tact": "It would be good to deal with the Ottoman registers to become very popular, forgetting to say to himself: "It would be it was good, Pigeon, to deal only with the history of the Middle Ages, which you know how to do well, than with the War"

Specifically, Pëllumb Xhufi goes astray when he talks about an "agreement" of Mid'hat Frashëri with the Greek right, connecting this with the letter of Mid'hat Frashëri, dated May 10, 1944, addressed to Dhimitër Falos (journalist, writer, well-known translator , editor of the magazine "Bota e Re" from Korça, who was shot by the communists without trial in 1944), representative of the National Front, in the talks with the Greek right for the realization of a Greek-Albanian Balkan connection and beyond. In this guiding letter, M. Frashër's concern is expressed for the future of the Balkans and Albania, endangered by Slavo-communism, considered at that moment as a major danger, when Nazi Germany was on the verge of withdrawal and defeat.

Under these conditions, Mid'hati sought a Balkan confrontation, expressed in a Greek-Albanian-Turkish alliance in a federative form after the war, "so that in the future it can face the Slavic danger, which threatens both sides and the danger that comes from the other side of the Adriatic", noted Mid'hat Frashëri in point 8 of the letter. I have published this letter, which Pëllumb Xhufi has continuously considered as an act of treason. As can be easily ascertained, this proposal by M. Frashëri proves the opposite. We are quoting the points (conditions) proposed by Mid'hat Frashëri:

- Since the question of connection in a federative form depends on the possibilities of the post-war, therefore both sides take the commitment from today that they are available for the realization of this project. (Completed in handwriting by Mid'hat Frashëri himself: let's try).

- The basis of the relationship will be the complete independence and sovereignty of both parties.

- The Greek-Albanian borders will be and will be solemnly declared those of 1939.

- We make non-aggression, defensive and offensive alliances, as well as military ties.

– Close economic treaties between both parties.

- We will try to make this connection as long as a Greek-Turkish-Albanian connection.

- In case of war, the General Military Command will be handed over to Greece.

- As a result of this agreement, both parties will appear before the Peace Conference as two parties with a single interest, supporting the policy of friend-friend. Greece will commit to support the Albanian claims for Kosovo and the side of the Dibra, so that in the future it can face the Slavic danger, which threatens both sides, and the danger that comes from the other side of the Adriatic. (Completed by hand by Mid'hat Frashëri himself: the claims for Kosovo and Dibra are based on the Atlantic card).

- If the issue of minorities is discussed verbally, this can be more of a means of rapprochement between the two sides than a means of separation. For your own use, keep in mind that minorities should look carefully at both sides and have their rights"

Let's analyze these negotiation points in turn.

Mid'hat Frashëri put independence and sovereignty first: The basis of the connection will be the completeness of both sides, which is fulfilled by the next point of the proposal: The Greek-Albanian borders will be and will be solemnly declared those of 1939 ″.

This historical and political condition was very important, especially for Albanian-Greek relations, because it excluded all the intentions and efforts of Greek national chauvinism that claimed and still claims the so-called Vorio-Epirus.

What is Pëllumb Xhufi talking about?: "With this article, Midhat Frashëri sold Kosovo and Chameria?! There can be no greater absurdity! Even more so from a historian. It is universally known that M. Frashëri, not only in this document, but all of his works, has dedicated to Kosovo and Chameria: "The Issue of Epirus", "Albanians and Slavs", "Albanian Reclamations", "The Chama Issue", "Relationships Albanian and Greek", "Albanian-Serbian relations", etc., as well as defended with historical arguments at the Peace Conference in Paris and the League of Nations", as well as in articles published in the European and Albanian press, especially in the years 1921-22 when he denounced the Serbian massacres in Kosovo and Diber and in 1923-1926, when he was ambassador to Greece, he denounced the violence, discrimination and displacement of the Cham population worldwide, which Mid'hati managed to stop with great diplomatic efforts.

As a connoisseur and visionary of national and international politics, Mid'hati decided the possible agreement with Greece at the European level when he proposed: As a result of this agreement, both parties will appear before the Peace Conference as two parties with one interest, supporting the friend-friend policy. Greece will commit to support the Albanian claims for Kosovo and the side of the Dibra, so that in the future it can face the Slavic danger, which threatens both sides, and the danger that comes from the other side of the Adriatic" (point 8).

While also in the memorandum presented to the Peace Conference in Paris, on July 23, 1946, Mid'hat Frashëri asked the Peace Conference, in the name of the high principles of national and international law, to be included within the independent and peace-loving state of Albania, the Albanian provinces of Kosovo and Chameria, unjustly separated from the body of Albania with serious consequences.

It was very important that Mid'hat Frashëri proposed that Turkey be included in this project, to turn it into a wider and stronger Balkan alliance.

So, Mid'hati, on the one hand, tried to neutralize the previous commitments of Greek politics regarding "Vorio-Epirus", on the other hand, conditioned the possible agreement with the promise that Greece would support the Albanian claims for Kosovo and the side of the Dibra (marked in Mid'hat's handwriting: based on the Atlantic Charter). He foresaw the danger coming from Slavo-communism, as well as the danger coming from the imperialisms beyond the Adriatic, to jointly face the dangers both from the East and from the West.

In other points, Mid'hati instructed: "To make non-aggression alliances" between Albania and Greece as two independent and sovereign states (point 4). Also, "To make close economic treaties between the two parties" - a valuable proposal for the economic progress of the two countries (item 5).

As a European pianist of modern times, Mid'hat Frashëri speaks of minorities as a connecting bridge between two countries: "The issue of minorities can be more a means of rapprochement between the two sides than a means of separation. For your own use, keep in mind that minorities should look carefully at both sides and have their rights" (point 9).

Point 8 was debatable: "In case of war, the General Military Command will be placed in the hands of Greece". In my opinion, M. Frashër's opinion is as contemporary as it is playful, that in case of another war, that is, of a possible foreign invasion on the Balkans (the Slavic-Communist danger, as it happened), the General Command of was left to Greece.

He wants Turkey to be included in the Balkan alliance, but not in the command, because it could be misinterpreted as a reminiscence of the old Ottoman policy in the Balkans. Albania did not have a national army and was in a devastating civil war. The speculation about the dangers of a Greek military command was excluded from other points of the draft agreement, but also from international treaties to which Greece, Albania, Turkey, etc. also adhered.

Xhufi says: "Mid'hat Frashëri made an agreement with the Greek side for a Greek-Albanian state(!), where Albania would be a province of Greece, where the ministers would be the Greek Minister of War and the Greek Minister of the Interior ...".

First, no agreement was made, because the Greek side, it seems, did not accept Mid'hat Frashër's conditions. There was never a proposal or agreement for a Greek-Albanian state, as Xhufi claims. Mid'hati declared in the first point of his proposal the complete independence and sovereignty of the two sides and the Greek-Albanian borders will be and will be solemnly declared those of 1939: that is, an alliance in the future between the two states of independent.

Pëllumb Xhufi's other delusion, of course from ignorance, is when he declares that Mid'hat Frashëri traveled to Greece twice in 1948, to make the agreement with Greece. At that time, Mid'hati was a political immigrant in Italy and was assigned by the Anglo-American Allies to establish the "Free Albania" Committee. He made the trip to Greece (July 1948) to consult with Abaz Ermenji and the Albanian emigrants in the Lavros camp, regarding the criteria of the committee, the participants and the trip to Turkey (July 31, 1948), to the Albanian colony of Istanbul, to consulted with the Albanians there (the documents prove this).

Mid'hati wrote from Istanbul to Abaz Kupi in 1948: "A joint committee would be an invaluable tool to regain national rights. But don't you think that the first condition of a body that would take over such a burden should be formed by people, on whom no stains and guilt against the motherland should weigh. You know very well that Albania suffered the disaster of April 7 not only from foreign military power, but also from the betrayal of some Albanians, who with full freedom and conscience prepared the conspiracy against the homeland and acted as vanguard of the occupying powers..."

Thus, according to this criterion of Mid'hat Frashër, those leaders of the Independent Bloc or the National Front of Legality, who had compromised with the Nazi-fascist invaders, could not participate in the "Free Albania" Committee, even though they were staunch anti-communists such as: Mustafa Kruja, Ernest Koliqi, Gjon Marka Gjoni, Shefqet Verlaçi, Xhaferr Deva, Kadri Cakrani, etc., while Mid'hat Frashëri chose Said Kryeziu from the prominent anti-fascist Kryeziu family as a representative of Kosovo in the committee. The very fact that the Western Allies chose Mid'hat Frashër to head the "Free Albania" Committee (1949) is very meaningful.

I have nothing personal with prof. Pigeon Xhufin and others, I have had debates on the story and everyone has presented their opinions. Normal! But now that Pëllumb Xhufi is the director of the project of the new history of Albanians, I cannot remain silent and not oppose his hypotheses influencing the drafting commission, but also harmful to social hygiene. The injustice of history has killed the Albanian more than the bullet.