Open Letter to the Government of the Hellenic Republic
To the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis
To the President of the Hellenic Republic
To the Hellenic Parliament
Your Excellencies,
Inspired by the moral courage of figures such as Émile Zola, who famously denounced institutional injustice in France through his “J’accuse,” and by the investigative spirit of journalist Albert Londres, who exposed forced labor camps in French Guiana, I write to you today with a solemn appeal:
To acknowledge and issue a formal apology for the grave crimes committed by the Greek state and its military forces against the Albanian population of Chameria during the years 1944–1945.
For more than 80 years, the Hellenic Republic has remained silent about the ethnic cleansing, mass killings, and forced expulsions carried out in the region of Chameria. Rather than acknowledging this historical injustice, successive Greek governments have sought to suppress, marginalize, and erase the Cham issue from public discourse — including through educational curricula and institutional narratives.
Approximately 3,000 innocent Albanian civilians were murdered solely on the basis of their ethnic and religious identity as Muslim Chams. Tens of thousands were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in what constituted a deliberate campaign[1] of expulsion and dispossession.
Documentary evidence of these atrocities is preserved in the archives of Albania, Greece, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and other sources. While British archival material is now accessible, many of the eyewitnesses have since passed away. Nevertheless, photographic evidence and official reports remain, though they were not publicized at the time due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the Communist regime in Albania.
This chapter of history has been obscured from the collective memory of generations of Greek youth, denied access to the truth about what transpired in Chameria. Yet history cannot be undone, silenced, or negotiated.
It is deeply regrettable that the Greek government continues to engage in political and economic pressure to prevent the discussion of this issue — a reality so severe that even the term “Chameria” has been systematically removed from textbooks in Albania.
For generations to plead for the right to remember their own history is a stain on our collective conscience. The truth is not a privilege to be granted, but a duty to be honored. This chapter of our past demands to be documented, taught, and mourned – not as a favor, but as an act of justice. The question before you is not if history will be written, but by whom: will you be its chronicler, or its reluctant footnote? The archives stand open, survivors’ voices are on record, and the world observes – awaiting your response. History will judge those who chose silence over soul.[2]
Let it be clear: the Chams are not calling for border changes or irredentist claims.
They are calling for recognition, for dignity, and for the right to return to their homes — a right that international norms and human rights instruments recognize and protect.
The continued application of wartime legislation, the invocation of “Megali Idea,” and the persistent refusal to engage with this historical truth stand in stark contrast to the values of European democracy and reconciliation.
It is important to underline that Albanians hold in high regard the culture and civilization of Greece, and cherish the shared historical ties between the two peoples — particularly the role of the Arvanites in the Greek War of Independence, a contribution rarely paralleled by others.
However, the silence and avoidance exhibited by successive Greek and Albanian governments have delayed the healing of this wound. Many Albanian policymakers naively assumed that integration into the European Union would, over time, foster recognition and dialogue with our Greek neighbors. That hope has thus far not materialized.
True reconciliation and partnership cannot be built on denial and historical amnesia. As the world has witnessed in numerous instances, nations that have committed grave crimes have also demonstrated moral leadership by formally acknowledging and apologizing for the suffering inflicted.
History teaches us that true leaders confront the past. President Chirac apologized to French Jews for Vichy’s role in Nazi deportations. President Macron acknowledged France’s colonial atrocities in Algeria, Madagascar, Cameroon, and the slavery endured by Haitians. In every case, apology strengthened democracy. Why, then, does this logic stop at our border?[3]
The same moral responsibility was assumed by German presidents and chancellors, by President Biden with respect to Native Americans, by the Dutch government for its colonial-era massacres in Indonesia, and by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which laid the foundation for a peaceful transition from apartheid.
These examples aren’t anomalies; they’re the global norm for democracies reckoning with their past. By contrast, authoritarian regimes (Pinochet, Franco, Stalin) refused accountability – and history branded them forever as conscienceless.[4]
But Greece is not such a regime. As a democratic republic governed by the rule of law, the Hellenic Republic must rise to the level of democratic maturity demonstrated by others and express a clear, unequivocal apology for the massacres and mass expulsions in Chameria.
The pretext that “some Chams collaborated with Fascist forces” does not withstand historical scrutiny, particularly when the Greek government of the time itself installed a collaborationist regime under Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis, aligned with Nazi Germany.
Such arguments do not justify collective punishment or ethnic cleansing.
It is time for the President of Greece, for you, Mr. Prime Minister Mitsotakis — whose father once publicly acknowledged the existence of the Cham issue during a visit to Albania — and for the members of the Hellenic Parliament, to have the courage to confront this dark chapter and to address it with truth, transparency, and a sense of historic responsibility.
In the spirit of reconciliation, I call for the establishment of a joint commission of historians from Albania and Greece, under the auspices of the respective Academies of Sciences, to document and study this tragedy and present its findings to the public. Following this disclosure, the Government of Greece will have a clear road to issue a formal, state-level apology acknowledging the ethnic cleansing, massacres, and forced expulsions of the Cham population.
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I also urge the Government of Albania, including the President, Prime Minister, and Parliament, to formally and institutionally request such an apology if the Greek side continues to delay it. The Cham issue is a matter of national identity, historical justice, and cultural heritage, and as such, it cannot be severed from the collective consciousness of the Albanian people.
As philosopher Paul Ricoeur eloquently stated, “Forgiveness is a response to the inescapable pain of memory. Memory preserves the wounds and injustices of the past. In this sense, forgiveness and memory allow us to understand the crimes committed against the dead.”
Forgiveness does not erase the crime, but it allows the past to be addressed with equanimity and progress. By forgiving, we free the future from the weight of unresolved pain and we lay the foundation for a lasting peace rooted in mutual respect and historical clarity.
Your choices today will define not only the textbooks of tomorrow but the souls of your own children and grandchildren. Will they inherit a nation proud of its moral clarity, or one forever trapped in the shadow of cover-ups? The world remembers Germany’s reckoning, Japan’s apologies, and South Africa’s truth commission. It will equally remember those who chose silence over soul-searching.[6]
As someone who has traveled extensively throughout Greece, who has many Greek friends, who deeply respects Greek literature, philosophy, music, and cinema, and who has published works in the Greek language in both Athens and Thessaloniki, I speak not out of hostility, but with hope — hope that the country of Socrates, Plato, Kazantzakis, Ritsos, Theodorakis, and Mercouri will find the moral courage to recognize a truth long denied.
My own mother and her sister were denied entry to their hometown of Filat in Chameria — simply because they were born there. This is not only unjust, but profoundly inhumane.
The ruins of once-thriving towns are the last witnesses to lives once lived. Every cracked house holds the echoes of what was lost. The silence that fills these streets isn’t natural; it’s the result of a story unfinished, unspoken, and unresolved. And in that unresolved silence, we ask those that shaped this history: what responsibility will you take?
You stand at the threshold of this history. Turn back, and the shadows will forever bear your name. Step forward, and the light of truth will illuminate not just the past, but your place in it.[7]
With deep respect,
Luan Rama
Writer, Former Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to France, Portugal, and Monaco
📧 Email: ramaluan70@gmail.com📍 Address: 6, Rue Alfred Durand-Claye, 75014 Paris, France