Souliotes

Souliotes(Suliotët) were a warlike albanian community who became famous across Albania and Greece for the heroic resistance against the local Ottoman Pashalik of Janina, ruled by Ali Pasha, an Albanian brigand.After their defeat in 1803, the Souliotes were forced to move to other parts of Greece, and many of them later became active in the Greek War of Independence starting in 1821, under leaders such as Markos Botsaris(Marko Boçari) and Kitsos Tzavelas(Kiço Xhavella).The Souliotes originally spoke their own sub-branch of Cham Albanian dialect and eventually became bilingual in Albanian and Greek. After their assimilation, a language shift to Greek occurred, while Souliotic became an extinct dialect.Souliotes were named after the village of Souli(Maja), a mountain settlement in Thesprotia,which derives from the Albanian word suli, meaning "mountain summit". Souli is a community originally settled by albanian refugees who were hunted by the Ottomans in Paramythia, Thesprotia, Greece.In early modern times, it was inhabited by about 12,000 Souliotes.After their expulsion, the population of the region was significantly reduced. In the last Greek census of 2001, the population of the community was 748.The seat of the community is in Samoniva. The core of Souli were four villages namely: Souli(mountain summit), Kiafa or Qafa(gorge), Navariko and Samoniva, which are believed to have been founded some time around 1600 AD.The Souliotes established an autonomous confederacy dominating a large number of neighbouring villages in the remote mountainous areas of Epirus, where they could successfully resist Ottoman rule.They were organized into so-called Faras (in Albanian for:Seed or Clan). These four big villages united and a council was formed, from the heads of the biggest clans. These met all decisions together and also directed with disputes and criminal offenses. There were no written laws, but it was decided after the customs. To each other one finds a so similar law pattern of clan and her relations also in the Albanian Kanun.. At the height of its power, in the second half of the 18th century, the Souliot state is estimated to have comprised up to 12,000 inhabitants in about 60 villages.




Wars
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The Ottoman Turks attempted numerous times to conquer the territories of the Souliot Confederacy. The first conflicts between the Souliotes and the Ottomans date back to 1635, if not earlier. In 1731, Hadji Ahmed, pasha of Ioannina, received orders from the Sultan to subdue the Souliotes and he lost his army of 8000 men. In 1754, Mustafa Pasha lost his army to the Souliotes too. In the following years, Mustafa Kokka came in with 4000 soldiers and Bekir Pasha with 5000. In the end, both failed to defeat the Souliotes.In 1759, Dost Bey, commander of Delvina, was defeated by the Souliotes and Mahmoud Aga of Margariti, the governor of Arta, suffered the same fate in 1762. In 1772, Suleyman Tsapari attacked the Souliotes with his army of 9000 men and was defeated. In 1775, Kurt Pasha sent a military expedition to Souli that ultimately failed. When Ali became pasha of Ioannina in 1788, he tried for 15 years to destroy the Souliotes. In 1792, his army of 3000 was eliminated. Although he had hostages (such as Fotos Tzavellas who was the son of Lambros Tzavellas), the Souliotes fought bravely under the command of Georgios Botsaris, Lambros Tzavellas, and Dimos Drakos. Even women under the command of Moscho (Lambros Tzavellas' wife) participated in the battle. Eventually, 2000 Ottomans and 74 Souliotes were killed.
The Souliotes obtained all of their supplies from Parga, and also acquired support from Europe. Russia and France provided weapons and ammunition to them. For the European powers, the Souliotes were seen as an instrument to weaken the Ottoman Empire. When the British politicians turned to the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen their forces against Napoleon, the weapons and ammunition supplies were interrupted. Without support from outside and wearied by years of siege, the unity of the Souliot clans started to split. The Botsaris family for political reasons left Souli and parleyed with Ali Pasha. However, the remaining Souliotes in Souli gathered together in Saint George's Orthodox Church and decided either to win or die. The remaining Souliotes numbered at no more than 2000 armed men.The Souliotes won all of the decisive battles, which forced Ali Pasha to build castles in neighboring villages so as to prepare himself for a long siege. The Souliotes stayed without food and ammunition, but they could have held longer if not for a traitor named Pelios Gousis who helped the Ottomans to enter into the village of Souli. The Souliotes withdrew to the fortresses of Kiafa and Kughi, where they fought their last battle on December 7, 1803. They eventually capitulated and Ali Pasha promised to release them with all of their property and even weapons to the Ionian Islands.On December 12, 1803, the Souliotes left Souli towards the coast of Epirus. A monk named Samuel remained in Kughi and set fire to the powder magazines with a massive explosion that cost him his life. In the meantime, the Ottoman army attacked the other Souliotes, neglecting the promises Ali Pasha had made to them. In a famous incident on December 16, 1803, the so-called Dance of Zalongo, 22 Souliot women were trapped by enemy troops and committed suicide to avoid capture. According to tradition they did this by jumping off a steep cliff one after the other while dancing and singing. Other Souliotes also reached the harbor of Parga, which was under Russian control at the time. The Souliotes either settled down in Parga or set off for the Ionian Islands.Many Souliotes entered service with the Russians on Corfu, where they became an important component of the Legion of Light Riflemen. This was a regiment of irregulars organized by the Russians among mainland refugees.The Souliotes participated in campaigns in Naples in 1805, Tenedos in 1806, Dalmatia in 1806, and during the defense of Lefkada in 1807.With the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and the détente between Russia and France, the Russian forces withdrew from the Ionian Islands and the French occupied them. The Souliotes and other components of Russian units entered service with the French in a unit known as the Albanian Regiment (Régiment Albanaise). During the Anglo-French struggle over the Ionian Islands between 1810 and 1814, the Souliotes in French service faced off against other refugees organized by the British into the Greek Light Infantry Regiment. Since the Souliotes were mostly garrisoned on Corfu, which remained under French control until 1814, very few entered British service.The British disbanded the remnants of the Souliot Regiment in 1815 and subsequently decommissioned their own two Greek Light Regiments. This left many of the Souliotes and other military refugees without livelihoods. In 1817, a group of veterans of Russian service on the Ionian Islands traveled to Russia to see if they could get patents of commission and employment in the Russian army. While unsuccessful in this endeavor, they joined the Philike Etaireia ("Company of Friends"), the secret society founded in Odessa in 1814 for the purpose of liberating Greek lands from Ottoman rule. They returned to the Ionian Islands and elsewhere and began to recruit fellow veterans into the Philike Etaireia, including a number of Souliot leaders.When there were clear signs for the beginning of a Greek insurrection against Turkish rule, Ali Pasha saw an opportunity to make Epirus into an independent state. In 1820, he called upon his albanian compatriots for help, and they returned to the mainland to support their former enemy against the Sultan. Although there was a short-lived coalition with Ali Pasha, this coalition would soon be terminated when the Greek War of Independence broke out, on March 25, 1821.Such were the people of Souli, Christian Albanians who were never fully subdued till 1803, when they were overcome by Ali of Joannina. This was a conquest of Christians by Mahometans ; but it was not a conquest of Christians by Turks. It was in truth a conquest of Albanians by Albanians. Ali was a cruel and faithless tyrant ; still he was not a Turk, but an Albanian ; he was a rebel against the Sultan, and he was so far an indirect friend of the Sultan's enemies..The Souliotes actively participated in the uprising fighting in several conflicts. On the other hand, Ali Pasha's plans failed and he was killed in 1822.The Souliote leaders Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavellas became distinguished generals of the Independence War. However, several Souliotes lost their lives, especially when defending the city of Messolongi. Until 1909, the Turks kept a military base on the fortress of Kiafa. Finally in 1913, during the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans lost Epirus and the southern part of the region became part of the Greek state.