university of nova gorica graduate school contested spaces and ...

After 1912 the state-border between Albania and Greece was a matter of numerous national
and international negotiations and disputes. The “provisional” government of Albania aimed
to join parts of the Epirus with Albania, while the Greek political leadership insisted on
annexing the area to Greece (Winnifrith 2002: 130). On the Municipality of Himarë/Himara
and Himara Community website the administrators over shaded the history section about the
proclamation of the Albanian independency in 1912, with a discussion about the local hero
Spiro Milo. He is described as a brave warrior with a great fighting spirit, who liberated
Himarë/Himara and Albania from the Ottoman dominancy and reassured the autonomy of the
Himarë/Himara area.
On the 5 November 1912 Major Spyros Spyrosmilos from Himara in charge of a force
of Himaran volunteers and Cretan gendarmes made a landing liberating Himara. Over
the following days he would liberate the entire country [sic.] (www.himara.eu).
Frashëri’s essay mentions Spiro Milo too. But he does not describe him as the liberator of
Himarë/Himara but as a skilful and hardened soldier of Naples. About Spiro Milo, he writes
the following:
One of the officers of the regiment was the captain Spiro Milo, a man of Himarë, who
graduated from the Military Academy in Naples and received an award from the army
of Naples. Spiro did not learn Greek very well. After he finished his studies he went to
Greece, together with some of other volunteers from Himarë, Dhermi, Palasa and other
villages in the neighbourhood. After some years of fighting, Milo returned to his natal
village, where he was receiving a Greek pension along with the rest of his colleagues
who served the army. Only a few men returned to their natal place. Those who
returned were awarded by the Greek army. For some period Himarë was a place where
you could hear three languages: Albanian as the native language, Greek and Italian as
the second language (Frashëri 2005: 94, translations mine).
In his respond to Frashëri local intellectual Jorgji brings forth the book of memories of
Eqerem Bej of Vlorë, Memories (Kujtime), which were published after his death. Jorgji
quotes the treatise written by Eqerem Bej of Vlorë, a son from the aristocratic family and a
good colleague of Ismael Qemali. Eqerem remembers Spiro Milo with the following
sentences:
Meanwhile, I wrote another letter to the commandant of the Greek army in Himara,
Colonel Spiro Milo, who without any remorse called himself the leader of Himara
(Archegos tis Himara). I knew him personally very well and his clan that still lives in
Himara and I can affirm that we had a kind of friendship. We were divided by the
political viewpoints and there we were opponents. Spiro Milo’s point of view is on the
side of Greek nationalist for whom the religious backwardness always tried to join
Himara to Greece. On the other side I was Albanian nationalist, but at the same time
even a loyal follower of the Ottoman – Turkish state’s principle. Despite this, I can say
that I respected Milo’s family, because they were known for their loyalty towards their
friends, bravery and persistence. I knew very well that my letter in these circumstances
143