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I. Keeping the old venomes.<br />

II. Religion: complete freedom <strong>and</strong> keeping the wealth <strong>of</strong> churches.<br />

III. Language: obligatory Albanian language as <strong>of</strong>ficial language while the Greek<br />

language was taught freely as the second language if the people express such<br />

will.<br />

IV. Military service: like in other countries training should be obligatory to take<br />

three times monthly. Military service for Himara area started from the river<br />

Shkumbin in the south. In the period <strong>of</strong> war these rules should be followed by<br />

everybody.<br />

V. Prefecture: the prefect <strong>and</strong> the police commissioner <strong>of</strong> Himara area should be<br />

Christians but not Himariot.<br />

VI. Magistrate: a small magistrate should have a major who is Christian but not<br />

Himariot.<br />

VII. Deputy: regardless <strong>of</strong> the number <strong>of</strong> the population the people <strong>of</strong> Himara have<br />

a right to be represented by two deputy members in the parliament.<br />

VIII. Amnesty: to keep in mind the situation <strong>of</strong> abnormal times when the area was<br />

apologized <strong>of</strong> penalty.<br />

IX. Outline: to appoint the general commission <strong>of</strong> the inhabitants.<br />

X. The delegates should be appointed by the people <strong>of</strong> Himara.<br />

Vlorë, June 2, 1921.<br />

The delegate, Spiro Koleka (Rusha 2001: 121-123, translations mine).<br />

Some dem<strong>and</strong>s presented by Koleka in the parliament <strong>of</strong> Vlorë are also mentioned in the<br />

proceedings <strong>of</strong> the Pan-Himariote Conference in Tirana which was organised in December,<br />

2005:<br />

It is the government <strong>of</strong> Sulejman <strong>of</strong> Delvina which first took into consideration the people<br />

<strong>of</strong> Himara. He used the mediation <strong>of</strong> a distinguished man <strong>of</strong> Himara Spiro Koleka (the<br />

first) who drew the attention <strong>of</strong> the Albanian government by initiating the agreement<br />

between the local people <strong>and</strong> the government. Upon this agreement Koleka dem<strong>and</strong>ed the<br />

rights noted bellow <strong>and</strong> described in the book <strong>of</strong> S. Rusha:<br />

- Acknowledgement <strong>of</strong> the old law venome.<br />

- 2. Religion: complete freedom <strong>and</strong> keeping the wealth <strong>of</strong> churches.<br />

- […]<br />

- Himara has the right to appoint two deputies in the parliament, regardless <strong>of</strong> its<br />

number <strong>of</strong> the population (Bollano, Milo, et.al. 2006: 226, translations mine).<br />

The British scholar Pettifier mentions Spiro Koleka in one <strong>of</strong> the footnotes in his report on the<br />

Greek minority in Albania:<br />

Some important Albanian communist leaders were wholly or partly Greek, like<br />

longserving Politburo member Spiro Koleka, who came from the predominantly ethnic<br />

Greek town <strong>of</strong> Himara (Pettifier 2001: 18).<br />

In summary, this subchapter discloses the political aspirations <strong>of</strong> Italian, Greek, French, <strong>and</strong><br />

Austrian governments to establish their dominance over particular parts <strong>of</strong> the Albanian<br />

territory after the First World War. Along with their aspirations the Albanian national<br />

movement was formed aiming for independency <strong>of</strong> the Albanian nation-state. In describing<br />

151

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