TREVA E PËRMETIT PËRBALLË PUSIITIMIT ITALIAN (1916-1920)
The region of Permet during the italian occupation (1916-1920)

Summary/Abstract: During the Italian occupation of Albania the sub-prefecture of Permet was in a miserabie state as a consequence of the earlier fights against the Greek forces in which many people had been killed, hundred of houses had been burned down and thousands of people had been forced to flee to Vlora and Berat under the threat and terror of the Greek army. The inhabitants of Permet were initially happy by the arrival of the Italians who promised to make the Greek paramilitary troops leave the region and bring back normality to their everyday life. However, Italy’s aim was the colonization of the southem regions of Albania. This proved to be a difficult task as the Austro-Hungarian forces situated on the opposite side of the Osum river would not allow it, and on the other hand, Athens supported by France and Rusia had not given up its claims to “Northern Epirus”. In the Peace Conference of Versailles, Italy asked to be issued the protectorate of Albania thus declaring openly its true objectives. Moreover, the Titoni-Venizelos Pact was made public and worsened the Italian-Albanian relations as in it, Italy had agreed to allovv the southern regions of Albania like Sarande, Gjirokaster, Permet and Korce to be ineluded vvithin greater Greece. However, the European powers did not agree with this pact and asked Italy to denounce it and at the same time asked Greece to withdraw its forces and respectthe borders established in 1913. These events had made Albanians lose their trust in Italy and consider the Italians as invaders. On 18 February 1919 the inhabitants of Permet protested against the secret plans for the repartition of Albania. The participants of this demonstration declared that they were ready to make any sacrifice for their country, and they would fight till the end to defend Albanian soil.

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