| Georgios Kastriotis: He was also known as Skenterbeis. Greek Epirotian prince son of Ioannis Kastriotis, medieval feudal lord of Krugia, in North Epirus. Georgios Kastriotis was born on1405 in the citadel of Krugia. He became legendary for its tries to unify the population of Epirus and eliberate the region from the Ottoman invaders. He fought against the Turks for 50 years and he did not lost any battle. He was concerned also about sociological and political issues of its era, and he was accepting as prime values the teachings of the major medieval Greek philosopher Georgios Plithon Gemistos, who was arguing for a neccesity of a definiton of the medieval state and the diversification between the warrior and the farmer. Georgios Kastriotis became a legend for the suppressed by the Muslim invaders Epirotians, and all Greeks. His figure was untill the 19th Century, considered as National Hero of resistance and military success. With the illegal creation of the Albanian state in 1914, the unorganized and savage till then Albanian tribes tried to invent a medieval history in order to justify the existence of their illegal state. So during the communist era, the stalinist regime of Enver Xoxha adopted the legend of Kastriotis forging the true history, and his origin. It was a clear example of newly created statal forms which in the lack of proper history are forging the legends of other nations. The Greek Epirotian origin of Kastriotis is easily demonstrated by simple arguments. Georgios kastriotis was cristian orthodox, in contrast with the big majority of the Albanians which are muslim (90%). His name was Georgios (ancient Greek name), and his surname Kastriotis (Kastro in Greek means castle, Kastriotis is called the person from the castle or the person with the castle). The majority of the Albanian names are Ahmet or Suleiman or something like that. Finnaly in his letter to the Prince of Taranto Jovanni Antonio, Kastriotis says: " Our ancestors were Epirotians, from which Pyrros the King was born. Who won the Romans and occupied Taranto and other cities of Italy. You do not have fighters to resist in the Epirotian courage" ("Georgios Kastriotis", K.Paganel, p.156, 1860). |
