Colored engraving, book-illustration from second half of 19th century

Suli - History of a forgotten place

Travellers who cross Epirus from Igoumenitsa or Preveza, following the coast road, will reach south of Parga a bright plain of rivers and channels. The Acheron, the river of Hades of antiquity, has formed a delta, which is overlooked by high mountains in the east. This are the mountains of Suli.

It is unknown in which century this mountains have been settled for the first time, but we know that Christian-Albanian tribes settled down during the Islamisation of Albania. At that time, Epirus was a mixed Greek-Albanian region. Since the Second World War this is in the Greek part noticeable only in some of the village names. There is more evidence in the South of Albania, despite the pressure of assimilation faced by the Greek minority in the time of communist dictatorship. In the Ottoman Empire the Turkish occupants made a distinction between religions, but not between ethnic characteristics. So Suli became a shelter also for Greeks who got into conflict with the Turkish authorities. The villages of Suli developed into an independent "state within the state", which defended regional autonomy over a long period.

"The ravine of Suli and the Acheron river", engraving, 19th century. It shows the old path to Suli, as it exists until today.

In the middle of the 18th century the "Confederacy of Suli" included 60 villages. The centre were the villages of Suli and Samoniva, and the fortresses of Kiafa, Kunghi and Avarikos. The ruins around the present village of Suli show even today that some thousands of people lived here. An army of 2000 soldiers protected the independence of the mountain republic. A visitor wrote: "No Suliot transacts any trade nor has he any merchandise. All their training from childhood is in weapons. They eat, sleep and wake up with these".

The Turks tried to get the revolting region under control again. In 1731 Hatzi Achmet, pasha of Ioannina, got order from the Sultan to subdue Suli. He lost his army of 8000 men. The same happened in 1754 to Mustapha Pasha and his army. In the following years Mustapha Kokka came in with 4000 soldiers, and Bekir Pasha with 5000. Neither of them succeeded. In 1759 Dost Bey, comander of Dhelvinou, was beaten by the Suliots. Maxoud Aga of Margariti, gouvernor of Arta sufferd the same fate in 1762. In 1772 Suleiman Tsapari attaked Suli, his army of 9000 men was defeated. An expedition of Kurt Pasha failed in 1775. When in 1788 the notorious Ali became pasha of Ioannina, he tried for 15 years to subdue Suli. In the begining without succsess. In 1790 his army of 3000 Albanians was eliminated. After this, he managed to take some of the Suliot leaders as hostages, but even this did not intidimate Suli. At the next attack on Suli, the Suliot women killed 700 of Ali`s soldiers and followed up the survivors.

"The Rocks of Suli", drawing by Edward Lear, 1849

The Suliots got support from Europe, especially from Russia and England, which delivered weapons and ammunition. For the European powers they were an instument to weaken Turkey. When the British politics turned in favour of Turkey in order to strengthen all forces against Napoleon, these supplies were interrupted. Without support from outside and wearied by years of siege, the unity of the Suliot clans split. The Botsaris family parleyed with Ali Pasha. Ali promised them to let them go with all their property and even weapons to the Ionian islands, if they would give up their fortresses. At Christmas 1803 the majority of the Suliots left Suli towards the Epirotic coast. Those who stayed fought a last hopeless battle against Ali`s soldiers, and finally set fire to the powder magazine. In the meantime the Turkish army attacked the other Suliots, neglecting the promises they made. The march to the coast turned into a drama. A couple of Suliot women jumped with their children from the rock of Zalongo, in order to avoid capture by the Turks. Another group choose suicide in the fortress of the village of Riza by setting fire to the powder magazine. Yet a number also reached the harbour of Parga, which was British at that time. They settled down there or set off to the Ionian islands.

The death of Markos Botsaris was a popular motive on European prints for the support of Greeks in their War of Independence.		Katharina "Rosa" Botsaris was in the service of Queen Amalia of Greece. She was an admired beauty at European courts. Painting by J. Stieler, Munich, 1841.

Political instability was rising in the Balkans in the following years. When there were clear signs for the beginning of a Greek resurrection against Turkish rule, Ali Pasha saw his chance for making Epirus into an independent state. In 1820 he called the Suliots for help, and they returned to the mainland to support their former enemy against the sultan. But Ali´s plans failed. The Turkish army occupied Ioannina, and Ali was killed. The Suliots now supported the Greek revolution, which started in 1821. The Suliot leaders Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tsavellas became famous generals in the War of Independence.

Suliot troops were fighting on the whole northern mainland of Greece. Together with volunteers from all Europe many of them lost their life in defending the city of Messolongi. Lord Byron, the most prominent European volunteer and commander in chief of the Greek army in Western Greece, tried to integrate them into a regular army and failed. The clan structure of the Suliots made this integration impossible.

None of the Suliots of this time saw the liberation of their native place. Until 1909 the Turks kept a military base on the fortress of Kiafa. Finally in 1913, during the Balkan War, the Greek army occupied large parts of Epirus and made it eventually a part of Greece.

The price the Suliots paid for their uncomprimising stand, was high. The Greek-Albanian community who did so much for the independence of Greece, has been lost in history. Their native villages lie in ruins, their descendants are spread over all Greece and the whole world.