By Frank Ledwidge
I recently found myself in Himare, which as readers will know is a rather lovely place. I stayed as a lodger in the house of a gentleman who proclaimed himself Greek. This is not uncommon in that part of the world, indeed the phrase ‘methinks they protest too much’ does come to mind.
One afternoon when clearly the gentleman concerned had little else to do, he decided to give me a lecture on local history. Having spent two years in Bosnia, and another two in Kosovo during periods of conflict I had become used to inaccurate history lessons from Bosnians, Serbs and Kosovars.
Over that time I had adopted the technique of an old commander of mine, a Scottish Brigadier, who simply held up his hand, smiled and informed the would-be lecturer that he had not come to ( wherever it happened to be) to receive history lessons. Instead he would lecture the town mayor, or whoever it was who had begun his lecture, on Scottish history. He would say that the Scots had stopped fighting the English three centuries ago. His lecture would end with a recommendation to the interlocutor that his people might consider behaving in a similar fashion to their neighbors. I suppose if you are a general you can carry this off. Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes not.
The startled expressions on the Balkan bigots faces were always a joy to behold however.
Not being in Himara on business, this avenue was not available to me. The old boy brought out a map of, he said, Greece. It was like no other map I had seen. It included all of Albania up to the Shkumbin, as well; as a good chunk of Macedonia and Bulgaria. ‘Hellas!’ he grinned. I have often thought of this map. It has often occured to me that the Greeks have got off lightly on the historical front. Not content with appropriating Macedonian and Albanian and heroes and turning them into Greeks (cf from Alexander, by way of Pyrrhus all the way up to the Suliots and the Arvanit role in their ‘War of Independence’), there are those few who wish to make off with Albanian land as well. So how to deal with this impertinence? Abuse? Hostility? No, Albanians are not that kind of people, at least not as much as their Balkan neighbours. There is one way to deal with Greek pretensions. L鴥 majest鮠is the answer. It is a wonderful French phrase meaning puncturing of dignity. Laugh at them. Let their embarrassing posturing over the question of ‘FYROM’ , for example, not be a source of hostility. Make them aware, when you get the chance, that it has made them an international laughing stock, as indeed it has. Remind them that when their (!) hero George Byron visited Athens in 1810, it was an Albanian speaking city of 20000 people. Gently allow the recollection to form that were it not for Albanians, Greece would have remained Turkeys largest province. And take a leaf out of my Brigadier’s book. Any time you feel that there is a history lesson coming from any quarter, be equipped to smile and give them one of your own.
