“The Turkish were not administrators”

12/04/2013

Although history teachers have often declared that politics should not get involved with historic events, it seems that politics is unable to stay away from it.

The official declaration of Ankara to change some terms in the history of Albania, before the declaration of independence, has spurred many debates that brought the signing of a petition by dozens of intellectuals in Albania.

History books clearly state that the Ottoman Empire was the occupier of Albania, and not a friendly administrator, as the Turkish government claims. The Arberesh professor and albanologue, Mateo Mandala, underlined that these declarations should remain political and historians must base their works on facts and documents that show the truth.

“I am talking about the lack of reactions against this doctrine which preaches a political and cultural colonization of the lands that once were property of the Ottoman Empire. This is not the right reaction, because we cannot mix the historic phases, and we cannot allow the politics of a foreign country to interfere with matters that are property of the Albanian state”, Mandala declared.

Prof.Mateo Mandala, director of the Scientific Unit of Albanology at the University of Palermo has published a book titled “Philological Studies for the Romantic Arberesh Literature”. The book focuses on the period after the Renaissance and other facts about that time. The book was introduced by professors of the History Institution at the Science Academy