Aristidh Kola

Life

Kollias was of Arvanite origin. He was born in Kaskaveli of Thebes in Central Greece, a village inhabited mainly by Arvanites. Kollias, as well as thousands of his compatriots, were educated in the spirit of love for the traditions of the Arvanite community. In 1968 Kollias obtained a jurisprudence degree in Athens, and worked as a lawyer until 1980, when he started to devote his time to the study of national traditions of the Arvanites in Greece. His major work, "Arvanites and the origin of the Greeks", made a wide resonance in the Arvanite world. The book was reprinted into nine editions in only ten years. Kollias' magazine published "Besa", and the "Arvanon" magazines, which reflected the life and traditions of the Arvanite world.

Aristeidis Kollias cooperated with all districts of the Albanian diaspora in the United States. He maintained connections and collaborated with Italian Arberesh, Albanian Americans, Kosovo intellectuals, Turkey and Albania. He was also associated with the Arbëresh of Corsica. Kollias became known in Greece especially for the moral support that gave to the Kosovo Liberation Army in the Kosovo War by appearing in several Greek television shows. This elicited some pro-Serb groups, which fought him in court.

Kollias was a friend of all Albanian immigrants in Greece. In association offices Arvanite "Marko Boçari" politico-cultural activities organized for Albania, as well as important personalities Arvanite Greece. Kollias had worked persistently for the affirmation of the Arvanites in Greece. He began compiling the dictionary Arvanites, but death did not let him finish. Kollias died in 2000 because of leukemia. According to journalist Ilir Malindi, expert in the Albania-Greece relations Kollias was poisoned by Greece's secret services, but, in 2008, history professor Arben Llalla rejected this hypothesis and asserted that it could be the Serbian secret services that may be responsible for Kollias' death. According to Llalla, this was the reaction of Serbia against the pro-Kosovo activism that Kollias displayed in the 1990s.

Recognition

Kollias' contribution to the Albanians' cause was recognized by the Albanian government (both former presidents Sali Berisha and Rexhep Mejdani have decorated him for national merits). In 2004 Bajram Rexhepi, then Prime Minister of Kosovo, consigned posthumously to the widow of Kollias a decoration for her spouse'a contributions in the defense of the rights to the people of Kosovo. In addition, the municipality of Skënderaj made Kollias a citizen of honour of the city of the same name.

Legacy

In 1983 Kollias authored a book titled Arvanites and the Origin of Greeks which he reedited several times and was translated into Albanian in 2002. This book was considered important in rehabilitating the Arvanites (a community in Southern Greece descended from medieval Albanian settlers who today self identify as Greeks) in post-dictatorial Greek society. Claims made in the book are that alongside the Greeks, Arvanites shared Pelasgian origins thereby making them the "most authentic Greeks" with their language being closer to Pelasgic while asserting that many Greek words had an Albanian etymology. Under the Albanian context this book has been used by Albanians in Albania and Albanian immigrants in Greece as a tool for their rehabilitation as an ancient and autochthonous population in the Balkans. In Albania, this book has been used to "prove" the precedence of Albanians over Greeks and to rehabilitate Albanians as the oldest rooted population in the Balkans. The book has also been used to legitimise the presence of Albanians in Greece, so as to counter the negative image of their communities and of playing a prominent role in the emergence of ancient Greek civilisation and later in the creation of the Greek state.

Works