Këshilla

Këshilla (literally meaning "Council"; Greek: Ξιλία - Ksilia) was a administration in Thesprotia, Greece, during the Axis occupation of Greece (1942-1944). It was set up during the Italian occupation and continued its operations under German occupation until the end of World War II. This initiative was undertaken by the Cham Albanian leaders of the Dino family, in particular the brothers Nuri and Mazar Dino and received support by the majority of the community, who had collaborated with the Axis. The policy of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Këshilla and other paramilitary organisations under the Dino clan was used by EDES resistance forces at the end of the war to expel the Muslim Cham community from the region, with the exception of small groups who had not followed them.

Following the Italian invasion of Albania, the Albanian Kingdom became a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. The Italians, especially governor Francesco Jacomoni, used the Cham issue as a means to rally Albanian support. Although in the event, Albanian enthusiasm for the "liberation of Chameria" was muted, Jacomoni sent repeated over-optimistic reports to Rome on Albanian support.

As the final excuse for the start of the Greco-Italian War, Jacomoni used the killing of a Cham Albanian leader Daut Hoxha, whose headless body was discovered near the village of Vrina in June 1940. It was alleged by the Italian-controlled government in Tirana that he had been murdered by Greek secret agents. Hoxha was a military leader of the Cham struggle during the inter-war years, leading to him branded as a bandit by the Greek government.

In October 1940, the Greek authorities disarmed 1,800 Cham conscripts and put them to work on local roads. On the following month, after the Italian invasion, they seized all Albanian males not called up and deported them to camps or to island exile. Under these circumstances, as Italy managed to control Greece after the German invasion, several hundred Cham Albanians formed a local administration called Këshilla in 1942. These armed bands took part alongside the German army in burning Greek villages. But the local beys and the mufti did not support such actions. In 1943, this organization was completed with its own armed forces as well as a gendarmerie.

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