Ali Pasha of Ioannina

In 1779, Ahmet Kurt Pasha had returned to power through intrigue and bribery of the Sublime Porte. Ali openly challenged Kurt in an effort to get the Porte to recognise that Ali had a stronger power-base. Ali marched an army of 2,000–3,000 Albanians through Thessaly, dispersing them along the journey to intimidate local towns and villages and to extract wealth from them. At Trikkala, Ali led his own detachment of 300 soldiers into the near-deserted town as many of the inhabitants had already fled upon his approach. Once a certain amount of protection money was peacefully extracted from the town, Ali and his men left and proceeded to Farsala, where he and Catalcali Haci (who was still Ali's superior) plotted against Ahmet Kurt Pasha.[22]

Ali's first action was to take the district of Acarnania, where his soldiers had already visited Missolonghi yet again extracted more tributes from the citizens. Ali arrived with 4,000 men, occupying the regional capital of Vrachori (Agrinion) and re-joining his Albanian troops that had returned from their ravaging of the Morea. In response, Kurt moved his troops southwards in Epirus and placed pressure upon the Venetians and the armatoles to restrict Ali's approach. The Sublime Porte was forced to intervene in the situation, and Ottoman general Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha, who was already dispatched to dispose of the Albanian irregulars in the Morea, was instead sent to Macedonia and Thessaly to re-establish regional order. Gazi Hasan Pasha, although aided by local Turks, armatoles and Greek peasants, was not able to defeat and drive out the Albanians. However, he later succeeded in pacifying the Albanians in the Morea, but peace was only temporarily restored as the Albanians continued to pour into the region.[23]

Meanwhile, Ali had returned to Tepelena to restore his family's position and solidify his power base. Upon learning that the Sublime Porte declined to restore him in the place of Ahmet Kurt Pasha, Ali ordered his tribal and feudal allies to attack Kurt's local garrisons, ravaging the mountain districts between Tepelena and the outskirts of Yanina for the next two years. The Porte forced Kurt to directly challenge Ali's disruption, and although Kurt could muster a force of 10,000 men and 100 cavalry, he would not be able to defeat Ali in the mountain and passes and so resorted to besieging Tepelena. Ali had no other option but to break through the siege and make way for Butrint, which Kurt interpreted as an attempt to return to the Morea. Ali's escape caused alarm throughout Greece, and Kurt acted by sending 6,000 soldiers to the Bay of Arta to cut Ali off from his southern route and to trap him next to the sea, distributing funds along the way to local chieftains. Ali also recruited his own allies, including his cousin Islam Bey of Këlcyrë, the son of Sulejman Çapari and therefore aga of Margariti Hasan Çapari, and Demoglou of Konispol. These allies kept the pasha of Delvinë's forces occupied while Ali continued further south towards Arta and Preveza. These manoeuvres alerted the Venetians, and the pashas of Trikkala and Euboea were asked to send their armies to aid Kurt. Ali, in opposition to what Kurt expected, changed direction and marched towards Yanina, subduing and fortifying important villages along the way.[24]

Kurt's troops, under the command of his son-in-law Ibrahim Bey, were unable to defeat Ali, and this resulted in a stalemate. Ali eventually retreated to Tepelena, and Kurt attempted to impress the Sublime Porte by sending severed heads as evidence of Ali's demise, but the unrest continued nonetheless. Through his actions, Ali was able to greatly undermine Kurt's authority and garner enough attention from the Venetians to establish diplomatic relations with them. In 1783, Ali sent a declaration of friendship to the Venetian administration at Corfu at the risk of an accusation of treason, and expecting to receive the title of Pasha of two tails at any moment, asked them to intercede at the Sublime Porte on his behalf to hasten the process. The Venetians followed through, and in return, Ali disrupted the Pasha of Delvinë, Mustafa Koka, a political opponent of the Venetians.[25]

The Sublime Porte was still heavily in debt to the Albanian fighters who put down the Greek revolt in the Morea in 1769–1770, with astronomical sums being owed in back pay. Ali's high prestige amongst the Albanian fighters, as well as his satisfactory diplomatic solutions that normalised Venetian-Turkish relations, highlighted the fact that he was now the de facto force in the region, bypassing both Ahmet Kurt Pasha and Kara Mahmud Pasha Bushati of Shkodër. Ali was appointed mutasarrif of Ioanninna at the end of 1784 or beginning of 1785 on the condition that he led 1,000 troops on campaign, possibly as part of the response to the Russian annexation of Crimea.[25]

The Palace of Ali Pasha in Tepelena, engraving by Edward Finden, based on a drawing by William Purser, early 19th century

Ali Pasha secured his position by establishing relationships with influential people and rewarding his supporters and allies. He was soon appointed to the post of Dervendji-Pasha, and he began to further consolidate his power in Epirus. He married his sons to the daughters of Ibrahim Pasha in Berat in order to secure their alliance as well as the borders of his Pashalik.[30]

During war-time, Ali Pasha could assemble an army of 50,000 Albanian men in a matter of two to three days and could double that number in two to three weeks. Leading these armed forces was Ali's Supreme Council.[31] The Commander-in-chief was the founder and financier, Ali Pasha. Council members included Muhtar Pasha, Veli Pasha, Celâleddin Bey, Abdullah Pashe Taushani and a number of his trusted men like Hasan Dervishi, Omar Vrioni, Meço Bono, Ago Myhyrdari, Thanasis Vagias, Veli Gega and Tahir Abazi.[31][32]

Ali's own perception of group identity derived from the ancient legacy of Albanian banditry along with the accompanying Albanian pseudo-nobility. Ali conceived an independent state that almost certainly would have been controlled by this Albanian military and aristocratic elite.[33] As Pasha, Ali was supported by an exclusively Albanian military establishment, which included many people who had undertaken brigandage activities earlier in their life.[34] Ali Pasha also used Albanian tribesmen to put down Greek rebellions in the Morea.[35]

At this point in time, the Souliotes, a Christian Albanian community whose lands were located in Ali's Pashalik, would pay their taxes to their spahi in Janina, Bekir Bey. Ali preferred to take the taxes directly into his own hands, and Bekur was promptly imprisoned upon his rejection of Ali's proposal. The Souliote confederacy posed a continuous threat to Ali's Pashalik, constantly raiding and terrorising the surrounding villages, and the Souliotes were incited against Ali by Russian Empress Catherine the Great, who after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774, was acknowledged as the protector of all Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. At the behest of the Russians, the Souliotes had reportedly gathered 2,200 men who were ready to take up arms against Ali Pasha, and in response, Ali immediately mobilised his forces. With a force of 3,000 men and aided by the Çapari family of Paramythia, Ali attacked Souli, but the assault was beaten back with considerable losses even though a Russian support fleet never materialised to help the Souliotes. The Souliotes, encouraged by their success, joined forces with klephts from the Pindus and ravaged both Greek and Albanian villages throughout Acarnania.[45][42]

Fortress of Ali Pasha at Argyro-Castro in 1813, drawn by Charles Robert Cockerell, published in 1820 by Thomas Smart Hughes.

After failing to defeat the Souliotes via direct assault, Ali took another approach. In 1792, Ali mustered 10,000 men to attack Gjirokastër in response to the town declining his imposition of a bey, but this was all part of an elaborate plan to lure the Souliotes from their mountains. Ali wrote a letter to the Souliote captains George Botsaris and Lambros Tzavelas, in which he feigned friendship and admiration whilst asking for their assistance. The Souliotes cautiously accepted, and Botsaris wrote that, although he could not muster enough followers to join Ali, Tzavelas would join his army with 70 men as a sign of friendship. This group was placed on the front lines before Ali had Tzavelas and his men were seized, chained and sent to Janina, although some were killed on the spot.[41][42]

Ali, aided by his son Muhtar, proceeded with his attack on Souli, but Botsaris was well-prepared with good defensive positions. The 1,300 Souliote defenders retreated from their villages and were pushed to the inner mountains of Souli. Ali attempted to coerce Lambros into betraying the Souliotes through a variety of means, and Lambros finally agreed when Ali offered him his freedom and lordship of Souli, although Lambros' 12-year-old son Fotos was taken as a guarantee. Once he was safe, Lambros sent Ali a letter revealing that he did not intend to fulfil his side of the bargain, regardless of whether he had to sacrifice his son or not, and that he would continue fighting against Ali and his men. Ali's men would fail to make further ground, and Ali would cut his losses by exchanging prisoners (including Fotos Tzavelas), paying ransoms and signing a truce. Ali's casualties were in the thousands, whereas the Souliotes suffered minimal losses, but Lambros Tzavelas himself was mortally wounded.[46] The 1792 attack ended in a Souliote victory, and in the negotiations, the Botsaris clan managed to become recognized by Ali Pasha as the lawful representative clan of Souli and George Botsaris as the one who would enforce the terms of peace among the Souliotes.[47] Ali, however, would not forget this humiliation.[48]

Ali, Vizier of Albania, also called Pacha of Jannina by Adam Friedel, drawn from life and published in 1828.

The principal role of geography in the communal groups of his time were comprehended by Ali. He insisted that Ioannina, located in the Greek district of Epirus, was Albanian. He also considered the Albanian population who lived in the area not as immigrants but as indigenous people of the region. He tried to justify his plans on the territories under foreign protectorate on the Ionian coast also by insisting that they were part of "Albania" as well.[49]

Language was a major definiting element in Ali's identity, as well of his government and the region he controlled in general. Ali's native language was Albanian.[49] His degree of proficiency in written Greek is debatable, however he also spoke Greek.[50] Albanians and Greeks exchanging languages was quite common in the 18th century.[49] Ioannina was located in a largely Greek-speaking area, and during the Ottoman rule the Albanian language has not been officially recognized. Albanian has become a fully written language with its own script only from the mid-19th century, while written Greek was a well established language within the Ottoman Empire.[50] The formal bureaucratic language of the Empire was entirely replaced with Greek in the pashalik, and in Ali's court diplomatic business was exclusively conducted in Greek as well as much of the formal correspondence. Ali also used the Greek script to write in Albanian and to transliterate Turkish in his personal correspondence.[49] The usage of Greek, however, did not in any way make Ali Greek, just as his role as Ottoman appointee did not in any way make him Ottoman. He was first and foremost considered as an Albanian.[51]

Audience chamber of Ali Pacha in Janina, Albania (subsequently Greece), c. 1800, by George de la Poer Beresford, published in 1855.[52][53][54][55]

Ali Pasha wanted to establish in the Mediterranean a sea-power which would be a counterpart of that of the Dey of Algiers, Ahmed ben Ali.[56] In order to gain a seaport on the Albanian coast, which was dominated by Venice, Ali Pasha formed an alliance with Napoleon I of France, who had established François Pouqueville as his general consul in Ioannina, with the complete consent of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III. British traveler Henry Holland reported in 1815 that during a personal conversation with Ali it apparently emerged that Napoleon, at a certain point, had promised Ali the position of King of Albania, but Holland also remarked that Ali was not convinced by the offer, because he distrusted the French.[57] British government, which opened in 1769 for the first time a consulate in Arta, by 1803 established a permanent consular representation by appointing John Philip Morrier as "General Council in the Morea and Albania", centered in Ali Pasha's capital, Ioannina. This probably represents the earliest official recognition of the name "Albania" by the British government.[58]

In a diplomatic effort to win French and Russian support to get hold of the Venetian possessions on the Ionian Sea in order to build a viable Albanian state, Ali sent in 1807 Mehmed Sherif Effendi as his emissary to the negotiations at the Treaty of Tilsit. The treaty however stipulated the transfer of the Ionian Islands to France, so only Parga remained availale for Ali' demands. As a response, Ali increased the duties on the goods, including wood, grain and livestock, which from his domain were exported to the Ionian Islands.[59]

After the Treaty of Tilsit, where Napoleon granted the Czar his plan to dismantle the Ottoman Empire, Ali Pasha switched sides and allied with Britain in 1807; a detailed account of his alliance with the British was written by Sir Richard Church. His actions were permitted by the Ottoman government in Constantinople. Ali Pasha was very cautious and displeased by the emergence of the new Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II in the year 1808.

Medallion attributed to Ali Pasha, 1807

Lord Byron together with John Cam Hobhouse visited Ali's court in Tepelena and Ioannina in 1809.[60] Byron recorded the encounter in his work Childe Harold. They travelled to Albania to see the country that was, until then, mostly unknown in Britain. Byron presented Albanians as a free people who lived in their state under their leader, Ali Pasha, described by Byron as a "man of first abilities who governs the whole of Albania".[61]

In a letter to his mother, Byron deplored Ali's cruelty:[62]

"His Highness is a remorseless tyrant, guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels, etc, etc.."

Charles Robert Cockerell visited Albania and met Ali Pasha in 1814. Admiring Ali Pasha's governance, Cockerell explained: [63]

"There is law — for everyone admits his impartiality as compared with that of rulers in other parts of Turkey — and there is commerce. He [Ali Pasha] has made roads, fortified the borders, put down brigandage, and raised Albania into a power of some importance in Europe."

Different tales about his sexual proclivities emerged from western visitors to Pasha's court (including Lord Byron, the Baron de Vaudoncourt,[64] and Frederick North, Earl of Guildford). These documenters wrote that he kept a large harem of both women and men. Such accounts may reflect the Orientalist imagination of Europe and underplay the historical role of Pasha rather than telling us anything concrete about his sexuality.[65] Ali Pasha tried to have his homosexualic affairs secret from public to avoid disapproval or negative comments by western travelers and diplomats.[66]

Ali Pasha and his favorite wife Kira Vassiliki, by Paul Emil Jacobs

Ali Pasha, according to one opinion, "was a cruel and faithless tyrant; still, he was not a Turk, but an Albanian; he was a rebel against the Sultan (Mahmud II), and he was so far an indirect friend of the Sultan's enemies".[67] Throughout his rule he is known to have maintained close relations and corresponded with famous leaders such as Husein Gradaščević, Ibrahim Bushati, Mehmet Ali Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha.

Though certainly no friend to the Greek Nationalists (he had personally ordered the painful execution of the Klepht Katsantonis), his rule brought relative stability. It was only after his forceful deposition that the people of Greece objected to the rule of the Sultan Mahmud II and the newly appointed Hursid Pasha and thus began the Greek War of Independence.

A long epic poem known as the Alipashiad consisting of more than 10,000 lines is dedicated to the exploits of Ali Pasha. The Alipashiad was composed by Haxhi Shekreti, an Albanian Muslim from Delvina and was written entirely in Greek.[68]

In 1808, Mühürdar, a commanding Janissary of Ali Pasha, managed to capture one of his most renowned opponents, the Greek klepht Antonis Katsantonis, only after the later became heavily sick.[69] Katsatonis was executed in public by having his bones broken with a sledgehammer.[70] In 1809 Ali captured through treachery the klepth Thymios Vlachavas and had him executed by mutilation. As Pouqueville noted Vlachavas "was suffering under the rays of the hot sun, tied to a stake in the court of the seraglio in Ioannina, his eyes flashing with defiance before suffering the calm death of a hero". In the aftermath Ali's troops destroyed the monastery of Saint Demetrius at Meteora where Vlachavas had sought refuge.[69]

One of Ali's most notorious crimes, without a legal indictment, was the mass murder of 17 or 18 chosen young Greek girls of Ioannina. They were, without a trial, sentenced as adulteresses, tied up in sacks and drowned in Lake Pamvotis.[71] Oral Aromanian tradition (songs) tells about the cruelty of Ali Pasha's troops.

Ottoman Albanian horsemen display to French Lieutenant Richemont, a cut-off head of a French soldier during the fall of Preveza in 1798, by Felicien De Myrbach (1894).

In October 1798 Ali's troops attacked the coastal town of Preveza, which was defended by a small garrison of French and local Greeks. When the town was finally conquered, a major slaughter occurred against the local people as retaliation for their resistance.[72] He also tortured the French and Greek prisoners of war before their execution. A French officer described the atrocities ordered by Ali Pasha and his cruel character:

The chamber where Mr. Tissot had been locked was facing to the place with the bloody remainders of the French and Greeks killed in Preveza. The officer witnessed the cruel death of several Prevezans whom Ali sacrificed to his rage, and the behavior of the Pasha during executions: one hundred times more cruel than Nero, Ali was viewing with sarcasm the torments of his victims. His bloody soul enjoyed with execrable pleasure his indescribable vengeance, and meditated still more atrocities.

Every French captive was given a razor with which he was forced to skin the severed heads of his compatriots. Those who refused were beaten on the head with clubs. After the heads were skinned, the masks were salted and put in cloth bags. When the operation was finished, the French were driven back into the hangar, and they were warned to prepare for death.

Soon after they brought the unfortunate Prevezans, whose hands had been tied behind their back by the Albanians. They piled them in large boats and drove to Salagora (a small island in the Gulf of Arta), where a legion of executioners was waiting. Ali made a hecatomb of these four hundred unfortunates. Their heads were carried in triumph and then offered in Ioannina, a spectacle worthy of his ferocity.[73]

According to Pouqueville, Ali was unable to prevent the wholesale slaughter perpetrated by his men but the following day after the fall of the city Ali had 300 Greeks killed in front of him. Some defenders who had escaped to the mountains returned on the promise of an amnesty but 170 of them were then summarily executed.[74] The women and young girls were as the Alipashiad proudly attests "sold… at Ioannina like negro slaves".[75] The massacre perpetrated by the Albanian troops of Ali in Preveza became a notorious event with repercussions that would influence Greek nationalism.[76] Byron telling of the fall of Preveza avoids the ferocity of Ali's attack and the mutilation of the executed prisoners. The atrocities have been reported to Napoleon and published by French captain JP Bellaire in 1805, but he judiciously does not mention the beheading of the Greeks in front of Ali or the pyramid of skulls created.[77]

Despite a feeling that he was being deceived Ali agreed to a truce and left the citadel with his wife, entourage and bodyguards and settled in the Monastery of St Panteleimon on the island in Lake Pamvotis, previously taken by the Ottoman army during the siege. A few weeks later he was visited by a group of pashas and senior officials. He suspected a trap but the meeting passed without incident. A few days later on 24 January 1822[82] the Ottoman's boats returned from which a senior official called Kiose Mehmed Pasha, disembarked, claiming that he had in his possession the Sultan's firman for his execution. Ali told him to stay back until he had read the document, but the pasha ignored him and called for him to comply.[83] Ali pulled out his pistol and fired at him, the Pasha returned fire while Kaftan Agas, Hurshid's chief of his staff, managed to wound Ali in the arm with his sword.[82] Ali's bodyguards rushed to protect him and managed to pull him into the building. The resulting gunfight only ending when Ali was mortally wounded in the abdomen by a bullet.[82] This caused his men to surrender. Ali was then beheaded. His last request to his chief bodyguard Thanasis Vagias was for his wife Kyra to be killed in order to prevent her falling into the hands of his enemies, but this was ignored.[82]

Hurshid Pasha, to whom it was presented on a large dish of silver plate, rose to receive it, bowed three times before it, and respectfully kissed the beard, expressing aloud his wish that he himself might deserve a similar end. To such an extent did the admiration with which Ali's bravery inspired these men to efface the memory of his crimes.

Ali's head was wrapped in a cloth, put on a silver platter and displayed though the streets and the homes of the notables of Ioannina to prove that the Ali was dead. The local archbishop was having dinner with friends when Hurshid's bodyguards forced their way into the room and desposited the head on the dinner table and demanded money. After saying a prayer for Ali, the archbishop handed over a bag of gold coins. Ali Pasha's headless corpse was buried with full honors in a mausoleum next to the Fethiye Mosque, which he shares with one of his wives. His head was meanwhile sent to Constantinople where was displayed to the public on a revolving platter in a courtyard of the Sultan's palace. When the Sultan subsequently had Ali's three sons and grandson executed, Ali's head was buried with them in tombs outside the Selvyria gate in Constantinople.[83]

Ali Pasha was among those Albanian military leaders who were at first awarded for their loyalty to the Ottoman Empire, and who however exploited the weakeness of the Sublime Porte to exercise in northern and southern Albania their gathered military and political power. While they are clearly not described as champions of national fight aiming at an independent and united Albania, but regarded as political opportunists within the context of the Ottomam Empire, nevertheless these Albanian rulers established separate states by challenging the authority of the Sublime Porte, and Ali in particular also established foreign diplomatic relations with Napoleonic France and with Britain.[100] Ali's separatist initiative, by conceiving his territory in increasingly independent terms referring to it as "Albania",[101] eventually aiming at creating an independent Albanian–

Greek state, revealed the vulnerability of Ottoman power.[102] The Albanian rule of the Pashalik of Yanina as well as that of the Pashalik of Scutari caused the emergence of a sense of ethnic belonging among the Albanian people, which consequently led to an enduring hostility of Albanians against the Sublime Porte, also by seeking autonomy from its central power.[103]

Ismail Qemali (1833-1919), the first head of the Albanian state, stated that in the case of Ali Pasha there was a sense of wasted opportunity: "If Ali Pasha had been less a man of his time and better endowed with political forethought, he would himself have organized this coup in time, and Albania and Greece, with the whole of Thessaly and Macedonia, might have become an independent State and a kingdom of great importance."[104]

Ali Pacha's seraglio and tomb, fortress, Janina, by George de la Poer Beresford, published in 1855[105][53][54]

Albanian urban songs were performed in the outer courtyards of the Albanian pashaliks, including that of Ali Pasha. It has been suggested that the Albanian Korçare songs emerged in Ali pasha's seraglio in Ioannina, and that they were probably composed by Muço, Ali's court musician.[106]

According to Pouqueville, Albanian tribal forms of social organizations disappeared with the dominion of Ali Pasha, and definitely ended in 1813.[107] In the Pashalik of Yanina, in addition to the Sharia for Muslims and Canon for Christians, Ali Pasha enforced his own laws, allowing only in rare cases the usage of local Albanian tribal customary laws. After annexing Suli and Himara into his semi-independent state in 1798, he tried to organize the judiciary in every city and province according to the principle of social equality, enforcing his laws for the entire population, Muslims and Christians. To limit blood feud killings, Ali Pasha replaced blood feuds (Alb. gjakmarrje) with other punishments such as blood payment or expulsion or the death penalty.[108] Ali Pasha also reached an agreement with the Kurveleshi population not to trespass their territories, which at that time were larger than the area they inhabit today.[109] Continually since the 18th century, blood feuds and their consequences in Labëria have been limited principally by the councils of elders.[108]

Ali Pasha has been regarded by Albanian nationalists in subsequent times as a national hero who rose against Ottoman rule.[110] Although Ali Pasha's intent was not to build a nation state, the legacy left behind by him was utilized by the Albanian elite to construct their nationalist platform. After Ali Pasha's death the base of Albanian nationalist activities and uprisings against the Ottoman Empire became northern Albania and Kosovo.[111]

A Firman issued by Ali Pasha in 1810, written in vernacular Greek. Ali always used Greek for all his courtly dealings.[112]

Although Ali Pasha's native language was Albanian he used Greek for all his courtly dealings,[112] with the effect of linking, although inchoately, the ruling class with the predominantly Greek-speaking population of the territories where Ali's rule stretched.[113] As a consequence, a part of the local Greek population showed sympathy towards his rule.[112] This also activated new educational opportunities, with businessmen of the Greek diaspora, subsidizing a number of new educational purposes.[113]

Ioannina, was among the Greek cities that had already embraced the Age of Enlightenment.[114] Education in Ioannina and its schools became renowned throughout the Greek world. Those schools were operating by prestigious staff among them philologist Athanasios Psalidas, major contributor to the modern Greek Enlightenment and Georgios Sakellarios. Ioannis Kolettis served as Ali's son Muchtar personal physician and composed several scientific works. As such an academic elite emerged which also included members of Ali's court. Many of these personalities took later prominent roles in the Greek War of Independence.[115]

Ali Pasha did not sympathize with Greek rebels. He campaigned in Macedonia to exterminate the klephts and armatoles of the region in 1805, eventually managing to reduce substantially their numbers. Intense anti-Ottoman guerriglia actions arose in Macedonia during the Russo–Turkish War in 1806–1812, which caused heavy losses of Ali's Albanians against an army of armatoles and klephts at the Battle of Klinovo.[116] The inhabitants of Parga displayed continuous support for Greek revolutionary activities and cooperated with the inhabitants of Souli against Ali Pasha.[117] Coastal towns that were under French control, such as Parga and Preveza, were a source of increasing Greek nationalist sentiment enouraged through French intereference.[118]

In the context of the Greek War of Independence the idea of cooperation with Ali Pasha was not new among the Greeks. Leading officials of the Filiki Eteria were considering a possible conversion of Ali to Christianity and the outbreak of the revolution under his direction. Ali's policy of exlcuding Turks from all positions of authority and replacing them with Greeks and Albanians had led many Greek advisors and military leaders that consider him of becoming the head of a Greek–Albanian kingdom.[119] However, when Ali heard of the outbreak of the Greek revolt, and sent Alexis Noutsos to propose a collaboration between Albanians and Greeks with the aim at establishing an Albanian–Greek state under the sovereignty of Ali Pasha, the Greeks refused Ali's proposal and Noutsos joined the Greek revolutionaries.[120][121] Greek captains would sign in September 1821 a more limited agreement with Ali, but it was based on obvious mutual suspicion. Albanian agents advised Ali against an alliance with the Greeks because they were militarily useless. Their conclusion about the military ineffectiveness of the Greeks and klephts turned out to be true in subsequent events in the Macedonian front.[121]

The Filiki Etairia already had expanded widely in 1820 at the time when Ali Pasha was found in open conflict with the Sultan.[122] Its leadership decided that the conditions for the outbreak of the revolution were ideal since the conflict between Ali Pasha and the Sultan caused great unrest in Epirus, west central Greece, west Macedonia and part of Thessaly. The Filiki Eteria exploited the specific conflict in order to gain the return of the Souliotes to Epirus and as a result to have Ottoman units removed from southern Greece and especially from the Peloponnese.[123]

However, in Epirus the revolutionary outbreak was complex and difficult due to the concentration of Ottoman troops. Members of the Filiki Eteria, such as Ioannis Paparigopoulos, the Russian consul of Patras, convinced Ali that Russia would support him.[124] The return of the exiled Souliotes to their homeland in Souli in December 1820 contributed to the creation of a revolutionary center in Epirus a fact that supported the developments for the upcoming Greek revolution in southern Greece.[125] The collusions of Souliotes and Muslim Albanians for the defense of Ali Pasha, which led to a written agreement in January 15, and 1821 were in accordance with the positions of Alexandros Ypsilantis for the preparation of the Greek revolution.[125] Ali Pasha's cause was supported by Souliotes because Ali promised their return to Souli, and partly by appeal to their shared Albanian origins.[126]

Alexandros Ypsilantis anticipated that Ali would provide resistance against the Sultan's troops in Epirus.[124] On January 29, 1821, Ypsilantis ordered that Greek forces should be dispatched to Epirus to join those of Ali Pasha, temporarily and ostensibly, until they managed to defeat the Ottomans there.[124] In late March-early April 1821 Christoforos Perraivos under order by Ypsilantis urged the Souliotes to maintain their alliance with Ali Pasha, but to ignore the military priorities of the latter and concentrate to armed operations that would facilitate the spread of the revolutionary movement in Epirus.[127] Perraivos also emphasized only to the prominent Souliots the objectives of the nation due to risk of being leaked to the Muslim Albanians since that would make the later to abandon any agreement.[125]

A failure in the sector of Tzoumerka thwarted the plans of the Greek revolutionaries and Ali, however their operational capabilities in the area had not been diminished.[128] The revolutionaries of the area of Arta under Gogos Bakolas resisted the Ottoman advance at Peta on July 15.[128] Communication between the Souliote units with troops loyal to Ali Pasha as well as revolutionary leaders from Arta and Acarnania continued. Their alliance was ratified on September 1, 1821. Alexios Noutsos played a key role in this developments while the Greek revolutionary authorities of Acarnania, Aetolia and Morea agreed despite the distrust towards Ali Pasha.[128] In the beginning of September, the regional alliance reached its climax, involving Muslim Albanian beys, Souliote chieftains and Greek armatoles, who pledged to defend Ali Pasha's rebellion against the Ottoman army.[129][126] Greek singnatories evidently had not real intention to fight for Ali Pasha's cause, they rather agreed merely to exploit the opportunity this alliance offered them.[129]

The immediate objective of the alliance was the capture of Arta, which was at that time under Ottoman control.[129][128] Roughly four thousand armed men gathered to besiege Arta.[128] The city was attacked by both Muslims and Christians, Albanians and Greeks who had united their forces to pillage the city, where an indiscriminate looting of churches, mosques, shops and stores was perpetrated.[129] The lootings during the siege Arta were especially perpetrated by groups of Souliotes and Acarnanians.[130] Ottoman troops did not intervene because they knew they were not the target. During this event some of the Greek bands plundered the homes of Christians and stole their possessions, even torturing people in boiling oil in order to extort information regarding the hiding places of their valuable belongings.[129]

At the beginning of December 1821 the allied forces managed to capture a greater part of the city, however, instead of concentrating on the fall of the garrison they turned into widespread looting and the siege was weakened and finally ceased.[128]

Around the same time, during the Ottoman siege of Ali Pasha's forces in Ioannina, Muslim Albanian leaders were being informed about events in the Morea, which led them to start doubting about the allegiance of their Greeks allies. Indeed, visiting Mesolonghi in October to see the Greek actions, Tahir Abaxhi, a Muslim Albanian warlord and especially trusted man of Ali Pasha formerly serving as chief of Ali's police troops, noticed that many Greeks were no longer fighting for Ali's cause, as after Mesolonghi had declared for the revolution, the remaining Muslims were massacred, expelled, or enslaved. The local Greek armatole Dimitrios Makris had even ordered mass killing. Mosques were razed to the ground and desecrated, and Muslim gils were forcibly baptized. The disprespect of the alliance by the Greeks became even more clear when Elmaz Bey informed Abaxhi that on their way home from Tripolitsa, they found out that Greeks have strungled some of his soldiers. Hence, after all the evidence, Muslim Albanian leaders eventually broke with Christian Souliotes.[129][130]

Abaxhi and other Muslim Albanian military personalities that had been previously loyal to Ali Pasha approached the Ottoman commander, Khursid Pasha, asking for and receiving his pardon, promising to support him to kill Ali Pasha and drive out the Greek revolutionaries.[131]

This so-called Greek-Albanian alliance was finally dissolved and the Muslim allies of Ali Pasha as well as the warlords (oplarhichoi) of Acarnania switched sides and came to the Sultan's camp. As a consequence Ali Pasha's resistance had been broken and the fortress of Ioannina was captured easily in December 1821.[132]

Ali's separatist initiative, by conceiving his territory in increasingly independent terms referring to it as "Albania",[101] and eventually aiming at creating an independent Albanian-Greek state, reveal the vulnerability of Ottoman power and had direct effect on the development of Greek nationalism.[102] Though his subject population was by vast majority Greek and noted for their nationalist sentiment there is little evidence that Ali conceived of his desire for independence in such terms.[133] However, he believed that he could make use of the local Greek national sentiment to strengthen his own power and separatist tendecies.[134]