Community in Greece
Karvounari (Greek: Καρβουνάρι) is a village and a community in the municipal unit of Paramythia in Thesprotia, Greece. Its population in 2021 was 437. It is situated at about 140 m elevation. It is 5 km northeast of Margariti, 8 km southwest of Paramythia and 22 km southeast of Igoumenitsa.
History
Like all other Muslim Cham communities, the population was affected by the annexation of the region by Greece. In 1913, the village had a total population of 1,146 which was more than halved by 1920 as 496 remained. Many had migrated to Albania or Turkey.
In 1928, representatives from the Cham communities in Paramythia, Karvounari and Filiates, requested the opening of two Muslim schools which they would fund themselves. The Greek authorities officially rejected the request, arguing that "these Muslim schools would serve Albanian state propaganda by promoting an anti-Greek sentiment among the Chams of Greece". Regardless, the Greek government allowed their operation unofficially because it could close them as illegal at any time, and could also claim that their function fulfilled demands for Albanian schools in Chameria.[3] A mass exodus of Chams from Greece occurred as a result of the greco-italian war and the German occupation of Greece in the 1940s,[4] so that today no such population exists.
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