Alcibiades Diamandi was born in 1894, in Samarina, into a wealthy Aromanian family. He studied at the Greek Gymnasium in Siatista, continuing his studies in Romania where he became involved in the Aromanian separatist movement. During the course of World War I he served as a non-commissioned officer in the Greek army. In 1917, he formed an armed Aromanian separatist band that operated in the Pindus mountains, then part of the Italian protectorate over Albania. With the tacit approval of the Italian authorities he proclaimed the foundation of the Principality of the Pindus centered in Samarina, with himself as prince. Following a diplomatic protest by Greece, Italian troops departed from Epirus as did Diamandi who was charged with sedition. Returning to Romania in the early 1920s he entered the Romanian diplomatic service and was appointed consul at Sarandë in order to influence the local Vlach population. It is believed that in 1925 he became an agent of the Italian intelligence services. Diamandi's involvement in illegal economic activities led to his removal from the Romanian diplomatic corp. In 1927, Diamandi received a pardon from the Greek government.
Shortly after the presumed amnesty, he arrived in Athens as the "vice president of the NationalPetroleum Company of Romania", as an oil importer. This was coupled with importing lumber from Romania to Greece and some other business ventures. He rented a flat in the fashionable Kolonaki district, and frequented the bars and cafes of Piraeus, where he was involved in a brawl with a Greek navy captain. During the squabble, Diamandi was wounded by a bottle flung in his direction by his adversary, and the resulting scar was used to identify him later on when he was on the run. Diamandi frequently traveled to Rhodes, managing to attract the attention of the Greek Counter-intelligence Services. It is widely assumed that the Greek government was aware that Diamandi was an undercover Romanian agent who was trying to incite the Aromanians against the Greek state. During Ioannis Metaxas's regime, Diamandi was served with an expulsion order, but he managed to avoid being forced out and continued his activities.
World War II
When the Greco-Italian War started, at the end of October 1940, Diamandi was already in Konitsa on the Albanian-Greek border. The invading Italians offered him the rank of Commendatore, and he served as translator and assistant to the Italian Chief of Staff General Alfredo Guzzoni. After Italy's initial defeat, Diamandi was forced to seek refuge in Tirana and re-entered Greece with the Italian armies five months later in the spring of 1941. This time he discussed a so-called "Autonomous State of the Pindus" or "Autonomous Vlach State" in the territory of Epirus, Thessaly and parts of Macedonia, which was supposed to constitute a "Vlach Homeland". This planned state or canton is sometimes called "Principality of Pindus". Diamandi's deputy and right-hand was the Larissa-based lawyer Nicolaos Matussis, while the third in the hierarchy of the nascent state was Rapoutikas Vassilis. In June 1941, Diamandi found himself in Grevena and then he went to Metsovo, where he founded the "Party of the Kοutso-Vlach Community" which was part of the "Union of Romanian Communities". A "Vlach Parliament" was summoned in Trikala, but no laws were adopted—since the meeting was mostly for show; the Italians were not keen on sharing power in the region.
A Vlach Manifesto in occupied Greece
On March 1, 1942, Diamandi issued an ample Manifesto which was published in the local press and republished by Stavros Anthemides in 1997. The Manifesto was co-signed by leading Aromanians intellectuals such as:
Two Vlachs of Albania and Bulgaria, Vasilis Vartolis and the Samarina-born writer Zicu Araia, also endorsed the Manifesto. In Romania, it was co-signed by the Veria-born George Murnu, a professor at the University of Bucharest. Diamandi travelled to Bucharest shortly after he met Murnu, and together they attended a meeting with the then Leader of Romania Marshal Ion Antonescu, and the Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu. The status of the Principality of Pindos was discussed. One option favoured by Diamandi was to put the Principality under the sovereignty of the Romanian Crown. Another option was to link the principality to the ruling Italian House of Savoy. None of these options were to be realised.
Refuge in Romania
Towards the second year of the Italian occupation, guerilla actions broke out in the area, between the supported by the Allied Forces and the Italo-German side. The chaos that ensued drove Diamandi to leave to Romania. Diamandi was arrested by the Romanian Communist Secret Service ”Securitate” on February 21, 1948. He died in the Prefecture of Police in Bucharest some months later supposedly under torture by Soviet Agent Mihail Dulgheru. Matoussi escaped, first to Athens then to Romania too, while Rapoutikas was shot dead by one of the Greek factions involved in guerilla activities just outside Larissa.
Reception
According to the German scholar Dr. Thede Kahl, Diamandi was for a while Kingdom of Romania's Consul in the Albanian port Vlorë just opposite across the strait of the Italian town of Otranto. Greek historians often do not mention him, while other scholars who give vague reference to him make sure that they clearly distance themselves from Diamandi hence bestowing upon him apelatives like "extremist" and "shameful". Alkiviadis Diamandi is given mention in 1995 by the British author in his book about the Vlachs of Greece as follows: The author finds the precedents of Diamandi's movement in the Vlachs' desire of separateness, which he sees as a sign of "strength". He writes:
