Përmet is a town and a municipality in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. It was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Çarçovë, Frashër, Përmet, Petran and Qendër Piskovë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Përmet. The total population is 10,614, in a total area of 602.47 km2. The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 5,945. It is flanked by the Vjosë river, which runs along the Trebeshinë-Dhëmbel-Nemërçkë mountain chain, between Trebeshinë and Dhëmbel mountains, and through the Këlcyrë Gorge.
Name
The town itself is known in Albanian as Përmet, and when in definite form. The town is known in Aromanian as Părmeti, in Greek as Πρεμετή/Premeti and in Turkish as Permedi.
History
15th century
In 15th century Përmet came under Ottoman rule and became first a kaza of the sanjak of Gjirokastër and later of the Sanjak of Ioannina.
18th century
During the era of conversions to Islam in the 18th century, Christian Albanian speaking areas such as the region of Rrëzë strongly resisted those efforts, in particular the village of Hormovë and the town of Përmet. In 1778, a Greek school was established and financed by the local Orthodox Church and the diaspora of the town.
19th century
After a successful revolt in 1833 the Ottoman Empire replaced Ottoman officials in the town with local Albanian ones and proclaimed a general amnesty for all those who had been involved in the uprising. The artisans of the kaza of Përmet held the monopoly in the trade of opinga in the vilayets of Shkodër and Janina until 1841, when that privilege was revoked under the Tanzimat reforms. In 1882 Greek education was expanded with the foundation of a Greek girls' school subsidized by members of the local diaspora that lived in Constantinople, as well as the Greek national benefactor, Konstantinos Zappas. The first Albanian-language school of the town was founded in the beginning of 1890 by Llukë Papavrami, a teacher from Hotovë, who had the endorsement of Naim Frasheri. A great contribution for the Albanian school was given by philanthropists Mihal Kerbici,Pano Duro and Stathaq Duka. Duro and Kerbici financed until 1896 the salaries of five teachers, whereas Stathaq Duka bequeathed in 1886 scholarships for studies in the schools of Jurisprudence and Medicine. In 1909 during the Second Constitutional Era the authorities allowed Albanian language to be taught in the local madrasah. In 1919, Përmet had 40 Greek schools, 45 Greek teachers, and 1,189 Greek scholars. It was a kaza centre as "Premedi" in Ergiri sanjak of Yanya Vilayet till 1912.
20th century
In 1912, during the First Balkan War the population founded a committee that had as its goal the organization of the local resistance with help from government of Vlora and chetas operating across Southern Albania. In a 28 December rally through the town centre people of Permet agreed they must fight where the nation most needed. In February 1913, units of the advancing 3rd Division of the Greek Army entered the town without facing Ottoman resistance, while the resistance of the local population was not sufficient due to small amount of arms. In 1914, Përmet became part of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus, which struggled against annexation of the region to the Albanian state. During the Greco-Italian War, on December 4, 1940, the town came under the control of the advancing forces of the Greek II Army Corps. Përmet returned to Axis control in April 1941. In May 1944 the National Liberation Movement held in the town the congress, which elected the provisional government of Albania. During the Communist era Përmet held the title of the Hero City. In August 2013, demonstrations took place by the local Orthodox community as a result of the confiscation of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin and the forcible removal of the clergy and of religious artifacts from the temple, by the state authorities. The Cathedral was allegedly not fully returned to the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania after the restoration of Democracy in the country. The incident provoked reactions by the Orthodox Church of Albania and also trigerred diplomatic intervention from Greece.
Demographics
The total population is 10,614. The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 5,945.
Demographic history
1913: Under Greek occupation, for the purpose of convincing the Congress of London of Greek expansionist claims, the Greek authorities took a census; however the census did not inquire about ethnicity, but rather instead explicitly had all Christians renamed "Greeks" and all Muslims changed to "Albanians", by religious criteria alone. The Greek considered Orthodox Albanians, Vlachs and Slav-speakers of the South as ethnically Greeks According to the "Ethnographical map of Northern Epirus" which was written in the period of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus, the town had a population of 2.824 inhabitants, of which 1.529 were ethnic Albanians and the rest 1.295 were Greeks.
1930: Përmet had 1,000 houses of which 300 were shops and it was the main centre of trade in the region. Its population was Muslim.
Culture
Përmet is known for its cuisine, particularly the many different types of jam and kompot, and the production of local wine and raki.
