KORTCHA (

See also:

• SLAVONIC, OLD

Slavonic, Goritza or Koritza)  , a city of Albania, European Turkey, in the vilayet of Iannina, in a wide plain watered by the Devol and Dunavitza rivers, and surrounded by mountains on every side except the north, where Lake Malik constitutes the boundary . Pop . (1905), about 1o,000, including Greeks, Albanians and Slays . Kortcha is the see of an Orthodox Greek metropolitan, whose large cathedral is richly decorated in the interior with paintings and statues . The Kortcha school for girls, conducted by American missionaries, is the only educational establishment in which the Turkish government permits the use of Albanian as the language of instruction . The local trade is chiefly agricultural .