from c. 1715 until after 1770, as part of official Ottoman policy. Later in 1770, Muslim Albanian mercenaries referred to as Turco-Albanian were employed by the Ottoman Sultan to suppress the Greek uprising. Their activity included massacres, looting and destruction in the regions of Epirus, Western Macedonia, Central Greece, Thessaly, Peloponnese suffered most destruction and massacre due to the activity of 15,000 Muslim Albanian mercenaries. In 1779 the Ottoman army finally managed to drive those groups out of Peloponnese, while the remaining ones were either killed by local villagers or found refuge in Muslim Albanian communities in Lala and Vardounia. The period of 1770–1779 is generally termed as Alvanokratia (Albanian rule) in Greek historiography. As a result, local Greek traditions in Epirus since the late 18th century mention frequent raids and looting by "Turko-Albanians" or "Albanian" bands. This kind of activity was connected with the depopulation of settlements. Later, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830) reference to Turco-Albanians is made for those Muslim Albanians that fought in the Ottoman side against the Greek revolutionaries. Muslims Albanians are thus often pejoratively named and or called by Greeks as "Turks", represented in the expression "Turkalvanoi". As with the term "Turk", the expression (rendered also as Turco-Albanian) was employed by some writers mainly in nineteenth and early twentieth century Western European literature regarding Muslim Albanian populations. As such, the word Turk within its usage also attained derogatory and derisive meanings that when applied to other words created pejorative meanings of cruel and inhumane behavior and or of being backward and savage. Within a Balkans context during the twentieth century, the usage of the word "Turk" (and "Turkey") has also been politically employed to differentiate the "indigenous" from the "alien" that interpreted Balkan Muslims as "foreigners". With the case of the Albanians, this at times has resulted in Albanophobia, negative stereotyping, socio-political discrimination and even mass violence. Usage in Greek media and literature At the beginning of the 1880s the Greek press openly used the term "Turco-Albanian brigands" to incite hate speech and to associate Albanian nationalists with "Turkish anti-Greek propaganda". During the years 1882–1897 some Greek media and publications initiated a campaign to promote friendship and a potential future alliance between Greeks and Albanians. As such they avoided the use of the term Turco-Albanian and pointed to the common features shared by both populations. New mixed terms Greek-Albanians and Greek-Pelasgians were used