Këlcyra family was deported and interned near Arta during the reign of Ali Pashe Tepelena, and returned only after his death.

The residence of the family located up in the hills near the Këlcyrë Gorge was bombarded by the Greek armies led by Zografos in 1914, because of the strong opposition to the annexation of south Albania by Greece, and later the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.

[5] His family left for Switzerland in 1914, and after that returned to the home town in 1918, including a short stay in Italy.

[5] His name and figure remains mostly unknown among Albanians, even due to the persecution the family during the Communist regime in Albania after World War II.

In 2012, the municipality sent an official request to the Albanian Presidency to decorate Veli Këlcyra for his contribute to the national cause.