Bulgarians in Albania

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Ethnic Bulgarians in present-day Albania live mostly in the areas of Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo. In the 1989 census, a total of 782 people claimed either Romanian, Bulgarian, or Czechoslovakian nationality. The US Department of State background note for Albania, dated 4 January 2011, further reported that the population is composed of various ethnic groups, including Bulgarians.^[1] The Encyclopaedia of the Nations in its section on Albania's ethnic groups, undated, has also included Bulgarians.^[2] The CIA World Factbook 2011 has also counted Bulgarians in Albania.^[3] The State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad states that about 40,000 to 50,000 persons of Bulgarian origin are living in Albania,^[4] but another Bulgarian source estimates their number at about 100,000.^[5] Most Slavic speakers in Albania were converted to Islam during the centuries when the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans. There is also a lack of stable ethnic consciousness in this population, who easily change their allegiance from Albanian to either Bulgarian or ethnic Macedonian, depending on the benefits expected.^[5]

History

Middle Ages

Balshi inscription.

The extent of the uprising of Peter Delyan (Peter II of Bulgaria) may have included much if not most of modern Albania; one of its centres was Drach (Durrës)

The first reference to a Slavic presence in Albania dates to 548, when the Slavs reached Epidamnos (Durrës), capturing many fortresses in the vicinity. They proceeded to settle in south Albania, particularly in Epirus and around Durrës, from the 570s to the 9th century. According to a note in a 10th-century transcript of Strabo's Geographica, "Scythians-Slavs inhabit the entirety of Epirus". In addition, the Middle Bulgarian translation of the Manasses Chronicle notes that the "Bulgarians filled the lands of Drach (Durrës) and beyond".^[6]

A prominent archaeologist from the Republic of Macedonia, Ivan Mikulchik, has revealed the presence of a Bulgar archaeological culture not only throughout Macedonia, but also in eastern Albania.^[7] He describes the traces of Bulgars in this region, which consist of typical fortresses, burials, various products of metallurgy and pottery (including treasure of supposed Bulgar origin or ownership), lead seals minted with the image of Khan Kuber, amulets, etc. However, it is possible that this could represent traces of Avar presence. The material culture of the Avars, known to have raided as far south as Macedonia, was very similar to that of the Bulgars.^[8]

According to toponymic evidence, the mass Slavic colonization of these lands was between the Vjosë and Devoll Rivers. The Slavic placenames in this region indicate an eastern South Slavic (i.e. Bulgarian, as opposed to Serbo-Croatian) dialect.^[9] These Bulgarian Slavs were the majority of the population in the area at least in the Early Middle Ages, but they were still a sizable population in middle and south Albania in the 15th century.^[10] In the 850s and 860s, Simeon I's First Bulgarian Empire included the Slavic-inhabited areas of what is today western Macedonia and south Albania in its possessions, forming the Kutmichevitsa administrative province. This Bulgarian province included the cities of Ohrid, Glavinitsa (Ballsh), Belgrad (Berat) and Devoll (at the village of Zvezdë). The Bulgarian enlighteners Clement of Ohrid and Naum of Preslav are known to have worked in Kutmichevitsa, where according to the 11th-century account of Theophylact of Bulgaria, Clement had 3,500 students. Clement's and Naum's activity, as well as the consolidation of Bulgarian religious and state authority, helped establish the Bulgarian identity of this Slavic population.^[11]

Dictionary of four Balkan languages (Greek, Albanian, Aromanian and Bulgarian) created by Daniel Mоscopolites, an Aromanian from Moscopole, probably in 1770, and published in 1794? in the Greek language.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Much of Albania was under the rule of Samuel of Bulgaria from 989-995 to 1005, when it was reconquered by the Byzantine Empire; during Samuel's rule, these lands were governed by Ivan Vladimir, his vassal and the husband of his daughter Kosara.^[16] During the period of Byzantine rule, a Bulgarian leader by the name of Tihomir headed an uprising against the Byzantines near Drach; he was first supported but then killed by another insurgent, Peter Delyan, who proceeded to head the uprising and briefly ruled much of Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and western Bulgaria.^[17] In 1078, it was noted that the usurper Nikephoros Vassilaki had recruited an army from the localities around Drach, which consisted of "Franks (who came from Italy), Bulgarians, Romans (i.e. Byzantine Greeks) and Arvanites (i.e. Albanians)"; this is the first reference to the Albanians in a medieval source.^[18]

The area was once again under Bulgarian control between 1231 and 1240, under Ivan Asen II, who "routed the Greek army ... and conquered the entire Greek, Albanian and Serbian land from Odrin [Edirne] to Drach."^[19] John Kukuzelis, a famous medieval composer of Bulgarian descent, was born in the city in the late 13th century.^[20] During the Angevin period of Albanian history (1250–1350), the Slavic population lived mainly in the cities and villages near the sea, along the Drin River and in the vicinity of Lake Ohrid.

Ottoman period

In the late 14th century, Venetian records note a number of Bulgarians (de genere Bulgarorum) from south Albania being sold as slaves, indicating the Albanians may have subjugated the Slavic population, which ultimately led to its extermination, migration and assimilation.^[21]

Ethnographic map of Bulgarians in 1912 on the eve of the Balkan Wars. The map was made by a team of Bulgarian professors in geography, ethnography and history at the University of Sofia under the leadership of Prof. A. Ishirkov^[22]

At the end of the eighteenth century, Daniel Mоscopolites, a Vlach-speaking native priest of Moscopole, compiled a quadrilingual lexicon of Greek, Vlach, Bulgarian and Albanian, with the purpose of helping speakers of these languages to learn Greek. In this work, which was first published in 1794 and republished in 1802, Daniel writes inter alia, as follows: "Albanians, Vlachs, Bulgarians and speakers of other tongues, rejoice and prepare yourselves one and all to become Greeks, leaving behind you your barbaric tongue, speech, and customs, that shall seem as myths to your descendants.".^[23] Francois Pouqueville, in his book Travels in Epirus, Albania, Macedonia, and Thessaly described Bulgarian villages in the Devol region.^[24]

20th century

In the 1920s the orthodox Slavs living in Albania were regarded as Bulgarians by the local Albanian population.^[25] The new Albanian state did not attempt to assimilate this minority or to forcibly change the names of local towns and villages. During the second Balkan Conference in 1932 the Bulgarian and Albanian delegations signed a protocol about the recognition of the ethnic Bulgarian minority in Albania.^[26] After the Second World War, the creation of the People's Republic of Macedonia and the policy of the new Communist states on the founding of a Balkan Federative Republic changed the situation, and an ethnic Macedonian minority^[27][28] was officially recognized. Schools and radio stations using the Macedonian language were founded in the area.^[27]

After the fall of communism

Map of the two regions Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo in Albania, where Bulgarians mainly live today.

Albania denies the existence of a Bulgarian minority in the Mala Prespa and Golo Bardo and ^[36] and the cultural association "Ivan Vazov" in Mala Prespa. ^[37] More than 800 Albanian citizens of Bulgarian descent have acquired Bulgarian passports on grounds of being of Bulgarian origin.^[38] According to the Macedonian authorities, the Slav minority of Albania consists only of ethnic Macedonians and not Bulgarians. In 2008, the Bulgarian government reported it had reached an agreement with the Albanian government that the next census forms in Albania would allow the Bulgarian community in the country to be counted.^[39][40][41] In 2011 Bulgaria's Finance Minister, who is in charge of ties with the Bulgarian diaspora, met with members of the Bulgarian community in Albania. He announced the future opening of a Bulgarian cultural center in Tirana.^[42]

See also

• Macedonian Question
• Albania under Bulgarian Empire
• Ballshi inscription
• Gorani (ethnic group)
• Macedonians of Albania
• Macedonians (Bulgarians)

References and notes

• Mangalakova, Tanya (2004). Ethnic Bulgarians in Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo. International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR). 
• Гюзелев, Боян (2004). Албанци в Източните Балкани (Albanians in the Eastern Balkans) (in Bulgarian). София: Международен център за изследване на малцинствата и културните взаимодействия.