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Bulgarians in Albania

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Bulgarians in Albania is a small population that lives in Albania and claim themselves as Bulgarians. This population mostly lives in Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo. State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad states that about 40,000 to 50,000 persons with Bulgarian origin are living in Albania , but another Bulgarian source estimate their number to 100,000. There is lack of stable ethnic consciousness of this population who easily change their allegiance to either Bulgarian or Macedonian depending on the benefits expected.

The most Slavs-speaking from the region were converted to Islam during the centuries when the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans. In 1878 the region was ceded to Bulgaria according to the Treaty of San Stefano and was under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Exarchate. In the 1930s the orthodox Slavs living in Albania were regarded as Bulgarians by the local Albanian population. 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 recognition of ethnic Bulgarian minority in Albania.
After the Second World War, the creation of People's Republic of Macedonia and the policy of the new Communist states about the founding of Balkan Federative Republic changed the situation and an ethnic Macedonian minority was officially recognized. Schools and radio stations in Macedonian were founded in the area.

Nowadays official Bulgaria also claims an existence of a local ethnic Bulgarian minority in those areas. The CIA World Factbook supports these claims pointing to the 1989 census. In 1998 Paskal Milo, the then foreign minister of Albania, gave the following answer: "After World War II, we know this minority is Macedonian. I’d rather not elaborate on why we chose this way, but the Communist regime made this decision and it’s difficult for us now to change that." Also the most recent official report from Albania states that a Bulgarian ethnic minority does not exist the country. This often led to protests from the Bulgarian Parliament.Former Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi of Albania stated: “I wouldn’t like to offend anyone who would call himself a Macedonian, but in the territory near Lake Prespa there is a school instructing in Bulgarian”. Arben Xhaferi, the president of the Democratic Party of Albanians in Republic of Macedonia stated in an intervew for Albanian newspaper Sheculi in 2006 that in his opinion the Slav-speaking inhabitants of Mala Prespa and Golo Brdo are Bulgarians. There exist two organisations of the Bulgarians in Albania: "Prosperitet - Golo Brdo" and cultural association "Ivan Vazov" in Mala Prespa. More than 800 Albanian citizens of Bulgarian descent have acquired Bulgarian passports.

References

  1. "Bulgarians in Albania". www.omda.bg. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  2. ^ INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR MINORITY STUDIES AND INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS (IMIR)ALBANIA:LANDMARKS OF TRANSITION Valeri Grigorov p.18
  3. Poulton, Hugh (2000). Who Are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 79. ISBN 1850655340.
  4. Ташев 1994: 141-162 стр.
  5. ^ “ON THE STATUS OF THE MINORITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA”, Albanian Helsinki Committee with support of the Finnish Foundation ‘KIOS’ and “Finnish NGO Foundation for Human Rights”. Hosted at SEE developed by the Applied Research and Communications Fund in Sofia (www.arc.online.bg) under a two-year project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID. Cite error: The named reference "see" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. Finally, Albania recognizes a Greek and a Macedonian minority - Partly or Fully Unrecognized National Minorities: Statement to the UN Working Group on Minorities, 7th session, Geneva, 14-18 May 2001, Greek Helsinki Committee
  7. INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR MINORITY STUDIES AND INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS (IMIR) ALBANIA:LANDMARKS OF TRANSITION Valeri Grigorov
  8. Българите в Албания Template:Bg icon
  9. Albania (see Demographic section) - CIA World Factbook
  10. сп. Балканите, бр. 18, 2001, с. 5. 7 Ibid.
  11. The Albanian statistics institute INSTAT denies the existence of a Bulgarian minority in Albania. (source: Makfax Agency) Template:Mk icon
  12. Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Demands Albania Recognise Bulgarian Minority - Southeast European Times
  13. ETHNIC BULGARIANS IN MALA PRESPA AND GOLO BRDO, Tanya Mangalakova, IMIR - International Center for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations
  14. Утрински весник Број 1402 понеделник, 16 октомври 2006. Џафери тврди дека Македонците во Голо Брдо се измислица ВИКТОР ЦВЕТАНОСКИ Template:Mk icon
  15. "Default". prosperitetgolloborda.awardspace.com. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  16. "Osservatorio sui Balcani - Albania: le minoranze contese". www.osservatoriobalcani.org. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  17. "ALBANIA: Over 800 Albanians Acquire Bulgarian Passports". www.seeurope.net. Retrieved 2008-04-23. {{cite web}}: Text "seeurope.net" ignored (help)

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