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• 460-year struggle for Albanian homeland, and 540 for Kosovo
• 2,800-year-old white mummies of China, bringers of Buddhism?
• Alexander the Great's Greek descendents in Pakistan?
• Visual History of Yugoslavia and its breakup (1918-2008)

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A rare inside look at Albania, Europe's most unique ex-Communist Muslim country
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This is a rare article on my observations on the current ethnocultural, historical, religious, and social dimensions of Albania -- with photos -- from my research trip to Albania in 2007. A historically tremendously isolated and remote culture, Albania (alongside Kosovo) is Europe's only Muslim-majority nation. The Albanians are one of the proudest and most unique ethnic groups in Europe, and a major source of inter-ethnic conflict in the Balkans today.

Read my article on the 540-year struggle for an Albanian homeland, and 460 for Kosovo to gain a fair and full understanding on the transnational Albanian hardships in creating a sovereign nation free of foreign hegemony and the Kosovo conflict between Albanians and Serbs. Read here and here for for the Serbian perspective. Read my dissertation on Communist Albania's project for a post-modern future of complete socialism and isolated self-determination here.

Albania -- Shqiperia



English name: Albania
Local name: Shqiperia (Sh-keep-aeria)
Population: 3,600,523
Religion: officially Muslim 70%, Albanian Orthodox 20%, Roman Catholic 10%
Language: Albanian (Shqip) with Greek and Italian commercial resident minority
Ethnic groups: officially Albanian 95%, Greek 3%, other 2% (Vlach, Roma (Gypsy), Serb, Bulgarian
Average fertility/woman: 2.03 per woman
Migration rate: -4.54 migrant(s)/1,000 population [Albanians are leaving en masse]
Per capita average income: $5,700
Unemployment: officially 13.8%; in reality, employment problems may exceed 60%
Population below poverty line: officially 25%; in reality, well over half
Extant immigrant populations elsewhere of Albanians: Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Germany, USA
Source: CIA World Factbook

I went to Albania on a research trip with the typical foolish preconceived notions of a typical ex-Communist, "Eastern Bloc" country of Muslims. I could not have been more wrong. Albania and its people are easily the proudest and most unique ethnic group in Europe, with a very distinct historical connection with the Islamic religion that they inherited as a result of 400 years of Muslim Ottoman conquest and occupation. I traveled to the coastal city of Sarande, a "resort city" of Albania and then northward through the countryside past Gjirokaster, giving me the opportunity to view both the standard of living in the supposedly auspicious coastal region and in rural Albania. After Albania became arguably the most isolated and autarkic state in the world alongside North Korea from 1945 until the 1980's, tourism to Albania is a rare and extremely new opportunity. So too, having been to most of the Balkan where I detected a universal ethnic hatred for Albanians as supposedly being "lazy" and "Muslim," I was anxious to see their perspective on this in their own country.

The Albanians proudly trace their ancestry to the ancient Illyrians, a tribal confederation of mysterious and debated origins who settled in the region around at least 500BCE before being forever subjugated by the Roman Republic by the 2nd century. Most historians strictly dismiss this ethnic nationalist and irredentist claim (see the argument over Illyrian Albanians). The Albanian tribes fell to the invading Muslim Ottoman jihad in 1468 after a tremendous national revolt under the crusader-king Gjergj Skanderbeg. After 400 years of foreign occupation -- during which the Albanians converted to a liberal form of Hanafi and Bektashi/Sufi Islam -- the Albanians were liberated by a joint Serbian, Greek, Bulgarian, and Romanian invasion of Ottoman-occupied Macedonia and Albania in the Balkan War of 1913. Albania spent the next 30 years propitiating foreign hegemons like Mussolini's Italy and the Third Reich before Albania became firmly ruled by the strict dictatorship of Enver Hoxha ("Hoed-ja") from 1945 until 1985. Hoxha pursued a paranoid and bizarre policy of strict atheism, ultraconservative "Hoxhaist" Communist ideology, and intense isolation from all foreign powers -- including their previous Yugoslav, Soviet, and Chinese benefactors -- that finalized a 540-year struggle for total Albanian independence but plunged the country into complete ruin.

Enver Hoxha, isolated dictator of Albania from 1945-1985

My preconceptions of the poverty of Albania, however were correct. It was blatantly apparent that Albania is wickedly poor, obsolescent, torpid, backward, and morose. There are many contradictory interpretations of why Albania ended up this way. Some scholars blame Hoxha's "foolish" policies, whilst others lionize him as a liberator, asserting that he was forced to become isolated in order to wrest the nation from foreign hegemony. You can read my analysis of these contradictory interpretations here.

Much of the country is quite legitimately reminiscent of the feudal age. Whereas its capital Tirana has become (at least by contrast) a relatively upright city of commerce and investment, the rural countryside and provincial towns are in many cases akin to entering a city that had recently been bombed or had collapsed following an earthquake. Even in the "resort city" of Saranda, most buildings are partially collapsed, incomplete, and decayed, with trash improvidently disposed of in the streets whose infrastructure often seems to not have been monitored in decades. The concrete on the roads is cracked even in the developed cities, and there is absolutely no city or safety planning whatsoever such that in many places if one does not watch carefully he/she can fall over 10 feet on the main street to severe injury on a lower level without any enclosure. Huge deep holes in the street are half-covered by a plastic sheet with no lightning at nighttime. Trash litters the streets in bulk, the stench of sewer can be pungently smelled for miles, burnt and abandoned buildings are laid open to nature and entropy, and most structures have the paint completely peeled off or even partially incinerated by fire damage and never repaired despite continued residency. Men and women seem to stand in the streets idly for hours. Many young men seem to wait in cars and follow tourists around staring at them for a prolonged period. Theft is reported as a ubiquitous crime against tourists in Albania. Almost all the buildings are perpetually "under construction," whereby what seem like abandoned homes have partially-completed upper floors with open ceilings. From several interviews, I determined that this was a practiced performed by most Albanian families in the provinces, who briefly leave Albania to work in the superior economies of Italy and Greece before returning home to expand their family homes using the new money they earned in absentia. Many buildings have three or four unfinished floors to this end. Albania has a net loss migration ratio whereby more Albanians leave than enter. Due to the poverty of Albania and the wide historical distribution of ethnic Albanians for centuries, there are significant minorities of Albanians in Macedonia, Kosovo, Greece, Serbia, Italy, and Montenegro. Unfortunately, in most of these countries, Albanian immigrants are a victim of some of the most severe incendiary racism in Europe, portrayed as drug dealers and prostitute smugglers who perfidiously drain taxpayer-funded unemployment subsidies. This bitter inter-ethnic hatred is a problem I noticed pervasively in all Balkan countries.

A growing source of social concern is the issue of ethnic economic inequality. The poor Albanians drive inexpensive cars that are generally decades old, whilst brand new Mercedes and Audis can be seen driving by with "I" on their license plates. Foreign investors from Greece and Italy have increasingly immigrated to Albania to create businesses in this completely open and desperate job market. These non-Albanian foreigners, who Enver Hoxha and many Albanians would have easily considered the next phase of imperial exploiters, have a tremendous share in control of the economy over the natives. These businesses also are a source of Albanian Muslim immigration to Greece and the rest of the Balkans, where they are unfortunately brutally reviled for their perceived refusal to work. Albanians detect this perceived predatory exploitation by foreigners who Hoxha sought to fend off. Grafitti in the cities often read "F*ck Italia" and "Screw You EU," notwithstanding the fact that the EU and Italian investment are the key to this nation's fiscal prosperity.

The reason for Albania's blatant obsolescence is bitterly debated in social commentary and historiography. Albanian nationalists insist that it was the perfidious betrayal of Enver Hoxha's auspicious social policy by post-Communist president Sali Berisha. Nationalists extol Hoxha for bringing this undeveloped society bitterly divided by tribal and clan conflicts from stateless instability into a semi-industrialized, well-fed agrarian, completely united, and uncorrupt state that was completely independent from indefatiguable exploitation of the Yugoslavs, the Soviets, the Chinese, and the Ottomans. Indeed, these claims are undeniable. As a result, Hoxha is seen as a hero by much of the population. However, Hoxha's policy of forced isolation intentionally embargoed and expelled the experts, construction, resources, and massive funding (roughly 58% of the entire GDP of poor Albania per year [1]) of their own Communist allies. As a result, Hoxha unintentionally caused Albania to rapidly degenerate into horrific poverty and decay from which it will take decades to recover even if it joins the European Union despite its failure to meet the minimum economic requirements for entry.

(article continues below past photos)

Albanian men stand idly in the cities for hours at a time

In "developing" cities, most of the city is desolated and demolished with improvident construction projects (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

My photo of an Albanian housing tract. The houses are delapidated and in very close proximity (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Albania has housing projects that were developed during the Communist regime of Enver Hoxha and his successors Ramiz Alia and Sali Berisha. The majority are broken-down with trash littering the streets. The ruins below are of a synagogue that the migrating Slavs demolished after the 5th century. Slavs often argue that the Albanians are simply uncultured Slavs. The Albanians insist that they are proud ancient Illyrians (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

My photo of a building with the paint peeled off, partially burnt, and broken down. It seems abandoned, but it is not. This is typical of the whole city in Saranda (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

clothes hanging to dry atop a broken and ruined home. This is ubiquitous.

the city from above.

another photo of mine of the houses against the backdrop of the lush valley.

Continuing: Albania's rural setting is even more obsolescent than its "resort cities" on the coast. Massive potholes and recesses in the streets of the coastal cities suddenly stop to become a dirt road with half-demolished houses on the side of the road. Although the hilly Albanian countryside is beautiful and semiarid with infinite fields of flowing grass and flowers, its villages make one recall the feudal age. Roads are almost completely unpaved, with the few cars and horse-drawn carts causing massive dust clouds to blow in all directions. Driving only a few miles on a bus to one of Albania's biggest tourist destinations (the bizarre Blue Eye spring, see below) took almost an hour due to the horrific infrastructure. Donkeys, sheep, horses, and herding farmers wander the countryside and the roads. Thousands and thousands of family pillbox bunkers dot the countryside, built by the paranoid Enver Hoxha throughout the period of absolute isolation due to an ideological and cultural fear of an impending invader. It is a fascinating glimpse into a society that had auspicious hopes at rapid development, but completely closed itself to become an obsolescent hermit republic. Despite this very traditional living, Albania's countryside is rich with clean flowing rivers, natural springs like the bottomless Blue Eye spring, winding streams into forests with wooded restaurants, and a vibrant culture that meticulously blends the heritage and music of their former Turkish Muslim occupiers with their own obstinently independent "Illyrian" identity.

Another aspect of Albanian culture is Islam. Although the Balkan countries to which they immigrate are so quick to vilify them for being "dangerous Muslims," Albanian Islam is very liberal. The Albanians converted to Islam (roughly 70% today) during 400 years of foreign Muslim Ottoman domination (see our article). Bektashi Sufi mystics converted the Albanians to a rather eclectic manifestation of Sharia that ultimately allowed them to retain their tribal "Illyrian" and Christian traditions whilst feigning superficial obeisance to the Qur'an. Although many Albanian nationalists in Kosovo and during World War II often employed jihad against what they perceived as Christian oppression of Muslim minorities, Albanian Islam remained very passive. Enver Hoxha's dictatorship of 1945-1985 pursued a brutally atheist state doctrine that considered itself the "world's first atheist state." All mosques and churches were closed, and Hoxhaism (Hoxha's ultraconservative Marxism-Leninism) essentially became the new religion. This has caused Islam to be largely insignificant among Albanians despite the enduring role of Turkish occupation culture in shaping Albanian music and heritage. However, after the fall of Communism, Islam has been making a firm resurgence. Many Albanians view the Qur'an as a flawless guarantor of social justice and honesty in contrast to the corruption, theft, lies, and decadence of the post-Hoxha elite government. Others recognize the oppression of their Albanian Muslim brothers in Kosovo by the Christian Serbs and encourage a jihad. Albanians from ex-Yugoslav Macedonia and Kosovo, however, were never ruled by a strictly atheist state, and thus are more conservative than Albanians in Albania proper. According to Christopher Deliso in The Coming Balkan Caliphate, foreign Islamic Mujahidin traveled to Albania, Bosnia, and Kosovo to fight jihad against the Serbs during the Yugoslav Wars, and have invested heavily in Albania and Bosnia to convert Albanians to the Wahhabi form of Islam of Saudi Arabia. Albanian women dress very liberally, but the elderly wear traditional headscarves and long clothing. One woman I saw was wearing an Afghan-style burqa. As this clothing is only used in Afghanistan and Pakistan, this presumes that foreign Muslims have immigrated to Albania or intentionally influenced their lifestyles. This is a great source of concern for the rest of Europe that already rabidly dislikes Albanians already. I saw very few mosques throughout Albania, although in Tirana many ancient and beautiful mosques still stand. The one mosque in the main coastal city of Saranda was very small, brand new, and plain (see below). Its loudspeaker for the call to prayer had almost no reaction from the population, although its doorstep was covered with endless pairs of shoes of praying Muslims. A portion of Albania seems to be gravitating back to the religion that Enver Hoxha so vociferously sought to destroy.

(Article continues below past pictures)

an Afghani or fundamentalist full-body burqa (not my personal photo)

a traditional Albanian home. The rural areas of Albania are literally reminiscent of the feudal age.

one of Albania's few churches after the Turkish Jihad and Communist periods.

the town's sole notable mosque. Sunni and quite plain.

an Albanian "family" pillbox bunker.

the beautiful Blue Eye spring.

In conclusion, traveling to Albania was one of the most interesting experiences I've had. The vibrant Albanian culture, language, ethnicity, religiosity, and national heritage are completely unique. Its people have a long and complicated history of obstinent resistance to foreign encroachment. It was a fascinating opportunity to see Europe's only native white Muslim-majority culture, and to see the proud Albanian homeland to get a more fair appreciation of the Albanians who the Greeks, Macedonians, Serbs, Bosnians, Montenegrins, and Italians so intently dislike as a supposed source of crime and Islamic terrorism.

It was also an invaluable opportunity to see how a Communist regime brought a backward country into a semi-industrialized and stable nation with hydroelectric dams and massive collective farms, before bringing it tumbling to the ground into one of the most depressingly poor and broken countries I've ever witnessed. The dictator Enver Hoxha receives mixed reactions among Albanians today. Albanians in Kosovo tend to oppose his brutal atheism and his complete lack of effort to "liberate" their Albanian brothers in Kosovo and Macedonia. Albanians in Albania either oppose him for ruining the country or being a corrupt Communist tyrant. However, a significant bulk of the Albanian population lionizes Hoxha by contrasting his rule with modern Albania. I was able to interview only a few Albanians due to the complete lack of English or German spoken in the country. All of them effectively emphasized that now Albania is now rife with corruption, bankruptcy, decimating pyramid schemes with government support, humiliation of the Albanian image, and kleptocracy. During Hoxha's time, Albania was united behind an honest leader with a religious devotion to the laws of Communist class and economic equality. He brought the nation from hill tribes into a well-fed independent nation that even stood up to the world superpowers like Khrushchev's Soviet Union and Mao's People's Republic of China. Their retirements, workers' rights, educational opportunities, and income were all strictly protected by Hoxha's government (or so they believed). Now, many Albanians insist that Hoxha's democratic successors like Ramiz Alia and Sali Berisha opened Albania to the predatory free-for-all of selfish capitalist concupiscence. As a result, Enver Hoxha has a ubiquitous reputation in Albanian culture for the good and the bad of his legacy.

_______________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is a historian and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies (language and history), am presently working for my Masters in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate. I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles of native European and immigrant minority identities. See my staff entry for more information.

I also have a tremendous academic and historiographic interest in Albanian history and culture. I wrote my baccalaureate research dissertation on the Albanian struggle against foreign domination. I have also traveled to Albania. I wrote a highly unique semester dissertation on Enver Hoxha's project towards a post-modern Albanian state, affording me an understanding of both the dominant perspectives on Kosovo and Albania and the Albanian perspective.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

-CIA World Factbook

-personal photos, observations, and interviews

[1] Vickers, Miranda. The Albanians: A Modern History. London: I.B. Taurus, 2001. Page 174.