Kosovo's independence...

[TEUTA]

Hmmm really?

Serbia DID NOT HAVE the Kosova battle.

She is the best case here, really..

[TEUTA]

Let's see little history.."albanian" towns in 17. century and turkish as oficiall language of 17-century "albanians" ..origin from where???

1670
Evliya Chelebi:
Seyahatname - a Journey to Berat and Elbasan

Evliya Chelebi or Çelebi (1611-1684), pseudonym of Dervish Mehmed Zilli, was the son of a goldsmith at the court of the sultan in Istanbul. From 1640 to 1676 he travelled extensively through the Ottoman empire and neighbouring countries, both in a private capacity and at the service of the Sublime Porte. The account of his travels is recorded in his ten-volume Turkish-language 'Seyahatname' (travel book), which he completed in Cairo. The 'Seyahatname' contains a wealth of information on the cultural history, folklore and geography of the countries he visited. For seventeenth-century Albania it is of inestimable significance. Çelebi visited regions of Albanian settlement three times: Kosova in December of 1660, northern Albania and Montenegro in February of 1662, and finally southern Albania in November of 1670. His descriptions of the central Albanian towns of Berat and Elbasan during the latter journey can be regarded as no less than sensational, in particular for those who know the towns today. One can only marvel at the refined oriental culture he encountered in Albania, of which very few traces remain.

From this place we descended westwards through vineyards and arrived in one hour at the imposing region of Jihad, the luxuriant walled town of Albanian Belgrade (Berat). According to the Latin historians, it was first founded by [...] and changed hands many times until, in the year [...], during the reign of Sultan Bayazid Khan, the supreme commander Gedik Ahmed Pasha conquered it from the Albanians, the Greeks and the Venetians. There are [...] fortresses called Belgrade in the Ottoman empire: firstly, Danubian Belgrade on the Danube river; secondly, Stolna Belgrade on the Buda frontier a little more than one stage from Budapest; thirdly, Transylvanian Belgrade which is under Ottoman jurisdiction; and fourthly, this Albanian Belgrade. According to the survey register of Suleyman Khan, it is the seat of the bey of the sanjak of Vlora in the eyalet of Rumelia. It is crown land for which the bey receives an income of 229,000 akçe from the sultan. It has 28 zeamets and 489 timars. It also has an alay bey and a ceribashi. In time of war, the sanjak bey is obliged by statute to supply the sultan with 4,000 armed soldiers, including his own armed retainers and those of the timariots. They are very rough and courageous soldiers. Berat has a grand mufti, a nakibüleshraf, a kadi with a salary level of 300 akçe and 120 villages, from the annual revenues of which the kadi has the legal right to six purses and the pasha to thirty purses. It also has the following dignitaries: steward of the spahees, commander of the janissaries, warden of the fortress and his [...] garrison troops, voyvode of the town, market inspector, collector of tolls, steward of the fortress, chief of the band of musicians, mayor, chief architect and poll-tax official.
The sanjak of Vlora consists of nine kadi districts. The seat of the sanjak is Berat. North of this is the district of Myzeqe with thirty villages. To the east is the district of Tomorica. Near this to the south and east is the district of Skrapar. Bordering that to the south is the district of Përmet. South of Përmet is the district of Pogonia. West of Pogonia is the district of Gjirokastra which, however, belongs to the sanjak of Delvina. North of Gjirokastra is the district of Tepelena. South of that is the district is Vlora. These nine districts are very fertile, but some of the rayah are rebellious - may God preserve us from them.
The fortress of Berat was conquered from Constantine the Greek and the Albanians. Shape of the fortress. Built like a candlestick on a steep and bare cliff stretching in a north-south direction, it is a mighty, solid and enduring fortress constructed of hewn and polished stone. Since it is in the interior of the country, it has not been kept up and its wall are now damaged in places. The total circumference of the fortress is 2,600 large paces. It has four strong and solid gates. First, facing north, is the Big Gate: from it down to the bazaar is a distance of 1,000 paces. This gate has three large doorways which are separated from one another by a distance of 100 paces each. Two of these doorways look towards the north, and the third one, the inner doorway, opens to the east. The foundation stones of the gate are as big as the body of an elephant. Such stones can otherwise only be found in Hebron near Jerusalem and in the fortress of Bender on the banks of the Dniester river. The second gate, below an ancient monastery, faces west and opens out onto the road which descends to the front of the new mosque built by Hüsein Pasha in the Murad Çelepia quarter. The third gate faces east between the quarters. It is a small, hidden gate and is not used very much.
Shape of the citadel. It is a splendid small stone citadel, 800 paces in circumference, joined to one corner of the western wall of the great fortress. It has two gates. One opening to the east, faces the interior of the fortress, and the other, opening to the west, leads down outside the castle to the Çelepia quarter below, and so it inclines to the south.. All 7 (sic) of the above-mentioned gates are made of elm wood and not of iron, because they are all concealed behind towers. The doors of one or two of the gates are lying on the ground, since they are on the inside of the castle and the castle is in the interior of the country, and there is no great fear of attack. Within the citadel there are about forty to fifty houses with tiled roofs, one Mosque of Bayazid Khan (1), a few munitions stores, just six cannons, some outdated grain storehouses and cisterns (2), the house for the warden, and no other buildings.
Outside the castle of Berat there is a total of 200 dilapidated houses with tiled roofs, most of them inhabited by Greek infidels. They have very big yards, but the gardens are not kept up. There is one isolated congregational mosque, that of Bayazid Khan (3), covered in tiles. It is a large old mosque with a stone-carved minaret, but with no congregation. There are eight churches, of which one is very large and well built. The streets are paved with unworked cobblestone. On the four sides of the fortress there are houses built against the walls. It has no moat on any side because it is surrounded by sheer gorges.
On the south side is the quarter called Çekebeni ("Pull me up") Rock, a frightful cliff which soars into the sky and shelters the nests of falcons, eagle owls, eagles and kites. The gorge is so steep that no one dares to look down into it. There is a reason why the quarter of Çekebeni Rock bears this name. After the conquest of Berat, the accursed infidels once again besieged the fortress, and the Ottoman troops within were unable to alert the sultan. Finally, one of the brave warriors, willing to risk his life, was lowered down this cliff by a rope. He swam across the [...] river which flows in the gorge below, made his way straight to Edirne, and informed the sultan of the dire situation, i.e. that the fortress was being besieged by the enemy. Having been rewarded by the sultan with gifts, he set off once more and three days later arrived in the middle of the night at the foot of this cliff and shouted "Çeke beni!" ("Pull me up!"). They knew it was Ghazi Kuski - that is the name of the one who had gone to alert the sultan - and that he was shouting the agreed-upon password. They immediately drew up Ghazi Kuski with ropes and got him inside the fortress. "Welcome back! What news?" they inquired. "I bring greetings from the Padishah, his viziers and deputies and ulema and grand mufti. The sultan informs you that he will arrive in ten days with 50,000 soldiers to make war. Until then, he bids you give proof of your religious fervour and not surrender the fortress to the enemy. Here are the letters from the authorities." Those under siege were encouraged by the news and defended the fortress day and night with all their energy until help arrived, ten days later, like sudden death, in the form of 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers, who cut down the infidels with such a Bayazid-like sword that even today heaps of infidel bones can be seen on the plain of Myzeqe. After this victory, the sultan rewarded his soldiers for their efforts. He especially rewarded the courageous messenger who had cried out "Çeke beni!" granting him a large zeamet with a village of its own, which is still administered by the Çekebeni clan. From that time on, the cliff in question has been known as the Çekebeni Rock. It is a landmark, a shining white cliff like a vault of heaven, upon which are situated numerous towers, churches, belvederes and pavilions.
The lower fortress. On the riverbank at the base of the cliff is another row of strong fortress walls. Along the banks of the [...] river, from the lower gate of the fortress at the end of the big bridge right to the gate of the Kettle Makers' Market, stretches a bazaar 800 paces long, an imperial market. Inside the fortress, there are 70 to 80 moderately well-built houses with tiled roofs. Aside from these, there is a main street with 80 large shops, and no other public thoroughfare, because there is the Çekebeni Rock on the one side and the [...] river flowing on the other. Master craftsmen carved a staircase into the mountainside from the lower fortress to the upper part. The base of this staircase is in the water and it ascends the fortress wall to the height of a minaret. It is 70 or 80 steps down, and from here leads into the large water tower - built in the water - near the gate of the Kettle Makers' Market. From the Çekebeni Rock down to the water tower there are also paths of hewn stone leading gradually downwards in 1,060 steps (4). Those under siege can use these paths to fetch water from the water tower without being seen by the enemy. The water channels below the Kettle Makers' Market are close to the ground but they too are invisible to the enemy. The owners of the shops in this lower fortress are all kettle makers except for a smattering of goat-hair spinners. Outside the gate of the Kettle Makers' Market, the late Uzkurli [...] constructed another bazaar which attracted a large settlement. This area is called Uzkurli (Skuraj) Town. From the Kettle Makers' Market eastwards to the goat-hair spinners stretches a two-story (5) main street 2,000 paces long. On the left and right are neat shops with tradesmen of all kinds. Most of the shops - 700 or so - are pious foundations which were donated by the Uzkurli family. There is no cloth bazaar as such, but one can find all manner of fine cloth fabrics, including brocades, gauzes and cloth-of-gold. Shawls are especially plentiful.
The large open town of Albanian Belgrade (Berat). It is a huge open town, entirely outside the walls of the fortress. It is situated in a large area along the bank of the [...] river to the east and south of the upper fortress and is covered in vineyards, rose gardens and vegetable gardens. There are 5,000 one- and two-story stonework houses with red-tiled roofs. They are well built and attractive houses with gardens and are spread over seven verdant hills and valleys. Among them are over 100 splendid mansions with cisterns and fountains and an invigorating climate.
Mansions of the nobles. One is the mansion of Hüsein Pasha. Another is the mansion reserved for the pashas: this is the residence of Osman Pasha, the brother of Çatalbash Pasha who is the governor of this vilayet. It was to Osman Pasha, in a public meeting, that I presented the imperial decrees and letters sent by the serdar Ali Pasha, and displayed the heads of the outlaws from Progonat which we had brought from Tepelena. "It is the Padishah's to command", cried Osman Pasha after the decrees were proclaimed. He immediately sent out heralds to sound the call for all the leaders of the sanjak of Vlora to muster their soldiers and set off in defence of Mania. For displaying the heads I was awarded a plumed crest and was dressed in a robe of honour, and for conveying the serdar's command, I was given one purse of kurush, one horse and one slave, and my servants were given ten gold coins and one length of material each. We then spent a week of rest and recreation at this mansion, where we had our quarters, and at several other fine houses. Among the other famous mansions are those of the Mehmed Efendi family, the Serdar Aga and the Uzkurli family.
Names of the quarters. Berat has 30 quarters, including Murad Çelepia - south of the fortress, Uzkurli, Hünkâr, Vakëf (Pious Foundation) (6), Baba Kadi, Pashmakçilar (Slipper Makers), Ak Mescid (White Prayer House), Eski Bazar (Old Bazaar) and Gün Görmez (7). Then there are ten quarters belonging to the Christians and one to the Jews. There are no Armenian, Frankish or Gypsy quarters, but there are a lot of Latin (8) infidels who come and go for trading purposes.
Mosques of the Ottoman sultans. Berat has 30 prayer niches in all, of which the one with the largest congregation is the Mosque of Sultan Bayazid II the Saint (9) in the centre of town. This mosque is 60 feet long and 50 feet wide with a tall, graceful minaret. It has three doors - two at the sides and one in the qible wall. In front of the mosque is a porch which is as large as the mosque itself, though the courtyard is narrow. The mosque was constructed in the old style and has a completely tiled roof. In front of the prayer niche is the octagonal two-story Tekke of [...] Efendi. It is a Halveti tekke.
The Uzkurli Mosque (10): it has a high domed roof of carved stonework covered entirely in bluish lead. It is a radiant mosque with one tall and graceful minaret which can only be compared to the minaret of the Mosque of Melik Ghazi in the town of Niksar in the eyalet of Sivas. The porticoes around the outer courtyard of this mosque have a lead roof of seven lofty domes supported by tall columns of white, polished pillars. The medrese, the primary school, the tekke and the soup kitchens (11) have lead roofs, too.
The Mosque of Ghazi Murad Pasha: a handsome, plain building. (12)
In the upper fortress is the Hünkâr Mosque, also known as the Fethiye Mosque (Mosque of the Conquest).
The Mosque of Çelebi Hüsein Pasha, nephew of Kara Murad Pasha, in the Murad Çelepia quarter: a modern and attractive building. I composed the following chrono-gram, inscribed in celi script and in Karahisârî style in the lintel over the qible door:

Evliya wrote the date with five divine names,
Living, Glorious, Seeing, Powerful, Steadfast. Year 1081 A.H. [1670 A.D.].

The mosque has an elegant, tall, hexagonal stonework minaret. Its domed roof is round like a blue bowl and is covered in red tiles, giving this beautiful mosque a particularly pleasing and spacious atmosphere and making it a peerless and elegant architectural monument.
The Mushka Mosque (13), near the courthouse: like a garden of paradise. These are the most famous congregational mosques.
Neighbourhood mosques. There are a total of [...] including those in the quarters of Vakëf, Murad Çelepia, Baba Kadi, Pashmakçilar (Slipper Makers), Ak Mescid (White Mosque), Eski Bazar (Old Bazaar) and Gün Görmez, plus eight others, but the ones listed are the most prominent.
Medreses. Berat has five schools training ulema, the best known of which are the Medrese of Sultan Bayazid II the Saint, the Uzkurli Medrese, [...]. There are no other institutions for instruction in hadiths and Koranic studies, but each mosque has its own learned professors who teach all the religious sciences, since there is a great demand.
Primary schools. There are [...] including those of Bayazid Khan, Uzkurli, Sheikh Aziz, Murad Çelepia and the Tekke. These are the most famous.

Tekkes. There are three. Firstly, that of Sheikh [...] Efendi, situated in front of the prayer niche of the Hünkâr Mosque: an octagonal two-story Halveti tekke (14). In plan, this tekke is quite unlike those seen in other regions. The dervish cells are to the right side of the mosque. It has 40 cells, illuminated with perfumed candles and inhabited by dervishes praising God's name. Also well known, aside from this one, is the Uzkurli Tekke. [...]
Baths. There are two bathhouses with hot water, one being the Uzkurli Bath in front of the Uzkurli Mosque. This is an extremely pleasant and refined building with a good atmosphere. The other is a grandiose building situated at the Tanners= Market, a clean, bright and airy bath with good service.
Private baths. There are 170 private baths, thus one in all the great mansions - or so I have been told by the town rakes.
Fountains. A total of [...]. Across the road in front of the door of the Uzkurli Mosque is the fountain of Kasim Aga who is architect of the sultan of Istanbul (15), the date of which can be seen in the following chronogram:

Kasim Aga, chief of the architects,
Made a charitable deed to rouse envy in the beholder.
May God accept it, now that it is complete:
In 1054 ----- (?) this stone fountain. Year 1054 A.H. [1644 A.D.].

This chronogram is inscribed in white letters of celi script on a dark blue tile over the fountain. There is another fountain, at the head of the Saddlers' Bazaar, also by Kasim Aga and also containing this same chronogram on a tile. Aside from these, there are nine fountains donated by the Uzkurli family.
Markets and covered bazaar. There are [...] splendid markets with pleasant and well-ordered shops, including those of the saddlers, the cobblers, the tanners and the kettle makers. Along the river is the beautiful bazaar recently constructed by Hüsein Pasha with 100 shops, all on the same plan. It is a gathering place of the cognoscenti. Here, in porticoes under the shade of various trees, one finds all sorts of skilled tradesmen and handicraftsmen busy at work in their various professions.
In the middle of the bazaar there is a large square with - a marvel - a lofty clock tower. The clock was brought from Transylvania and the bell could hold ten people. It rings out twelve times at noon. The sound of the bell can be heard at the distance of one day's march. The clock tower is so wonderful that it cannot be described. It must be seen to be believed.
In the vicinity of this bazaar there are six coffee houses, each one painted and decorated like a Chinese idol temple. A few of them are on the bank of the [...] river which flows through the city. Here some people bathe in the water, some come to fish and others gather to converse with their friends on matters both religious and secular. There are many poets, scholars and writers here possessing vast knowledge. They are polite and elegant, intelligent and mature, and given more to carousing than to piety.
The Tanners' Market along the riverbank is situated in the shade of lofty plane trees, willows and vines, making it an attractive place for people to come and spend their leisure time, even though it is the workshop of Ahi Evran (16).
The Kettle Makers' Market, with its rhythmic and steady "takatartak takatak" produced by the anvils and hammers of the coppersmiths, is also a shady and cheerful-looking bazaar with shops on a single plan. The Silk Makers' Market, which is also very clean and tidy, offers a view of exceptional beauty with all the handsome young men there. They are so good-looking that the marrow of the bones of their fingers is visible.
Through the entire bazaar flow streams of water which ensure such cleanliness that a man could sit down on the road and let himself be enraptured by the surrounding beauty. The lads in the shops are like royal princes, never struck by the light of the sun. Most of the shops on the two sides of the streets have wooden roofs. Here it is that friends, companions and lovers spend all their time chatting up the boys as they work, and there is no shame in it either. Indeed, the master craftsmen and even the fathers and mothers of the boys take great pride in the fact that their apprentices and sons are being courted.
Khans of the great merchants. There are five fortress-like khans with tiled roofs.
Inns of the unmarried craftsmen. There are six inns offering rooms to unmarried tradesmen without houses of their own.
Soup kitchens. There are also three soup kitchens, those of Bayazid Khan, of Uzkurli and of Aziz Efendi.
Rivers. Through the city flows the Osum river which takes its source to the south in the mountains of Skrapar, Osum and Tomor and which, after passing through Berat, flows westwards onto the plain of Morava and, after passing the estate of the son of Kara Osman Bey, joins the [...] river (17) in Elbasan. The two having joined into one huge river, it passes over the Plain of Myzeqe and flows into the Gulf of Venice (18) near the fortress of Bashtova. The Osum river in Myzeqe is navigable in summer and winter.
Koru Varosh (Gorica). Across the Osum river on the south bank stretches another beautiful town, called Gorica, of 200 houses with tiled roofs, surrounded by gardens, orchards and vineyards. It is inhabited mostly by Greek and Albanian infidels. Behind this town is the Mount Koru (Mount Gorica), from which the town derives its name. It is a massive and lofty mountain covered in large, tall trees. The timber from these trees is used for the upkeep and repair of the bridge over the Osum river. Anyone who cuts even a single branch is punished by the authorities. At the same time, anyone who commits a murder and manages to take flight and hide up in the mountain is safe from prosecution, but he may never return to the town. If the murderer returns, he will be executed, so if he does escape, he is in permanent exile.
Pleasure grounds. There are 77 parks and pleasure grounds in the vicinity of Berat. The foremost of these are: the Çekebeni Rock pavilions in the upper fortress, Tanners' Bazaar porticoes in the town below, the square at the new bazaar with its trees, the foothills of Mount Tomor where the young men go hunting, and this park on Mount Gorica. The latter, with its meadows and tulip glades, is a Persian paradise, recalling the gardens of Meram near Konya and of Aspozo near Malatya. Some of the spots are refreshed by flowing water. The benches in the shade of the lofty trees are large enough to sit groups of 100 men each. In some secluded spots on the mountain, the town rakes, like so many libertines, may spend an entire week eating, drinking and carousing. In short, it is an excellent place for having a good time.
Gorica has no khans, baths or bazaars, but it does have two churches. It can be considered one of the quarters of Berat - the one across the river. The houses along the water are all outfitted with fishing weirs. At times, when the waters of the Osum river overflow, the houses of Gorica, and also those along the riverbank on the other side in Berat proper, get flooded, as do the Tanner's Market park, many of the private garden pavilions, the coffee houses and the tailor shops. All the great mansions of the town have their windows facing the river. Usually these houses get flooded, too, but they are little damaged because they are strong and well built.
Noteworthy bridges. Just below Berat at the end of the Kettle Makers' Market there is a bridge across the Osum river to Gorica. It is a large wooden bridge with nine arches. The supports of the bridge are in the water and are constructed of stone. The surface of the bridge is paved with thick planks of oak cut from trees on Mount Gorica. It is quite a marvellous bridge (19). The only one similar to it is the single-arched bridge which Sultan Suleyman built over the Drina river at the town of Foca in the vilayet of Hercegovina. But this bridge of Berat has nine arches - may God preserve it. The Osum river, which passes under this majestic bridge, flows through the plain which is opposite Berat and irrigates the thousands of rice fields and vegetable gardens. Many of the inhabitants of Berat drink the water from the river, which is extremely clean and good-tasting. The rice is delicious and is exported throughout Albania.
Mount Tomor. Two hours to the south of Berat is Mount Tomor, a very high mountain which can be seen five to six days' march away. There are all sorts of useful plants and herbs and grasses on this mountain. Every year, physicians come here from Western Europe and Latinistan (20) and climb up the high mountain to collect great quantities of medicinal herbs. The streams which originate in this mountain and flow down its sides sustain 11 surrounding kadi districts. The ones south of the mountain eventually flow into Lake Ohrid. There are also many kinds of creatures and insects on this mountain which are found otherwise only on the mountains of Bisutun, Süphan, Demavend, Sehend, Ararat, Bingöl and Elburz. In short, this high mountain makes an excellent place for outings and for hunting.
Through the plain to the north of Berat it is a 5-hour journey to Elbasan. With its many alpine pastures, Berat has a very healthy climate, and as a result, there are many lovely lads and lasses, adoring to their lovers, yet very well bred. All the young men go about armed because - God help us - this is Albania and no nonsense about it. They swear only by their shpatë, i.e. their sword. Those who are not soldiers or sailors but peasants generally leave town and go to Istanbul where they serve as professional attendants in the bathhouses (21).
Favourite foods and drinks. Among the best-known dishes are: Albanian white buns (simid), chickpea rolls, chicken börek, types of cheese called jamuk and qumështuar, fried börek and eggs, baklava and fresh cream, and almond samsa. Of the best-known drinks is a red grape must called reyhania produced by boiling grapes of various kinds. A glass is enough to make you drunk and will keep your brained perfumed with sweet basil (reyhan) and ambergris for an entire week. In short, this town is famous for its reyhania. In addition to this, they make a boza of millet like a white sieve which is thirst-quenching, very much like the Egyptian rice beverage known as subya. Among the fruits are lüffan pomegranates as big as a man's head, as well as olives and figs, the entire region being decked out with orchards and gardens in great numbers, though lemons and oranges do not grow here.
Professions. All types of crafts are to be found here, but most of all they work as tradesmen, based on the Arabic saying "The tradesman is the beloved of God." They travel from vilayet to vilayet selling their wares and produce. One group are the commoners or town roughs; another are the ulema; a third are the craftsmen who mainly ply their trades in the town: saddle makers, jewellers, cobblers, silk makers, kettle makers and tanners.
Clime. According to the science of astrology and astrolabe, this city is in the middle of the fourth clime. The latitude is [...]; the longest day is [...].
Auspicious star. According to the astrologers and the master diviners Padre and Colon, the rising star of Berat is in the constellation of Virgo, the mansion of Mercury, earthy. As the town has abundant produce, the people are all very down to earth. They are of a sedate and compliant disposition. There are a good number of notables, viziers, deputies and learned and devout individuals who come from this town.
Completion of the eulogy of Berat. The people are very zealous and courageous ghazis and they are governed by prudent and foresightful agents and administrators. They are neat and clean. This is the Qurayshi clan of gentlemen among the Albanians. They claim to be Sunnis and strict followers of the Hanefi school. But among them are many men who are lax and easygoing and who cultivate the mystical sciences.
Shrines. The mausolea which ought to be visited are those of Vaiz Mehmed Efendi; Jim-Jim Hodja; Emirler Sultan, in the courtyard of the Mosque of Sultan Bayazid II the Saint; Pir Mehmed Efendi, just to the south of the Uzkurli Mosque; and Sheikh Ali Dede, in the cemetery of the public square near the bridge [...]. May God's mercy be upon them.

...

The great and ancient fortress of Elbasan, bride of the world. Just as the city of Antep is the bride of Anatolia, so is this city of Elbasan the bride of Albania in Rumelia. According to the Latin chroniclers, this ancient city was first founded by Philip the Greek, ruler of the fortress of Kavala, in the period of Alexander the Great. Countless philosophers and sorcerers of olden days took up residence in this city, causing it to flourish. Eventually, after being ruled by hundreds of kings and queens, the lands of Rumelia fell into anarchic conditions and this great city was taken over by the two sons of the Serbian despot, named Banya and Basanya, and was to be ruled by them jointly. These two obstreperous brothers were unable to get along and quarrels and fighting broke out between them. In the end, Basanya grew weary of the fighting and took refuge with Sultan Mehmed the Conquerer. In the sultan's presence he raised his index finger and uttered the monotheistic creed, thus converting to Islam according to the instruction of Ak Shemseddin. (22)
When Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror was on his way from Skopje to conquer Shkodra, he turned his reins against Elbasan and sent in advance a force of 40,000 men under the command of Koca Mahmud Pasha. With Basanya, now under the Muslim name Mehmed Bey, showing them the way, and having subdued the surrounding countryside (él bas-), they entered the town one night. Mehmed Bey found his brother Banya asleep and slew him, thus conquering his father's city with the assistance of Mahmut Pasha and the Ottomans. All the Greek and European infidels within the town were put to the sword. Once the town, the surrounding countryside (él), and the population of the vilayet were brought under the sway (bas-) of Basanya, also known as Mehmed Bey, the town was renamed Elbasan ("He who subdues the province") (23). The Latin chronicles have many long tales to offer about the town, but we have recorded its history in summary fashion.
Basanya Mehmed Bey went by forced march to bring the sultan the good news of his conquest of the town. The latter was delighted to hear the wonderful news and, congratulating him, offered Mehmed Bey rule over the town which had belonged to his father. The sultan also authorized him to mint silver coins in his name, exploiting the silver mine, and to pacify the surrounding region. Then, the blessed Ak Shemseddin, Emir Buhar and Molla Gürani prayed for the easy conquest of this land, reciting the Fatiha (24) for the intention expressed by the sultan. And shortly thereafter, during the reigns of Mehmed the Conqueror and Sultan Bayazid II the Saint, the conquest of all of Albania and Hercegovina actually took place.
Subsequently, in accordance with the survey register of Suleyman Khan, Elbasan was made the residence of a bey for a separate sanjak in the vilayet of Rumelia. For this crown land, the bey was allotted an income of 201,963 akçe by the sultan. Elbasan has 18 zeamets and 138 timars with an alay bey and a cheribashi. In time of war, the timariots are required by statute to muster a force of 4,600 select and armed soldiers. Whenever the vizier of Rumelia goes on campaign, the sanjak bey of Elbasan goes with him. The chief magistrate, i.e. the kadi, has a salary level of 300 akçe and supervision over [...] villages. The annual income of the kadi is ten purses and that of the bey is thirty purses. Of the other high ranking officials are: the grand mufti, the nakibüleshraf, the notables, the substitute kadi of the town, the market inspector, the collector of tolls, the poll-tax official, the steward of the spahees, the commander of the janissaries, the warden of the fortress, and a total of [...] garrison troops, five agas of the fortress, the chief architect, the mayor, and the infidel servants of the fortress who are exempt from taxes. The infidel rayah are governed by twenty elders (portoyoroz). Elbasan has a strong and well-disciplined administration. Both the rayah and the free Muslim citizens are respectful and obedient to the authorities.
The sanjak of Elbasan has ... kadi districts, including Bashtova and Myzeqe in the south, Durrës in the west, and [...]. In all, the sanjak has 526 villages under its jurisdiction. Many of them are exempt from taxes and many are state property, and the beys cannot intervene in their affairs.
The fortress of Elbasan is situated on a level fertile plain which stretches northwards and southwards for a quarter of an hour. The surrounding hills and mountains are covered in vineyards. This square and solidly built, ancient construction is situated in a broad valley on the banks of the Shkumbin river. It is 15 ells high. The outer ramparts of the fortress are skilfully constructed and have 50 towers (25). It is surrounded on all sides by a moat the depth of which is equal to the height of two men. It is 50 ells wide and filled with gardens and vineyards. The circumference of the fortress is 2,400 paces.
It has three iron gates, one to the east, one to the west, and one to the south in the direction of Mecca, across from the coffee houses in the bazaar. This large gate is much used and has double doorways, as do the others. The fortress itself has double walls and this is why the gates have double doorways. On the vault (26) over the southern or bazaar gate there is a block of white marble on which are inscribed in celi script the names of the forefathers of Mehmed the Conqueror back to Osmancik (27) and the date [of the conquest] of Elbasan: 859 A.H [1455 A.D.] (28). Also above this gate there are three quadrangular blocks of white marble, suspended in chains, showing traces of arrow and bullet shots. All who go in and out of the gate remark on them (29). Over the gate at the second-story level is the Hünkâr Mosque (30), an old stonework building with a tiled roof. Near the mosque there is a high clock tower (31). The clock was very skilfully constructed and is quite accurate, never losing a minute or a second, so the muezzins of all the mosques follow it faithfully.
Inside the fortress there are 460 old, rather spacious one- and two story houses with tiled roofs but without vineyards and gardens. This is where the home of the warden is. But since Elbasan is in the interior of the country, there are no garrison troops or houses for them. Instead, there is a contingent of infidels serving the fortress, who are thus exempt from taxes.
The open town outside the walls extends on all sides of the fortress to the foot of the hills at a distance of one hour's march. The prosperous and cheerful-looking mansions in the open town are adorned with beautiful vineyards, paradisiacal gardens and parks with their pavilions and galleries. They are two or three stories high, made of stonework and with tiled roofs. Each of them has a source of pure flowing water, a pool and a fountain with water spurting from jets. They are luxurious dwellings like those in the gardens of paradise. In the open town only the conical domes of the minarets of the congregational mosques have leaden roofs. All the other buildings have red-coloured tiled roofs. The fine houses of the great notables include the vizierial mansion of Hisim Mehmed Pasha; the mansion reserved for the pashas; the mansions of Mustafa Aga, Memi Aga, Cemali-zade, Kara Osman Aga, Hisim Mehmed Aga, Hisim Hasan Aga, Biçakçi-zade, Pasho-zade, the steward of the spahees; and many other beautiful homes. In short, according to the registry of the mayor of the town, Elbasan has 1,150 mansions and splendid houses. The rest are comfortable houses with gardens for the middle class. The doors of all the houses are open day and night. Indeed, on the lintel over many of the doorways you can find this Arabic couplet written in celi script:

Your morning is blessed by glory and prosperity,
Your door is open to all the needy.

In the reception halls of some of the mansions, one finds the following couplet instead:

The honour of the house depends on its owner,
And the honour of its owner depends on his generosity.

As one can see from these and thousands of other verses like them, home owners in this town consider it shameful to close their doors and to be without guests or to eat alone in the presence of their servants only. For this reason, there are no homes without guests and wayfarers. They do not grow weary of them even when the latter arrive with servants and horses and stay for an entire month. Should guests happen to be here at the end of the year, they are given a holiday garment suitable to their circumstance. In the forty years I have been travelling, I have never encountered this kind of good will except in the person of Hizir Aga, commander of the janissaries in Syrian Tripoli, and here in Elbasan.
Quarters. The open town, which is like the fabled garden of Irem, has 18 Muslim quarters and 10 infidel Greek and Albanian and Latin quarters. There are no quarters for Jews and Franks and Armenians, or for Serbs and Bulgarians and Voyniks. The latter groups only come here to do business, lodging in the khans and then departing. If they come with the idea of taking up residence, they are slain immediately. This is an ancient custom. The famous quarters are [...] and [...].
The mosques of the Ottoman sultans and benefactors. Elbasan has 46 prayer niches (32), of which the oldest is the Mosque of Mehmed the Conqueror (33) built over the gate of the fortress at the second-story level, a building with a large congregation.
In the middle of the fortress is the large old Mosque of Sinan Pasha (34), a one-story construction. The outer sides of its four walls are completely covered (35) in couplets, poems, qasides, hadiths and single verses inscribed by travellers from Turkey, Arabia and Persia. Each of them wrote one in his own hand, in fine calligraphy. If one were to collect all the inscriptions, they would make up 100 volumes. This mosque has been visited by thousands of poets who have vied in displaying their skill, and so the exceptionally smooth, polished and shiny walls are covered in countless works of art. Indeed, in accordance with my old practice of leaving my mark in whatever village or town or place of worship that I visit, I too had the impertinence to write a couplet, and signed it: "Written by the world traveller Evliya, year 1081 A.H [1670 A.D.]." The chroniclers have given special names to each city, and this Elbasan is known as the "Abode of Poets". The Sinan Pasha Mosque inside the fortress with its large congregation has a spiritual atmosphere, but it is now full of biscuits stocked for the Ottoman army preparing to attack the fortress of Kotor in Venetian territory. In fact, 1,000 quintals of these biscuits were loaded onto carts and sent to Durrës and from there to Mania by ship for the Ottoman troops there.
The Mosque of Hasan Bali-zade (36) in the Long Market. Over the gate is this chronogram:

Hasan Bali-zade constructed for the sake of God
This house of God resembling paradise.
Praise to God that he completed this charitable work.
May God accept it for the sake of the essence of Unity.
How fortunate it is that, until the day of judgment,
Day and night, people will pray, "Mercy on his spirit."
Leali of Manastir (37) said the chronogram:
Splendid became the place
of prayer of the community. Year 1017 A.H. [1608 A.D.].

At the grain market is the beautiful new Mosque of ... of Biçakçi-zade (38) with a marvellously well-proportioned minaret.
The Mosque of the Hare: fair and radiant (39).
The Mosque of Sinan Bey near the courthouse. It has a large congregation. These are the best known congregational mosques.
Neighbourhood mosques. There are 20 smaller prayer houses, including [...].
Institutes for Koran interpretation and the training of ulema. There are [...] medreses, including [...].
Institutes for the study of hadiths. [...].
Institutes for the training of Koran reciters and memorizers. [...].
Primary schools. [...].
Dervish tekkes. There are 11, including the Halveti tekke of Sinan Pasha inside the fortress, with numerous dervishes and endowments, unmatched anywhere else; the famous tekke of the Hünkâr Mosque, with its masters of poverty and mystics engaged in withdrawal and isolation; the tekke of Hadji Hasan, where men of God retire into a corner and engage in quiet meditation; and [...].
Soup kitchens. There are three public guest-houses which every morning and evening feed rich and poor, young and old, Christian and Zoroastrian. They are: the Hünkâr soup kitchen, the Sinan Pasha soup kitchen and the Tekke soup kitchen.
Khans of the merchants. There are 11 khans, including [...], [...].
Bazaars. The grand bazaar of Elbasan has 900 shops, although they are not all on one main street. Rather, the shops are laid out along all the public thoroughfares. These attractive bazaars are well stocked, clean, orderly and well kept, roofed and shaded. The nicest markets are those of the saddlers, the silk makers and the goldsmiths. There are seven coffee houses, like all painted Chinese idol temples, gathering places of scholars and poets. If I were to describe each one of them it would be very tedious. The city has no stonework-covered bazaar adequate to its prosperity, but precious goods from all over the world can be found, including garnets, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, embroidered silks, gauzes, brocades, velvets and other fine fabrics.
Professions. All the craftsmen and tradesmen are to be encountered here. In particular, there are many silk makers, Albanian shield makers, arrow makers and bow makers. The place is famous for the manufacture of fine weapons.
Physicians. There are 47 doctors and pulse takers, the most outstanding of whom is the Latin doctor Frangulis; and the physician Muhyi Çelebi is like the breath of the Messiah (40).
Oculists. There are three eye doctors, notably [...].
Surgeons and phlebotomists. There are quite a number of surgeons, but especially [...] is a great doctor; [...].
Market day. A large public market is held in Elbasan every Sunday. On this occasion, thousands of people, large and small, men and women, come in from the villages and surrounding areas, towns and fortresses. You can hardly make your way through the streets. All the lovely boys and girls gather here, too, displaying their hidden wares, ogling and haggling without stint and without scruple. On such days, fair Albanian maidens also come in from the villages, each one with the face of a nymph and the form of an angel. Every Sunday, in short, Elbasan is crowded with people and decked out with merchandise, making this market town the bride of Albania and of Rumelia. All the roadways of the bazaar are paved with cobblestones, and along the gutters on either side flow sparkling streams which cleanse all the roadways. The streets in the textile market in particular, and in the markets of the arrow makers, bow makers, knife makers and sword makers, are lined with mulberry trees, lofty plane trees and weeping willows and thousands of vine trellises, so that all the merchants can sell their wares while sitting in the shade. The other markets are planted with various types of trees, too, providing shade for all the shop owners. The sun cannot penetrate into this beautiful bazaar at all. Being like the fabled garden of Irem, this town can be compared to Košice (41) in the vilayet of Kurs in Hungary.
Baths. Elbasan has three heart-relieving bathhouses. First of all is the Bathhouse of Sinan Pasha (42) within the fortress near the eastern gate in an old building. Its water and atmosphere and construction are quite pleasant. It gets its water from outside by means of an aquaduct crossing the moat. In the open town is the Bazaar Bathhouse (43), a spacious, agreeable and clean building with lovely serving boys and furnishings. [...].
Private baths. According to the mayor, the town has 160 baths in the mansions of the well-to-do.
Rivers. Through this town flows the great river Shkumbin, which takes its source in the mountains of Korça and Lankada (44) and which serves to irrigate thousands of vineyards and fruit and vegetable gardens. It also drives thousands of water mills in the vicinity of [...], as mentioned above, before flowing into the Gulf of Venice. From the mountains around the town flow hundreds of streams which water the thousands of gardens in the town and also provide each house with one or two sources of fresh running water. In addition - fountains. There are 430 fountains in the town, 40 of which were built by the Chief Architect who constructed the New Mosque of Sultan Ahmed at the site of the hippodrome in Istanbul (45). The following chronogram is inscribed in faience on all of these fountains:

He is the revered Chief Architect, a pure face.
[-----------------------------------------]
The humble Hüsein uttered its chronogram minus ten:
Pure water has come for the sake of Muhammad Mustafa. Year [...].

On another of the fountains the chronogram "pure and clear" is to be found. There are also the fountains of Biçakçi-zade, Cemali and Vaiz.
Khans of the bachelors. Elbasan has nine khans which offer rooms to unmarried transients. They are used by skilled tradesmen away from home.
Complexion of young and old. Because the climate of the town is agreeable, even people over 100 years old still have ruddy faces, not to speak of the youths.
Lovely boys and girls. They are famous here for their beauty and grace, and they have beauty marks like that of the Hashemite (46).
Names of the notables. The foremost families of Elbasan are firstly that of our patron Cemali-zade, Hisim Mehmed Pasha-zade, Biçakçi-zade, Çavush-zade, and that of the warden. These are the most famous.
Sheikhs. [...].
Poets. [...].
Companions and lovers. [...].
Mystics. [...].
Men's dress. They all wear long broadcloth robes and turbans. The young men wear red felt caps, vests, buttoned trousers and kubadi slippers.
Language and technical terms. All the people speak Albanian. Most also know good Turkish, and the ulema can read Persian. Greek and Frankish are used by the merchants.
Men's names. Most of the names are like Cemali-zade, Kasim-zade, etc., but the town roughs have names like Çelo, Meto, Pasho, Afo, Hamzo and Koçi.
Slaveboys' names. [...].
Women's dress. Most of the women and girls wear broadcloth robes and go about in flat headpieces which they cover with white muslin kerchiefs.
Women's names. Common names are Selime, Salime, etc.
Slavegirls' names. Among the names for female slaves are Canisi, Hanifi, etc.
Fine buildings. First, the fortress of Elbasan is very well constructed. Equally sturdy constructions are the mosques, underground water channels, lofty minarets and khans.
Climate. The town has an excellent climate, always temperate in winter and summer.
Wells. According to what the mayor told me, there are 2,060 operative wells with good-tasting water.
Clime. According to the science of the astrolabe, the city is in the fourth clime. Its latitude is [...] and longest day is [...].
Rising star according to the astrologists. This city's rising star, according to the ancient sorcerers, is in the constellation of Libra, mansion of Venus, airy, so the people are cheerful.
Dispraise of the churches. There are a total of [...] churches, including [...].
Cereals and vegetables. All kinds of crops are grown here, of which wheat, millet, barley, lentils and [...] are very abundant.
Foods. White çörek cakes, spiced and sweet breadrolls, chickpea buns and 40 other kinds of food are highly praised.
Fruits. The pears weighing 1 okka apiece are very famous, as are the apples, juicy cherries, quinces, cornelian cherries and chestnuts.
Beverages. The drinks which are consumed here include red wine, grape juice flavoured with mustard, reyhania, sour-cherry juice, honey mead and boza.
Bridges for people and animals. The main bridge is the well-constructed wooden bridge over the Shkumbin river which flows through the town; its upkeep is supported by large endowments (47).
Vineyards and gardens. According to the toll collector, there are 21,000 gardens; some pay tax per dönüm but most are exempt.
Prayer grounds. There is a delightful public prayer grounds situated in a meadow shimmering like green duhavi velvet and adorned with 50 tall cypress trees (48).
Pleasure outings for gentlemen. Elbasan has numerous spots for leisure and relaxation, both in town and out. Indeed there are 70 private and public parks with grass and flowers, suitable for picnics and outings.
One such site is the so-called Loggia Pavilion (Loshka Köshki), outside the town, where every afternoon lovers gather behind the tall trees and in the shady spots and flirt with their beloveds. It is a delightful gathering place for men of culture.
Another is Aynü'l Hayat (Spring-of-Life) Park, a grassy meadow with pavilions amidst ponds and fountains of sweet water, like wine from paradise. It is located among the vineyards and slopes to the north of the town.

Büzürg Seng (Big Rock) Park, outside the town on the south side across the Shkumbin river, is a resort for lovers in a large open meadow full of palm trees and rose gardens. The Albanians call this spot Boz Eshek (Grey Donkey), a corruption of Büzürg Seng; and indeed, there is a big rock in the middle of the green meadow, which is why it is known as Büzürg Seng (49). It is a beautiful natural setting, without its like in Turkey, Arabia and Persia. Rising into the heavens are hundreds of plane trees, poplars, oaks, cypresses and willows, planted in rows. On all sides are orchards and gardens of roses and other flowers. Water flows continually through the various pavilions and pleasure domes with their pools and fountains fitted with water jets. These buildings are equipped with many kitchens and well-stocked pantries and the park is ornamented with numerous wrought iron trellises and bowers. The water from the jets is projected up into the branches of the plane trees, like the Water of Life.
Here, countless love-stricken young men come to sing love songs to the handsome boys they adore, whose red lips are like roses and cherries. They pour out their emotions so sweetly and sadly that the nightingales get tongue-tied with admiration. In every corner there is flirtation and fun and drinking and carousing, with music and singing and other entertainments day and night, like New Year's eve.
There is a crystal clear stream of water continuously bubbling out from beneath Büzürg Seng or Big Rock, in the middle of the park. Even in July none of the lovers dares to reach into the water and bring out three stones - only if his beloved were to command him to jump into the water, of course he would do it - so cold is the water from this spring, betokening the wine of paradise.
Once a year, a huge country market is held in this park, and thousands of notables from town and from the surrounding villages come and pitch their tents. It is a huge fair with a sea of people like the fairs in Dojran (50), Mashkolur (51), Elassonos and Mistra. Trading flourishes at this time; in ten days and nights money is spent equivalent to five Egyptian treasures. The people of Elbasan get some pleasure out of life and spend their days and nights feasting and merrymaking, like the feast of Kurban Bayram (52).
The park of [...]; [...]. There are other parks and spots for leisure, too, but these are the most famous ones.
Completion of the eulogy of the city of Elbasan. If one arrives by road from any direction, one cannot see the buildings at all until one actually enters the city. The entire metropolis is concealed amidst tall trees and vineyards and gardens. In short, it is a prosperous and ancient city, the home of scholars and virtuous men, poets and mystics. [...]
Pilgrimage sites. Across from the fortress moat is the tomb of Çelebi Efendi. On the gravestone in gilded lettering and celi script is the following chronogram:

Whether sweetness (?) or sighs come to you
from the revolving world
Is it possible to change the judgment of God?
When he departed, his friends said the chronogram:
Ah, Çelebi has migrated from the transitory realm:
may his earth be sweet. Year 1027 A.H. [1618 A. D.]

Chronogram on the tomb of Vakiyye-zade:

Alas! the kingdom of knowledge has been plundered.
Justice! fate is always so cruel.
Gentlemen, with this prayer let us utter the chronogram:
May God have mercy
on Vakiyye-kade forever. Year 1074 A.H. [1663-1664 A.D.]

Chronogram on the tomb of Yahya Beg-zade:

Yahya Beg-zade was pious in worship.
O worshipped One, bestow the gift of Your mercy
on his spirit.
With this prayer, O God, Rumi uttered the chronogram:
With Your grace may the Garden of Eden
be his station. Year 1073 A.H. [1662-1663 A.D.]

Chronogram of the plague:

Zevki uttered the chronogram without joy:
Ah, the plague has ruined the city. Year [...].

This chronogram is inscribed on the wall of the Mosque of Sinan Pasha.

Chronogram on the tomb of Hasan Shah in müstezad meter:

Though you reach the zenith from the lower depths,
hope not for mercy.
Men and angels, all who come to heaven and earth
are transitory.
Hearing this, Hilal uttered this couplet,
which serves also as chronogram:
Hasan quaffed the cup of death from the hand of fate,
water of both worlds. Year 1072 A.H. [1661-1662 A.D.]

We saw thousands of such chronograms on all the khans, mosques, prayer houses and medreses. To record them all is beyond our capacity, and furthermore would hinder our travels and would be considered loquaciousness, so we will stop here.
The mausoleums of the saints are in the fortress at the Tekke of Sinan Pasha and are visited by many pilgrims. One is the shrine of Sheikh Ilham Sultan. Another is that of the pole of the horizons, the absolute beloved and lover of the Living and Beloved One, Sheikh Dede Maksud, of whom they say the body, wrapped in his patched cloak and a prayer rug and with prayer beads in his hand since the time of Mehmed the Conqueror, is still fresh. May God have mercy on them all.
The mausoleum of Jabal-i Alhama, ancestor of the Albanian people. He is buried in the [...] park in a place called [...] outside the city of Elbasan. All the Albanians visit the grave, claiming him as their ancestor. Over a long period they have placed large stones on his grave. An account of his life was given in an earlier chapter. Now, because he is buried here, we would like to write in more detail about his adventures. Jabal-i Alhama himself was of the Quraysh tribe and a companion of the Holy Prophet. He took part in the Muslim expeditions of Tabuk, Uhud, Tabut (?), Khaybar, and Badr-i Hunayn. He also fought in other battles and was a courageous Arab chieftain and ghazi who offered the Holy Prophet the heads and tongues of many prisoners. Later, during the caliphate of the blessed Omar, he put out the eye of an Arab sheikh, either wilfully or by accident. The Arab sheikh, holding his gouged eye in his hand, went to Omar and said: "Oh Omar, it is my right under the law of the Holy Prophet to demand the eye of Jabal-i Alhama for my own." They summoned Jabal who, when asked about the matter, replied, "Oh Omar, it is the eye of an Arab of my own tribe. I put it out." His confession was recorded in the Shari'a register, and it was ordered that Jabal's eye be put out in accordance with the definitive Koranic verse in surah [...] (5:45) "And We prescribed for them a life for a life and an eye for an eye." Unwilling to comply, on the grounds that "There should be no shame" ('ar-na-bud), Jabal-i Alhama fled with his entire clan to the emperor of Byzantium, Heraclius. He settled in the Jabaliyya mountains and that is why these mountains bear his name. When the blessed Omar conquered Jerusalem, Jabal could not remain any longer in that place, so they boarded ships and took refuge with the king of Spain. Jabal-i Alhama was given the mountains of Dukat, Progonat and Frengis in the Albanian regions of Vlora and Delvina to live in, which were under Spanish rule. These lands were previously uninhabited and, within a short period of time, he settled them and, mingling with the Franks, they created the Albanian language from a mixture of Frankish and Arabic. The place they originally inhabited, and where they still reside after many generations, is now called the mountain of Kurvelesh (Quryelesh), since they are descended from the Quraysh tribe of the Arabs. Accordingly, the Albanian people boast that they are from the Quraysh, the companions of the Prophet.
Although Jabal-i Alhama died as a Muslim and was buried at this site according to his last will and testament, some of his descendants intermarried with the treacherous Franks and became Frankish and bookless themselves. The Albanians of Kelmendi, Montenegro and the mountains of Kurvelesh and Progonat and [...] became infidels and people without the book. They do battle day and night with the Muslim Albanians, who are their own kinsmen, and take one another prisoner. Many Albanians had abandoned their faith before the arrival of Mehmed the Conqueror. Later, when the Ottomans conquered Shkodra, Ulcinj, Bar, Lezha, Durrës, Berat, this fortress of Elbasan, Vlora and Delvina, all of Albania once again converted to Islam. Only the infidels of Kelmendi, Montenegro, Kurvelesh and some other mountain ranges continue to resist, saying, "God forbid that Jabal-i Alhama should have converted to Islam." In the Tuhfa history, however, it is written that he did become a Muslim. Even when he fled in shame because of the gouged eye and when he was staying with the Emperor Heraclius, he refused to join his own emperor in battle when the Prophet's companions attacked the infidels and cut off their heads, but secretly aided the Muslims. Later, when he joined Constantine, he refused to assist the Christians in the battle of Antioch against the Arabs. For this reason, the Albanians claim that Jabal-i Alhama was a companion of the Prophet and that he died a Muslim. In short, Jabal-i Alhama of the Quraysh tribe is the ancestor of the Albanian people. At the time of the caliphate of the blessed Omar, he populated Albania. His descendants, be they bookless infidels or bookish Muslims, are a race of militant ghazis, brave warriors and clever souls.
[...]

[TEUTA]

The only 'authocton' language in Balcan is albanian language (and greek). It is spoken uninterrupted for at least 10000 years.

100 000 years ,from ameba till now?
Lets say 1 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 years- sounds better.

Present Albanians are not balcan nation at all.They came in 11 century, with byzantine army general Georgios Maniacos (from Sicily).Their language are most similar to chechen..

Some facts to concider:
a)The Albanians were never mentioned in Byzantine, (not even of the works by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus), Arab, Armenian or any other texts before the 12th cent.

b)Language:
Albanian is classified as an IE language only because no one has been able to classify it into any other group, and this is because no one has yet studied all the Caucasus languages.
Albanian might have IE sounding words, but its basic structure and syntax are more similar to Chechen and Udish than to any IE language. Many Albanian words do sound Indo- European, because Albanian has borrowed over 80% of its vocabulary, more than any other European language.
The Chechen language is similar to Albanian. They both have similar grammar and similar sounds such as SQ, PSHQ, which are not common in any IE languages, but are very common in Caucasus languages like Chechenian.
The Albanians call themselves "Shqip-tari". This name is not Indo-European in origin and contains in it the Ural-Altaic suffix "ar" or "tar". Much like: "Khaz-AR", "Av-AR", "Magy-AR", "Bulg-AR", "Hung-AR", "Ta-TAR" - "Ship-TAR". see:
CHECHENIA=ICHQERIA
ALBANIA=SHQIPTERIA

c)Their alphabet interestingly enough, had Arabic letters untill 1908 when the alphabet they use today was adopted.

d)The most ancient loanwords from Latin in Albanian have the phonetic form of eastern Balkan Latin, i.e. of proto-Rumanian, and not of western Balkan Latin, i.e. of old Dalmatian Latin. Albanian, therefore, did not take its borrowings from Vulgar Latin as spoken in Illyria.

e)The Adriatic coast was not part of the primitive home of the Albanians, because the maritime terminology of Albanian is not their own, but is borrowed from different languages.

f)Another indication against local Albanian origin is the insignificant number of ancient Greek loanwords in Albanian. If the primitive home of the Albanians had been Albania itself, then the Albanian language would have to have many more ancient Greek loanwords.

g)Just a few, of the many identical place-names between Albania and Caucasus:
Albo-Arnauti -Caucasus- Arnauti
(Turks and Balkan peoples call Albanians by this name; likely from arch. Turk: Arran)
Albo-Bushati - Caucasus-Bushati (also the name of an Albanian tribe)
Albo-Baboti - Caucasus-Baboti
Albo-Baka -Caucasus-Bako
Albo-Ballagati - Caucasus-Balagati
Albo-Ballaj,Balli - Caucasus- Bali
Albo-Bashkimi - Caucasus-Bashkoi
Albo-Bathore- Caucasus- Batharia
Albo-Bater- Caucasus- Bataris
Albo-Geg - Caucasus-Gegi, Gegeni, Geguti (Term used by Albanians in their language to denote their brethre north of the Shkumbi R.)
Albo-Demir Kapia - Caucasus-Demir Kapia (Turkish term: "iron gates"; term by which Turks refered to the Caspian Sea or arch: Albanian Sea)
Albo-Kish, Kisha... - Caucasus-Kish (Eight different toponyms in Albania begin with "kish")
Albo-Kurata,Kuratem,Kurateni(villages)-Caucasus-Kura (river) (Nine different toponyms in Albania begin with "Kura")
Albo-Luginasi - Caucasus-Lugini
Albo-Rusani - Caucasus-Rusian
Albo-Sheshani, Shoshani, Shashani - Caucasus-Shashani
Albo-Sheshaj, Sheshi - Caucasus-Sheshleti
Albo-Skalla - Caucasus-Skaleri
Albo-Shiptari Shipyaki, Shkhepa, - Caucasus-Shkepi
Albo-Shkoder - Caucasus-Shkeder, Shked, Shkoda
Albo-Shekulli - Caucasus-Shekouli
Albo-Skuraj - Caucasus-Skuria

h) The fact that Albanian is totally alien to the Illyrian language based on the Messapic inscriptions found in tombs. So we must come to the conclusion that they either came from a different location (Caucasus theory) or the Illyrian tribes had absolutely NO ability of comunicating with eachother.
(that does sound stupid don't you think?)

i) The Illyrian city names mentioned in ancient times that were kept do not follow the Albanian sound change laws, suggesting that they were late borrowing from an intermediary language (most likely Romance or Slavic), rather than inherited (for example ancient Aulona should have been inherited in modern Albanian as Alor? instead of Vlore.

j)Ptolemy in Book 5 chapter 15 titled "Location of Illyria or Liburnia, and of Dalmatia" (The Fifth Map of Europe)
Never mentions the alleged "albanopolis" that they support he has, and can be found at 46 degrees and 41 degrees 45', but when you look up what he really has writen, you find the city of Thermidava
Ptolemy's Goegraphy can be found at :
penelope.uchicago.edu/Tha.../home.html

k) Now, when we look at apostle Bartholomew's life, we find he labored in the area around the south end of the Caspian Sea, in the section that was then called Armenia. The modern name of the district where he died is Azerbaijan and the place of his death, called in New Testament times ALBANOPOLIS!!!, is now Derbend which is on the west coast of the Caspian Sea.

l) Out of a list of 40-50 Illyrian city names known to us only 2-5 of the Albanian city names can be connected to them.

m) There is NO MEMORY!!! of the Illyrian past in the Albanian cultural heritage.

n) One of the interesting facts that connect the Albanians to the Caucasus and that they are not the descendants of the Ancient Illyrians is the Turkish name for the Albanians. "Arnauti", which means "those who have not returned" in Arabic, for the Turks were aware of the origins of the Albanians. And they truly did not return, they stayed in Serbian and Byzantine lands.

o) Hard evidence is the Turkish censuses carried out in 1455, they indicate that Albanian names are found in only 80 of the 600 villages listed in the area, and that they did not constitute territorial groups, ruling out any assumptions that zones evenly and continuously inhabited by Albanians existed at the time.

p) The first Albo dictionary was published in 1635 and contained only 5,000 words, when today any pocket dictionary contains at least 250.000 proving that their language was still under development.

q) The most interesting fact is our knoledge of the Arab conquer of the Albanian Caucasus sometime around the 7th cent based on Byzantine, Arab and Armenian sources.
They were converted to Islam and used as military troops to attack Sicily, dividing it into two parts, (hence there was the Kingom of the two Sicilies). In order to populate their part of Sicily, the Arabs brought with them Old Albanians from the Caucasus.

Then in 1042, the Byzantine Empire attacked the yong Serbian state after having defeated the Arabs in Sicily and having brought the Sicilian Albanians under their command and christianizing them. The leader of the Byzantines who led the Albanians was named Georgius Maniakos. Maniakos brought Albanian mercenaries from Sicily to fight the Serbs and they settled in two waves in modern day Albania, first the mercanaries came, and then came the women and children. After the defeat of Maniakos, the Byzantines would not let the Albanians return, thus the Albanians requested that the Serbs let them stay on the land. They settled under mount Raban and the city of Berat and from this, the Serbs called them "Rabanasi" or "Arbanasi". The city of Berat was known as Belgrad also, before the Albanians came to settle there. They mostly tended sheep and cattle and lent themselves out to Serbian nobles as brave soldiers.

[TEUTA]

Only Chechen language is similar to Albanian.

They both have similar grammar and similar sounds such as SQ, PSHQ, which are not common in any IE languages, but are very common in Caucasus languages like Chechenian.

examples:

CHECHENIA=ICHQERIA
ALBANIA=SHQIPTERIA

Or what about the coincidense of many common place names:???

Albo-Arnauti -Caucasus- Arnauti
(Turks and Balkan peoples call Albanians by this name; likely from arch. Turk: Arran)
Albo-Bushati - Caucasus-Bushati (also the name of an Albanian tribe)
Albo-Baboti - Caucasus-Baboti
Albo-Baka - Caucasus-Bako
Albo-Ballagati - Caucasus-Balagati
Albo-Ballaj,Balli - Caucasus- Bali
Albo-Bashkimi - Caucasus-Bashkoi
Albo-Bathore- Caucasus- Batharia
Albo-Bater- Caucasus- Bataris
Albo-Geg - Caucasus-Gegi, Gegeni, Geguti (Term used by Albanians in their language to denote their brethre north of the Shkumbi R.)

Albo-Demir Kapia - Caucasus-Demir Kapia (Turkish term: "iron gates"; term by which Turks refered to the Caspian Sea or arch: Albanian Sea)

Albo-Kish, Kisha... - Caucasus-Kish (Eight different toponyms in Albania begin with "kish")
Albo-Kurata,Kuratem,Kurateni(villages)-Caucasus-Kura (river) (Nine different toponyms in Albania begin with "Kura")

Albo-Luginasi - Caucasus-Lugini
Albo-Rusani - Caucasus-Rusian
Albo-Sheshani, Shoshani, Shashani - Caucasus-Shashani
Albo-Sheshaj, Sheshi - Caucasus-Sheshleti
Albo-Skalla - Caucasus-Skaleri
Albo-Shiptari Shipyaki, Shkhepa, - Caucasus-Shkepi
Albo-Shkoder - Caucasus-Shkeder, Shked, Shkoda
Albo-Shekulli - Caucasus-Shekouli
Albo-Skuraj - Caucasus-Skuria

How about the fact that Albanian is totally alien to the Messapic words found from inscriptions??
(if any Albanian word is misspelled or wrongly translated correct me, I'm using an online translator)

Illyrian-"alt"= (a stream) Albo -"LUMË, RRYMË, CURRIL, RRËKE, PËRRUA, NIVEL"
Illyrian-"barba"= (a swamp) Albo -"MOÇAL"
Illyrian-"bra"= (brother) Albo-VËLLA, SHOK
Illyrian-"mag"= (great) Albo- FAMSHËM, KRYESOR, FISNIK, SHKËLQYER
Illyrian-"brisa"= (grapes) Albo-RRUSH
Illyrian-"metu"=(between) Albo-MES,NDËRMJET
Illyrian-"oseriates"=(lake) Albo-LIQEN, PELLG
Illyrian-"plo"=(strong) Albo-FORTË, THANTË
Illyrian-"rinos"=(cloud) Albo-HIJE, RE, TUFË
Illyrian-"sybina"=(a spear) Albo-SHTIZË
Illyrian-"teuta"=(a tribe/people) Albo-FIS, KLAN/ POPULL, KOMBËSI, GJINDE
Illyrian-"ves"=(kind) Albo-MIRË, DASHUR, SJELLSHËM

Sources for the Illyrian words:
1. Neroznak, V. Paleo-Balkan languages. Moscow, 1978.
2. Katicic, R. Ancient Languages of the Balkans. The Hague, 1976.

English-Albo translator:
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.foreignword.com">http://www.foreignword.com</a><!-- w -->

Shall we continue? well why not???

The most important facts and considerations for determining the origin and original home of the Albanians are the following.

1. The Illyrian toponyms known from antiquity, e.g. Shköder from the ancient Scodra (Livius), Tomor from Tomarus (Strabo, Pliny, etc.), have not been directly inherited in Albanian: the contemporary forms of these names do not correspond to the phonetic laws of Albanian. The same also applies to the ancient toponyms of Latin origin in this region.

2. The most ancient loanwords from Latin in Albanian have the phonetic form of eastern Balkan Latin, i.e. of proto-Rumanian, and not of western Balkan Latin, i.e. of old Dalmatian Latin. Albanian, therefore, did not take its borrowings from Vulgar Latin as spoken in Illyria.
(this is from another theory that proves your origin to be somewhere in Carpathia)

3. The Adriatic coast was not part of the primitive home of the Albanians, because the maritime terminology of Albanian is not their own, but is borrowed from different languages.

4. Another indication against local Albanian origin is the insignificant number of ancient Greek loanwords in Albanian. If the primitive home of the Albanians had been Albania itself, then the Albanian language would have to have many more ancient Greek loanwords.

5. The Albanians are not mentioned before the 10th century a.d., although place names and personal names from the whole region of Albania are attested in numerous documents from the 4th century onwards.

6. The old home of the Albanians must have been near to that of the proto-Rumanians. The oldest Latin elements in Albanian come from proto-Rumanian, i.e. eastern Balkan Latin, and not from Dalmatian, western Balkan Latin that was spoken in Illyria. Cf. the phonetic development of the following words:
Vulgar Latin caballum 'horse' Rum. cal, Alb. kal
Vulgar Latin cubitum 'elbow' Rum. cot. Alb. kut
Vulgar Latin lucta 'struggle, fight' Rum. lupt, Arum. luft, Alb. luftë
(same theory mentioned)


Sources :
H. Kronasser, ‘Zum Stand der Illyristik’ (Linguistique Balkanique, IV, 1962, pp. 5 ff.); R. Katicic', 'Namengebiete im römischen Dalmatian" (Die Sprache, X, Vienna, 1964, pp. 23 ff.); id., Illyrii proprie dicti (iva Antika, Skopje, XIII/XIV, 1964, pp. 87 ff.); id., 'Suvremena istraivanja o jeziku starosjedilaca ilirskih provincija' (Nauno društvo SR Bosne i Hercegovine, IV, Sarajevo, 1964, pp. 9 ff.); G. Alföldy, 'Die Namengebung der Urbevölkerung der römischen Provinz Dalmatia’ (Beiträge zur Namenforschung, 15, Heidelberg, 1964, pp. 54 ff).

[BG1]

Kosovo is Serbian, Macedonia is Bulgarian, Moldova is Romanian, Cyprus is Greek. Back off from the Balkans and stop creating duplicate states !!! Kurdistan has a right to exist, wyu the USA do not recognize it as Kurds are tens of millions and are being oppressed? Double Standards :?:

[AuLoNa]

The Illyrians and Bosnia’s valley of Pyramids 12000 BC

Semir Osmanagic believes Pyramid was made by the the Illyrian people, who inhabited the Balkan peninsula long before Slavic tribes conquered it around A.D. 600. Little is known about the Illyrians, but Osmanagic thinks they were more sophisticated than many experts have suggested.
Illyria is a name that has been applied to the western part of the Balkan Peninsula but the origins of the Illyrians remain unclear. Archaeology has, though, been a little more helpful in explaining who the Illyrians were and ancient writings have provided clues as to their origins.
It is understood that the Illyrians were a tribal people governed by chieftains, but the ancient written records tell little else of their culture, their language and their origins.

Other research into ancient texts suggests evidence of an Illyrian migration from what is now present day Turkey.
Albanian scholars and philologists alike contend that the meaning of the Illyrian name comes from the Albanian interpretation of the Illyrians, ‘Iliret’.
The root in ‘Iliret is ‘i lir’ which simply means, ‘free’. Thus, the meaning of ‘Iliret’ is ‘freemen’ and the meaning of Illyria is ‘land of the free’.
It appears that the Illyrians settled in the Balkan Peninsula at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, sometime in the middle to late second millennium BC, although there is also evidence of artifacts resembling Illyrian types that date much earlier.
The Illyrians were bearers of the Hallstatt culture - a period in history that denotes the transition from the use of bronze to iron in Central and Western Europe. Objects found in Illyrian burial places suggest more than average funeral rites; a known characteristic of the Hallstatt culture.
Some other things are known about the life of Illyrians. Human sacrifice, for example, played a role in their ceremonies. The ancient historian, Arrian, records the Illyrian chieftain, Kleitus, sacrificing three boys, three girls and three rams just before his battle with Alexander the Great.
Much of what we have learned about the Illyrians has come through archaeological exploration. The most common type of burial among the Illyrians was ‘tumulus’ or ‘mound’ burial. The kin of the first tumuli would be buried around that and the higher the status of those in these burials, the higher the mound.
Archaeology has brought forth numerous artifacts placed within these tumuli such as weapons, ornaments, garments, and clay vessels – items needed for the journey into the Illyrian afterlife.
Through archaeology, it is known that the Illyrians used many weapons and excavations have produced swords, javelins, battle-axes, bows and arrows as well as battle knives.
When it came to defences, the Illyrian military equipped itself with wooden and leather shields that were embossed with metal. Their defences also included breastplates, helmets and leg protection, but those were probably reserved for the military elite.
The geographical location of Illyria, deeply wooded and mountainous, made them a difficult race to conquer.
The Illyrians, who were known to be a warlike people, were naturally incorporated into the Roman military and Illyricum itself became a leading recruiting grounds for Roman legions. The Romans even used the territory of Illyricum as a strategic defence because of its mountain ranges and valleys.
In the late fourth century AD, when the Roman Empire became divided into the western and eastern empires, Illyricum would also be divided. The southern half of Illyricum was incorporated into the Byzantine, or Greek empire and northern Illyricum remained as part of the Roman, or Latin empire with the river Drin as the boundary between northern and southern Illyricum.
The Illyrians in the highlands were not as Romanized as their lowland counterparts and some Illyrian highlanders would continue to reject Roman rule or ignore it altogether, such as the Albani tribe, or the Albanians as they are modernly known.
The Roman geographer, Ptolemy, first records the Albani in the first century AD. Obviously, modern day Albania gets its name from them - although the Albani would soon be able to overthrow their Roman rulers.
During the fifth century, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths - Germanic tribes who ransacked everything in their path, eventually capturing the western empire and ending Roman rule in 476.
The Illyrians in the highlands were protected from these invaders and there was also little impact on the southern Illyrians, who were still under the protection of the Eastern empire.
Later, however, the Slavic tribes - the Serbs, the Croats, and the Slovenes - conquered all of what was once Illyria proper. The inhabitants of Illyria then had to adapt to Slavic domination and culture. Thus, the Illyrians became thoroughly Slavonized and by the late ninth century AD, they disappeared into Slavic society all together except for the Albanians.
As the last surviving tribe of the Illyrians, the Albanians have preserved a part of the Illyrian tongue and tradition that exists to this day.

[AuLoNa]

The Illyrians


The origins of the Albanian people are not definitely known, but data drawn from history and from linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological studies have led to the conclusion that Albanians are the direct descendants of the ancient Illyrians and that the latter were natives of the lands they inhabited. Similarly, the Albanian language derives from the language of the Illyrians, the transition from Illyrian to Albanian apparently occurring between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.
Illyrian culture is believed to have evolved from the Stone Age and to have manifested itself in the territory of Albania toward the beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BC. The Illyrians were not a uniform body of people but a conglomeration of many tribes that inhabited the western part of the Balkans, from what is now Slovenia in the northwest to (and including) the region of Epirus, which extends about halfway down the mainland of modern Greece. In general, Illyrians in the highlands ofAlbania were more isolated than those in the lowlands, and their culture evolved more slowly--a distinction that persisted throughout Albania's history. In its beginning, the kingdom of Illyria comprised the actual territories of Dalmatia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, with a large part of modern Serbia. Shkodra (Scutari) was its capital, just as it is now, the most
important center of Northern Albania. The earliest known king of Illyria was Hyllus (The Star) who is recorded to
have died in the year 1225 B.C. The Kingdom, however, reached its zenith in the fourth century B.C. when Bardhylus (White Star), one of the most prominent of the Illyrian kings, united under scepter the kingdoms of Illyria, Molossia (Epirus*) and a good part of Macedonia. But its decay began underthe same ruler as a result of the attacks made on it by Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. In the year 232 B.C. the Illyrian throne was occupied by Teuta, the celebrated Queen whom historians have called Catherine the Great of Illyria. The depredations of her thriving navy on the rising commercial development of the Republic forced the Roman Senate to declare war against the Queen. A huge army and navy under the command of of Santumalus and Alvinus attacked Central Albania, and, after two years of protracted warfare, Teuta was induced
for peace (227 B.C.) The last king of Illyria was Gentius, of pathetic memory. In 165 B.C. he was
defeated by the Romans and brought to Rome as a captive. Henceforth, Illyria consisting of the Enkalayes, the Taulantes, the Epirotes, and the Ardianes, became a Roman dependency. She was carved out into three
independent republics the capitals of which were respectively Scodar (Shkoder), Epidamnus (Durres) and Dulcigno (todays' Ulqin in Montenegro) Authors of antiquity relate that the Illyrians were a sociable and hospitable
people, renowned for their daring and bravery at war. Illyrian women were fairly equal in status to the men, even to the point of becoming heads of tribal federations. In matters of religion, Illyrians were pagans who believed in an
afterlife and buried their dead along with arms and various articles intended for personal use. The land of Illyria was rich in minerals--iron, copper, gold, silver--and Illyrians became skillful in the mining and processing of metals. They were highly skilled boat builders and sailors as well; indeed, their light, swift galleys known as liburnae were of such superior design that the Romans incorporated them into their own fleet as a type of warship called the Liburnian.

[AuLoNa]

The Greeks.


From the 8th to the 6th century BC the Greeks founded a string of colonies on Illyrian soil. In the 3rd century BC the
colonies began to decline and eventually perished.
Roughly parallel with the rise of Greek colonies, Illyrian tribes began to evolve politically from relatively small and simple entities into larger and more complex ones. At first they formed temporary alliances with one another for defensivor offensive purposes, then federations and, still later, kingdoms. The most important of these kingdoms, which flourished from the 5th to the 2nd century BC, were those of the Enkalayes, the Taulantes, the Epirotes, and the Ardianes. After warring for the better part of the 4th century BC against the expansionisMacedonian state of Philip II and Alexander the Great, the Illyrians faced a greater threat from the growing power of the Romans. Seeing Illyrian territory
as a bridgehead for conquests east of the Adriatic, Rome in 229 BC attackeand defeated the Illyrians, led by Queen Teuta, and by 168 BC establisheeffective control over Illyria.

[AuLoNa]

The Roman Empire.


The Romans ruled Illyria--which now became the province of Illyricum--forabout six centuries. Under Roman rule Illyrian society underwent great change, especially in its outward, material aspect. Art and culture flourished, particularly
in Apollonia, whose school of philosophy became celebrated in antiquity. To a
great extent, though, the Illyrians resisted assimilation into Roman culture.
Illyrian culture survived, along with the Illyrian tongue, though many Latin
words entered the language and later became a part of the Albanian language.
Christianity manifested itself in Illyria during Roma ruleabout the middle of the 1st century AD. At first the new religion had to compete with Oriental cults--among them that of Mithra, Persian god of light--which had entered the
land in the wake of Illyria's growing interaction with eastern regions of the
empire. For a long time it also had to compete with gods worshiped by Illyrian
pagans. The steady growth of the Christian community in Dyrrhachium (the
Roman name for Epidamnus) led to the creation there of a bishopric in AD 58.
Later, episcopal seats were established in Apollonia, Buthrotum (modern
Butrint), and Scodra (modern Shkodrë).
By the time the empire began to decline, the Illyrians, profiting from a long tradition of martial habits and skills, had acquired great influence in the Roman military hierarchy. Indeed, several of them went on from there to become
emperors. From the mid-3rd to the mid-4th century AD the reins of the empire were almost continuously in the hands of emperors of Illyrian origin: Gaius Decius, Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, and Constantine the Great.

[AuLoNa]

The Byzantine Empire.

From Illyria to Albania.




When the Roman Empire divided into east and west in 395, the territories of
modern Albania became part of the Byzantine Empire. As in the Roman
Empire, some Illyrians rose to positions of eminence in the new empire. Three
of the emperors who shaped the early history of Byzantium (reigning from 491
to 565) were of Illyrian origin: Anastasius I, Justin I, and--the most celebrated
of Byzantine emperors--Justinian I.
In the first decades under Byzantine rule (until 461), Illyria suffered the
devastation of raids by Visigoths, Huns, and Ostrogoths. Not long after these
barbarian invaders swept through the Balkans, the Slavs appeared. Between
the 6th and 8th centuries they settled in Illyrian territories and proceeded to
assimilate Illyrian tribes in much of what is now Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Serbia. The tribes of southern Illyria, however--including
modern Albania--averted assimilation and preserved their native tongue.
In the course of several centuries, under the impact of Roman, Byzantine, and
Slavic cultures, the tribes of southern Illyria underwent a transformation, and a
transition occurred from the old Illyrian population to a new Albanian one. As a
consequence, from the 8th to the 11th century, the name Illyria gradually gave
way to the name, first mentioned in the 2nd century AD by the geographer
Ptolemy of Alexandria, of the Albanoi tribe, which inhabited what is now
central Albania. From a single tribe the name spread to include the rest of the
country as Arbri and, finally, Albania. The genesis of Albanian nationality
apparently occurred at this time as the Albanian people became aware that
they shared a common territory, name, language, and cultural heritage.
(Scholars have not been able to determine the origin of Shqiperia, the
Albanians' own name for their land, which is believed to have supplanted the
name Albania during the 16th and 17th centuries. It probably was derived from
shqipe, or "eagle," which, modified into shqipria, became "the land of the
eagle.")
Long before that event, Christianity had become the established religion in
Albania, supplanting pagan polytheism and eclipsing for the most part the humanistic world outlook and institutions inherited from the Greek and Roman civilizations. But, though the country was in the fold of Byzantium, Albanian Christians remained under the jurisdiction of the Roman pope until 732. In that year the iconoclast Byzantine emperor Leo III, angered by Albanian archbishops because they had supported Rome in the Iconoclastic Controversy, detached the Albanian church from the Roman pope and placed it under the patriarch of Constantinople. When the Christian church split in 1054 between the East and Rome, southern Albania retained its tie to Constantinople while northern Albania reverted to the jurisdiction of Rome. This split in the Albaniachurch marked the first significant religious fragmentation of the country.



Medieval culture.




In the latter part of the Middle Ages, Albanian urban society reached a high
point of development. Foreign commerce flourished to such an extent that
leading Albanian merchants had their own agencies in Venice, Ragusa (modern
Dubrovnik, Croatia), and Thessalonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece). The
prosperity of the cities also stimulated the development of education and the arts. Albanian, however, was not the language used in schools, churches, and official government transactions. Instead, Greek and Latin, which had the powerful support of the state and the church, were the official languages of culture and literature.
The new administrative system of the themes, or military provinces created by
the Byzantine Empire, contributed to the eventual rise of feudalism in Albania, as peasant soldiers who served military lords became serfs on their landed estates. Among the leading families of the Albanian feudal nobility were the Thopias, Balshas, Shpatas, Muzakas, Aranitis, Dukagjinis, and Kastriotis. The first three of these rose to become rulers of principalities that were practically independent of Byzantium.

[AuLoNa]

The decline of Byzantium.


Owing partly to the weakness of the Byzantine Empire, Albania, beginning in
the 9th century, came under the domination, in whole or in part, of a succession
of foreign powers: Bulgarians, Norman crusaders, the Angevins of southern
Italy, Serbs, and Venetians. The final occupation of the country in 1347 by the
Serbs, led by Stefan Dusan, caused massive migrations of Albanians abroad,
especially to Greece and the Aegean islands. By the mid-14th century,
Byzantine rule had come to an end in Albania, after nearly 1,000 years.
A few decades later the country was confronted with a new threat, that of the
Turks, who at this juncture were expanding their power in the Balkans. The
Ottoman Turks invaded Albania in 1388 and completed the occupation of the
country about four decades later (1430). But after 1443 an Albanian of military
genius--Gjergj Kastrioti (1405-68), known as Skanderbeg--rallied the Albanian
princes and succeeded in driving the occupiers out. For the next 25 years,
operating out of his stronghold in the mountain town of Kruj, Skanderbeg
frustrated every attempt by the Turks to regain Albania, which they envisioned
as a springboard for the invasion of Italy and western Europe. His unequal fight
against the mightiest power of the time won the esteem of Europe as well as
some support in the form of money and military aid from Naples, the papacy,
Venice, and Ragusa. After he died, Albanian resistance gradually collapsed,
and many Albanians fled to Italy enabling the Turks to reoccupy the country by
1506.
Skanderbeg's long struggle to keep Albania free became highly significant to
the Albanian people, as it strengthened their solidarity, made them more
conscious of their national identity, and served later as a great source of
inspiration in their struggle for national unity, freedom, and independence.

The Ottoman Empire.

The nature of Turkish rule.




The Turks established their dominion over Albania just as the Renaissance
began to unfold in Europe, so that, cut off from contact and exchanges with
western Europe, Albania had no chance to participate in, or benefit from, the
humanistic achievements of that era. Conquest also caused great suffering and
vast destruction of the country's economy, commerce, art, and culture.
Moreover, to escape persecution by their conquerors, about one-fourth of the
country's population fled abroad to southern Italy, Sicily, and the Dalmatian
coast.
Although the Turks ruled Albania for more than four centuries, they were
unable to extend their authority throughout the country. In the highland regions
Turkish authorities exercised only a formal sovereignty, as the highlanders
refused to pay taxes, serve in the army, or surrender their arms--although they
did pay an annual tribute to Constantinople.
Albanians rose in rebellion time and again against Ottoman occupation. In order
to check the ravages of Albanian resistance--which was partly motivated by
religious feelings, namely, defense of the Christian faith--as well as to bring
Albania spiritually closer to Turkey, the Ottomans initiated a systematic drive
toward the end of the 16th century to Islamize the population. This drive
continued through the following century, by the end of which two-thirds of the
people had converted to Islam. A major reason Albanians became Muslims
was to escape Turkish violence and exploitation, an instance of which was a
crushing tax that Christians would have to pay if they refused to convert.
Islamization aggravated the religious fragmentation of Albanian society, which
had first appeared in the Middle Ages and which was later used by
Constantinople and Albania's neighbours in attempts to divide and denationalize
the Albanian people. Hence leaders of the Albanian national movement in the
19th century used the rallying cry "The religion of Albanians is Albanianism" in
order to overcome religious divisions and foster national unity.
The basis of Ottoman rule in Albania was a feudalmilitary system of landed
estates, called timars, which were awarded to military lords for loyalty and
service to the empire. As Ottoman power began to decline in the 18th century,
the central authority of the empire in Albania gave way to the local authority of
autonomy-minded lords. The most successful of these lords were three
generations of pashas of the Bushati family, who dominated most of northern
Albania from 1757 to 1831, and Ali Pasa Tepelen of Janina (now Ionnina,
Greece), a colourful Oriental-type despot who ruled over southern Albania and
northern Greece from 1788 to 1822. These pashas created separate states
within the Ottoman state until they were overthrown by the sultan.
After the fall of the pashas, in 1831 Turkey officially abolished the timar
system. In the wake of its collapse, economic and social power passed from
the feudal lords to private landowning beys and, in the northern highlands, to
tribal chieftains called bajraktars, who presided over given territories with rigid
patriarchal societies that were often torn by blood feuds. Peasants who were
formerly serfs now worked on the estates of the beys as tenant farmers.
Ottoman rule in Albania remained backward and oppressive to the end. In
these circumstances, many Albanians went abroad in search of careers and
advancement within the empire, and an unusually large number of them, in
proportion to Albania's population, rose to positions of prominence as
government and military leaders. More than two dozen grand viziers (similar to prime ministers) of Turkey were of Albanian origin.


By the mid-19th century Turkey was in the throes of the "Eastern Question," as
the peoples of the Balkans, including Albanians, sought to realize their national
aspirations. To defend and promote their national interests, Albanians met in
Prizren, a town in Kosovo, in 1878 and founded the Albanian League. The
league had two main goals, one political and the other cultural. First, it strove
(unsuccessfully) to unify all Albanian territories--at the time divided among the
four vilayets, or provinces, of Kosovo, Shkodr, Monastir, and Janina--into one
autonomous state within the framework of the Ottoman Empire. Second, it
spearheaded a movement to develop Albanian language, literature, education,
and culture. In line with the second program, in 1908 Albanian leaders met in
the town of Monastir (now Bitola, Macedonia) and adopted a national alphabet.
Based mostly on the Latin script, this supplanted several other alphabets,
including Arabic and Greek, that were in use until then.
The Albanian League was suppressed by the Turks in 1881, in part because
they were alarmed by its strong nationalistic orientation. By then, however, the
league had become a powerful symbol of Albania's national awakening, and its
ideas and objectives fueled the drive that culminated later in national
independence.
When the Young Turks, who seized power in Istanbul in 1908, ignored their
commitments to Albanians to institute democratic reforms and to grant
autonomy, Albanians embarked on an armed struggle, which, at the end of
three years (1910-12), forced the Turks to agree, in effect, to grant their
demands. Alarmed at the prospect of Albanian autonomy, Albania's Balkan
neighbours, who had already made plans to partition the region, declared war
on Turkey in October 1912, and Greek, Serbian, and Montenegrin armies
advanced into Albanian territories.
To prevent the annihilation of the country, Albanian national delegates met at a congress in Vlorë. They were led by Ismail Qemal, an Albanian who had held several high positions in the Ottoman government. On Nov. 28, 1912, the congress issued the Vlorë proclamation, which declared Albania's
independence.

Shortly after the defeat of Turkey by the Balkan allies, a conference of
ambassadors of the Great Powers (Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary,
France, and Italy) convened in London in December 1912 to settle the
outstanding issues raised by the conflict. With support given to the Albanians by
Austria-Hungary and Italy, the conference agreed to create an independent
state of Albania. But, in drawing the borders of the new state, owing to strong
pressure from Albania's neighbours, the Great Powers largely ignored
demographic realities and ceded the vast region of Kosovo to Serbia, while, in
the south, Greece was given the greater part of Çamria, a part of the old region
of Epirus centred on the Thamis River. Many observers doubted whether the
new state would be viable with about one-half of Albanian lands and population
left outside its borders, especially since these lands were the most productive in
food grains and livestock. On the other hand, a small community of about
35,000 ethnic Greeks was included within Albania's borders. (However,
Greece, which counted all Albanians of the Orthodox faith--20 percent of the
population--as Greeks, claimed that the number of ethnic Greeks was
considerably larger.) Thereafter, Kosovo and the Çamria remained troublesome
issues in Albanian-Greek and Albanian-Yugoslav relations.
The Great Powers also appointed a German prince, Wilhelm zu Wied, as ruler
of Albania. Wilhelm arrived in Albania in March 1914, but his unfamiliarity with
Albania and its problems, compounded by complications arising from the
outbreak of World War I, led him to depart from Albania six months later. The
war plunged the country into a new crisis, as the armies of Austria-Hungary,
France, Italy, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia invaded and occupied it. Left
without any political leadership or authority, the country was in chaos, and its
very fate hung in the balance. At the Paris Peace Conference after the war,
the extinction of Albania was averted largely through the efforts of U.S.
President Woodrow Wilson, who vetoed a plan by Britain, France, and Italy to
partition Albania among its neighbours.

[AuLoNa]

LANGUAGES ...

I The Illyrian Language

It is the purpose of this writing to inspire thought; to enlighten the
people of the Illyrian (Albanian) heritage; to help the Jews understand the
ancient roots of their religion and hopefully enlighten the peoples of
Christianity and Islam as well by placing in proper perspective these
monotheistic (one God) religions within the context of the evolution of man. Prehistoric man
created the ideas, names of the gods and religious stories through his
perceptions and understandings of the natural surroundings. It is the Illyrian (Albanian) language that appears to translate this phenomenon.

This attempt may help to reconcile Darwin's Theory of Evolution of 1859 with
the creationist idea of a beginning that took place some 5764 years ago. As
Darwin's theory might be referred to as the 'language of nature', the
Illyrian (Albanian) language could be referred to as the 'language of god'.

This may all have become possible because the 'Greek code' had been
deciphered when parts of Hesiod's 'Theogony' (Genesis of the Gods)c. 700
B.C., was analyzed and placed within an Illyrian (Albanian) context in 1980,
using the Albanian language as the tool in gaining a new insight into his
work. Hesiod was a Greek farmer/shepard turned poet.

Albanian is the oldest language in Europe and by some accounts has been
compared to Etruscan (Z. Mayani, 'Etruscans Begin to Speak'). The Albanian
alphabet was not developed until 1878 and the majority of the population was
illiterate as recent as 1945. The Albanians are considered the descendents
of the Illyrians. There is little record of the Illyrian civilization as they
supposedly left no writings, a fact that I find increasingly hard to
believe.

The Greeks were the scribes for the translations of the books of the Bible
from Hebrew to Greek. They may have been the unknowing scribes for some of
the Illyrian history though it appears they did not understand the stories
past on to them by the Illyrian people. 'From what parents the gods are
derived or whether they were in existence from all time, and what they are
like in shape, the Greeks do not know till this day when I write these
lines' says Herodotus, Greek historian (c. 485-425 B.C.) (Book II, 53). It
should be noted that the translation of the Bible, wherein the monotheistic
concept was introduced to the western world, had been completed during the
beginning of the first millenium. While this translation process was taking place the
Alexandria (Egypt) Library was destroyed. It was said that this library
contained the story of mankind.

It should have been the wonder of the ages how the Greeks could have been
the scribes of both the early Illyrian vocal histories and have understood
none of it, as has been proven with the analysis of Hesiod's work, and some
centuries later became the translators for one of the most important
religious documents, the Bible, yet understood little of the roots of the evolution of
religion in their world. Maybe now that we might begin to recognize that
there is a 'language of god', a language that gave translation to the
evolution of religion that we know in our world, we can begin to view this
evolution with a clearer perspective.

II An Illyrian World

It is my contention that long before the 'beginning of the world' as
expressed in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, there was an Illyrian
world in the prehistoric era. It was one that had great religious influence
over the Mediterranean world and the areas of the regions known as the
Middle East and northern Africa. Though some of this Illyrian influence may
have been lost to the Jews in their early culture it is probable that the
teachers of Abraham, the Patriarch of the Jews, were aware of it.

The concepts of 'west' and 'ancestors' were important parts of the
prehistoric cultures in the ancient world. In Albanian the word 'perendim'
translates to 'west'. The word 'Perendia' translates to 'God' or 'god-like'.
In Albanian the words 'ze fare' translates to 'the voice (or message) of the
ancestors'. The Greek name for 'west wind' was 'zephyr' which probably
derives from the Albanian word 'ancestors'.

Some European scholars have tried to find the key to the Illyrians
because they sensed that it might have been a missing link to understanding
the religious evolution in the western world. They were unsuccessful in
finding this Illyrian world, and it appears that they could not imagine a
wider implication. A reasoning process may enlighten us - help us to
understand the religious and spiritual phenomenon in nature that enlightened
prehistoric man. It seems to have been lost almost from the beginning of the
historic era and became more political in its evolution.

III The Concepts: Ou, Ra, and Tos

In Greek, Ouranos was considered the first god, the god of heaven. If one
were to separate the name 'Ouranos', to 'Ou' 'ra', it would translate into
Albanian 'I' 'fell'. 'Ou' survives in Albanian as the personal pronoun 'I'.
It was my contention that 'Ou' was the name of the first god in the line of
succession of gods. Imagine yourself as a cave-dweller living many thousands
of years ago. When you stand on the earth and view the earth and sky, does
not the sky appear to fall to the earth in every direction you view? You do
not have the understanding that the world is round. It appears that a dome
forms over the earth.

Hesiod states: "And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to
cover (extend over) her on every side,..." (c.700 B.C.)

It is my contention that this concept, the sky appearing to fall to earth,
may have been the most significant to the people of the prehistoric era when
their religious ideas were evolving. As a result, the 'ra' expressing this
understanding, found its way throughout the cultures of the Middle East and
North Africa over hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, in the
prehistoric era. We see the word in the name Mediterranean. In Albanian
that would translate as 'with the falling day'. Of course this analysis has never
been made because the scholars could only see 'Latin'. This has been true with many
analyses of the ancient world, the scholars see 'Latin' or 'Greek', or
'Hebrew' then fit a reasoning process to it. Of course, to some extent, I do
the same with Illyrian (Albanian) but there is one difference - the Illyrian
language is coincident with ideas that are better explained by the 'view' in
prehistoric man's world, the evolutionary timetable within which he lived,
than any subsequent document left behind by man.

One point should be made clear with regard to the first god. This should not
be confused with the idea of a supreme god within the Illyrian scheme. The
supreme god to most people of the prehistoric world was the Mother-Earth. In
some cultures she survived the prehistoric world and it is a familiar
concept in recorded history.

The concept 'Tos' ... When Hesiod was describing the beginning of the world
he mentions that in the beginning there was 'Chaos' an emptiness or a state
of disorder. And next was formed 'Ge', the earth...

In Albanian there are four principal divisions of people that have emerged
from an unrecorded past. The four divisions include the tribes Geg, located
north of the Shkumbini River in central Albania (the ancient name of the
river was Genusus; 'north' in Albanian 'veri' translates to 'the place of
the egg'; 'Shkumbe' in Albanian translates to 'foam', and the oldest story of
Aphrodite is of a foam birth, though the Greek version of that birth is not
coincident with any Illyrian understanding). To the south of the river were
the Tosk, Lab and Cham. With regard to Hesiod's first two names 'chaos' and
'ge', my thought was that they represented two of the four Albanian
divisions. I did not allow the dialect of 'Kaos' to dissuade my observation from the Albanian
'Cha'. (The discussion and subsequent persuasion in this writer's book 'Oh
Albania, My Poor Albania' satisfied many doubts as to the possible validity
since it resulted in the breaking of the 'Greek code' and made many new
analyses of the prehistoric world possible. In fact it was a factor in
solving the 'mystery' of the Illyrian world.)

My conclusion had been that if the 'Ge' was the mother, in the north, the
place of the egg, then the 'Tos' might be the father in this scheme -
something that had eluded the Greeks. In Albanian the word 'tos' refers to
'pluhur' which translated to mean 'dust'. The Albanian word 'plehu'
translates as 'fertilize'. My thought was that the moisture or perhaps the
drizzle of rain in the air on a moonlit night might have been likened to the
dust-like appearance one might see in the air during daylight. The
prehistoric peoples may have equated this 'dust' as a 'fertilizing' of
Mother Earth - not in the factual scientific terms we know today, but in
some reasoning that they could comprehend in their time. It is my belief
that the 'tos' was synonymous with the concept of 'fertilization'.

IV The Names: 'Torah', 'Ur'

The Torah is one of the most important documents in Jewish culture. It may
be said that the Torah is the whole body of Jewish religious literature
including the Scriptures (the Bible). More specifically the Torah is
considered the first five books of the Old Testament of the Bible: Genesis,
Exodus, Levitus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In the Jewish tradition, it is the
introduction of the 'One God' to the Jewish people, and subsequently to a large part of
the human race represented by the people of Christianity and the people of
Islam.

Abraham was the founder of Judaism, the first great patriarch who introduced
the concept of monotheism - the doctrine in the belief that there is only
one God. He was born in Ur, a place in Iraq.

Quite simply it is my contention that the 'To' in 'Torah' represents the
'fertilization', and the 'rah', that which 'fell to earth', or the
'fatherhood which fell to earth'. This is what I believe to be the etymology
- the origin and prehistorical development of this name. And it is quite
fitting, and no wonder, that the patriarch and founder of this 'One God'
concept should be born in a place called 'Ur', a name that I believe
developed from the Illyrian concept 'Ou' 'Ra'...

Albania, including Kosova, should be viewed not only as a nation that had
been established in 1912, (KosovA was stolen from Albania by the Great
Powers of early 20th century Europe and pillaged by neighbors) but also a
culture, a living, breathing heritage for many thousands of years despite
the lack of an alphabet until 1878 and an illiterate population as recent as
1945. There are prehistoric concepts within this heritage that can be the
only source of explanation for the origin of religious ideas and tradition
that exist in many cultures with regard to the 'west' and 'ancestoral
reverence'. And it becomes apparent that the ideas pre-date any recorded
civilization's claim to antiquity by the very nature of its preservation -
they can be found, even though lost for thousands of years, not through
documents, not by investigating pottery or other artifacts, but through a
reasoning process that applies the Albanian language to the same natural
surroundings that were readily available to prehistoric man as it is to
ourselves today.

It is important to understand that the Illyrian (Albanian) and Jewish
peoples at one time lived in a prehistoric world, one culture subsequently
left writings, one supposedly did not; one culture lost some of the
understandings of that world, the other culture remained a mystery for
thousands of years until 1980.

In Albanian 'Genusus' would translate to 'Mother Earth as a bride'. 'Nuse'
translates to 'bride'... It is most probable the origin of the Greek word
'Genesis', 'the beginning', derives from this concept. In Albanian the word
'dhenderr' translates to 'groom'. 'Dhe' translates to 'earth', and 'nderr'
translates 'to extend' or 'spread over'. From Homeric Hymn, c.800 B.C.:
'Hail Mother of the gods, wife of starry Heaven'. From Hesiod, c.700 B.C.:
'And earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover (extend
over) her on every side..."

V The Bridge to the Blessed Father

Thousands of years have passed without the benefit of insight into the
prehistoric Illyrian world, without an awareness that there was and still is
a 'language of god'. It is a 'language' which may help man to understand the
prehistoric evolution of the religious and spiritual phenomenon that rooted
in that era and in some aspects survived in the world we know today. It is a
'language' which might answer questions that can help man to better
understand his world, his religion.

The reader must recognize that we live in a very dangerous world where
technology has given humanity some very unforgiving powers. The Illyrian
(Albanian) language might teach something. Hopefully it can be the catalyst
which could take us from Day One of the evolutionary process to Day Two. It
is a new
awareness of an old phenomenon.

If one were to point to the place where the heaven meets the earth and
follow the path of the sun overhead and toward the west, an imaginary bridge
would be drawn. In Albanian 'ura' translates to 'bridge'. 'Urat' translates
to 'the blessed father'.

[AuLoNa]

[AuLoNa]

Now to answer your question about Illyrian-Albanian correlation:

1. The national name Albania is the name Albanoi, an Illyrian tribe mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria.
2. The Albanoi territory then centered at Albonopoli between Durres and Kruja, the heartland of modern Albania.
3. Four peoples speaking their own languages lived in the Balkans in ancient times: the Greeks in the south, the Macedonians in the center, the Thracians in the east and the Illyrians in the west. Today Albanian is spoken in most of the same region where Illyrian was spoken in ancient times.
4. Those few language elements which are known as Illyrian can be explained through the Albanian language, and no other.
5. A linguistic comparison of Albanian with ancient Greek and Latin indicates that Albanian was formed as a language at an earlier period than those other ancient languages.
6. Archeological and historical data witness to the cultural continuity from the Illyrians to the Albanians. Continual contact with other peoples and languages has left its traces in the Albanian vocabulary. Foreign words have been borrowed from Greek, Latin, Slavic, and Turkish, yet Albanian has been preserved as a separate language, its grammatical system remaining virtually unchanged.
7. Linguists point out many technical similarities between Illyrian and Albanian words.
8. Borrowings from northern Greek and from Latin incorporated in the Albanian language reflect the well-known political and cultural pressures on Illyrian territory. Linguistic studies indicate that Albanian developed from Illyrian as a distinct language between the 4th and 6th centuries A.D. Thus ancient borrowings of Greek and Latin vocabulary could not have moved directly into Albanian, but into Illyrian, through which these words entered into Albanian. Historical linguists point out that these borrowings from ancient Greek were in the Dorian dialect and penetrated into Illyrian through Corinthian commercial colonies in Corfu, along the Adriatic coast, and through border towns. Latin borrowings come later during the lengthy Roman occupation. These ancient Greek and Roman contacts occurred precisely in the territory of old Illyria, leaving their traces in the Illyrian language from which they later passed into the Albanian language.
9. Illyrian toponyms, ancient Illyrian place names for cities, rivers and mountains, are preserved today in the Albanian language, and only in Albanian. The names of Balkan villages usually lasted only a few centuries, for villages were often destroyed altogether during wartime. Cities lasted longer, so their names were usually older. Albanian linguists have found more than 300 names of ancient cities like Shkodra, rivers like the Drin and mountains like Tomor which were mentioned by ancient Greek and Roman geographers or historians and which are still in use in Albania. Scholars show how the rules of historical phonetics explain any changes of spelling over the centuries from Illyrian to Albanian, as Scupi to Shkup, Drinus to Drin, Mathis to Mat. Certainly the Albanian language is derived from the Illyrian.
10. Illyrian proper names continue in use among present-day Albanians. Many of the individual Illyrian names of persons were preserved on epitaphs and inscriptions on coins. Then the names of other people like the Illyrian rulers Agron and Teuta were mentioned by Greek or Roman historians. The Albanian scholar Mahri Domi claims to have identified 800 of these.
11. The numerous marine terms for sea plants and animals in the Albanian language show that these people lived along the coast on what would correspond with Illyrian territory.
12. Then there are other words in Albanian which Greek or Roman writers long ago explicitly identified as Illyrian in origin.

[avlona]

This stele is 2300 year old, found in epirus albania, its pure albanian.



The first word means DIELLI which means 'the sun'.

[AuLoNa]

Friday, February 29, 2008

Kosovo: Time For Serbia To Wake Up
By Gordana Knezevic

Kosovo -- An ethnic Serb waves the Serbian flag during a demonstration of about a hundred Serbs at Mitrovica bridge, 17Feb2008
Serbs protesting in Mitrovica
(AFP)
Last week's pictures from Belgrade were ugly. Broken windows in the city center, the burned flags of foreign embassies, and thinly veiled justifications of the violence by Serbian officials. A government minister, Velimir Ilic, went so far to say that violence against foreign embassies was the appropriate answer to the "violence" committed against Serbia by taking away its province.

However, Kosovo left Serbia a long time ago. Most Serbs did not notice that departure, since Kosovo was not present in their conscience as a place to visit or, God forbid, a place to move to with a business or the family.

Despite this ignorance of the real Kosovo, the former Serbian province plays a key role in Serbian identity -- an identity that is very much shaped by the idea that Serbs have always been victims, throughout history. In the hands of local politicians, Kosovo is inevitably mentioned as a symbol of a great loss, producing an instant image of a battle against the Turks -- a battle that took place 600 years ago. It has always been packaged as an event that took place yesterday (or might as well have), and conversely, what happened as recently as yesterday is somehow directly related to that medieval battle.

The myth of Kosovo, as an integral part of Serbian identity, was created and cemented by Serbian writers, poets, politicians, and academics. If Serbs happened to disagree on other issues, Kosovo would always be their common ground, their rallying point. A romantic picture of Serbs as both heroes and victims at the hands of brutal Ottoman Turks would suspend all disputes and produce an idyllic picture of national unity.

In other countries, politicians have to work hard and come up with good ideas and policies in order to get reelected. In Serbia, it was always enough to just mention Kosovo and to have the entire nation clapping hands. But what Serbs want to have is not Kosovo as it is, inhabited by an ethnic-Albanian majority. It is Kosovo as it was a few centuries ago, inhabited by Serbs. Or, in the face of the demographic reality, inhabited by whomever, but run by the Serbs.

Selective Curfew

In 1981, as a young journalist, I was sent to Kosovo in the aftermath of large student demonstrations that took place a year after Tito's death. The demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the Yugoslav Army. By the time I arrived in Pristina, hundreds of Albanians had been imprisoned, special police units from all over Yugoslavia had been deployed in the streets of the Kosovo capital, and a curfew was in force after 8 p.m.

Apart from me, two other journalists from Zagreb and Ljubljana were the only guests at the Grand Hotel, run by the Serbian secret police. It was rather unpleasant to have to listen to the frequently drunk policemen singing at the hotel bar every evening. We felt that we were trapped in that place as a result of the curfew. After many boring and uneventful nights at the hotel, we decided to test the curfew and to leave the building long after 8 p.m. Thus the three of us started our dangerous walk through the empty streets of a city that had not yet recovered from the violent demonstrations and the brutal army action. Without ever being stopped or asked for any ID, we spent most of the night moving from one bar and restaurant to another.

The only obvious conclusion was that the curfew was only in force for Albanians, and that each and every police officer in Pristina was aware of the three journalists from outside, so they didn't even ask for our identification. Humiliation and torture by the police were meant for Albanians only. We left Kosovo with the bitter taste of injustice and oppression against the Kosovar Albanians.

Even in those fractious times, most Albanians thought of themselves as Albanians as well as Yugoslavs -- and they did not feel any necessary contradiction between those two identities. Once Yugoslavia ceased to exist, however, they couldn't possibly declare themselves to be Albanians and Serbs, since in that case one clearly excluded the other.

No Serbian policeman or army officer has been allowed in Kosovo since 1999. The terrible crimes committed by Serbs in Kosovo before the NATO intervention were hardly an invitation for Albanians to remain inside the borders of Serbia. Breakup was imminent, and it was not a question of whether it would happen, but when the separation would take place. Even as Serbian officials extended the talks about Kosovo's future, they continued to advance only legal arguments, and never expressed any desire to share a country with Albanians. They wanted only a piece of paper that would give them ownership of Kosovo. A Serbian historian from the beginning of the last century once said that the Serbs would "grow up" as a nation only once they realize that Albanians are human. It is time for Serbs to grow up.

(Gordana Knezevic is the director of RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service.)


<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rferl.com/featuresarticle/2008/02/943ed01b-c809-4ca5-a92c-452ed441c08c.html">http://www.rferl.com/featuresarticle/20 ... 1c08c.html</a><!-- m -->

[niko]

Kosovo and Metohija is part of Serbia since 9 century.
And it 'll be forever!!!
Albanians OUT!!!

Well Jovan I'm ashamed of you and all serbian chetnik's. Please let Kosovo go and take look into our yard is fully with sh... If you think just like that you can get OUT one nation than this is not only stupid but is damnific and harmful for us serbians too. Please don't count on me to follow the stupid primeminister Kostunica and war criminals like Seselj & co. I'm pride to be serbian but i dont know how long will last this if you continue in this way....

You are not Serbian, and it would be better to go to Alona and take drugs together, because she has good stuff , see how she is so high.

[Ventimille]

@Aulona
I could easily copy paste the articles and photographs showing Serbs suffering by Albanians, but what does it prove?

I'd appreciate more if u write down YOUR thoughts, feelings, comments, your own opinions, not just mechanical copy pasting 20000 articles, cause we all can do that.
And believe me, there r also many many articles showing Albaninas as bad guys, doing ethnic cleansing over Serbs, doing classical terrorism, mafia stuff and other.
Moreover, do u really expect anyone to read all that text u copied and pasted?

I wish u can stop with that silly propaganda (it reminds me of Miloshevic's methods during 90's). And please stop spreading hatred for Serbia, if possible. As long as u r that bitter and full of hatred I don't think it's possible to have a rational conversation with u, 'cause u never say anything, just copy-paste. We all can copy paste, but where's conversation than?

[Ventimille]

OK, as for Kosovo's independence, I wanna say I'm not in favor.
Mainly because this is an illegal partition of Serbia, without any doubts.
EU simply trampled on UN Charter and other international treaties, so why do we have all those lows than? What for?
I feel like no matter how valid Serbia's arguments are (and this is actually some of the rare cases that Serbia has right over something), nobody cares about it and nobody shows any respect for it.

How I see the whole situation: several months/years from now on...EU will be forced to deal the reality that no self-respecting country would willingly accept loss of part of its territory through an illegality.
With all due respect, there can't be stability or peace if one ethnic group (Albanians) is encouraged and got everything they asked for and the other group (Serbs) lost everything and pushed behind. This unilateral declaration of independence is far from being fair, moral or democratic.
At the end, negotiations will have to be continued, but the fair negotiations. Until now, Serbs constantly had been asked to reach out and offer the independence, which is simply unbelievable.
I'm amazed how many countries in Europe misses the whole point or ignore the problem.
Everyone happy? Well, not really...

And one more thing, I haven't read all the posts in this forum, it would take too much time. I just wanted to write down my opinion, so... if anyone got annoyed or insulted by my comment, I apologize.
I would also like to ask kindly other people to write without insulting others, without (ultra) nationalistic and barbarian vocabulary, in atmosphere of tolerance and respect for all. Please avoid fights, just real arguments and tolerance.

[oesophagus]

In my humble opinion as ex KFOR solider, I think that Serbs and Albanians are right and wrong at the same time about Kosovo. There is a lot of B... S... about this subject, a lot of albanian and serbian propaganda. Thing that i know, things are not black and white in this matter and that we came to Kosovo to save ethnic albanian population from raging serbs, and we ended saving serbs from albanians.
I also noticed there some interesting (to me) facts: Oldest buidings on kosovo are serbian fortresses and churches from 9 th century, and albanian have 300 yrs old mosques. Albanians are large ethnic majority and serbs are minority. About time of 1st WW (1914) and serbs and albanians was 50 % of Kosovos population, and had good relations. Average albanian family have 4 or 5 children, and serb family has one or 2 children. Serbs are afraid of albanians, albanians are not afraid of serbs. Serbs familyes mostly are poor and live in small and old houses, and albanians are not so, and live in bigger houses. Older serbians and older albanians live together and help each other, at the same time young serbs and albanians hate each other. Most of populated places in Kosovo with ethnicly clean albanian population have serbian origin names, and old and half ruined serbian graveyards in centre. Word "Kosovo" on serbian means hills with tall grass, on albanian language means nothing.
And at the end I think that real bad guys in this sad story are US and EU administration. Instead to help them to find some acceptable solution for problem they decided to take one side in this conflict. Kososvo's independence is triumph of our force and clumsiness over justice, another big explosive mess up, just hidden under the carpet.

[TEUTA]

Ausgabe 25/07The Kosovo on the way into independence
Constitutional state? Rather not!

Of Juergen Roth

The Kosovo is on the way into independence, which cannot please three leaders of the country. The world week is present a secret paper, which occupies, how the Politgroessen dominates the organized crime. They found support for their mafioesen business also in Switzerland.



If the negotiations begin shortly over the international-law status of the Kosovo, the most burning problem will not be topic: the connection between political decision makers and powerful criminal clan in the Serbian province, which is administered since 1999 by the UN. So three of the most important kosovo Albanian politicians are deeply into the organized criminality complicated, in particular into drug smuggling. That can be done out out of top secret documents of the German Federal Information Service (Federal Intelligence Service), the UN and the international colonial force Kfor, which is present the world week.

In these documents in particular Ramush Haradinaj, which was until March an Prime Minister, become heavily loaded Hashim Thaci, which lead today the democratic party of the Kosovo, and Xhavit Haliti, which sits in the presidency of the parliament. Pikant: Thaci will participate as a member of the kosovo Albanian delegation with the status negotiations. All three made career in the UCK, the Kosovo Befreiungsarmee, lived long years in Switzerland and maintain still today personal or business relations with our country.

In for 67 sides a strong analysis Federal Intelligence Service over the organized criminality (OK ONE) in the Kosovo, which dates 2005 from 22 February, stands literally to read: "over the key Player (e.g. Haliti, Thaci, Haradinaj) exist closest entwinements between politics, economics and internationally operating ok structures in the Kosovo. The criminal networks standing behind it promote there the political instability. They do not have interest in the structure of a functioning national order, by their flourishing business to be impaired can." Therefore, the German Federal Information Service writes, strove "relevant participants of the OK ONE on the Balkans either in high government or party offices and/or maintains good relations with these circles". The organized criminality provides in such a way "a suitable political surrounding field", is called it in the analysis of the Federal Information Service, marked as "classified material - officially secretly held".

One of these key figures in the Kosovo, in which Switzerland admits in the best way, is Hashim Thaci, pointed name "queue", the chairman of the democratic party of the Kosovo. If one believes the Federal Intelligence Service, he controls today a weighty part of the criminal activities in the Kosovo. And: "Thaci applies beside Haliti [... ] as a client of the professional killer Afrimi", on whose account at least eleven order murders are to go.

Thaci, 36, lived before the Kosovokrieg starting from 1995 as a recognized refugee for five years in Switzerland and studied at the University of Zurich - with a scholarship - Eastern European history. It was 1992 one later the founder of the UCK and their political leader. At one blow famous it became 1999, when it appeared with the Serbian-Albanian peace negotiations of Rambouillet as a delegation leader of the kosovo Albanian side - and thus as politicians of the international community one recognized.

Thaci controlled a "security agency" at this time, writes "a criminal network" active in the entire Kosovo, the German Federal Information Service: "also direct contacts are to have existed conditions 2001 to the Czech and Albanian mafia." And in October 2003 Thaci, so the Federal Intelligence Service, "in connection with extensive drug and arms traffic business in close contact" to a clan, is to have confessed to which also money laundering and extortion are accused. Thacis entangling into the organized criminality, which are stressed, are based on intelligence sources and did not have legally so far not to be proven.

The clan of the Kosovo Albanians


A second "key Player", Ramush Haradinaj, 37, is probably one of the most disputed politicians in the Kosovo. In the Federal Intelligence Service report is located: "the structure around Ramush Haradinaj, which is based in the area Decani on family clan, is concerned with the entire spectrum of criminal, political and military activities, which affect safety conditions in the entire Kosovo substantially. The group counts approx.. 100 members and works in the smuggling of arms and drug and in the illegal trade with goods liable to duty. In addition it controls local government organs." The Kfor calls this group in a confidential report from 10 March 2004 "the most powerful criminal organization" the region and writes, also the distribution of humanitarian auxiliary goods controlled for Haradinaj and as power instrument abused.

It could make its career owing to energetic assistance of the international community of states, in particular the USA. Ramush Haradinaj, which speaks English and French flowing, came in the year 1989 as an immigrant worker into Switzerland and was Rausschmeisser of a Disco in the ski place Leysin. In February 1998 it returned to the Kosovo and organized military operations of the UCK. After end of war it was noticeable because of armed arguments with other clan, which were interpreted for the time being of the UN authorities as "act of revenge ions" and as "payment of old calculations". Actually it might have concerned struggles for power among mafia families, the as also following example shows.

The central Intelligence unit (CIU) describe an informative case with diplomatic entangling, the intelligence service of the UN, in a confidential report from 29 December 2003. Therefore Haradinaj with armed men attacked the house of a rivaling clan, which obviously konkurrenzierte him in the drug business on 7 July 2000. According to CIU he wanted to steal 60 kilograms cocaine from the family, which kept her allegedly hidden in the house. With a shooting it was wounded and had to flee.

Before Haradinaj could be cross-examined by UN policemen, he was initiated set by two presumed CIA agents, into an Italian military helicopter in a lightning action, and to an army basis of the USA flown, stands in the report of the UN intelligence service. And the UN officials received the instruction from their headquarters in Pristina, "without measures against Ramush Haradinaj to do". The reason for this irritating restraint: It was feared, the arrest or only already the accusation of a hero of the liberation struggle could bring the strained situation in the Kosovo to the explosion. Haradinaj was brought in the USA after this incident from the field of fire: "during its stay in the USA it received training, and the American services guaranteed it support for its political career. If the Kosovo should become independent, he would be the favored presidency candidate ", is located in the CIU report.

Back in the Kosovo the Protégé of the USA created a new party, the alliance for the future Kosovos. Ramush Haradinaj became in December 2004, as it the USA wished itself, Prime Minister in the Kosovo. But only three months long. In March 2005 it withdrew from its office and placed themselves to the war crimes tribunal into the Hague. One accuses to him during the Kosovo conflict systematically ethnical cleanings to have accomplished connected with tortures and rapes of Serbs and Roma. It denies all reproaches. In June it, on solid pressure of the US government and against the will of the Chefanklaegerin Carla Del Ponte, became from the remand to dismiss. It may work provisionally also politically again. The process into the Hague against it will presumably begin 2007. The reproach of the organized criminality was not brought yet before the law.

Notice in Zurich


Importantly in the Kosovo is also Xhavit Haliti, pointed name "Bunny". If one believes realizations of the Kfor, the member of the parliament presidency (and the deputy chairman of the party of the democratic party Kosovos) is involved a "well-known criminal figure, in the weapon and drug trade". Also in the Federal Intelligence Service report it is brought "with money laundering, drugs -, weapons -, human being and fuel smuggling, woman trade and the prostitution business in connection and assigned to the internal circle to the mafia. As key figure in the OK ONE moving (E) it constantly large sums of money."

Haliti, 49, began its career, like Haradinaj and Thaci, in Switzerland. Here it stopped end of the eighties and studied themselves psychology. 1990 were committed on it in Zurich a politically motivated bomb attack. One year later it belonged already to the presidency of the people movement Kosovos and operated from Switzerland the organization of the UCK. Forwards and during the war he is to have procured weapons for her and to have controlled the "Homeland Calling find". For this fund, more or less voluntarily, kosovo Albanian emigrants donated particularly in Switzerland and in Germany 400 million US dollar.

When the donations decreased/went back after end of war, the Kfor writes, "turned Haliti on a large scale the organized criminality too". Thus it is not according to the secret Kfor dossier an individual case: "remarkable is that under all the names, which circulate on the ok agencies it acts almost exclusively around UCK commanders and/or leaders of special-purpose forces." Also Haliti was proven to today nothing court-usable.

Switzerland, then shows up by these three prominent examples once more, was a trick and a pivot of the UCK activities. Here before the Kosovo conflict millions for weapons and propaganda were collected and fighters were recruited, in order to finance and steer the so-called liberty fight of the suppressed Albanians in the Kosovo. In the summer the Upper House of Parliament decided 2001 that prominent representatives of the kosovo Albanian organizations may have to stop its political activities and also no more money collect. Against Haliti it imposed an entry barrier.

Opium for Europe


The kept secret reports of the intelligence services permit the conclusion that the Kosovo, despite UN administration and international colonial force, is one of the most important criminal turntables of Europe.

One of the reasons is that profitable business with drugs: A large part of the constantly growing Opiumernte in Afghanistan arrives in the form of heroin over Albania and the Kosovo at the Western European and US market. Daily 500 to 700 Kilos by the Kosovo and Albania is smuggled and partly in own laboratories processed, says Klaus Schmidt, boss of the PAMECA, the European mission to the support of the police in Albania. Daily in the Albanian capital Tirana on the grey money market a million euro at drug funds are exchanged. Experts speak of the "world-wide largest drug trust", which developed in the past years.

Even the excesses in March 2004, which brought the Kosovo to the edge of a renewed civil war, were consciously geschuert by criminal wire-pullers, so that these could follow to their business in all peace, are in the Federal Intelligence Service report to be read: "at the beginning of of April 2004 became from safety circuits on the Balkans admits that recent unrests are to have been prepared in the Kosovo by the organized criminality and accomplished in their order." During the riots whole trucks were smuggled by heroin and cocaine over the not controlled border, because the UN policemen and the Kfor soldiers were completely overtaxed with the damming of unrests. These realizations confirm police officers of the UN in Pristina, which must remain anonymous for their security. And they deplore themselves that up to the today's day nothing was undertaken against the criminal Strippenzieher.

The UN and the Kfor did not even get the problem ansatzweise into the grasp. Not least the means are missing to the UN police. "we go to one of the highest UN police officers with a wood sword into the battle", complain before place above all however are missing it to it at the political support, in order to be able to proceed effectively against the mafia-clans. "neither, the Federal Information Service writes regional government circles nor the executive", would have "due to their own entangling an interest in their fight".

And a leading civil servant of the UN police, department for the fight of the organized criminality, said the world week: "considerable persons, up to the former prime minister, were behind March unrests, which were prepared by a well-known criminal structure. This is not numerous services well-known, nevertheless anything against this structure is undertaken." Its explanation for it: "one wants here no further unrest, and which would give it, if one would lead against Ramush Haradinaj ok determinations."

A consequence of this restraint: In Western Europe - in particular in Switzerland, in Germany and Italy - is kosovo Albanian clan today a prominent criminal power. The Federal Intelligence Service sees therein a "high Bedrohungspotenzial for Europe". In the Kosovo in the meantime many agencies to the UN police to the native Kosovo policy service will transfer. There however the old cadres sit at the point, which in the suspicion, closest, to maintain partial family relations with well-known mafia-groessen.

The documents Federal Intelligence Service, which became Kfor and the UN against it deeply in the safe deposits of the Regierungskanzleien buried.

Das Kosovo auf dem Weg in die Unabhängigkeit
Rechtsstaat? Lieber nicht!

Von Jürgen Roth

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[AuLoNa]

@Aulona
I could easily copy paste the articles and photographs showing Serbs suffering by Albanians, but what does it prove?

I'd appreciate more if u write down YOUR thoughts, feelings, comments, your own opinions, not just mechanical copy pasting 20000 articles, cause we all can do that.
And believe me, there r also many many articles showing Albaninas as bad guys, doing ethnic cleansing over Serbs, doing classical terrorism, mafia stuff and other.
Moreover, do u really expect anyone to read all that text u copied and pasted?

I wish u can stop with that silly propaganda (it reminds me of Miloshevic's methods during 90's). And please stop spreading hatred for Serbia, if possible. As long as u r that bitter and full of hatred I don't think it's possible to have a rational conversation with u, 'cause u never say anything, just copy-paste. We all can copy paste, but where's conversation than?

I would not come here to put history that has been written by historians and not by priests, if our neighbors come back with medivial history, when we have an ancient one. So if you talk to me start talking to everyone else. I already said once, that even though we have longer history in Balkans, Kosovas Independence was given mostly based on human rights. Serbs have had problems all the time with everybody, cause of how good they are. It won't work anymore, people are
I tried to stop, but our dear neigh awake and can see who is who!

[AuLoNa]

OK, as for Kosovo's independence, I wanna say I'm not in favor.
Mainly because this is an illegal partition of Serbia, without any doubts.
EU simply trampled on UN Charter and other international treaties, so why do we have all those lows than? What for?
I feel like no matter how valid Serbia's arguments are (and this is actually some of the rare cases that Serbia has right over something), nobody cares about it and nobody shows any respect for it.

How can it be partition of Serbia when it was not part of Serbia, but Yugoslavia. Please go and read real history not mythology.... :lol:

How I see the whole situation: several months/years from now on...EU will be forced to deal the reality that no self-respecting country would willingly accept loss of part of its territory through an illegality.
With all due respect, there can't be stability or peace if one ethnic group (Albanians) is encouraged and got everything they asked for and the other group (Serbs) lost everything and pushed behind. This unilateral declaration of independence is far from being fair, moral or democratic.
At the end, negotiations will have to be continued, but the fair negotiations. Until now, Serbs constantly had been asked to reach out and offer the independence, which is simply unbelievable.
I'm amazed how many countries in Europe misses the whole point or ignore the problem.
Everyone happy? Well, not really...

And one more thing, I haven't read all the posts in this forum, it would take too much time. I just wanted to write down my opinion, so... if anyone got annoyed or insulted by my comment, I apologize.
I would also like to ask kindly other people to write without insulting others, without (ultra) nationalistic and barbarian vocabulary, in atmosphere of tolerance and respect for all. Please avoid fights, just real arguments and tolerance.

Please stop with your non-sense you still are not making any sense.

[AuLoNa]

In my humble opinion as ex KFOR solider, I think that Serbs and Albanians are right and wrong at the same time about Kosovo. There is a lot of B... S... about this subject, a lot of albanian and serbian propaganda. Thing that i know, things are not black and white in this matter and that we came to Kosovo to save ethnic albanian population from raging serbs, and we ended saving serbs from albanians.
I also noticed there some interesting (to me) facts: Oldest buidings on kosovo are serbian fortresses and churches from 9 th century, and albanian have 300 yrs old mosques. Albanians are large ethnic majority and serbs are minority. About time of 1st WW (1914) and serbs and albanians was 50 % of Kosovos population, and had good relations. Average albanian family have 4 or 5 children, and serb family has one or 2 children. Serbs are afraid of albanians, albanians are not afraid of serbs. Serbs familyes mostly are poor and live in small and old houses, and albanians are not so, and live in bigger houses. Older serbians and older albanians live together and help each other, at the same time young serbs and albanians hate each other. Most of populated places in Kosovo with ethnicly clean albanian population have serbian origin names, and old and half ruined serbian graveyards in centre. Word "Kosovo" on serbian means hills with tall grass, on albanian language means nothing.
And at the end I think that real bad guys in this sad story are US and EU administration. Instead to help them to find some acceptable solution for problem they decided to take one side in this conflict. Kososvo's independence is triumph of our force and clumsiness over justice, another big explosive mess up, just hidden under the carpet.

I would urge you not to read or hear propaganda, but do some deep research on this subject, if you want to be more knowledgeable and than come and talk here about right and wrong.

[AuLoNa]

Serbian mafia

In Serbia

The Mafia in Serbia is composed of 3 major groups, the Vozdovac, Surcin and Zemun clan.

During the period starting with the Yugoslav wars and ending with the death of the Prime Minister of Serbia, connections between the mafia and the government were obvious and even exposed, corruption was rampant in most branches of the government, from border patrols to law-enforcement agencies. After Slobodan Milošević was ousted, organized crime in Serbia went underground and into hiding. But soon a bloody feud emerged amongst different clans. The feud grew into an open war in which many of the mafia bosses lost their lives. In 2003, shortly after Đinđić's assassination, the government set in motion a major anti-mafia operation - "Operation Sablja" (English: Sabre), which led to many arrests, eliminations and emigration of mafia members.

Belgrade

Leading members

The leading Serbian criminals of Belgrade at that time were interviewed in the documentary "Vidimo se u čitulji" (English: "The Crime That Changed Serbia"). Some of those were:

* Željko Ražnatović ("Arkan") - Serbian Mafia boss
* Kristijan Golubović
* Milorad "Legija" Ulemek



Analysis: Gangsters' paradise lost
Gangland killing
Gangland killings have become commonplace in Serbia
By Tim Judah

Was it the end of an era? With all eyes on the fall of Slobodan Milosevic few noticed that two other significant figures in Serbian public life also ended their careers a few hours either side of the former president of Yugoslavia.

Stalked by a gunman for three days, mafia kingpin Jovan "Simenda" Simendic was murdered on 4 October, the day before Milosevic fell.

President Milosevic
Now that Mr Milosevic is gone which way will the political wind blow?

And the night after Yugoslavia's peoples' uprising, the powerful gangster boss, Vladislav "Vanya" Bokan was gunned down by two men outside his house in Athens.

Over the last ten years Yugoslavia, or what remains of it, has been turned from a relatively crime-free country into a state in which gangsters have flourished.

Gangster state

They have carved the country into private fiefdoms and fought as shock troops in the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

But, with the fall of Milosevic, an odd thing has happened.

Organised crime has suddenly ceased as the country's mafia bosses take stock of developments, and wait to see which way the political wind will blow.

According to Vojislav Tufegdzic, top crime reporter for the daily Blic, most gangland bosses are simply sitting on their hands waiting to see what sort of country will now emerge in the wake of Milosevic's demise.

"If our country becomes a serious state of law they can't expect anything good because they are the product of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic and their future is not good." says Mr Tufegdzic.

The fact that the gangland bosses, who deal in everything from people smuggling to drugs to arms exports, are currently keeping a very low profile is having several immediate effects.

The first is that Serbia's heroin supply has suddenly dried up leaving addicts desperate and distraught.

Zeljko Raznatovic aka Arkan
Arkan was the gangsters' 'boss of bosses'

Close ties

The links between the former regime and Serbia's underworld date from the early 1990s.

Serbia's gangsters rode to power and riches on the back of state-sanctioned plunder during the wars of the former Yugoslavia.

Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan", the infamous Serbian "boss of bosses" and paramilitary leader who was shot dead in Belgrade on 15 January was responsible for recruiting many criminals into special units outside the regular military and police structures.

These units did much of the dirty work of ethnic cleansing in the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

According to Mr Tufegdzic, policemen were in a desperate position.

They arrested the gangsters but then politicians ordered their release or corrupt judges set them free.

Blood feuds

Belgrade anti-Milosevic demos
Yugoslavia's peoples' revolution has changed the rules for gansters
This led to the emergence of powerful groups of armed mafia barons who carved up Serbia between them, co-operating with the authorities when it suited them.

Now the wars are now over and Serbia is bankrupt.

While by the mid-1990s there were 10 big bosses, their constant internecine warfare, means that almost all of that generation are now dead.

The deaths of the big bosses has resulted in a fragmentation of the Serbian mafia. There are now believed to be some 80 small-time bosses, and it is they who are now waiting to see what will happen.

So, while many now sip coffee quietly waiting to see how things develop, Mr Tufegdzic believes some are considering the classic gangster "next step". They are thinking of "going legit".