Albanian diaspora
The Albanian diaspora are the ethnic Albanians and their descendants living outside of Albania, Kosovo, southeastern Montenegro, western North Macedonia, southeastern Serbia, northwestern Greece and Southern Italy.
The largest communities of the Albanian diaspora are particularly found in Italy, Argentina, Greece, Romania, Croatia, Turkey, Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Other important and increasing communities are located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Belgium, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The Albanian diaspora is large and continues to grow, with Albanians now present in significant numbers in numerous countries.
The phenomenon of migration from Albania is recorded since the early Middle Ages, when numerous Albanians immigrated to southern Italy and Greece to escape various socio-political difficulties and the Ottoman conquest. The modern Albanian diaspora has been largely formed since 1991, following the end of communism in Albania. Over 800,000 Albanians have left the country, mostly settling in Greece and Italy either permanently or as temporary workforce.
In regard to the Kosovo-Albanian diaspora, more than one million Albanians have left Kosovo since the late 1980s permanently, excluding those fleeing the Kosovo War, who have subsequently returned. Further, important destinations for emigrating Albanians from Kosovo have been mostly Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Nordic countries.
The Albanian diaspora constitutes one of Europe's largest contemporary diasporas, with emigration constantly growing. Those of Albanian descent may choose to self-identify as Albanian, adopt hybrid identities or opt to not identify with their Albanian ancestry. Many contemporary Albanians who belong to the diaspora opt to declare their ethnicity as their nationality, as seen in census underreporting of ethnic Albanians primarily in North America, South America and Oceania. Due to the Albanian diaspora being large, old and complex, many Albanians abroad have intermarried, assimilated or formed transnational identities and communities. These reasons, among others, serve as obstacles to identifying the true extent of the Albanian diaspora and population totals.
History
In Albania, emigration dates back to the 15th century, when many Albanians emigrated to Calabria in Southern Italy and Greece after the defeat of the country by Ottoman forces. Other popular destinations were Turkey, Bulgaria, and later the United States and South America. Following the communist take over after World War II, emigration was outlawed and violations severely punished. At the same time, Albanian birth rates in both Albania and Kosovo were among the highest in Europe, and the economies were among the weakest, leading to a huge young population in both regions and a consequently huge demand for emigration once the borders were opened in the 1990s. Two major emigration waves in the 1990s were:- The Albanian population in Turkey was created in three large waves of emigration in different period times. The first one was the deportation of Albanians from Kosovo in 1910, when 120,000 thousand Albanians were deported to Turkey by the Serbian authority. The second one was in 1926-1938, when about 400,000 emigrated to Turkey. The last one was after World War II, in 1953-1966, when nearly 400,000 were forced to emigrate to Turkey from Kosovo.
- Post-1990 wave after the collapse of communism in Albania in the form of break-ins at foreign embassies and departures by ship, esp. to Italy.
- Post-1997 wave following the 1997 unrest in Albania and the Kosovo War.
The rate of emigration has gradually decreased during the later 2000s, with a sudden increase in 2014-15.
Impact
The willingness of Albanians to emigrate has had a cultural impact which has not affected their sense of national identity. Among ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Greece, Albanian and old Turkish names still are quite common. In Albania proper, religious names were not allowed during communism, and were barely given since the fall of the Communist dictatorship and the opening of the borders. Instead, Italian and English or Christian names, became quite common. Many Albanian migrants also convert from Islam to Christianity.In Albania, it is also estimated that emigrant remittances account for 18% of GDP or $530 million annually, though declining in the late 2000s. Those who have come back have opened micro-enterprises, while the proximity of Greece and Italy to Albania, where more than half of immigrants are located has contributed to continuous labor mobility. Recently, during the Greek financial crisis, many Albanian emigrants have returned either temporarily or permanently to Albania. The mass emigration of the 1990s to early 2000s has resulted in massive brain drain from Albania. In the period 1990–2003, an estimated 45% of Albania's academics emigrated, as did more than 65% of the scholars who received PhDs in the West in the period 1980–1990. In 2006, a "brain gain" program compiled by Albanian authorities and the UNDP was put into action to encourage the skilled diaspora to contribute to the country's development, though its success remains to be seen.
On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania. Around the world, the Albanian diaspora expressed its solidarity and held multiple fundraisers to send money to Albania and assist people impacted by the earthquake, raising millions. Global pop stars with an Albanian background also appealed to fans for support and donations to the relief effort.
Members of the Albanian diaspora created the first IPTV platform in the US and later in Europe, designed to deliver their national video content to Albanians living in the US and other countries.
Europe
Bulgaria
In 1636, the Mandritsa, a typical village in Bulgaria, was found by Eastern Orthodox Albanian dairymen who supplied the Ottoman Army. They were allowed to pick a tract of land and were freed from taxes. In the 2001 census of Bulgaria, it was estimated that 278 Albanians live in the country.Greece
After the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large number of economic refugees and immigrants from Greece's neighbouring countries, Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, as well as from more distant countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia, arrived in Greece, mostly as illegal immigrants, to seek employment. The vast majority of the Albanians in Greece is estimated to be between 65–70% of the total number of immigrants in the country. According to the 2001 census, there are 443,550 holders of Albanian citizenship in Greece, with the total of Albanian immigrants in Greece numbering well over 650,000.Albanians in Greece are by far the most integrated, legal and settled community.
Italy
The Albani were an aristocratic Roman family, members of which attained the highest dignities in the Roman Catholic Church, one, Clement XI, having been Pope. They were ethnic Albanians who originally moved to Urbino from the region of Malësi e Madhe in Albania. and had been soldiers of Skanderbeg against the Ottoman Empire. Though eventually assimilated in their Italian environment, Clement XI's Albanian antecedents were evident in his having commissioned, during his reign as a Pope, the famous Illyricum Sacrum. Today it is one of the main sources of the field of Albanology, with over 5000 pages divided in several volumes written by Daniele Farlati and Dom. Coletti.There is an Albanian community in southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë, who had settled in the country in the 15th and the 16th century, displaced by the changes brought about by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. Some managed to escape and were offered refuge from the repression by the Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily, where the Arbëreshë were given their own villages and protected.
The Arbëreshë were estimated as numbering 250 000 in 1976. Italian statistics place them much lower at 100,000.
After the breakdown of the communist regime in Albania in 1990, Italy had been the main immigration target for Albanians leaving their country.
This was because Italy had been a symbol of the West for many Albanians during the communist period, because of its geographic proximity. Italy reacted to the migration pressure by introducing the "Martelli" law, stipulating that any immigrant who could prove that he or she had come into the country before the end of 1989 be granted a two-year residency permit.
From March 1997, Italy instituted a strict patrol of the Adriatic in an attempt to curb Albanian immigration.
As a result, many Albanian immigrants in Italy do not have a legal status. Out of an estimated 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Italy in 1998, only some 82,000 were registered with authorities. In total there are 800,000 Albanians in Italy.
The Italian Government has housed significant numbers of Albanians from Kosovo in the Arbëresh settlements, most notably in the zone of Lungro in Calabria and Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily.
Turkey
Turkey has about six million citizens of full or partial Albanian descent, and most still feel a connection to Albania. There is also a Turkish minority in Kosovo.Albania was the last nation in southeastern Europe to claim independence from the Ottoman Empire, on 28 November 1912.
Many Albanians emigrated to Turkey between 1950 and 1970. In that period, Islam in Yugoslavia was repressed, and both Albanians and Muslim Slavs were encouraged to declare themselves Turkish and emigrate to Turkey. In the 1990s, Turkey received a wave of Kosovar refugees, fleeing from conflict. Today, the number of ethnic Albanians Turkey has about 5 million citizens of full or partial Albanian descent