Albanophilia


Albanophilia is a non-Albanian person's expression of a strong interest in or appreciation for the Albanian language, Albanian culture, Albanian literature, Albanian history or the Albanian people.

Albanophilia in Europe outside of the Balkans

Sweden

Johann Erich Thunmann in the 18th century supported the theory of the autochthony of the Albanians and also presented the Illyrian origin theory. Later on Gustav Meyer proved that Albanian language was part of the Indo-European family.

Germany

In 2001 during the Insurgency in Macedonia the German foreign minister Joschka Fischer declared, that the Albanian question in the Balkans is not solved. Around 1912 Germany and Austria supported an Independent Albania, including cities like Parga, Tetovo and Pristina.

Albanophilia in Balkans

Montenegro

The Montenegrin Federalist Party was the only party in Montenegro which promoted common Illyrian theory with Albanians. The party's theoretician, Sekula Drljević, promoted ideas of a separate Montenegrin ethnicity, arguing that the Montenegrins were Illyrian. He wrote:
Races are communities of blood, whereas people are creatures of history. With their language, the Montenegrin people belong to the Slavic linguistic community. By their blood, however, they belong . According to the contemporary science of European races, peoples are descended from the Illyrians. Hence, not just the kinship, but the identity of certain cultural forms among the Dinaric peoples, all the way from Albanians to South Tyroleans, who are Germanized Illyrians.

Notable Albanophiles

Pro-Albanian political parties