ALBANIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY AND ISLAM IN THE POST-COMMUNIST ERA

Year 2003, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 1 - 21, 01.09.2003

Aydın Babuna

Abstract

The Albanians were the last nation to develop their own nationalism in the Balkans, and the emergence of this Albanian nationalism was marked by the establishment in 1878 of the Prizren League. The League’s main aim, which was initially supported by the Ottomans, was to protect the lands inhabited by the Albanians from the neighboring countries, but the League was later suppressed by the Ottomans themselves as soon as it began to challenge Ottoman authority in the area. The conflict between the Albanians and the Ottomans was to continue until the Balkan Wars. The majority of the Muslim Albanians, who enjoyed traditional rights within the Ottoman Empire, were in favor of the status quo as long as the Ottomans could sustain their hold in the Balkans. However, in time, the radical Albanians, who favored a linguistic and cultural rather than a religious unity, were to gain the upper hand