Perikli Çilev (Перикли Чилев) was born in 1864 in the city of Krusheva, then in the Ottoman Empire. He graduated from the Greek school in Krushevo, while in 1880 he graduated from the gymnasium in Thessaloniki. In 1884 he graduated from the University of Athens in classical philology. He worked as a teacher in Krushevo and Manastir from 1883 to 1904. During 1894 he moved to Bulgaria and from September 1, 1894 until the end of his life he taught classical languages at the Lyceum of Sofia. Çilev spoke Albanian, Greek, Turkish, French, Romanian, German and Latin. He was one of the founders of the Macedonian Scientific Institute. He died in Sofia in 1925. Following are descriptions of his journey through the Albanian lands, which the author calls an "ethnographic journey", which he undertook in the summer of 1916
Schipni - Albania
From July 12 to August 11, 1916, I undertook an ethnographic trip through the Albanian settlements of Pristina, Prizren, Dibra and Ohrid. We will present the results of this research in the following lines.
The areas I visited are massively populated with Albanians, most of whom belong to the Gegë tribe, and only partially to the Toskë tribe (in the province of Ohrid). In terms of religious affiliation, they are Muslim, Catholic (in Ferizaj and Prizren) and Orthodox (in Upper Reka, Dibër and Pogradec and the surrounding area).
Both tribes call themselves Albanians, while other peoples call them Alvans, Albanians, Aranutis, Arbanashis. It seems that the Albanian name derives from the Albanian word shshiponjë (eagle). The name Albanians and the derivatives of other names originate from the Latin expression albus, a, um (white) and in all likelihood, the Romans, relying on the white color clothing, at the same time gave the name to the Illyrians as well. From the expression Albanus comes the Greek expression Αλβανόσ, Αλβανήτης, arvanit, arnaut etc.
Thus, the Gegs (in Prizren, Prishtina, Dibër) call their country Shchipni, while the Tosks (in Ohrid) call their country Škipëri. Both the Gegs and the Tosks call the Bulgarians skis!
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Year 1916: The Albanians of the province of Skopje refuse to be Albanians
There are also Albanian settlements in the vicinity of Skopje. They have remained in the mountain villages since ancient times. For example, there is a legend about the Kaçanik Gorge, that when the Turks invaded the Kosovo plain, the Albanians were given permission to guard the gorge by taking a penny from each passerby. This thing, the elders say, was written on copper. Albanians consider themselves indigenous to these countries.
In the city of Pristina, the majority of Albanians are Muslims, but the truth is that they identify their interests with those of the Turks. Even though they speak Albanian, the people of Pristina send their children to Turkish schools. The Turkish element, which settled here from Asia Minor, is few in number, so it does not exert any special influence, but nevertheless the Turkish privileges attracted the Albanians towards their Turkification!
The ethnic chaos of Janjeva
In the village of Janjevë (15 kilometers from Pristina) there are very few Catholic Albanians who came from Prizren, who have continuously been Turkified. There are only 40 Albanian-Muslim houses left here. The rest of the population in this village is Catholic-Serbian and there are about 400 such inhabitants. (Çilev did not take into account the circumstances created in Kosovo after 1912, when due to various pressures from the church and the Serbian government, especially in the years 1912 - 1941. Croats in Janjevë were forced to declare themselves as Serbs, S. L) . These residents speak Albanian well, but even abroad they identify themselves as such even though they are generally Catholic Serbs! The Croatian language is spoken and taught in their church and school, but their dress is Albanian! Such a thing is also observed in other Albanian countries, where the Bulgarians have adopted the Albanian costumes in order not to recognize their affiliation and this is observed when they go out in public places! Even in Manastir, the pilgrims who go to Albania dress in Albanian costumes. In Janjevë, I spoke in Albanian with a woman from Mirdita, who called herself fandeshe, men are called fande, while other residents call them fandi (from Fani i Mirdita - S. L). She explained to me how many other Catholic Albanian women have been married to a Croat in the village of Janevë, but at home they already speak Serbian. The village priest, Luka Filiq, informed me that there are still crypto-Catholics or Laramans in the province of Gjilan. He knows such families in the nearby village of Androvec. The Catholic priest secretly, disguised in civilian clothes, goes to give communion to crypto-Catholics, while the hoxha publicly reads prayers to the dead. Likewise, the priest secretly crowns and baptizes, while the hoxha openly performs Muslim rites. There are similar crypto-catholics in the villages of Dunavë and Letnica, where there is also an old Catholic monastery. In general, these data allow us to conclude that the Gegs of these areas were Catholic before accepting Islam.
In the province of Pristina it is still customary to say: "We have it from Lekë Dukagjini" or "Kanuni i Lekë", which means the legislation of Lekë Dukagjini.
In the church of the city of Pristina, there is a note written in Greek by Pope Nicholas that says: "In 1843, on August 28, there were riots and looting. The Albanians led by the lame leader attacked the church, but God blinded him, so the insurgents - could not find the clothes of the church that were in the school". (According to our knowledge, the inscription in the church of Pristina belongs to the time of the Uprising of Dervish Cara and is about the leader of the uprising in the villages of the Presheva Valley, Anamorava and Gollaku, Sylejman Tolin from Tërnoci i Bujanoci, for whom the historian Aleksandar Matokovski was called to the foreign diplomatic sources of the time, he wrote that "one of the leaders of Dervish Cara, Soliman Toli (Tërnoca), in the summer of 1843, in the villages around Vranje, Prizren and Pristina, spoke with particular severity against all taxes, persuading the peasants not to pay more than 5 piastres per year" - S. L)
Crypto-Catholics, future Muslims who will immigrate to Turkey and the Armenians of Zeçishta of Prizren
135 Catholic Albanians live in the town of Ferizaj, while Muslim Albanians are the majority. Until ten years ago, there were 5 crypto-Catholic families in the village of Lloshkobare (50 kilometers from Ferizaj), but now they are open Muslims, determined to emigrate to Turkey and this will happen if their village is not included in Albania . (The author had in mind the division of the occupation zones in the Albanian lands during the First World War between Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary - SL).
I have heard this information from Albanians in many places. Nedelço Rashev from the city of Ferizaj told me that he used to be a salaryman in a crypto-Catholic house in the village of Lloshkobare, which celebrated the feast of "Saint Dhimitri". Ndeleço had bought them candles and other things for the celebration, but he had made these purchases secretly, so that the Turks would not find out since the religious holidays were celebrated secretly. Even in other villages, until twenty years ago there were crypto-Catholics, namely in Slivovo and Papaz, but they are now openly Muslim believers.
In Prizren the situation is almost the same as in Pristina. 120 Armenian families who came a century ago from the city of Voskopoja live in this city. The dress of the Armenians here is Albanian. Before the Serbian occupation, they had a school and two Greek churches. And there were Armenians in the surrounding villages of Mamushë, Orturushë and Zeçishte, but they have already been serbized! Four Armenian families were preserved only in the village of Zeçishte. Surely these are the last remains of the medieval Vlachs near the mountain of Sharri.
During Turkish rule, Muslim Albanians from Prizren were exempted from all taxes, as well as from military service. Albanians from Prizren went as volunteers or formed the Sultan's guard.
There are about 150 Catholic Albanians in Prizren. Even here the Catholics are satisfied with the Bulgarian rule (during the First World War, Prizren and its surroundings were included under the Bulgarian occupation zone - SL) but the Catholic Albanians from Prizren were previously persecuted a lot by the Serbs.
Even around Mount Sharri there are Albanian villages with names that can only be explained in the Albanian language.
The twenty villages of Albanian Orthodox in Upper Reka
In the district of Gostivar, the village of Duf is inhabited by exarchist Orthodox Albanians (Gegë), distributed in four mahallas at a distance of one to two kilometers from each other, located around the mountain in the same way as the mahallas in Prizren, but also in many Muslim Albanian settlements. Unlike the women who speak Bulgarian poorly, in Duf the men nevertheless speak Bulgarian well. The men's dress does not differ from the dress of other villages, but the women's dress does. Dufi is the first Orthodox Albanian settlement, while in Upper Reka there are also twenty pure Orthodox Albanian villages or mixed with Albanian Muslim population. Of special interest are three Bulgarian villages located near the village of Duf, in a valley, primarily because of their location and toponymy. The three villages in question are called Leunovë, Nikiforovë and Mavrovë. The first name must be derived from Leon, the name borne by the Byzantine emperors, the second name – from Nicephorus (Nikiphorus-Phocas) and the third from the Greek word μαΰρος (black).
The Mavrova basin is of great strategic importance. Here the Turks have constantly organized guards, so have the Serbs, but now also the Bulgarians. In all likelihood, the Byzantines also had guards here, perhaps even Philip of Macedonia to protect themselves from the Illyrians. Here is the path of the Albanians, when they attack towards Gostivar and Kirçova.
also
Beshlin: The migration of Albanians to Turkey after World War II was driven by Yugoslav policies
The line or line that starts from the village of Duf to Elbasan has once separated the Orthodox from the Catholics. Therefore, twenty years ago, crypto-orthodox were also encountered here, who are already publicly orthodox (in the Spata region) or openly Muslim in other areas.
Albanian nationalists from Dibra are infidels!
In the province of Dibra, I was in contact with the Torbesh people. The Orthodox Albanians explained to me the name torbesh, which means bag, so according to their explanations, they accepted Islam for a bag of curds! Even among Orthodox Albanian Christians there is a very popular expression here that says: "Be Turkish for meat, not for curd!"
Albanians often use the word "yes" in their speech with the meaning "but", "true". So I had the opportunity to talk with some Vlachs from Tirana and from them I often heard the expression "yes" in the Armenian language. Therefore, relying on this expression, the Turkishized Bulgarians are called Apovians, who in their speech in Bulgarian often use the Albanian word "po", following the example of the Albanians.
In the city of Dibra, the Muslim population is a mixture of Albanian-Muslims, Turkified Bulgarians and Turks. Here, the Gegë Albanian tribe is an exception to the aforementioned ethnic mix. Muslim Albanians in the city of Dibra pretend to be Turks, send their children to Turkish schools, and hate the few nationalist Albanians in the city.
In Dibër and its surroundings, the nationalist Albanians are considered as infidels, while the Latin alphabet, which was adopted by the Albanians, is considered anti-Islamic. In Dibër, on the side of the Drin River, Albanian Muslim women are completely exposed. The dress of these women is the same as the dress of Bulgarian women (with large embroidery on the edges of the white dresses). Albanian women here wear aprons similar to those of the Karakaçani (Karakachni, shepherds who live in the triangle of Bulgaria, Greece and North Macedonia - SL).
Like the Turks, the Serbs also corrupted the Albanian population in this area and incited religious fanaticism against the Albanian nationalists! At the time of the Turkish rule, the inhabitants of the city of Dibra played with the rulers like a cat and a mouse, which for them Turkish power had no meaning! When the Turkish Government wanted to build good roads to Dibër, they always resisted, thinking that the Turks did it this way to bring artillery weapons, which all Albanians feared. The most common protest of the Dibrans against the measures of the authorities was to close the shops until the demands were met depending on the time. The formula that a certain measure of power is against the Sharia is still practiced. When the contagious disease of typhus appeared in the city of Dibra in July of this year and in this case the sick women had to be isolated, the Muslim leaders declared that this was against the Sharia, so the city commander and the doctor were forced to talk to religious leaders on this matter. The way of salvation was found as follows: infected young women in the hospital should definitely be accompanied by an old woman!
As in Prizren, I also had the chance to meet Albanians other than Mirdita and Luma. Particularly interesting was the information I received about the Lower and Upper Lyra. The villages in these areas are governed by the mayors, who are called kefali (from the Greek word χεφαλή – head). In these areas, as sometimes in other Albanian settlements, disputes between the population are resolved according to the Canon of Lekë Dukagjin. The judge (conciliator) who gets the right to resolve any conflict is called an elder (chief elder). The arbitrator is paid by both parties and his decision is final. Disputes arise due to blood feud, theft, divorce, etc. The punishments imposed by the elders are called fines (the same expression as in Bulgarian globa)! In former times, the disputants always appealed to the "elder" judge, but for some time now they have appealed to him only in cases where the opposite party is not equal, because the stronger usually imposes his right. So, viewed in general, it can be observed that the people's judge has somehow turned into an arbiter.
The Veleshtars - a whip against the Bulgarians and the Bulgarianized Albanians of Ohrid
At the exit from the Drin Gorge, going towards the city of Struga, at a distance of eight kilometers, there is the village of Veleshte, inhabited by Muslim Albanians (230 houses). Before the Balkan War, the inhabitants of this village were a real whip for the entire Bulgarian surroundings. Even if one passed through the village on the road, the Veleshtars did not allow the Kaurs to pass there, therefore they forced them to pass outside their village! The costume of the men from the village of Trebishtë is black, not only the lurka (upper garment), but also the pants. In terms of language and stature, the inhabitants here are close to the Toscans. For the black outerwear, here is a well-known legend, that until the time of Skanderbeg, the inhabitants wore white clothes, but since the defeat of the Turks, as a sign of mourning, they started wearing black clothes! Belicë e Poshtme is located near the village of Veleshte.
In the city of Ohrid, Albanian Muslims were Turkified, while Christian Albanians were Bulgarianized! In this city, the Albanian language is rarely heard. It is surprising that the Roma here speak Albanian. This ethnographic phenomenon became clear when I asked them and learned that the Roma who came from the village of Starovë and from other Albanian villages spoke Albanian and considered this language as their own!
Pogradec and surroundings in 1916
In the large village of Pogradec, opposite Ohrid, there are four hundred Albanian houses (Muslim and Orthodox) and only twenty Armenians. The Albanians here belong to the Toskë tribe. In the surrounding area there are seven villages with Orthodox Albanian population, but the population of other villages are also Albanian, but of the Muslim faith. The only exceptions are the two villages of Langa and Grabova, which are Armenian. There are still traces of Christianity in Muslim Albanian villages. In the village of Sllatin, a family is called "Prifti". In some villages, the inhabitants still fast and very carefully respect Good Friday, St. Elia and other holidays, not wanting them to forget the old faith and that nothing bad happens to them.
In the village of Pogradec, Albanians are politically divided: pure nationalists, Ottoman nationalists and former Grecophiles. The latter have been disappointed by Albanian nationalism, therefore they want a peaceful and organized life around a church and a Bulgarian school. In Pogradec, the population wears costumes - dresses of the southern Albanians, as well as white and pasty coats.
In the province of Manastir, even up to the plain of Prilep, there are recently colonized Albanian villages. Some Albanian nationalists have rightly noticed that Turkey had followed the illuminists through the Albanian lands with the aim of turning them into blind weapons of Islam. Albanians are generally insubordinate, unaccustomed to obeying laws, especially those imposed by their ruler.
also
The Abrnes of Zara – three centuries in defense of identity
Published in Izvestiya на Народния етнографски музей, книга VI, Sofia, 1926, p. 107 – 112.
Translated and prepared by: Skender Latifi
