Albanians of Romania

In the 2002 census 520 Romanian citizens indicated their ethnicity was Albanian, and 484 stated that their native language was Albanian.[1] The actual number of the Albanian population in Romania is unofficially estimated at around 10,000 persons.[2] Most members of the community live in Bucharest,[2] while the rest mainly live in larger urban centers such as Timișoara, Iași, Constanța and Cluj-Napoca.

Most families are Orthodox and trace their origins to the area around Korçë.[3] The other Romanian Albanians adhere to Islam.

An Albanian in Wallachia (1866 watercolor by Amadeo Preziosi)

An Albanian community inside the Danubian Principalities was first attested in Wallachia under Prince Michael the Brave: a report drafted by Habsburg authorities in Transylvania specified that 15,000 Albanians had been allowed to cross north of the Danube in 1595; Călinești (a village in present-day Florești, Prahova County) was one of their places of settlement, as evidenced in a document issued by Michael's rival and successor, Simion Movilă, who confirmed their right to reside in the locality.[4] The community's presence was first recorded in Bucharest around 1628.[5] In Moldavia, an ethnic Albanian, Vasile Lupu, became Prince in 1634.[4] Albanians are called by Romanians today Albanezi, but in the past they were known as Arbănasi, the old ethnonym dating back to the Middle Ages.[6]

The Albanian community was strengthened during the Phanariote epoch, when numerous immigrants opened businesses in a large number of cities and towns, and were employed as bodyguards of Wallachian princes and boyars (being usually recorded as Arbănași, akin to Arvanites, and its variant Arnăuți, borrowed from the Turkish Arnavut).[4][7] In 1820, a survey indicated that there were 90 traders from the Rumelian town of Arnaut Kioy present in the Wallachian capital, most of whom were probably Albanians and Aromanians.[8]

The Rilindja Kombëtare movement of Albanian nationalism inside the Ottoman Empire was present and prolific in Wallachia, the center of cultural initiatives taken by Dora d'Istria, Naim Frashëri, Jani Vreto, and Naum Veqilharxhi (the latter published the first ever Albanian primer in Bucharest, in 1844).[4] Aleksandër Stavre Drenova, a resident of Bucharest, authored the lyrics of Albania's national anthem, Hymni i Flamurit, which is sung to the tune of Pe-al nostru steag e scris Unire, composed by the Romanian Ciprian Porumbescu.[4] At the time, Albanians were present, alongside other Balkan communities, in Bucharest's commercial life, where many worked as street vendors (specializing in the sale of soft drinks or confectionery items).[9]

The newspaper Sqipetari/Albanezul, published by the Albanian community (1889)

Albanian schoolbook printed in Bucharest in 1887

Among the new groups of immigrants from various Balkan regions to Romania were the families of poets Victor Eftimiu and Lasgush Poradeci.[4] At the time, the independence movement gathered momentum, and, for a while after 1905, was focused on the activities of Albert Gjika. An Albanian school was opened in 1905 in the city of Constanța — among its pupils was poet Aleksandër Stavre Drenova.[4] In 1912, at a Bucharest meeting headed by Ismail Qemali and attended by Drenova, the first resolution regarding Albania's independence was adopted.[4]

In 1893, the Albanian community in Romania numbered around 30,000 persons. In 1920 almost 20,000 Albanians lived in Bucharest.[4] A new wave of Albanian immigrants, many of them Muslims from Yugoslavia,[4] followed in the wake of World War I.[10][4] In 1921, the first translation of the Qur'an into Albanian was completed by Ilo Mitkë Qafëzezi and published in the city of Ploieşti.[10] Many Albanians settled in Transylvania, where they generally established confectionery enterprises.[4]

The community was repressed under the communist regime, starting in 1953 (when the Albanian cultural association was closed down).[3] Rights lost were regained after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, but the number of people declaring themselves Albanian has decreased dramatically between 1920 and 2002.[2][3] Traditionally, members of the community have been included among a special "among others" category in the censuses.[2]

The community gained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1996 when the Cultural Union of Albanians of Romania entered Parliament. In 2000 the community's seat was taken by the League of Albanians of Romania, who have held it since.

• Names of the Albanians and Albania
• Arbanasi
• Arbëreshë
• Albanians in Ukraine

• Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre ("History of Bucharest. From the Earliest Times to Our Day"), Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966

• (in Romanian) Albanian League of Romania