Bunkers in Albania
Bunkerat në Shqipëri
Albania
One of over 700,000 bunkers built in Albania under Enver Hoxha
Built	1967 (1967)–1986 (1986)
Built by	People's Socialist Republic of Albania
Construction materials	Concrete, steel
In use	1967–1991
Demolished	Partly
Current condition	Not in use

During the forty-year leadership of Enver Hoxha of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, over 700,000 bunkers were built in the country – one for every four inhabitants. The bunkers (Albanian: bunkeri) are still a ubiquitous sight in Albania, with an average of 24 bunkers for every square kilometer of the country.

Hoxha's programme of "bunkerisation" resulted in the construction of bunkers in every corner of Albania, from mountain passes to city streets. They are considered to have had little military value and were never used for their intended purpose during the years of Communist rule (1945–1990). The cost of constructing them was a drain on Albania's resources, diverting them away from more pressing needs such as dealing with the country's housing shortage and poor roads.

The bunkers were abandoned following the collapse of Communism in 1990. Most are now derelict, though some have been reused for a variety of purposes including residential accommodation, cafés, storehouses and shelters for animals or the homeless. A few briefly saw use in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s but their most common use now is said to be as a convenient place for young Albanians to lose their virginity.^[1]

Background[link]

From the end of World War II to his death in April 1985, Enver Hoxha pursued a policy informed by hardline Stalinism as well as elements of Maoism. He broke with the Soviet Union after Nikita Khrushchev embarked on his reformist Khrushchev Thaw, withdrew Albania from the Warsaw Pact in 1968 in protest of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, and broke with the People's Republic of China after US President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China.^[2] His regime was also hostile towards the country's immediate neighbours. Albania did not end its state of war with Greece, left over from the Second World War until as late as 1987 – two years after Hoxha's death – due to suspicions about Greek territorial ambitions in southern Albania (known to Greeks as Northern Epirus).^[3] Hoxha was virulently hostile towards the more moderate Communist government of Josip Broz Tito in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, accusing Tito's government of maintaining "an anti-Marxist and chauvinistic attitude towards our Party, our State, and our people." He asserted that Tito intended to take over Albania and make it into the seventh republic of Yugoslavia, and castigated the Yugoslav government's treatment of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, claiming that "Yugoslav leaders are pursuing a policy of extermination there."^[4]

Albania still maintained some links with the outside world at this time, trading with neutral countries such as Austria and Sweden and establishing links across the Adriatic Sea with its former colonial power Italy. However, a modest relaxation of domestic controls was curtailed by Hoxha in 1973 with a renewed wave of repression and purges directed against individuals, the young and the military, whom he feared might threaten his hold on the country. A new constitution was introduced in 1976 that increased the Communist Party's control of the country, limited private property and forbade foreign loans.^[5] The country sank into a decade of paranoid isolation and economic stagnation, virtually cut off from the outside world.^[6]

Military doctrine[link]

Bunker on a city street in Shkodër. The street's inhabitants would have been expected to defend it.

Bunkers were built in almost any place that could be defended.

Starting in 1967 and continuing until 1986, the Albanian government carried out a policy of "bunkerisation" that saw the construction of hundreds of thousands of bunkers across the country.^[6] They were built in every possible location, ranging from "beaches and mountains, in vineyards and pastures, in villages and towns, even on the manicured lawns of Albania's best hotel."^[7] Hoxha envisaged Albania fighting a two-front war against an attack mounted by Yugoslavia, NATO or the Warsaw Pact involving a simultaneous incursion by up to eleven enemy airborne divisions. As he put it, "If we slackened our vigilance even for a moment or toned down our struggle against our enemies in the least, they would strike immediately like the snake that bites you and injects its poison before you are aware of it."^[8]

Albania's military doctrine was based on a concept of "people's war" drawing on the experience of the Albanian Partisans in World War II, which Hoxha had led.^[9] It was the only European country to have managed to liberate itself without the intervention of foreign troops (though the Partisans benefited from great quantities of supplies and weapons provided by the Allies).^[10] The Partisans' victory was mythologised on a massive scale by the Hoxha regime, which used its wartime successes to legitimise its rule. The armed forces were based on the Partisan model and built around infantry units; 75 per cent of the regular forces and 97 per cent of reservists were employed in infantry roles.^[11] The Partisans' strategy was based around mountain-based guerrilla warfare, in which they took refuge in the mountains and launched raids into the less defensible lowlands. By contrast, Hoxha aimed to defend Albania's national integrity and sovereignty "at all costs",^[12] which necessitated defending the lowlands as well. The bunkers were therefore intended to establish defensive positions across the entirety of the country. Smaller ones were laid out in lines radiating out within sight of a large command bunker, which was permanently manned. The commanders of the large bunkers would communicate with their superiors by radio and with the occupants of the smaller bunkers by making visual signals that could be seen through slits.^[13]

The regime also sought intensively to militarize civilians. 800,000 people out of a population of about three million served in defence in some way, ranging from the regular armed forces and reserves to civil defence and student armed youth units. Many sectors of the government, state-owned businesses and the public service were also given roles in defence, meaning that almost the entire population was brought in one way or another into the scope of state defence planning.^[14] From the age of three, Albanians were taught that they had to be "vigilant for the enemy within and without" and propaganda slogans constantly emphasised the need for watchfulness.^[15] Citizens were trained from the age of 12 to station themselves in the nearest bunker to repel invaders.^[7] Local Party cells organised families to clean and maintain their local bunkers.^[8] and civil defence drills were held at least twice a month, lasting for up to three days, in which civilians of military age of both sexes were issued with rifles (but no ammunition).^[16] Members of the Young Pioneers, the Communist youth movement, were trained to defend against airborne invasion by fixing pointed spikes to treetops to impale descending foreign parachutists.^[17] Despite the militarisation of the population, the Albanian defence system was massively inefficient and took little account of the country's real defence needs; training was minimal, fuel and ammunition were scarce, uniforms and equipment was of poor quality, weapons were antiquated and the military lacked a proper command and control system.^[9]

Construction[link]

Bunker types in Albania

A "triple series" of linked Qender Zjarri bunkers on an Albanian beach   A line of Qender Zjarri bunkers defending an Albanian plain   A large Pike Zjarri bunker on the Albania-Macedonia border

The bunkers were constructed of concrete, steel and iron and ranged in size from one- or two-person pillboxes with gun slits^[7] to large underground nuclear bomb shelters intended for use by the Party leadership and bureaucrats.^[18] The most common type of bunker is a small concrete dome set into the ground with a circular bottom extending downwards, just large enough for one or two people to stand inside. Known as Qender Zjarri ("firing position") or QZ bunkers, they were prefabricated and transported to their final positions, where they were assembled. They consist of three main elements: a 3 m (9.8 ft) diameter hemispherical concrete dome with a firing slit, a hollow cylinder to support the dome and an outer wall with a radius 60 cm (24 in) larger than the cylinder. The gap between the cylinder and outer wall is filled with earth.^[19] At various places along the coast, large numbers of QZ bunkers were built in groups of three, linked to each other by a prefabricated concrete tunnel. Elsewhere bunkers were constructed in groupings around strategic points across the country, or in lines across swathes of territory.^[20] Tirana was particularly heavily defended, with thousands of bunkers radiating out in fifty concentric circles around the city.^[21]

The QZ bunker was designed by military engineer Josif Zengali, who served with the Partisans during World War II and trained in the Soviet Union after the war.^[22] He observed how dome-shaped fortifications were virtually impervious to artillery fire and bombs, which simply ricocheted off the dome.^[7] He used his knowledge to design the subsequently ubiquitous dome-shaped bunkers. Hoxha was initially delighted with the design and had many thousands of Zengali's bunkers constructed;^[7] Zengali himself was promoted to the rank of colonel and became chief engineer of the Albanian Ministry of Defence. However, Hoxha's paranoia led to Zengali being purged in 1974 and imprisoned for eight years on bogus charges of "sabotage" as a "foreign agent". His wife went insane, his family was shunned by friends and acquaintances and his daughter died of breast cancer. Zengali later said that it was "a painful and tragic fate not only for me and my family but for thousands and thousands of such families in Albania who have experienced the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha."^[22] His experiences were later used as the basis of Kolonel Bunker, a film by Albanian director Kujtim Çashku.^[8]

The command-and-control bunkers, known as Pike Zjarri ("firing point") or PZ bunkers, were also prefabricated and assembled on site. They are far larger and heavier than the QZ bunkers, with a diameter of 8 metres (26 ft). They are made from a series of concrete slices, each weighing eight or nine tons, which were concreted together on site to form an interlocking dome. Fully assembled, they weigh between 350–400 tons.^[23]

There was also a third category of larger "special structures" for strategic purposes.^[24] The largest were bunker complexes tunnelled into mountains. At Linza near the capital, Tirana, a network of tunnels some 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long was built to protect members of the Interior Ministry and the Sigurimi (the secret police) from nuclear attack.^[18] Elsewhere, thousands of kilometres of tunnels were built to house political, military and industrial assets. Albania is said to have become the most tunnelled country in the world after North Korea.^[22] The tunnels were built in conditions of great secrecy. Engineering teams were not allowed to see construction through to completion but were rotated from site to site on a monthly basis.^[18]

Impact[link]

A line of bunkers in a field in Vermosh

The bunkerisation programme was a massive drain on Albania's weak economy. The construction of prefabricated bunkers alone cost an estimated two percent of net material product,^[8] and in total the bunkers cost more than twice as much as the Maginot Line in France, consuming three times as much concrete.^[25] The programme diverted resources away from other forms of development, such as roads and residential buildings. On average, they are said to have each cost the equivalent of a two-room apartment and the resources used to build them could easily have resolved Albania's chronic shortage of housing.^[26] According to Josif Zegali, building twenty smaller bunkers cost as much as constructing a kilometre of road. It also had a human cost; 70–100 people a year died constructing the bunkers.^[22] In addition, the bunkers occupied and obstructed a significant area of arable land.^[26]

The bunkerisation of the country had effects that went beyond their ubiquitous physical impact on the landscape. The bunkers were presented by the Party as both a symbol and a practical means of preventing Albania's subjugation by foreign powers, but they also represented a concrete expression of Hoxha's policy of isolationism – keeping the outside world at bay. Ordinary Albanians, however, saw them as an oppressive symbol of intimidation and control. Ismail Kadare used the bunkers in his 1996 novel The Pyramid to symbolise the Hoxha regime's brutality and control, while Çashku has characterised the bunkers as "a symbol of totalitarianism" because of the "isolation psychology" that they represented.^[8] It has been argued that the bunkerisation programme was a form of "patterned large-scale construction" that "has a disciplinary potential as a means of familiarising a population with a given order of rule." The regime's xenophobia had the effect of creating a siege mentality and a sense of constant emergency.^[8]

Hoxha's strategy of "people's war" also caused friction with the Albanian armed forces. The bunkers had little military value compared with a conventionally equipped and organised professional army. As one commentator has put it, "How long could one man in each bunker hold out? How would you resupply each individual bunker? How would they communicate with each other?"^[27] General Beqir Balluku, the Defence Minister and a member of the Politburo, publicly criticised the bunker system in a 1974 speech and disputed Hoxha's line that Albania was under equal threat from the United States and the Soviet Union. He argued that Albania needed a modern, well-equipped professional army rather than a poorly trained and equipped civilian militia. Hoxha responded by having Ballaku arrested, accusing him of being an agent of the Chinese and of working to bring about a military coup. Dubbed "the arch-traitor Ballaku", the general and his associates were convicted and punished according to "the laws of the dictatorship of the proletariat" – meaning that they were executed.^[28] Many other military figures, such as bunker designer Josif Zegali, were also caught up in the 1974 purges.^[22] The introduction of a new constitution two years later sealed Hoxha's absolute control of the military by appointing him as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Defence Council.^[29]

Today[link]

An uprooted bunker in Valbonë

A Pike Zjarri bunker being used as a house in 1994

The bunkerisation programme was stopped soon after Hoxha's death in 1985, leaving Albania's towns and countryside dotted with vast numbers of useless bunkers.^[7] They still dominate the Albanian landscape. A BBC reporter described in 1998 how they were ubiquitous on the road between Tirana and the city's airport, "looking down from every hillside, sprouting out of every bank."^[25] Their solidity has made it difficult to get rid of them. Some have been removed, particularly in cities, but in the countryside most bunkers have simply been abandoned. Some have been reused as to house animals or as storehouses or simply abandoned to lie derelict, due to the cost of removing them.^[30]

The extreme secrecy of the Communist regime meant that Albania's post-communist governments lacked information on how the bunkers had been used, or even how many had been built. In 2004 Albanian officials discovered a forgotten stockpile of 16 tons of mustard gas and other chemical weapons in an unguarded bunker only 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Tirana. The United States Government gave Albania $20 million to destroy the weapons.^[31] In other places, abandoned bunkers have become a lethal danger. In 2008 alone, at least five holiday-makers drowned when they were caught in whirlpools created by water currents around bunkers that had subsided into the sea. The Albanian army has carried out bunker removal programmes along the coastline, dragging them out of the ground with modified Type 59 tanks.^[32][33]

Although the bunkers were never used in a real conflict during Hoxha's rule, some found use in conflicts that broke out in the 1990s. During the 1997 rebellion in Albania, the townspeople of Sarandë in southern Albania were reported to have taken up positions in bunkers around the town in the face of fighting between government troops and rebels.^[34] After the outbreak of the Kosovo War in 1999, border villages in Albania were repeatedly shelled by Serbian artillery batteries located in nearby Kosovo.^[35] Kosovo Albanian refugees took to using bunkers as temporary shelters until aid agencies could move them into tent camps, while NATO troops stationed in Albania relocated dozens of bunkers to fortify their base at Kukës.^[27] The rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army also used them as defensive positions during the Kosovo War,^[36] though this was not without its risks; on at least one occasion bunkers along Albania's border with Kosovo were mistakenly bombed by NATO aircraft.^[37]

An acute shortage of housing after the fall of the Communist regime in 1990 led some Albanians to set up home in abandoned bunkers,^[38] though the lack of running water and sanitation meant that the area around inhabited bunkers soon became contaminated and unhealthy. A few bunkers have found more creative uses. In the coastal city of Durrës one beachside bunker has been turned into the Restaurant Bunkeri,^[30] and another bunker in Gjirokastra was turned into a café.^[38] There have been various suggestions for what to do with them: ideas have included pizza ovens, solar heaters, beehives, mushroom farms, projection rooms for drive-in cinemas, beach huts, flower planters, youth hostels and kiosks.^[39] Some Albanians have taken to using the bunkers for more romantic purposes. In a country where until recently cars were in short supply, they have become popular places for lovers to consummate their relationships; as travel writer Tony Wheeler puts it, "Albanian virginity is lost in a Hoxha bunker as often as American virginity was once lost in the back seats of cars."^[1]

Albania's bunkers have even become a symbol of sorts for the country. Pencil holders and ashtrays in the shape of bunkers have become one of the country's most popular tourist souvenirs.^[30] One such line of bunker souvenirs was promoted with a message to buyers: "Greetings to the land of the bunkers. We assumed that you could not afford to buy a big one."^[40]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bunkers in Albania

• Media related to Bunkers in Albania at Wikimedia Commons

Republic of Albania Republika e Shqipërisë
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  "Ti, Shqipëri, më jep nder, më jep emrin Shqiptar" (Albanian) "You, Albania give me honor, you give me the name Albanian"
Anthem: Himni i Flamurit   (Albanian) "Hymn to the Flag"
Location of  Albania  (green) in Europe  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
Capital (and largest city)		Tirana 41°20′N 19°48′E / 41.333°N 19.8°E / 41.333; 19.8
Official language(s)		Albanian1
Ethnic groups		95% Albanians,[1] 3–6% Greeks,[1][2] 2% others[1]
Demonym		Albanian
Government		Parliamentary republic
-	President	Bamir Topi
-	Prime Minister	Sali Berisha
Legislature		Parliament
Formation
-	Principality of Arbër	1190
-	League of Lezhë	2 March 1444
-	Independence from the Ottoman Empire	28 November 1912
-	Recognized by the Great Powers	2 December 1912
-	Current Constitution	28 November 1998
Area
-	Total	28,748 km2 (143rd) 11,100 sq mi
-	Water (%)	4.7
Population
-	2011 census	2,831,741 [3]
-	Density	98.5/km2 (63) 251.11/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$24.910 billion[4]
-	Per capita	$7,741[4]
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$12.847 billion[4]
-	Per capita	$3,992[4]
Gini (2005)		26.7[5] (low)
HDI (2011)		0.739[6] (high) (70th)
Currency		Lek (ALL)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
ISO 3166 code		AL
Internet TLD		.al
Calling code		355
1	Greek, Macedonian and other regional languages, are government-recognized minority languages.

Albania (ⁱ/ælˈbeɪniə/ al-BAY-nee-ə, Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo^[a] to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.

Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.^[7]

The modern day territory of Albania was at various points in history part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia (southern Illyricum), Macedonia (particularly Epirus Nova), and Moesia Superior. The modern Republic became independent after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe following the Balkan Wars.^[8] Albanians had for centuries been at the heart of a sprawling empire in which they enjoyed an outstanding position as administrators, generals and in the diffusion of Ottoman culture throughout the European, Arabian and African continents.^[9] Albania became independent in 1912, and after World War Two became a Communist state under the authoritarian regime of Enver Hoxha, a period that lasted up until 1991.

Albania is a parliamentary democracy with a transition economy. The Albanian capital, Tirana, is home to 421,286 of the country's 2,831,741 people.^[10] Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy and transportation infrastructure.^[11][12][13] Albania was chosen as the No.1 Destination in Lonely Planet's list of ten top countries to visit for 2011.^[14]

Etymology and terminology[link]

Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country which is called Shqipëri by its people. In Medieval Greek, the country's name is Albania besides variants Albanitia, Arbanitia

The name may be derived from the Illyrian tribe of the Albani recorded by Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer from Alexandria who drafted a map in 150 AD^[15] that shows the city of Albanopolis^[16] (located northeast of Durrës).

The name may have a continuation in the name of a medieval settlement called Albanon and Arbanon, although it is not certain this was the same place.^[17] In his History written in 1079–1080, Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates was the first to refer to Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the Duke of Dyrrachium.^[18] During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbër or Arbën and referred to themselves as Arbëresh or Arbnesh.^[19][20]

As early as the 16th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria and Arbëresh. While the two terms are popularly interpreted as "Land of the Eagles" and "Children of the Eagles", they derive from the adverb shqip, which means "understanding each other".^[21][22]

Under the Ottoman Empire Albania was referred to officially as Arnavutluk and its inhabitants as Arnauts (officially, Arnavutlar). These terms remain the same officially and in common usage in the current Republic of Turkey.^[23] The word is considered to be a metathesis from the word Arvanite, which was the Medieval Greek name for the Albanians.^[24]

History[link]

History of Albania

Prehistory Prehistoric Balkans Antiquity Illyria Illyrians Macedonia (Roman province) Illyricum Middle Ages Albania in the Middle Ages Albania under the Byzantine Empire Albania under the Bulgarian Empire Albania under the Serbian Empire Principality of Arbër Kingdom of Albania Albanian principalities League of Lezhë Venetian Albania Ottoman Albania Ottoman Albania Sanjak of Albania Sanjak of Scutari Sanjak of Debar Scutari Vilayet Janina Vilayet Kosovo Vilayet Albanian Pashaliks Massacre of the Albanian beys Albanian National Awakening Revolts of 1833-1839 Revolt of 1843-1844 Revolt of 1847 League of Prizren League of Peja Revolt of 1910 Revolt of 1911 Battle of Deçiq Revolt of 1912 Albanian Vilayet Albanian Declaration of Independence Post-Independence Independent Albania Provisional Government Albanian Congress of Trieste International Commission of Control Balkan Wars Principality of Albania Peasant Revolt in Albania Republic of Central Albania Vlora War Republic of Korçë Republic of Mirdita Italian Protectorate on southern Albania Vlora War Congress of Lushnjë Italian protectorate over Albania Union of Italia & Albania Albania under Germany Albanian Resistance Second League of Prizren Liberation of Albania Communist Albania Contemporary Albania Post-Communism 1997 unrest Republic of Albania

This box: view talk edit

The history of Albania emerged from the prehistoric stage from the 4th century BC, with early records of Illyria in Greco-Roman historiography. The modern territory of Albania has no counterpart in antiquity, comprising parts of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia (southern Illyricum), Macedonia (particularly Epirus Nova), and Moesia Superior. The territory remained under Roman (Byzantine) control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th century, and was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century.The territorial nucleus of the Albanian state formed in the Middle Ages, as the Principality of Arbër and the Kingdom of Albania. The first records of the Albanian people as a distinct ethnicity also date to this period.

Ottoman Period[link]

At the dawn of the arrival of the Ottoman Empire in Southeast Europe, the geopolitical landscape was marked by scattered kingdoms of small principalities. The Ottomans were able by the fifteenth-century to take under their control the whole of the modern-day Albanian territory. Along with the Bosniaks, Muslim Albanians occupied an outstanding position in the empire, and were the main pillars of Ottoman policy in the Balkans.^[25]

Ottoman Map of Vlorë in 1512

Enjoying this privileged position in the empire, Muslim Albanians held various administrative positions, with over two-dozen Grand Viziers of Albanian origin, such as the general Köprülü Mehmed Pasha who commanded the Ottoman forces during the Ottoman-Persian Wars, Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed who led the Ottoman army during the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) and later, Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt. In the fifteenth-century, when the Ottomans were gaining a firm foothold in the region, the Albanian towns were organised into four principle sanjaks. Trade was fostered by the government by settling a sizeable Jewish colony of refugees fleeing from Spain (at end of the 15th century). Vlorë saw passing through its ports imported merchandise from Europe such as velvets, cotton goods, mohairs, carpets, spices and leather from Bursa and Istanbul. Some citizens of Vlorë even had business associates in Europe.^[26]

Albanians could also be found across the empire, in Iraq, Egypt, Algeria, and across the Maghreb as vital military and administrative retainers.^[27] This owed largely to their early use as part of the Devşirme system. The process of Islamization was an incremental one, commencing from the arrival of the Ottomans in the fourteenth-century. Even to this day, a minority of Albanians are Catholic or Orthodox Christians, though the vast majority became Muslim. Timar holders, the rock-bed of early Ottoman control in Southeast Europe, were not necessarily converts to Islam, and occasionally rebelled, the most famous case of which is Skanderbeg. His figure would be used later in the nineteenth-century as a central component of Albanian national identity. The most significant impact on the Albanians was the gradual Islamisation process of a large majority of the population- although such a process only became widespread in the seventeenth-century.^[28] Mainly Catholics converted in the seventeenth century, while the Orthodox Albanians followed suit mainly in the following century. Initially confined to the main city centres of Elbasan and Shkoder, by this period the countryside was also embracing the new religion.^[29] The motives for conversion according to scholars were diverse, depending on the context. The lack of source-material does not help when investigating such issues.^[30]

Albania remained under Ottoman control as part of the Rumelia province until 1912, when the first independent Albanian state was declared. The formation of an Albanian national consciousness dates to the latter 19th century and is part of the larger phenomenon of rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire.

Era of Nationalism[link]

The first organization which opposed the partition of Albania and pushed for greater autonomy was the League of Prizren, formed on 1 June 1878, in Prizren, Kosovo. The League of Prizren used military force to prevent the annexing of northern Albanian areas assigned to Montenegro, and Serbia, and southern Albanian areas assigned to Greece by the Congress of Berlin. After several battles with the Montenegran troops, the league was forced to cede Ulcinj to Montenegro and then was defeated by the Ottoman Army sent by the Sultan in order to prevent the league from achieving autonomy for Albania.^[31] The uprisings of 1910–1912, and the Ottoman defeat in the Balkan Wars, and the advancing Montenegran, Serbian, and Greek armies into the territory of what is now Albania, led to the proclamation of independence by Ismail Qemali in Vlora, on 28 November 1912. Albania's independence was recognized by the Conference of London on 29 July 1913, but the drawing of the borders of Albania ignored the demographic realities of the time.^[32]

Independence[link]

The short-lived monarchy (1914–1925) was succeeded by an even shorter-lived first Albanian Republic (1925–1928), to be replaced by another monarchy (1928–1939), which was annexed by Fascist Italy and then by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Communism[link]

After the liberation of Albania from Nazi occupation, Albania became a socialist republic, the People's Republic of Albania (renamed "the People's Socialist Republic of Albania" in 1976), which was led by Enver Hoxha (died 1985) and the Party of Labour of Albania. During this period, Albania became industrialised and saw rapid economic growth, as well as unprecedented progress in the areas of education and health. The average annual rate of increase of Albania's national income was 29 per cent higher than the world average and 56 per cent higher than the European average.^[33] Hoxha's political heir Ramiz Alia oversaw the disintegration of the "Hoxhaist" state during the wider collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the later 1980s.

The Hoxhaist regime collapsed in 1990, and the Republic of Albania was founded in 1991. The old communist party was routed in the elections of March 1992, amid economic collapse and social unrest. An economic crisis spread in the late 1996 following the failure of some Ponzi schemes operating in the country, peaking in 1997 in an armed rebellion, that led to another mass emigration of Albanians, mostly to Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and North America.

In 1999 the country was affected by the Kosovo War, when a great number of Albanians from Kosovo found refuge in Albania.

Albania became a full member of NATO in 2009. The country is applying to join the European Union.

Independence	Independent Albania	Principality of Albania	Albanian Republic	Albanian Kingdom	Albania under Italy	Albania under Germany	Socialist Albania	Republic of Albania
1912	1912–1914	1914–1925	1925–1928	1928–1939	1939–1943	1943–1944	1944–1992	since 1992

• 

  George Kastrioti Skanderbeg
  (1405–1468)

• 

  Ismail Qemali, hero of Albanian independence (1912–14)

• WilhelmPrinceAlbania.jpg

  William of Albania, Prince (King) of Albania (7 March 1914 – 3 September 1914)

• 

  President (1925–28)
  and King (1928–39)
  Zog of Albania

• 

  Enver Hoxha
  (1944–1985)

Administrative divisions[link]

Albania is divided into 12 administrative counties (Albanian: qark or prefekturë). These counties include 36 districts (Albanian: rreth) and 373 municipalities (Albanian: bashki or komunë). 72 municipalities have city status (Albanian: qytet). There are overall 2980 villages/communities (Albanian: fshat) in all Albania. Each district has its council which is composed of a number of municipalities. The municipalities are the first level of local governance, responsible for local needs and law enforcement.^[34]

Government, politics and armed forces[link]

Albania

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Albania

Constitution Constitution Human rights Legislature Assembly Chairman Jozefina Topalli Political parties Judiciary Constitutional Court Administrative Court Court of Justice (ordinary jurisdiction) Supreme Court Executive President Bamir Topi Prime Minister Sali Berisha Cabinet Divisions Districts Counties Municipalities Elections 2001 2005 2009 Foreign policy Foreign relations Albania–NATO relations Accession to European Union

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The Albanian republic is a parliamentary democracy established under a constitution renewed in 1998. Elections are held every four years to a unicameral 140-seat chamber, the People's Assembly. In June 2002, a compromise candidate, Alfred Moisiu, former Army General, was elected to succeed President Rexhep Meidani. Parliamentary elections in July 2005 brought Sali Berisha, an ex-Albanian communist party member, back to power as leader of the Democratic Party. The current president Bamir Topi was elected by Parliament in July 2007.

The Euro-Atlantic integration of Albania has been the ultimate goal of the post-communist governments. Albania's EU membership bid has been set as a priority by the European Commission.

Albania, along with Croatia, joined NATO on 1 April 2009, becoming the 27th and 28th members of the alliance.^[35]

The workforce of Albania has continued to migrate to Greece, Italy, Germany, other parts of Europe, and North America. However, the migration flux is slowly decreasing, as more and more opportunities are emerging in Albania itself as its economy steadily develops.

Executive branch[link]

The head of state in Albania is the President of the Republic. The President is elected to a 5-year term by the Assembly of the Republic of Albania by secret ballot, requiring a 50%+1 majority of the votes of all deputies. The next election will be held in 2012. The current President of the Republic is Bamir Topi.

The President has the power to guarantee observation of the constitution and all laws, act as commander in chief of the armed forces, exercise the duties of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania when the Assembly is not in session, and appoint the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister).

Executive power rests with the Council of Ministers (cabinet). The Chairman of the Council (prime minister) is appointed by the president; ministers are nominated by the president on the basis of the prime minister's recommendation. The People's Assembly must give final approval of the composition of the Council. The Council is responsible for carrying out both foreign and domestic policies. It directs and controls the activities of the ministries and other state organs.

Legislative branch[link]

The Assembly of the Republic of Albania (Kuvendi i Republikës së Shqipërisë) is the lawmaking body in Albania. There are 140 deputies in the Assembly, which are elected through a party-list proportional representation system. The President of the Assembly (or Speaker), who has two deputies, chairs the Assembly. There are 15 permanent commissions, or committees. Parliamentary elections are held at least every four years.

The Assembly has the power to decide the direction of domestic and foreign policy; approve or amend the constitution; declare war on another state; ratify or annul international treaties; elect the President of the Republic, the Supreme Court, and the Attorney General and his or her deputies; and control the activity of state radio and television, state news agency and other official information media.

Patrol boat Iliria of the Albanian Navy