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Who Are the Albanian Muslims?
In recent years little has been written about the Albanians, a largely Muslim group in Europe who may become the next victims of Serbian "ethnic cleansing." There are three million Albanians living in the state of Albania; two million living in Kosovo; and about one million in Macedonia and Montenegro.
Although most Albanians are Muslim, there are Catholic Albanians and Christian Orthodox Albanians as well. Yet, reportedly, there are no religious conflicts among them. They are united by common bonds, including the Albanian language, a claim to being the oldest nationality in Europe and, above all, a shared common suffering.
The Albanians claim that in the 19th century they were more numerous than either the Serbs or the Greeks. Yet European leaders who have drawn up boundaries have not always recognized their legitimacy as a people.
To learn how Albanians regard them-selves, I talked with Dr. S. Sophie Juka, a native of Albania and one of America's leading authorities on Albanian history. Now a U.S. citizen, and for many years a professor in American universities, Dr. Juka lives in New York. She explained that while most Bosnian Muslims are of Slavic descent, Albanians are not Slavs:
"Albanians are different," she said. "They are a very ancient people. Most scholars agree they are Illyrians. The Illyrians founded an immense empire extending from Epirus, in what is now northwestern Greece, to the Danube and the Black Sea. They fought with great valor against the Romans for more than a century. Eventually the Romans conquered the whole of Illyria."
After the Roman conquest--in A.D. 9--many Illyrian soldiers then fought in the Roman army and rose to high position. "Illyrians who became emperors and viceroys include Claudius II, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, Maximilian, Constantius, Valens and Valentinian," Dr. Juka said. "Also one of the greatest of the early scholars, Saint Jerome, was an Illyrian. In Byzantine history, the Illyrians produced three of Byzantium's greatest emperors: Constantine, who officially accepted Christianity; Justinius, who built Saint Sophia; and Justinian, famous for his Code of Laws."
I asked Dr....