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Gjirokastër Prefecture
Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and the Drino, at 300 metres above sea level. Its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described as "a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, built by farmers of large estate". The city is overlooked by Gjirokastër Fortress, where the Gjirokastër National Folklore Festival is held every five years. It is the birthplace of former Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha, and author Ismail Kadare. The city appears in the historical record dating back in 1336 by its Greek name, gkm, Αργυρόκαστρο, Argyrókastro, label=none, as part of the Byzantine Empire. It became part of the Orthodox Christian diocese of ''Dryinoupolis and Argyrokastro'' after the destruction of nearby Adrianoupolis.Giakoumis, Konstantinos (2010).The Orthodox Church in Albania Under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gjirokastër Fortress
Gjirokastër Castle (Albanian language, Albanian: ''Kalaja e Gjirokastrës'' or ''Kalaja e Argjirosë'') is a fortress in Gjirokastër, Albania (during Ottoman rule it was historically known as Ergiri while local Greeks referred to it as Argyrokastro, a name applied also to the castle). Gjirokastër Castle is situated at a height of . The castle dominates the town and overlooks the strategically important route along the river valley. It is open to visitors and contains a military museum featuring captured artillery and memorabilia of the Communist resistance against German occupation, as well as a captured United States Air Force plane to commemorate the Communist regime's struggle against the imperialist western powers. History The citadel has existed in various forms since before the 12th century. Princess Argjiro inspired Albanian author Ismail Kadare in a poem he wrote in the 1960s. According to local Albanian folkloric traditions she lived in the 15th century and jumped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ismail Kadare
Ismail Kadare (; spelled Ismaïl Kadaré in French; born on 28 January 1936) is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is a leading international literary figure and intellectual. He focused on poetry until the publication of his first novel, '' The General of the Dead Army'', which made him famous internationally. In 1992, Kadare was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca; in 1998, the Herder Prize; in 2005, the inaugural Man Booker International Prize; in 2009, the Prince of Asturias Award of Arts; and in 2015, the Jerusalem Prize. He was awarded the Park Kyong-ni Prize in 2019, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2020. In 1996, France made him a foreign associate of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques of France, and in 2016, he was a '' Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur'' recipient. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 15 times. Since the 1990s, Kadare has been asked by both major political ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aromanians
The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and central Greece and North Macedonia, and can currently be found in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, south-western North Macedonia, northern and central Greece, southern Serbia and south-eastern Romania (Northern Dobruja). An Aromanian diaspora living outside these places also exists. The Aromanians are known by several other names, such as "Vlachs" or "Macedo-Romanians" (sometimes used to also refer to the Megleno-Romanians). The term "Vlachs" is used in Greece and in other countries to refer to the Aromanians, with this term having been more widespread in the past to refer to all Romance-speaking peoples of the Balkan Peninsula and Carpathian Mountains region (Southeast Europe) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albanian Civil War Of 1997
The Albanian Civil War in 1997 was sparked by pyramid scheme failures in Albania soon after its transition to a market economy. The government was toppled and more than 2,000 people were killed. Various other sources also describe the violence that ensued as a rebellion, or a rebellion that gradually escalated into a civil war. By January 1997, Albanian citizens, who had lost a total of $1.2 billion, took their protest to the streets. Beginning in February, thousands of citizens launched daily protests demanding reimbursement by the government, which they believed was profiting from the schemes. On 1 March, Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi resigned and on 2 March, President Sali Berisha declared a state of emergency. On 11 March the Socialist Party of Albania won a major victory when its leader, Bashkim Fino, was appointed prime minister. However, the transfer of power did not halt the unrest, and protests spread to northern Albania. Although the government quelled revolts in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autonomous Republic Of Northern Epirus
The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus ( el, Αὐτόνομος Δημοκρατία τῆς Βορείου Ἠπείρου, translit=Aftónomos Dimokratía tis Voreíou Ipeírou) was a short-lived, self-governing entity founded in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars on 28 February 1914, by the local Greek population in southern Albania (Northern Epirotes). The area, known as Northern Epirus () to Greeks and with a substantial Greek population, was taken by the Greek Army from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War (1912–1913). The Protocol of Florence, however, had assigned it to the newly established Albanian state. This decision was rejected by the local Greeks, and as the Greek Army withdrew to the new border, an autonomous government was set up at Argyrokastron ( el, Αργυρόκαστρον, today Gjirokastër), under the leadership of Georgios Christakis-Zografos, a distinguished local Greek politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and with taci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guerrilla Warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and Mobility (military), mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military. Although the term "guerrilla warfare" was coined in the context of the Peninsular War in the 19th century, the tactical methods of guerrilla warfare have long been in use. In the 6th century BC, Sun Tzu proposed the use of guerrilla-style tactics in ''The Art of War''. The 3rd century BC Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus is also credited with inventing many of the tactics of guerrilla warfare through what is today called the Fabian strategy. Guerrilla warfare has been used by various factions throughout history and is particularly associated with revolutionary movements and popular resistance agains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conflict Studies Research Centre
The Conflict Studies Research Centre (CSRC), was a component of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. It specialised in potential causes of conflict in a wide area ranging from the Baltics to Central Asia. This geographical focus was inherited from the Centre's original incarnation as the Soviet Studies Research Centre (SSRC) in 1972, at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, examining the Soviet military threat. was an original red team which interpreted Soviet bloc "thinking and attitudes" at Camberley. The organization was renamed from ''Soviet studies'' to ''Conflict studies'' in 1993 – after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Centre later examined wider issues including foreign policy, energy security and demographic change. CSRC hosted a small number of deep country specialists, providing in-house expertise on their subject countries to government and academic customers in the UK and beyond, as well as publishing research in their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greeks In Albania
The Greeks of Albania are ethnic Greeks who live in or originate from areas within modern Albania. After ethnic Albanians, they form the second largest ethnic group in the country. They are mostly concentrated in the south of the country, in the areas of the northern part of the historical region of Epirus, in parts of Vlorë County, Gjirokastër, Korçë and Berat County. The area is also known as Northern Epirus. Consequently, the Greeks hailing specifically from Southern Albania are also known as Northern Epirotes ( el, Βορειοηπειρώτες ''Vorioipirotes'', sq, Vorioepirot). The Greeks who live in the "minority zones" of Albania are officially recognised by the Albanian government as the Greek National Minority of Albania ( el, Ελληνική Μειονότητα στην Αλβανία, ''Elliniki Mionotita stin Alvania''; sq, Minoriteti Grek në Shqipëri). In 1913, after the end of five centuries of Ottoman rule, the area was included under the sovereignty o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defeated it, in the process stripping the Ottomans of its European provinces, leaving only Eastern Thrace under the Ottoman Empire's control. In the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria fought against the other four original combatants of the first war. It also faced an attack from Romania from the north. The Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Although not involved as a combatant, Austria-Hungary became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples. The war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus served as a "prelude to the First World War". By the early 20th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large eleme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hellenic Army
The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces, also constituted by the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) and the Hellenic Navy (HN). The army is commanded by the chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff (HAGS), which in turn is under the command of Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDGS). The motto of the Hellenic Army is ('Freedom stems from valour'), from Thucydides's '' History of the Peloponnesian War (2.43.4)'', a remembrance of the ancient warriors that defended Greek lands in old times. The Hellenic Army Emblem is the two-headed eagle with a Greek Cross escutcheon in the centre. The Hellenic Army is also the main contributor to, and "lead nation" of, the Balkan Battle Group, a combined-arms rapid-response force under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bektashi Order
The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by Baba Mondi, the eighth Bektashi Dedebaba and headquartered in Tirana, Albania. Bektashism began as a Shia Islamic Sufi order in Anatolia, during the Ottoman Empire. In 1876, a Salih Nijazi was appointed as the "''baba''" or leader by prominent Bektashi members. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Kemal Atatürk banned religious institutions that weren't part of the Directorate of Religious Affairs. After this, the community's headquarters relocated to Albania. The order became involved in Albanian politics, and some of its members, including Ismail Qemali, were major leaders of the Albanian National Awakening. Bektashis believe in the Twelve Imams, Fourteen Innocents and the modern-day Dedebabas. In addition to the spiritua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Zenevisi
John Zenevisi or Gjon Zenebishi ( sq, Gjon Zenebishi or ''Gjin Zenebishi''; died 1418) was an Albanian magnate that held the estates in Epirus, such as Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër) and Vagenetia. Name Zenevisi can be found with different spellings in historical documents. His name in modern English is usually ''John Zenevisi'' Elsie 2003, p. 53: "Lord John Sarbissa (Zenevisi) was lord of the town of Gjirokastra and the region of Vagenetia and Paracalo (Parakalamo)." or ''John Sarbissa''. In Italian, his name was spelled as ''Giovanni Sarbissa''. In Albanian, his name is mostly spelled as ''Gjin Zenebishi'' (less commonly as ''Zenebishti''), his given name scarcely spelled ''Gjon'', as well. In Serbian his name is spelled like ''Jovan Zenović''. Life The Zenevisi family was from the Zagoria region, between Përmet and Argyrokastro (Gjirokastër). In 1381 and 1384, the Catholic lords of Arta asked the Ottoman troops for protection against the invading Albanian clan of the Zenev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
