Debrešte (, ) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in a highland area in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Dolneni Dolneni () is a village in the Municipalities of North Macedonia, municipality of Dolneni Municipality, Dolneni, North Macedonia. It is located at the center of the plain of Prilepsko Pole (Prilep field), 10 km northwest of Prilep city and it ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. It is the largest settlement in the municipality in terms of population.

Demographics

On the Ethnographic Map of the Bitola Vilayet of the Cartographic Institute in Sofia from 1901, Debreshte appears as an Albanian village in the Prilep kaza, having 148 houses. In the second half of the 20th century Debrešte was inhabited by a Torbeš population. "Споменати се четирите торбешки села чие население е со очуван македонски јазик - во Дебреште, Пешталево, Лажани и Трновци." "Во Бродска околија исламизирани Македонци живееле во селата Дебреште, Лажани, Пласница и Преглово." "Селата во кои живеат Торбешите лежат во средина на пространа низина (Лазани и Пешталево) или се на граница од таа низина и повисоко земјиште (Дебреште и Трновци)." Between 1954 - 1960 large scale migration from Debrešte by Torbeš to Turkey occurred, while Orthodox Macedonians from the

Poreče Poreče, Porečie or Porečje or Poreč (), is a region in North Macedonia which includes the Makedonski Brod Municipality, and the western part of the Prilep Municipality Prilep ( ) is a municipality in the south of North Macedonia. ''Prilep ...

region and Slavic Muslims from the

Sandžak Sandžak (Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) is a historical and geo-political region in the Balkans, located in the southwestern part of Serbia and the eastern part of Montenegro. The Bosnian/ Serbian term ''Sandžak'' derives from the Sanjak of Novi Paza ...

settled in the village. "По моите теренски проучувања оживела нова акција за иселување на Торбешите. И тие иселувања водат во Турција. Од 1954 до 1960 г. најјаки биле иселувањата од Трновци, Дебреште и Пешталево. Само од првото село 1954 и 1955 г. се иселиле 70 торбешски домаќинства. На местата од иселените Торбеши се населуваат Македонци од Демир Хисар (во Трновци) и Порече (во Дебреште и Пешталево), како и муслимани од Санџак (во Дебреште)." Slavic Muslims from Sandžak, known as Sandžakli settling in Debrešte were not well received by the local population which forced them to move to neighboring villages, mainly to Lažani where their numbers are high. "Некаде околу шеесетите години, во с. Дебреште, доселеници од Санџак, познати како Санџаклии, се населиле во селото, но не биле "добро примени" од староседелското население со што биле приморани да се отселат во соседните села, претежно во с. Лажани каде нивниот број е најмногу застапен." Torbeš from Debrešte refer to the surrounding Christian population as ''Makedonci'' (Macedonians) and those Orthodox Macedonians refer to them as ''Turci'' (Turks) due to they being Muslims. "Така, исламизираните Македонци од селата Дебреште, Лажани, Трновци и Пешталево, Прилепско, околните Македонци ги нарекувале и ги нарекуваат Турци само заради нивното исповедување на муслиманската религија." The village also has an ethnic

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

population. According to the 2021 census, the village had a total of 2.600 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village include:Macedonian Census (2021)
''Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion''
The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2021 *

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

1.941 *

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

528 * Macedonians 81 *

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

3 *Others 46

References

Villages in Dolneni Municipality Torbeši settlements Albanian communities in North Macedonia {{commons category, Debrešte