Lazarat
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Lazarat ( sq-definite, Lazarati) is a village in Gjirokastër County, in southern
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. It is located in the Dropull valley. Formerly functioning as a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
, as part of the 2015 local government reform, it became a subdivision of the municipality of
Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 th ...
. The former municipality consisted of the villages Lazarat and Kordhocë. The population at the 2011 census was 2,801.2011 census results
In recent years, Lazarat had gained the reputation as the
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
capital of the country due to its large scale growth of cannabis by the local population. However, in June 2014, the Albanian government cracked down and destroyed the local production and transit of the drug.


Name

Its name contains the Albanian suffix -at, widely used to form toponyms from personal names and surnames.


Geography

Lazarat is a village just outside
Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, 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 th ...
, situated on mountain slope of
Mali i Gjerë Mali i Gjerë is a mountain in southern Albania. The highest peaks from north to south are ''Mali i Pusit'' (), ''Mali i Frashërit'' () and ''Mali i Nikollaqit'' (). On the eastern slope of the mountain is Gjirokastra while on the other side i ...
.


History

During the Ottoman period, following the emigration of village inhabitants to
Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
, Labs from the nearby Kurvelesh region were placed in Lazarat by Kaplan Pasha. Amidst the socio-political turbulence of the late eighteenth century in the area, Lazarat had bandits and it became a shelter for outlaws and criminals. Since the Albanian Government's attempts to stop the illegal cultivation of cannabis, there have been a growing number of activists from around the region demanding a special status for the small commune. The activists demand the right to legalize production and selling of cannabis inside municipality borders. The Albanian government has rejected the demand.


Crime

In June 2014, Albanian police launched a major operation against the village, involving over 800 officers. Heavily armed locals shot
RPGs RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade launc ...
and fired mortar rounds at the officers, who returned fire. Police took control of most of the village, with Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri saying the operation would continue until "every square centimetre in Lazarat is under state control". Smoke rose from the village as locals reportedly burned cannabis plants. On 24 June 2015, a member of the Albanian counter-terrorist force
RENEA The Department of Neutralization of Armed Elements () commonly known by its acronym RENEA, is the main Albanian counter-terrorist and critical incident response unit. The force was constituted in the early 1990s in response to the growing crime le ...
was shot and killed in the town, and two other soldiers wounded. A car containing gunmen had been stopped at a checkpoint, with attackers then opening fire on the soldiers from a nearby house. Ibrahim Basha was a RENEA officer who had previously served with
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. The
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
Ambassador to Albania,
Donald Lu Donald Lu (born 1966) is a United States diplomat serving as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs since 2021. He previously served as both the United States Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan from 2018 to 2021 and the United S ...
, expressed condolences at the soldier's funeral, calling the incident a "national tragedy". Additional police and
RENEA The Department of Neutralization of Armed Elements () commonly known by its acronym RENEA, is the main Albanian counter-terrorist and critical incident response unit. The force was constituted in the early 1990s in response to the growing crime le ...
officers were sent to reinforce the town and locate the attackers.


Population

Lazarat is inhabited by Muslim Albanians,Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995).
Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography
" In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). ''Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]''. University of Athens. p. 51. "AM Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι" p.56. "LAZARATI ΛΑΖΑΡΑΤΉ 2909 ΑΜ.
many of whom have traditionally been Bektashi Order, Bektashi.


Economy

The main activity is
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
, especially animal husbandry. The area is known for its
dairy products Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in ...
.


Cannabis

The village produced 900 tonnes of cannabis annually, worth €4.5bn, equivalent to around half of Albania's gross domestic product.


Popular culture

The eponymous film ''The Brave'' (2019) (previously ''Lazarat'') is centred on the conflict between locals and the police.


References


External links

* {{Gjirokastër County new Former municipalities in Gjirokastër County Administrative units of Gjirokastër Villages in Gjirokastër County