Centar Župa (; ) is a municipality in the western part of

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 ...

. ''

Centar Župa Centar Župa (; ) is a village and seat in the Municipalities of North Macedonia, municipality of Centar Župa Municipality, Centar Župa, North Macedonia. The town is inhabited mainly by Turkish people, Turks. Demographics Centar Župa is a new v ...

'' is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. Centar Župa Municipality is part of the

Southwestern Statistical Region The Southwestern Statistical Region (; ) is one of eight statistical regions of North Macedonia. Southwestern, located in the western part of the country, sharing Ohrid Lake with its westerly border Albania. Internally, it borders the Pelagonia Sta ...

History

After the Ottoman conquest in 1448,

Kodžadžik Kodžadžik (; ), is a village in the municipality of Centar Župa, North Macedonia. Name A former Ottoman fortress existed at the location of Kodžadžik before the end of the first half of the 15th century. Scholars such as Smiljanić and Had ...

was settled by Ottoman soldiers and Turkish nomads ( Yörüks). The local church was converted to a mosque, and Kodžadžik, as part of the ''sanjak'' (district) Debra-i Bala, became a center that connected the southeast with

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

. When North Macedonia proclaimed its independence in 1991, the Macedonian state implemented nationalist politics, which aimed to assimilate Macedonian Muslims into a broader category of "Macedonians". The government banned education in Turkish in all regions to "prevent Turkification". This, however, was met with resistance by Muslims who did not support the association and wanted to learn Turkish and continue their education in Turkish. The protests failed, although one person applied to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

. The case revolved around rights to education in the mother tongue.

Geography

The municipality borders Struga Municipality to the south, Debar Municipality to the east, north and west, and

to the west.

Demographics

Mothers tongues in the municipality include (2021): * Turkish: 2,209 (59.4%) * Macedonian: 962 (25.9%) *Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources: 324 (9.5%) * Albanian: 192 (5.2%) *Others: 3 (0.1%) Ethnic groups in the municipality according to the 2021 North Macedonia census:

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centar Zupa Municipality Southwestern Statistical Region Municipalities of North Macedonia