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Gorani in Kosovo, Albania Offered Bulgarian Citizenship
Gorani in Kosovo, Albania Offered Bulgarian Citizenship
Bulgaria is intensifying efforts to provide citizenship, scholarships and other benefits to the poverty-stricken Gorani community in Kosovo and Albania, but critics say the country is misusing its EU member state status to advance long-standing assimilatory policies of other ethnicities.
The Gorani, most of whom are Muslim and identify as Macedonians, live in 18 villages in the region of Gora as well as in the adjacent Zhupa and Prespa regions in the Albania-Macedonia-Kosovo border area.
"They [Bulgarian representatives] usually come every few months. They are expected to arrive in Gora next at the beginning of May," Avnija Rahte, president of the Macedonian-Gorani Association, said.
Rahte explained the Bulgarians, accompanied by a lawyer, try to persuade the Gorani of the benefits of Bulgarian citizenship, including potential employment in EU countries as well as free schooling in Sofia and Plovdiv.
All the Gorani need to do is sign documents declaring they have Bulgarian origins and are Bulgarian, he said.
The Bulgarian Constitution provides the option for individuals to acquire Bulgarian citizenship through a "facilitated procedure," established in the country's citizenship act.
The Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, which organises the visits, has featured a 2010 strategic document on its website explaining that the policy aims to unite all Bulgarians in the region and raise the nation's plummeting birth rate.
Over 16,000 Macedonians obtained Bulgarian citizenship last year, along with nearly 2,000 Ukrainians and 1,000 Serbs, but only six Kosovo citizens, according to Agency data.
"Nearly 1,500 inhabitants of Gora, Zhupa and Prespa have obtained Bulgarian citizenship," Gezim Kurti, head of the association Bulgarians in Albania, told SETimes.
Bulgarian scholar Antoinette Primatarova suggested in an article earlier this year that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is eager to breathe new life into Bismarck's saying the Bulgarians are "Prussians of the Balkans."
"[The phrase does not] imply Borissov is claiming a special role for Bulgaria in the Balkans," Primatarova told SETimes, but it is a joke related to the Bulgarian position within the EU.
But not everyone agrees. Bulgaria is taking advantage of being an EU member to continue its 19th-century assimilation policy against Macedonians and others, according to Todor Petrov, president of the World Macedonian Congress.
Petrov explained the Gorani have traditionally been targets, being turned into Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks, if Christian, or into Albanians, Turks or Bosniaks, if Muslim.
"This time Bulgaria is using 'passport politics' in addition to the time-tested material benefits aimed at some of the poorest Balkan people," Petrov told SETimes.
Kosovo experts said a Bulgarian community did not exist until very recently, when a few Gorani started accepting Bulgarian citizenship.
"There is no Bulgarian minority in Kosovo," Adrian Zeqiri, director of Kosovo's principal NGO dealing with minority issues ECMI Kosovo, told SETimes.
Neither Kosovo's constitution, its law on communities, nor Albania recognises a Bulgarian minority.
Yet, the Bulgarian policy has renewed the debate about the Gorani's origins and identity.
"[They have] an identity crisis due to history and political circumstances," Fitim Spahiu of the Centre for Research and Social Studies in Dragash in the Gora region in Kosovo, told SETimes.
Some Gorani vehemently disagree with the characterisation.
"Gora is populated exclusively with Macedonians who live mostly in the Kosovo-Macedonia border area. In Gora and Zhupa there are 30,000 Macedonians," Ismail Bojda, one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Macedonians, headquartered in Gora, told SETimes.
The Gorani representatives sent an official request last November to the Kosovo government to be mentioned in the constitution as a Macedonian minority; they said they expect a positive answer.
Macedonia provided 15,000 citizenships to members of the Kosovo Gorani community last year, as well as to 6,000 others to Gorani who now live in Macedonia.
In addition, two Macedonians from Gora will now be in the consultative council for minorities, currently being formed in Pristina. Montenegrins, Roma, Egyptians, Vlachs and Croats will also participate in the work of the council.
SETimes correspondent Svetla Dimitrova in Sofia contributed to this report.
Gorani in Kosovo, Albania Offered Bulgarian Citizenship
Bulgaria is intensifying efforts to provide citizenship, scholarships and other benefits to the poverty-stricken Gorani community in Kosovo and Albania, but critics say the country is misusing its EU member state status to advance long-standing assimilatory policies of other ethnicities.
The Gorani, most of whom are Muslim and identify as Macedonians, live in 18 villages in the region of Gora as well as in the adjacent Zhupa and Prespa regions in the Albania-Macedonia-Kosovo border area.
"They [Bulgarian representatives] usually come every few months. They are expected to arrive in Gora next at the beginning of May," Avnija Rahte, president of the Macedonian-Gorani Association, said.
Rahte explained the Bulgarians, accompanied by a lawyer, try to persuade the Gorani of the benefits of Bulgarian citizenship, including potential employment in EU countries as well as free schooling in Sofia and Plovdiv.
All the Gorani need to do is sign documents declaring they have Bulgarian origins and are Bulgarian, he said.
The Bulgarian Constitution provides the option for individuals to acquire Bulgarian citizenship through a "facilitated procedure," established in the country's citizenship act.
The Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, which organises the visits, has featured a 2010 strategic document on its website explaining that the policy aims to unite all Bulgarians in the region and raise the nation's plummeting birth rate.
Over 16,000 Macedonians obtained Bulgarian citizenship last year, along with nearly 2,000 Ukrainians and 1,000 Serbs, but only six Kosovo citizens, according to Agency data.
"Nearly 1,500 inhabitants of Gora, Zhupa and Prespa have obtained Bulgarian citizenship," Gezim Kurti, head of the association Bulgarians in Albania, told SETimes.
Bulgarian scholar Antoinette Primatarova suggested in an article earlier this year that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is eager to breathe new life into Bismarck's saying the Bulgarians are "Prussians of the Balkans."
"[The phrase does not] imply Borissov is claiming a special role for Bulgaria in the Balkans," Primatarova told SETimes, but it is a joke related to the Bulgarian position within the EU.
But not everyone agrees. Bulgaria is taking advantage of being an EU member to continue its 19th-century assimilation policy against Macedonians and others, according to Todor Petrov, president of the World Macedonian Congress.
Petrov explained the Gorani have traditionally been targets, being turned into Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks, if Christian, or into Albanians, Turks or Bosniaks, if Muslim.
"This time Bulgaria is using 'passport politics' in addition to the time-tested material benefits aimed at some of the poorest Balkan people," Petrov told SETimes.
Kosovo experts said a Bulgarian community did not exist until very recently, when a few Gorani started accepting Bulgarian citizenship.
"There is no Bulgarian minority in Kosovo," Adrian Zeqiri, director of Kosovo's principal NGO dealing with minority issues ECMI Kosovo, told SETimes.
Neither Kosovo's constitution, its law on communities, nor Albania recognises a Bulgarian minority.
Yet, the Bulgarian policy has renewed the debate about the Gorani's origins and identity.
"[They have] an identity crisis due to history and political circumstances," Fitim Spahiu of the Centre for Research and Social Studies in Dragash in the Gora region in Kosovo, told SETimes.
Some Gorani vehemently disagree with the characterisation.
"Gora is populated exclusively with Macedonians who live mostly in the Kosovo-Macedonia border area. In Gora and Zhupa there are 30,000 Macedonians," Ismail Bojda, one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Macedonians, headquartered in Gora, told SETimes.
The Gorani representatives sent an official request last November to the Kosovo government to be mentioned in the constitution as a Macedonian minority; they said they expect a positive answer.
Macedonia provided 15,000 citizenships to members of the Kosovo Gorani community last year, as well as to 6,000 others to Gorani who now live in Macedonia.
In addition, two Macedonians from Gora will now be in the consultative council for minorities, currently being formed in Pristina. Montenegrins, Roma, Egyptians, Vlachs and Croats will also participate in the work of the council.
SETimes correspondent Svetla Dimitrova in Sofia contributed to this report.
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