FEUILLETON The foreign factor and the construction of the Albanian nation (1): Austro-Hungarian catechism of Albanian identity

Writing for Kosovo Online: Dragan BisenicTop of Form

With strong external pressure towards the finalization of the statehood of "Kosovo", the idea is to conclude the nearly two-century effort in constructing the national, political, and state identity of the Albanians in the Balkans. Overall, as it currently appears, this is expected to be a successful project, without a similar example in the development of Balkan nations because, from everything that is evident now, it is supposed to culminate in the creation of "Greater Albania".

Although the relentless pressure of the world's most powerful states for the creation of a new Albanian state in the Balkans – Kosovo – has been ongoing for 30 years, the current official Albanian historiography still assumes that there was no external assistance in the creation and development of the Albanian nation.

The continuous strong affirmation of autochthonous theories suggesting that the Albanians are the oldest people in the Balkans, certainly older than the Slavs and the Serbs, serves for this. The Albanians are considered "indigenous", while the Slavs, including the Serbs, are considered "immigrants". Such struggles for historical and ethnogenetic "primacy" aimed at guaranteeing today's merits or benefits are not new. All Balkan nations have their autochthonous theories. However, they are far from scientific in nature and official use, especially in politics. Only in Albanian historiography, and even more so in political practice, the autochthonous theory about the origin of the Albanians has an almost official character, even though it is clear that it is not scientifically grounded and supported.

The source of external shaping of the "Albanian identity" and the "new identity" of the Albanian nation was found in the policies of Austro-Hungary and its aspirations to dominate the Balkans and oust other competing influences, especially Russian and Italian.

Habsburg Influence

For this purpose, the Habsburg Monarchy undertook extensive efforts to create national consciousness and build nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and towards the Albanians. This policy reached its peak during the time of Benjamin Kallay in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1882-1903), with the most important immediate executor being the Hungarian historian Lajos Thalloczy.

Kallay continued to spread Habsburg influence in the Balkans.

It is essential to bear in mind that at that time, Serbia, led by Prince Milan Obrenovic, was already under Habsburg patronage, allowing Kallay to carry out his delicate mission without significant obstacles. The Austro-Hungarian intellectual apparatus practically created all the ideas that became the "catechism" of Albanian ideology and are still present in the arsenal of Albanian national identity. They also provided material and financial support for its realization.

Building on these foundations, Enver Hoxha's Albania officially promoted and supported claims that the Albanians are of Pelasgian or Illyrian origin and, therefore, the oldest people in the Balkans, especially after breaking ties with the USSR.

At the time, Enver Hoxha instructed his associate Spiro Konda to write and publish a paper "proving" that the Albanians and Pelasgians are one and the same. Another author in this endeavor was the most famous Albanian writer and member of the French Academy of Sciences, Ismail Kadare, who went even further by interpreting Greek mythology as Albanian.

During the period of the Great Migration, the entire Europe, including the Balkan Peninsula, was indo-Europeanized. Many nations settled in Europe, known in history under the common name Pelasgians.

The Pelasgians came from Asia, undoubtedly from the cradle of humanity – India. They spread westward from their homeland, following the sun, which showed them the way with its setting. Almost all Pelasgian nations consider the sun sacred, worshiping it as their god to whom they bowed and offered sacrifices.

Foreign scientists, dealing with the history and origin of the Albanians at a time when science had not yet written anything about them, intuitively launched the hypothesis that the Albanians might be remnants of the Pelasgians. The first among them was our Dalmatian Tuberone Cerva (1455 – 1527), known as a historian, who wrote that the Albanians were the "relics of the ancient Macedonians".

This intuitive assumption was first accepted by the Serbian-born bishop Petar Masarek (died 1635). It was then accepted and propagated by the Norwegian scientist and historian Dr. Hans Thunmann (1746-1778), followed by many, especially August Schleicher (1821-1868) and Johann Georg von Hahn (1811-1869), considered by many as the two greatest "Pelasgians" of all time.

Georg von Hahn, the Austrian deputy Ambassador in Ioannina, who engaged in Albanology despite not knowing the Albanian language, initially claimed that the Albanians were Slavs, later switching to the concept that the Albanians are genealogical followers of the Pelasgians, remnants of the former Pelasgians, and Pelasgians themselves. He claimed to have discovered a "Pelasgian" alphabet in Albania, which turned out to originate from much later times.

August Schleicher developed this hypothesis into a theory. Against August Schleicher's theory, the well-known Austrian scientist Dr. Gustav Meyer (1850-1900) wrote explicitly and was recognized as the greatest Albanologist of his time. He proved that the Albanian language has no connection with the Pelasgian and, therefore, the Albanians as a people have no connection with the Pelasgian family of nations.

Theory of Illyrian origin without evidence

However, Meyer's analyses will be ignored. Two main rival theories that emerged identify early Albanians either as Illyrians or Thracians. In pre-Roman and Roman times, Illyrians lived in the western half of the Balkans, while Thracians lived in the east. Many Albanian historians prefer the Illyrian theory. An exception is Professor Aleks Buda (1911-1993), President of the Academy of Sciences of Albania, who acknowledges that the Illyrians came to the Balkans from Central and Northern Europe, in later times, along with the Iron Age culture.

Romanian scientists, aware of strong early connections between the Albanians and Vlachs, prefer to place them on the Thracian side of the divide (ancient Dacians, who lived in Romania, were a part of Thracian groups) and are sometimes supported in this by Bulgarian experts. Some Serbian scientists accepted the theories of Illyrian origin for the Albanians. However, it doesn't make much sense to delve into this labyrinth of historical debate more than necessary for our purpose.

Leaving behind earlier pre-scientific, intuitive, and romantic views, a group of scientists emerged who presented arguments against the hypothesis of Illyrian origin for the Albanians. Among the first were Johan Adelung (1732-1806) and Jernej Kopitar (1780-1844). The greatest authority among them is the German professor, Dr. Gustav Weigand (1860 – 1930), a linguist and Balkanologist, researcher of Albanian and Bulgarian languages, who listed and explained in the results of his work 12 arguments proving that Albanians have nothing in common with the Illyrians.

Discoveries by academician Weigand sparked the interest of many world scientists who actively and rigorously engaged in Albanological issues, among whom German scientist Dr. Hermann Hirt stands out. Contrary to the claims of Paul Krecmer about the Illyrian origin of the Albanians and their language, Hirt brought six new arguments that the Albanians have nothing in common with the Illyrians.

Weigand specifically studied the maritime-fishing terminology of the Albanians and asserted that the Albanians do not have their indigenous maritime and fishing terminology. As is known, the Illyrians were a people engaged in seafaring and fishing. Therefore, they certainly had their rich maritime-fishing terminology, like all other coastal peoples.

If the Albanians were descendants of the Illyrians and at least lived from ancient times on the shores of the Adriatic and Ionian seas, where they currently reside, they would be engaged in seafaring and fishing, like all other coastal peoples. Thus, they would have their maritime-fishing terminology, or at least inherited from their ancestors they claim - the Illyrians.

Weigand's arguments were accepted by numerous connoisseurs of Albanian origin, and some of them, who followed the idea of the Illyrian origin of the Albanians, such as Norbert Jokl, soon abandoned it. Even Noel Malcolm, who wrote the book "Kosovo - A Short History", widely accepted as a pro-Albanian work, says about Weigand and his arguments that his "fundamental view is correct".

First mention in the 11th century

The difficulties in establishing a unified national idea can be seen in the fact that Malcolm explicitly states in his book that he does not claim that Kosovo ever existed in its present borders. For him, Kosovo is "Ottoman territory, par excellence". Malcolm also does not write about Kosovo as a unique entity but uses "eastern" and "western" Kosovo.

The Albanians first appear in historical records in the year 1043. In that year, under the command of the Byzantine governor of Dyrrachium, George Maniakes, an army composed of Normans, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Albanians (Arvanitai) set out from Ohrid towards Thessaloniki and then towards Constantinople. The chronicler of that time, Michael Attaleiates, mentions this event and, in addition, refers to the Albanians.

Anna Komnene, who lived in the 11th and 12th centuries, defined the borders of Albania at the time. She states that in the 11th-12th century, Albania extended from the Black Drin River (to the east) to the Adriatic Sea (to the west), and - to the north - to the Drin River, and to the south to the Shkumbin River. Marino Barlezio (1460-1512) also states that the Epirotes (Albanians) and Epirus (Albania) extend to the north to the Drin River, and beyond the Drin, there are no Albanians since the Illyrians, identified with the Slavs at that time, live there.

Mentioned in Durres in 1078 and again in 1081, when they joined Byzantine forces resisting the invasion of the Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard. A distorted list of Albanian place names, picked up by the Normans during this expedition, was soon incorporated into the Song of Roland: one manuscript of this poem includes a reference to "Albanie", implying it was a place or region northeast of Durres.

Over the next two centuries, mentions of the Albanians gradually increased, until in 1281, an Italian document mentions "Duke Ginius Tanuschus Albanensis", who ruled the region between Durrës and Shkodra. 'Ginius' must be the Albanian 'Gjin' (John), and this 'duke Gjin' is assumed to be the founder of the famous 'Dukagjin' family.

In the early 14th century, there are also signs of a long-established presence of the Albanians in the mountains of Montenegro, and even in the hinterland of Dubrovnik to the north.

Religious affiliation is of great importance for the Albanian identity. Albanians identify themselves as Muslims and Christians of both branches - Orthodox and Catholic. This structure emerged based on the specific historical circumstances in which the Albanians found themselves, influenced by the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The acceptance of Islam was a result of Ottoman conquests, and the Albanian autocephalous Orthodox Church was established by a Macedonian Serb, Millosh Gjergj Nikolla-Migjeni, and a Greek, Theofan Mavroma, better known under the pseudonym Fan Noli.

Continuation tomorrow - "Cultural protectorate as a solution"