ACTIVITIES OF THE ALBANIAN DIASPORA IN ROMANIA IN SUPPORT OF THE ALBANIAN NATIONAL CAUSE

Abstract

Under the circumstances of the Ottoman rule in Albanian territories during 18-19th centuries, an important role in supporting the Albanian national cause was given by the Albanian colonies in Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, the USA, etc. The largest and earliest Albanian colony was established in Bucharest, Romania. It mostly consisted of Albanian emigrants, who had settled in Romania in the second half of the 19-th century. Most of them began to organize themselves in associations, strongly supporting the movement for the Albanian language and culture, as a good opportunity to support Albanian patriots operating in Albania. The first created associations, despite their appearance as demonstrating cultural profile, in essence they were engaged in political activities, in support of the Albanian national cause. Initially, these associations maintained close ties with the Istanbul Association which had an important contribution the spread of the Albanian language and culture and also to the creation of the first associations in Romania. The first association established in Bucharest was named "Drita" would split into two branches, forming two new associations. The process of creating the first Albanian associations in Romania, would not be easy and it was conditioned by objective and subjective factors. They faced difficulties of various natures, ranging from financial difficulties, internal contradictions between their members, the obstacles of the Greek Orthodox clergy as well as the interventions of the Sublime Porte. The consequence of these difficulties would as well be the birth of different groups within these colonies, reorganization and the creation of new associations. Despite the dynamics of their activity, these associations held the same attitude when national interests were violated. We aim to analyze these issues by using and analyzing document of the Central State Archive, as well as the publications of academic institutions of the communist and post-communist periods as a comparative approach between them.