Transnational Connections and the Building of an Albanian and European Islam in Interwar Albania

Abstract

When speaking about Muslims in Europe, one generally focuses on Muslims in western Europe, ignoring the case of their coreligionists living in northern, eastern, and southeastern Europe. In this part of the continent, Muslims represent a large group of people formed during the Ottoman period as the result of migrations and conversions. The end of the Ottoman rule—which occurred at different periods of time in the different regions—caused the death (during conflicts) and departure of many Muslims, flying to the remaining parts of the Ottoman Empire, for religious and sociopolitical reasons. However, despite these significant waves of migration, large communities of Muslims remained in Serbia, Montenegro, and in the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina (after World War I these territories being included into the Yugoslav kingdom, together with the present territory of Macedonia and Kosova). Large groups of Muslims also remained in Bulgaria, and to a lesser extent in Greece and Romania, while the Albanian state was the only state formed (1912–1913) in the region having a Muslim majority, with approximately 70 percent of the total population.