Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE) MINORITIES IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE Roma of Albania Acknowledgements This report was researched and written by Maria Koinova, Researcher of CEDIME- SE. It was edited by Panayote Dimitras, Director of CEDIME-SE and Nafsika Papanikolatos, Coordinator of CEDIME-SE. English Language Editor of CEDIME- SE and Caroline Law. CEDIME-SE would like to express its deep appreciation to the external reviewers of this report, Claude Cahn, Staff Writer/Publications Director of the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, Marcel Courthiades, researcher at the Institute of Rromani Studies, University of Paris, Krassimir Kanev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, who, with their critical comments, contributed substantially to its quality. CEDIME-SE would also like to thank all persons who generously provided information and/or documents, and/or gave interviews to its researcher. The responsibility for the report’s content, though, lies only with CEDIME-SE. We welcome all comments sent to: [email protected] 1 MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS Updated August 2000 State: Albania Name (in English, in the dominant language and –if different- in the minority’s language): Roma, Romanies, Gypsies. Their name in the Albanian language is Rom (official) and Arixhi, Gabel, Magjup, Kurbat (derogative), and in the minority language their name is Rrom (sg.) and Rroma (pl.) Is there any form of recognition of the minority? Roma are officially recognized through the Romani NGOs that have a judicial status in Albania (Kanev, 1999). Nevertheless, Roma are not recognized publicly as a distinct minority, unlike the Greeks and the Macedonians who are recognized due to a situation inherited from communism. Only ethnic communities with existing kin- states were recognized, which was not the case of the Roma, who have no kin-state (Courthiades, 2000). Category (national, ethnic, linguistic or religious) ascribed by the minority and, if different, by the state: There are several Romani tribes in Albania: Meckars [also Meckari/Meckara], Kabuzis, Kurtofs [also Kurtofis] and Cergars [also Cergara/Cergari] (ERRC Report, 1997: 7). “Cergara” is the name of two different tribes, the “Shkodrans” and the “Besaqe Roma” (Courthiades, 2000). Territory they inhabit: Roma live all over the country, but the biggest communities are concentrated in and around Tirana, the towns of Fier, Gjirokaster and Berat, and around the town of Korce (ERRC Report, 1997:8). Population: According to different estimates, Roma number between 1,300 and 120,000 people, out of the total population of 3.4 million in Albania (ERRC, 1997:7, Center for International Development, Chicago, 1995). Name of the language spoken by the minority (in English, in the minority and -if different- in the dominant language): Romani and Albanian Is there any form of recognition of the language(s)? No Dominant language of the territory they inhabit: Albanian Occasional or daily use of the minority language: Daily use 2 Access to education corresponding to the needs of the minority: Roma have the right to education in the Albanian municipality schools, but they have no mother-tongue education in those schools. Religions practiced: Mainly Muslim with some recent conversions to Christian Orthodoxy. Is there any form of recognition of the religion(s)? de facto yes but not de jure. Communities having the same characteristics in other territories/countries Roma live mainly in Europe and especially in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. There are almost 7 to 8,5 million Roma throughout the whole continent. The majority of them lives in the Eastern part (Minority Rights Group International, 1995). Migrating eastwards from India, some Romani tribes settled in Western Europe and others reached the American continent. Population of these communities in other territories/countries: Estimates for the Roma populations in Southeast Europe based on (Liegois, 1997, Courthiades 2000, European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) 1997, Minority Rights Group International (MRGI) 1997, MRG-Greece 2000): Bosnia-Herzegovina - 40,000-100,000 Bulgaria - 313,396 (census 1992); 600,000-700,000 (estimates by specialists) Croatia - 18,000-40,000 Cyprus - 500-1,000 Greece - MRG-Greece approximates 350,000; official Greek sources, the number fluctuates between 150,000-200,000 Macedonia - 1994 population census 43,732 Roma and 3169 Egyptiani (Friedman, 1998:2); unofficial estimates 200,000-260,000 including refugees from Kosovo whose number has not yet been determined yet. Romania - 1.800,000-2.000,000 Slovenia - 8-10,000 including 5,000 Roma refugees from FRY. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – 450,000-500,000 Turkey – 300,000-500,000 3 PRESENTATION HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: 1.1. Important historical developments The Roma have been living in Albania for more than 600 years (Kolsti, 1991). They arrived from Asia shortly before the Ottoman Turks in the middle of the fifteenth century. They started from India, traveled towards the direction of Persia, Syria, Iraq and through Armenia into the Western Byzantine territories, then through the Balkans into Europe. Their origins are known not because of clear-cut historical evidences, but mostly from linguistic analysis of the development of the Romani language, and also because of comparative physical anthropology surveys (Fraser, 1992:41-45). In a 1938 article in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, Margaret Hasluck suggested another version of the origins of the Albanian nomad Roma -- they came from Spain. Without citing any specific date, she wrote that they lived in Spain where “they followed the King of that country to wars with Italy. There they behaved so badly that the king forbade them to return to Spain and also cursed them saying: May you never take root anywhere” (Hasluck, 1938:50). The Jevgs are a group of people in Albania who claim to have an identity other than Romani, but are widely considered by the majority as “Majup” – a name the majority uses to describe also the Roma (Courthiades, 2000). Jevgs are described as the descendants from the Coptic migrants who came from Egypt in the fourth century (ERRC Report, 1997:10). Another version suggests that they were Egyptian slaves who escaped from Greece to Albania in a period of Egyptian intervention in the Greek revolution, in A.D. 1825-7 (Hasluck, 1938:49). The “Egyptian” roots are an object of dispute in Albania. According to ERRC, contemporary Roma activists contest these roots (ERRC Report, 1997:10). According to Marcel Courthiades, their origins are contested only by some Yugoslavs being interested to deny the Jevgs an identity of their own in order to increase the general number of the Roma. In the Ottoman time, many Roma had converted to Islam for safety reasons, as many ethnic Albanians did or were forced to do so. Nevertheless, the former were not treated on an equal basis with the other Muslims in their millet, but as “second class” people. The official Ottoman policy levied the cizie tax on the Roma along with all other non-Muslim subjects of the empire. The Muslim Roma were no exception from this rule, since they were considered as schismatics straying from the Muslim law on many points connected to rite and morals. By the 17th century, the financial pressure on the Roma, as well as on other subjects of the empire, increased. It reached such a state that Sultan Mehmed IV exacted a tax from dead Gypsies until live ones were found to replace them. Some rulers made sporadic attempts to “reeducate” Gypsies in their “public order” activities (Fraser, 1992:174-175). In addition, there are claims that Roma were not accepted inside the mosques, and as a consequence – inside the Muslim cemeteries (Kolsti, 1991:51). There are opposing arguments claiming the invalidity of the above, the Roma were accepted in the mosques and buried as all other people; such arguments are usually based on some “Albanian myths” on the subject (Courthiades, 2000). 4 It is widely claimed that in the four Albanian villayets – Shkodra, Kosovo, Janina and Monastir – Roma shared the faith of other nomad people such as the Arumanians. Roma inhabited in caravan camps in the vicinity of Albanian settlements (Kovacs, 1996:18). However, counter-arguments exist that these interpretations are mostly based on stereotypes about the Roma since this particular group of Roma were never nomads (Courthiades, 2000). During the Ottoman time, Roma enjoyed a relatively peaceful cohabitation with the rest of the ethnically different groups. This sense of equality was based on the fact that Roma were only one of the many oppressed minorities (Kovacs, 1996:18). “Vlachs, Gypsies and Albanians alike were ethnic minorities in the periphery of a crumbling empire” (Kolsti, 1991:51-52). By the end of the 19th century, the four Ottoman villayets, administered by Albanian Muslims, became a refuge for Roma families that had either adopted Islam and, therefore, fled from persecution in areas recently liberated from Ottoman control, or of those who had escaped from slavery, particularly from the Romanian principalities (ibid. 51). After the establishment of the Albanian independent republic in 1912 and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the life of many Albanians and Albanian Roma living outside the boundaries of the republic became harsher. They faced persecution, due to their Muslim faith, by the Slavic majorities in inter-war Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Kosovo, as they were identified as the collaborators of the Turks. Albanian Roma living within the boundaries of the Albanian state faced a relatively benign treatment (ibid:52-52). However, the Jevgs were often being treated with contempt. (Courthiades, 2000). Their situation did not change much since they kept their traditional occupational roles, and the religious discrimination against them continued. The large social gaps between the Roma and the non-Roma remained. Roma continued to live in segregated neighborhoods and there were practically no intermarriages between Roma and non-Roma (Kolsti,1991:53-54). During the Second world war, Albania was under Italian rule within the territories of “Greater Albania.” Albanian Roma were not persecuted or deported to death camps, unlike the Roma in many countries in Eastern Europe. However, Albanian Roma participated in the war and many of them were fighting in the Albanian military (Kolsti, 1991:53-54). Until the German occupation of the Greater Albania in 1943, neither the Italians nor the Albanian nationalist persecuted the Albanian Roma because of their increasingly problematic international political situation. The German army’s occupation of Albania lasted no longer than one year, there was insufficient time and capacity to pursue a policy of deportation or extermination of the Roma (Kovacs, 1996:19). Moreover, Roma were supportive of pro-German (Italian) forces, like all other Albanian and Slavic Muslims in Greater Albania. They all shared a common enemy, the Serbs, under whose rule they suffered significantly decades ago (Kolsti, 1991: 53-54). However, the Roma’s primary motivation of action was their own survival (Courthiades, 2000). Albania emerged out of the Second World War without territorial losses compared to the pre-war Albania. After the war, the communist leader Enver Hoxha borrowed the policy of assimilation and the idea of a homogeneous Albanian nation from the Albanian nationalists of the pre-war period (Kovacs, 1996: 20). Hoxha imposed a strict Stalinist regime, attempting to homogenize Albania’s population through banning all religious practices and suppressing all cultural differences. It was again 5 during the communist time that the Roma, along with the whole Albanian population, were forbidden to travel abroad, not even to the other former communist countries (Fonseca, 1995: 87). Although the Roma enjoyed certain benefits from the regime, like employment and the general notion of “security for tomorrow”, they were not treated on an equal basis with the majority. For example, there was an unsuccessful attempt in the 1960s’ by Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu to ban Roma from entering the Albanian towns (Kurtiade, 1995: 10). With the collapse of communism, and the start of economic and political transition to democracy, the Roma were the first to become unemployed and to go rapidly to the bottom of the society. Roma, in line with the general post-communist mentality, feel nostalgic about their lost security and think that they had enjoyed better life style during communism (ERRC Report, 1997:9). 1.2. Economic and demographic data: (a) Economic data: The word “rom” has a phonetic correspondence to the Sanskrit word “domba”, which means “man of low cast living by singing and music”. In the past, along with being good musicians, the Roma were also involved in horse-breeding. With the fading away of nomadism among the Roma, their traditional professions such as tinsmithing or blacksmithing, ceased to be the main source of their livelihood (Fraser, 1995:25). During the communist time, both Romani men and women were obliged to work according to the policy of full employment of the state. Roma were employed as non- skilled workers in some low-level public activities (Fonseca, 1995:88). In the villages, most of them worked in the agriculture and in the mines, while in the larger cities, they worked on constructions and in the public services (Kovacs, 1996:20). Like in other East-European countries, Roma in Albania were the big losers of the economic and political changes of 1989-1990. Being undereducated and unskilled, their position in the society changed drastically – while being fully employed during communism, their participation in the mainstream economy diminished to a quasi total unemployment after 1990. As a result of that, the new generations of Romani children are unable to go to school due to the inability of their families to afford their children’s education (Kovacs, 1996:21), with only a small number of individual exceptions (Courthiades, 2000). Roma in Albania are especially appreciated as musicians today, but they are also involved in small business and palmistry (Kurtiade, 1995:10). The four Roma tribes – Meckars, Kurtofs, Kabuzis and Cergars -- have their own particular professions, more or less distinctive from one another (Albanian Human Rights Group, 1997). The Meckar tribe, which has been sedentary for many centuries, is involved mainly in agriculture and live stock breeding (Courthiades, 1990s:31-32). The Kurtofs are inclined to small-scale trading and handicrafts, while the Kabuzis are mainly musicians and artisans. The Cergars men are travelers and traders and their women are usually fortune-tellers (Kovacs, 1996:18). 6 The economic situation of the Roma in Albania at present resembles that of the Roma in other Central and East European countries in various ways. They are poor and the rate of unemployment is several times higher than that of the non-Roma. The housing conditions are very bad. However, what is different in Albania is that the country is poorer than any other countries in Europe in the first place. Therefore, the poverty of the Roma vis-à-vis the majority is relatively smaller than that of their ethnic brethren in countries with better developed economies (Kovacs, 1996:5). (b)Demographic data: Albanian Roma were first registered during a census of 1522-23 when around 1,270 people were estimated to live in the noted 374 camp-fires (Bojanovic, cited by Courthiades, 1990s:30). The name of the Roma is mentioned in old Albanian texts dated 1635 (Bardhi, cited by Courthiades, ibid). In 1930, according to a popular estimate, there were 20,000 Roma in the whole country (Hasluck, 1938:50). In 1980, La documentation francaise estimated that there are 62,000 Roma. This figure is based on English sources. Today it is estimated that the growth rate of the Romani population is 3% (Courthiades,1990s:30) and that it is higher than that of Albanians. At present, Roma number between 1,300 and 120,000 according to different estimates. The big discrepancy between the two figures is due to the fact that no official census in Albania has ever mentioned the Roma (Courthiades: 1990s:30). Thus, during the last 1989 census, Roma came into the category of “others” together with the Vlachs and other small minorities. Obviously, many of the Roma remained “hidden” in the figure of other ethnic groups registered in that particular census: Albanians, Greeks, Macedonians, Serbs and Montenegrins (ERRC Report, 1997:7). The Minority Rights Group International estimated the number of Roma at between 90,000 and 100,000 people (Minority Rights Group International, 1995). Scholars, such as Poulton, Brunner and Bugajski, claimed that Roma number at 10,000, 60,000 and 10,000 respectively. The US Department of State claimed that they are 100,000, while Roma sources claimed that there are between 80,000 and 120,000 Roma (ERRC Report, 1996: 89). The Minorities at Risk Project of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland claimed in 1995 that there are between 10,000 and 120,000 Roma living in Albania. Roma live in almost all areas of the country. However, the strongest communities are situated mainly in central and southeast Albania: Tirana, Durres and Berat. According to a 1997 European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Report, Roma live either in the big towns, mainly in separate headquarters, on the towns outskirts or in villages close to the respective towns. Roma live in four districts of Tirana, the largest of which is the “Kinostudio” neighborhood. At least 5,000 Roma live in four quarters of Tirana. In separate town neighborhoods live also Roma in the southern towns of Delvine and Gjirokaster -- 800 people and 2,000 people respectively. Approximately 1200 Roma live in Fueshe-Kruje, 25 kilometers north-west of Tirana. In Berat, 200-300 Roma live in the suburbs, but in recent years, some of them moved to the large urban community of Elbasan. There are other big Roma communities around the town of Fier. Almost half of them (2,000-2,200) live in the town and in its suburbs, while the other half is based in the neighboring village of Levan (2,400). Rural communities are to be found in some villages around the southeastern town of Korce (ERRC Report, 1997:7-8). 7 1.3. Defense of identity and/or of language, and/or of religion. Roma have defended their identity wherever they have settled. Proof of that is their persistence to avoid being assimilated and they often refuse to integrate into the society or to change their way of nomadic life. Historically, the defense of their identity was rather passive than active -- the rule for the preservation of the group was to avoid any active relationship with the majority. The main reason is that Roma are stateless people and thus do not have any, even tacit support, by a kin-state, unlike national minorities such as the Albanians and the Turks. Traditionally, Albanian Roma have preserved their identity through the instinctive cleaving to the tribe. First and foremost, they have strictly regulated their relations with the gadjo (see more in 2.1.1). Second, they have adhered to secrecy, disguise and misrepresentation, on keeping customs and ambitions hidden and on burying the past. There is a harsh, unwritten, law prohibiting the emancipation of the individuals in the expense of the preservation of the group. Attempts to break those rules lead to the expulsion of the respective person from the group, what could have serious negative lifelong repercussions for him or her (Fonseca, 1995:85-97). However, other Roma specialists argue that in Albania, Roma emancipation never led to the exclusion of the individual from the group (Courthiades, 2000). According to Courthiades, the lack of strong racial persecution of Roma in Albania, unlike in other countries, has created no need for self-defense. Thus, the Albanian Roma have not been organized in any kind of organized movement [until the end of the Cold War]. (Courthiades,1990s:34). However, the relatively peaceful cohabitation between Roma and non-Roma is rooted mainly in the lack of social interaction between them (Kovacs, 1996:7) and not so much in the lack of need for self-defense. It is only now that the Roma are beginning to insist on their minority rights (Courthiades, 1990s:34). The political representation of the Roma is still very weak in Albania. There is no member of the parliament that declares himself as Roma. There are no Roma in the public administration and the judicial bodies of the country (Kovacs, 1996: 23-24). The Roma in Albania, unlike the Roma in Macedonia, do not have political representation in the form of political party. The Unity Party for Human Rights (UPHR), formed in 1992 after the Greek-minority based party OMONIA was declared illegal, depicted itself as representing the interests of all minorities in Albania (Kolsti, 1991). UPHR’s Romani candidate for the 1996 elections Esat Bastriu told ERRC that the party had a program addressing Roma issues, especially concerning the official recognition of the Roma minority and the preservation of the Romani language and culture. However, in practice, UPHR’s activities are based again predominantly within the Greek community (Bugajski, 1995), thus it cannot be ruled out that including Romani issues in their program was used in order to de-ethnicize their party (Courthiades, 2000). The continual political marginalization of the Roma within the party is due to the lack of actual power within the Roma community itself and the vulnerability of the group as a whole. UPHR’s chair Vasil Melo said in a Human Rights Project Interview, that Roma have very few demands, stick to their traditions and do not claim to study their mother-tongue in school (ERRC Report, 1997: 69-72). 8 Nevertheless, after 1990 three non-governmental organizations were established to represent the Roma on the national level: the Democratic Union of Roma in Albania Amaro Dives [Our Day], Rromani Baxt [Romani Chance] and Amaro Drom [Our Way]. Amaro Dives, founded in 1991, was close to the Democratic Party [ruling Albania between 1992-1997]. However, it did not introduce programs responding to the needs of the Roma minority – either due to the lack of power or the lack of willingness -- although it made efforts to inaugurate projects for the improvement of infrastructure in Romani neighborhoods and in organizing Romani language schools (Kovacs, 1996:23-24, Courthiades, 2000). Rromani Baxt, founded also in 1991, has been a member of an international network of Romani organizations with local members in France and Poland. Its program is quite complex – it consists of the efforts to develop Romani culture through promoting language schools, Romani music and culture to the national and international public. It is headed by Marcel Courthiades, an internationally known expert in the Romani language. The organization aims also at the development of basic infrastructural projects designed for the improvement of the living conditions in some Romani neighborhoods (Kovacs, 1996:24). On certain occasions, this organization provided food and medicines to some Roma in Albania, it also helped some Roma and Albanians in Kosovo (Courthiades, 2000). Amaro Drom is the third national Romani organization. It also works on developmental and cultural projects concerning the Roma. It focuses on the problems of Roma on the local level (Kovacs, 1996:25) through its branches in Tirana, Elbasan, Korce, Fier, Berat and Durres. During the Kosovo crisis of March-June 1999, “Amaro Drom” helped around 260 Romani refugee families from Kosovo through giving them shelter in Albania. The organization collected foreign financial and material aid and distributed it among the Romani refugees (Ylli I Karvanit, 27/1999:8). Romani organizations in general feel threatened to articulate the need of the Roma for official recognition. There are many reasons behind that behavior. Roma leaders are afraid that the present indifference of the authorities towards the Roma could transform into a violent rejection, if they stress too much on Romani rights. Roma leaders are aware of the persisting negative stereotypes against their people, so their strategy is to [first] empower the Roma with a strong identity and raise their consciousness. Thus, they adopt a “cooperative” rather than a “confrontational” stance towards the authorities. According to the President of Amaro Dives Guraliu Mejdani, “the government does not discriminate against Roma. Roma are integrated in the society to such an extent as that we can gain nothing from confrontation.” In addition, it is difficult to Romani leaders to articulate themselves well in legalistic terms. Moreover, Roma in Albania have also a very opportunistic attitude towards their own situation. Many of them accept their second-class treatment by the authorities and the discrimination against them by the majority as “normal” (Kovacs, 1996:16, 23-24, 26- 27). Roma defend their culture beyond the NGO level through maintaining cultural activities. For example, there is a Romani musical group called “Romani Dives” which plays Romani music of Albania, Albanian music – both traditional and contemporary – and Balkan and oriental music. It is run by the composer Alaban Furtuna who also operates the independent studio “Tirana 2000” and who makes 9 compact discs of that music. This group goes regularly on tour outside Albania, mostly to western European countries (Courthiades, 2000). 2. ETHNIC OR NATIONAL IDENTITY 2.1. Describing identity 2.1.1. Cultural characteristic(s) differentiating it from the dominant group Despite their thousand years of migration and encountering of different peoples on their way, Roma managed to preserve their identity, first and foremost, through strictly adhering to a regulation of their relationship with the gadjo, the non-Roma. In Albania, Fonseca encountered some example of this relationship. Roma in the “Kinostudio” did not intermarry with the gadjo. A “real” Roma identity depends on blood-connections, as well as on some cultural factors such as the preservation of the Romani language, or Romanes as it is called by some (see further in the section about language). Also it is based on the development of solidarity and compassion for the Roma (Courthiades, 2000). The respective person is considered as gadjo, if s/he is not of Romani origin – is not born Romani and has not retained Romani as his or her mother tongue (Fonseca, 1995: 92). However, while the notion of “blood purity” is very strong in the Carpatean area and among the Kalderash Roma, this is not the case in the Balkans, where blood reference is also weighted by an evaluation of the personal behavior. If a Rom does not demonstrate solidarity to the Roma, s/he is usually viewed as gadjo, but a gadjo socialized in a Romani family is viewed as a “Rom.” The identification of half-breed Roma depends on some situations. Courthiades gives the example of a business-man in the “Kino- studio”, who is a half-breed Rom, and is viewed as a “Rom” all the time except in some cases when he is perceived as incorrect in business. Then, he is called “gadjo” (Courthiades, 2000). Other cultural differences between the Albanian Roma and the gadjo today involve some habits, which are again a product of the Romani patriarchal social structure. Men-women relationship is strictly regulated like the relationship with the “gadjo”. Women are considered as being inferior to the men – as is also the case among Albanians – but Romani women are even considered as marime when they are married and thus sexually active (Fonseca, 1995:92). Unlike the majority of Albanians, Gypsy girls marry when they are 14-15 years old and dedicate their lives mainly to bearing and growing of their children. Roma morality is much more puritan than that of Albanians, but unlike the latter, it does not show any indications of change over time. Many Roma men marry several times throughout their lives, only the first wedding is impressively prepared, and the subsequent marriages are more informally celebrated. Unlike the Albanians, it is still common among Roma that first marriages are “matched” by the older relatives. Roma remarriage rate is higher than that of Albanians, but far lower than that of the Jevgs. Adultery is almost exceptional among Romani women, but common among men who are often involved with Jevg or Albanian women (Courthiades,1990s:33-34). 10