Albanians of Croatia

Albanians of Croatia are an autochthonous national minority recognized by the Constitution of Croatia. As such, they elect a special representative to the Croatian Parliament, shared with members of four other national minorities.^[1]

In the 2011 Croatian census, there were 17,513 Albanians living in Croatia, 0.41% of total population. The largest religious groups among the Albanians were Muslims (9,594 or 54.8% of them) and Catholics (7,109 or 40.6% of them).^[2]

In the 1712/14 census done in Lika and Krbava among Vlach population, and other documents, many surnames with Albanian and Arbanasi word roots were recorded, such as those with suffixes "-aj" (e.g. Bulaja, Mataija, Šolaja, Saraja, Suknajić, Rapajić), "-ez" (Kokez, Kekez, Ivez, Malez etc.), and others (Šimleša, Šimrak, Šinđo/a/n, Šintić, Kalember, Flego, Macura, Cecić, Kekić, Zotović etc.).^[3][4]

Albanians came to Croatia in various historical periods. In the Middle Ages they lived in coastal cities and some were assimilated with Vlachs, in the 17th and 18th century the Arbanasi people settled the area around Zadar, and in modern time they came as seasonal workers, war refugees or sportspeople. Many people in Croatia descended from earlier waves of Albanian migration bear surnames of linguistically Albanian origin, but do not speak the language and are not considered to be Albanians.^[4]

Notable Albanians and people with Albanian-origin surnames in Croatia

• Andrija Aleši (1425-1505) – architect, painter and sculptor who worked in Dalmatia, but born in Albania
• Janko Šimrak (1883-1946) – bishop of the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Križevci
• Aleksandar Stipčević (b.1930) - archeologist and historian
• Nikola Kekić (b. 1943) – bishop of the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Križevci
• Vlado Kalember (b. 1953) – Croatian singer
• Branko Macura (.b /) – Croatian basketball player
• Ardian Kozniku (b.1967) – former Croatian footballer
• Helena Bulaja (b. 1971) – Croatian multimedia artist, director and producer
• Valter Flego (b. 1972) – Croatian politician, mayor of Buzet and prefect (Župan) of Istria County
• Milan Rapaić (b. 1973) – Croatian footballer
• Edo Flego (b. 1975) – Croatian footballer and football manager
• Ivan Bulaja (b. 1977) – Croatian sailor and sailing trainer
• Jere Macura (b. 1980) – Croatian basketball player
• Zedi Ramadani (b.1985) - Croatian footballer
• Pëllumb Jusufi (b.1988) - Macedonian-born Croatian footballer
• Agron Preteni (b.1990) - Croatian kick boxer
• Besart Abdurahimi (b.1990) - Croatian born Albanian footballer
• Arijan Ademi (b. 1991) – Croatian born Macedonian Albanian footballer
• Herdi Prenga (b.1994) - Albanian footballer
• Elvir Maloku (b.1996) - Albanian footballer

See also

• Arbanasi people
• Albanians
• Arbëreshë
• Arvanites

References

1. "Pravo pripadnika nacionalnih manjina u Republici Hrvatskoj na zastupljenost u Hrvatskom saboru". Zakon o izborima zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor (in Croatian). Croatian Parliament. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
2. "4. Population by ethnicity and religion". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2012-12-17.
3. Šarić, Marko (2009), "Predmoderne etnije u Lici i Krbavi prema popisu iz 1712./14.", in Željko Holjevac, Identitet Like: Korijeni i razvitak (PDF) (in Croatian), 1, Zagreb: Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, p. 370, ISBN 978-953-6666-65-2
4. P. Šimunović, F. Maletić (2008). Hrvatski prezimenik (in Croatian). 1. Zagreb: Golden marketing. pp. 41–42, 101–102.