Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:10, 14 June 2012

Note: this article is about ethnic Torbeši Muslims. For other Muslim populations from the wider region of Macedonia,and Kosovo Selânikli,

The Macedonian Muslims (Template:Lang-mk), also known as Muslim Macedonians, Torbeš, (Template:Lang-mk); (the latter name is slightly pejorative), in older sources Pomaks are a minority religious group within the community of ethnic Macedonians who are Muslims (primarily Sunni, although Sufism is widespread among the population). They have been culturally distinct from the majority Orthodox Christian Slavic Macedonian community for centuries, and are linguistically distinct from the larger Muslim ethnic groups in Macedonia: the Albanians and Turks. The Macedonian Muslims are often classed in 5 categories based on their home region. These regions are Gora, Debarska Župa, Drimkol, Golo Brdo and the Reka region.

Islamification

The Macedonian Muslims are largely the descendants of Orthodox Christian Slavs from the region of Macedonia who converted to Islam during the centuries when the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans.

The various Sufi orders (like the Khalwati, Rifa'is and Qadiris) all played a role in the conversion of the Macedonian Slav population.

Areas of settlement

The largest concentration of Macedonian Muslims can be found in Western Macedonia and Eastern Albania. The Centar Župa Municipality is populated by a large number of Macedonian Muslims although for personal reasons most of the population chooses to identify as Turks. Most of the villages in the Centar Župa and Debar regions are populated by Macedonian Muslims. The Struga municipality also holds a large number of Macedonian Muslims who are primarily concentrated in the large village of Labuništa. Further North in the Debar region many of the surrounding villages are inhabited by Macedonian Muslims. The Dolna Reka region is also primarily populated by Macedonian Muslims. They form the remainder of the population which emigrated to Turkey in the 1950s and 1960s. Places such as Rostuša and Tetovo also have large Macedonian Mulsim populations. Most of the Turkish population along the Western Macedonian border are in fact Macedonian Muslims. Another large concentration of Macedonian Muslims is in the so called Torbešija which is just south of Skopje. There are also major concentrations of Macedonian Muslims in the central region of the Republic of Macedonia, surrounding the Plasnica municipality and the Dolneni municipality.

The Macedonian Muslim population of Albania and Kosovo can be primarily found along the Macedonian border.

Part of a series on
Macedonians
By region or country
Macedonia (region)
North Macedonia Albania Bulgaria Greece
Diaspora
Former Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Montenegro Serbia Slovenia
Elsewhere in Europe Austria Czech Republic France Germany Poland Romania Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom
Americas Argentina Canada United States
Oceania Australia
Subgroups and related groups
Gorani Torbeši Mijaks Brsjaks Shopi
Culture
Art Cinema Cuisine Education Language Literature Music Symbols
Religion
Macedonian Orthodox Church Catholic Church (Latin Catholic Greek Catholic) Protestantism Islam Judaism Rodnovery
Other topics
History List of Macedonians Macedonian nationalism Public holidays
v t e

Demographics

The exact numbers of Macedonian Muslims are not easy to establish. The historian Ivo Banac estimates that in the old Kingdom of Yugoslavia, before World War II, the Macedonian Muslim population stood at around 27,000. Subsequent censuses have produced dramatically varying figures: 1,591 in 1953, 3,002 in 1961, 1,248 in 1971 and 39,355 in 1981. Commentators have suggested that the latter figure includes many who previously identified themselves as Turks. Meanwhile the Association of Macedonian Muslims has claimed that since World War II more than 70,000 Macedonian Muslims have been assimilated by other Muslim groups, most notably the Albanians (see Albanization). It can be estimated that the Macedonian Muslim population in the Republic of Macedonia between 55,000 and 80,000.

Language and ethnic affiliation

Like their Christian ethnic kin, Macedonian Muslims speak the Macedonian language as their first language. Despite their common language and racial heritage, it is almost unheard of for Macedonian Muslims to intermarry with Macedonian Orthodox Christians. Macedonian ethnologists do not consider the Muslim Slavs a separate ethnic group from the Christian Macedonian Slavs, but instead a religious minority within the Macedonian Slav ethnic community. Intermarriage with the country's other Muslim groups (Albanians and Turks) are much more accepted, given the bonds of a common religion and history.

Some Turkish ethnologists have claimed that the Macedonian Muslims are in fact Slavicized Turks, although this interpretation is not widely supported. The Macedonian writer Jakim Sinadinovski has similarly claimed that the Macedonian Muslims are not Slavic Macedonians; this prompted a strong reaction when his thesis was first published in 1988.

When the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was established in 1944, the Yugoslav government encouraged the Macedonian Muslims to adopt an ethnic Macedonian identity. This has since led to some tensions with the Macedonian Christian community over the widespread association between Macedonian national identity and adherence to the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

Political activities

The principal outlet for Macedonian Muslim political activities has been the Association of Macedonian Muslims. It was established in 1970 with the support of the authorities, probably as a means of keeping Macedonian Muslim aspirations in control.

The fear of assimilation into the Albanian Muslim community has been a significant factor in Macedonian Muslim politics, amplified by the tendency of some Macedonian Muslims to vote for Albanian candidates. In 1990, the chairman of the Macedonian Muslims organization, Riza Memedovski, sent an open letter to the Chairman of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Macedonia, accusing the party of using religion to promote the Albanisation of the Macedonian Muslims.. A controversy broke out in 1995 when the Albanian-dominated Meshihat or council of the Islamic community in Macedonia declared that Albanian was the official language of Muslims in Macedonia. The decision prompted protests from the leaders of the Macedonian Muslim community.

Occupation

Many Macedonian Muslims are involved in agriculture, and also work abroad. Macedonian Muslims are well known as fresco-painters, wood carvers and mosaic-makers. In the past few decades large numbers of Macedonian Muslims have emigrated to Western Europe and North America.

Links

• Literature about the Islam and the Muslims on the Balkans and in Southeast Europe Template:Bg icon
• Muslims of Macedonia

See also

• Macedonians (ethnic group)
• Greek Muslims
• Muslim Bulgarians
• Gorani
• Islam in the Republic of Macedonia

References

1. Gallagher, Tom. The Balkans In The New Millennium: In the Shadow of War and Peace, p. 85. (Routledge, 2005)
2. Kappeler, Andreas (1994). Muslim communities reemerge: historical perspectives on nationality, politics, and opposition in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Duke University Press. p. 331. ISBN 0-8223-1490-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
3. Poulton, Hugh (2000). Who are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 124. ISBN 1-85065-534-0. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink= value (help)
4. Kowan, J. (2000) Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference, p.111
5. Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914, p.28, 155, 288, 317, Лабаури, Дмитрий Олегович. Болгарское национальное движение в Македонии и Фракии в 1894-1908 гг: Идеология, программа, практика политической борьбы, София 2008, с. 184-186, Поп Антов, Христо. Спомени, Скопje 2006, с. 22-23, 28-29, Дедиjeр, Jевто, Нова Србиjа, Београд 1913, с. 229, Петров Гьорче, Материали по изучаванието на Македония, София 1896, с. 475 (Petrov, Giorche. Materials on the Study of Macedonia, Sofia, 1896, p. 475)
6. Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE). Muslims of Macedonia. p. 2, 11
7. Лабаури, Дмитрий Олегович. Болгарское национальное движение в Македонии и Фракии в 1894-1908 гг: Идеология, программа, практика политической борьбы, София 2008, с. 184, Кънчов, Васил. Македония. Етнография и статистика, с. 39-53 (Kanchov, Vasil. Macedonia — ethnography and statistics Sofia, 1900, p. 39-53),Leonhard Schultze Jena. «Makedonien, Landschafts- und Kulturbilder», Jena, G. Fischer, 1927
8. Fikret Adanir, Die Makedonische Frage: ihre entestehung und etwicklung bis 1908., Wiessbaden 1979 (in Bulgarian: Аданър, Фикрет. Македонският въпрос, София2002, с. 20)
9. Gora, Jedan Pogled Unazad
10. Ivo Banac, The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics, p. 50 (Cornell University Press, 1989)
11. Hugh Poulton, Who Are the Macedonians?, p. 124. (C. Hurst & Co, 1995)
12. Victor A. Friedman, "Language in Macedonia as an Identity Construction Site", in When Languages Collide: Perspectives on Language Conflict, Language Competition, and Language Coexistence, p. 267, ed. Brian D. Joseph (Ohio State University Press, 2003)
13. Jakim Sinadinovski, Macedonian Muslims, Then and Now
14. ^ Duncan M. Perry, "The Republic of Macedonia: finding its way", in Politics, Power and the Struggle for Democracy in South-East Europe, ed. Karen Dawisha, Bruce Parrott, p. 256. (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
15. Hugh Poulton, "Changing Notions of National Identity among Muslims", in Muslim Identity and the Balkan States, ed. Hugh Poulton, Suha Taji-Farouki (C. Hurst & Co, 1997)

v t e Ethnic groups in North Macedonia
Macedonians (1,297,981)
Officially recognised minorities	Albanians (509,083) Turks (77,959) Romani (53,879) Serbs (35,939) Bosniaks (17,018) Aromanians (9,695)
Other minority groups	Arabs (6,300) Balkan Egyptians (3,713) Croats (2,686) Montenegrins (2,003) Bulgarians (1,417) Megleno-Romanians (< 1,000) Greeks (422) Armenians (~ 300) Jews (~ 200) Portuguese (18)
Demographics of North Macedonia

• Ethnic groups in the Republic of Macedonia
• Macedonian Muslims
• Muslim communities
• Islam in the Republic of Macedonia
• South Slavs
• Muslim communities in Europe