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The Vlachs of Macedonia and Their Political Representation Anastas Vangeli

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The Vlachs of Macedonia and Their Political Representation Anastas Vangeli ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 7, No. 3 (MK) May 2018 Macedonia Social briefing: The Vlachs of Macedonia and Their Political Representation Anastas Vangeli 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu The Vlachs of Macedonia and Their Political Representation Introduction May 23 is the National Day of the Vlachs in Macedonia. It is an annual celebration of one of Macedonia’s smallest, but nevertheless particularly significant minorities. The Vlachs of Macedonia (also called Aromanians) are part of a larger, trans-national group of people dispersed throughout various regions of Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Romania, who are unified by a common narrative of origin and linguistic proximities (they speak Vlach/Aromanian language/vernacular). Due to their particular historical trajectory – in Macedonia, and in the Balkans in general – and due to the fact that a number of historic figures and statesmen from Greece, Albania, various Yugoslav republics, and Romania were of (or at least were claimed to be of) Vlach origin, the impact of the Vlachs is believed to outweigh their size. In this report, we discuss the history and the political representation of Vlachs in Macedonia, while also taking in consideration the narratives on the Vlachs in contemporary political discourses. Who are the Vlachs of Macedonia? The Vlachs are a territorially dispersed ethnic group inhabiting, or rather historically originating from primarily the mountainous regions of the Balkan Peninsula. Their early history is mysterious, and therefore most of the knowledge about the origin comes from linguistic analyses. The language/vernacular of the Vlachs is closely related to the now extinct Latin language, which is often taken as a point of departure in tracing their origins, and in particular the historical ties between the Vlachs and the Latin-speaking population who inhabited the Balkans during the Roman and Byzantine periods. 1 Among Vlachs themselves, there are also a number of narratives of linkage and continuity between themselves and the Romans/Byzanthines. Hence, in the scholarly literature, but also in the Balkan societies there is a consensus that the Vlachs are descendants of the Latin-speaking population who lived in the remote mountainous areas of the Balkans, who were not Slavicized after the arrival of the Slavs in the Balkans from the 6th century onwards. In terms of faith, the Vlachs retained Orthodox Christianity and today this is still their predominant religion. As a separate denominator of ethnic belonging and identification, the concept of “Vlachs” has been first noted, however, only in the eleventh and twelfth century, around the time of the emergence of the Wallachia (a principality in Romania, later on a short-lived independent polity). In the subsequent period, the term “Vlachs” has been used to describe the various Latin-speaking communities throughout the Balkans. Much of the Vlach history has remained unknown, unwritten and forgotten as they have existed on the margins of the Ottoman Empire, and moreover, they never formed a proto- national movement, nor a Vlach state was formed in the period of rising national liberation struggles. The Vlachs have been for the first time recognized as particular millet (people) of the Ottoman Empire only in 1905 (on May 23, which is today celebrated as a national day of Vlachs in Macedonia), which also marks the last time they had such a distinguished political status in the places they inhabited. Nevertheless, in some areas, Vlachs – also known as nomads, with particular flexibility and open-minded outlook on life – managed to utilize their position as obscure minority and engaged in trade and other commercial activities. One such area was Moscople (Voskopoje), today located in Albania, inhabited by Vlachs. The Vlachs of Moscopole were polyglots (as they were all educated in Greek schools and went to Greek Church), and as they were neither part of the Muslim, Albanian, Greek or Slavic community, had an exceptional position to pursue commercial activities. They became successful merchants, 2 who also established links with Western Europe. The town of Moscopole was considered a very rich and prosperous one, not only in economic but also in cultural terms (it had its own printing shop, and many Vlachs were highly educated). Nevertheless, in the 18th century, Moscopole was ravished by the bashibozuk troops of Ali Pasha and as a consequence a number of Vlachs sought refuge in Greece and Macedonia. By the 19th century, the town of Krushevo (in southern Macedonia, close to Bitola) became one of the new centers of the Vlach population and culture in the Balkans, and soon became a prosperous one. At the same time, inspired by the political developments all over Europe and in and around the Ottoman Empire, Krushevo also became one of the focal points of the revolutionary struggle with Vlach intellectuals playing a prominent role. Krushevo was the center of the 1903 Ilinden Uprising, where on August 2 an ethnically mixed revolutionary paramilitary liberated the town and established the Krushevo Republic – claimed to be the first Republic in the Balkans. The Krushevo Republic was founded on socialist and multicultural ideas, as its governance structure reflected the mixed population of Krushevo (Vlachs, Slavic speakers and Mulsims). The Ilinden Uprising and the Krushevo Republic have had a particular historic significance for the development of contemporary Macedonian statehood, as they are taken as a watershed moment in the shaping of the modern Macedonian nation. Krushevo hosts the largest Macedonian monument (the Makedonium), and the Krushevo Republic is referred to in the Macedonian national anthem. The Ilinden Uprising and the Krushevo Republic have also a newfound relevance in the negotiations for resolving the name dispute with Greece, as some of the latest proposals have been Republic of Ilinden Macedonia (backed by Prime Minister Zaev) as well as Republic of Krushevo Macedonia. In the 20th century, many Vlachs continued their political involvement, through the People’s Liberation Struggle and the anti-fascist fight during the 3 Second World War, the building of Socialist Yugoslavia and Macedonia, and in the Macedonian independence. The Vlachs in Macedonia Today The Vlachs’ mass participation in key historic events such as Ilinden Uprising and the People’s Liberation Struggle has contributed to the foundation of Macedonian statehood. This has shaped the ethnic identity of Macedonian Vlachs as inseparable from the Macedonian state, as well as the reputation and perception of Vlachs as one of the many ethnic groups that are part of Macedonia’s multicultural political landscape. The fact that some of the leading statesmen, intellectuals and artists throughout history happened to be of Vlach origin has complemented this narrative. Yet, as argued above, the legacy of Vlachs by far outweighs their size. According to the last census of 2002, self-declared Vlachs account for less than a 0.5% of the population of the country. However, it is believed that the true number of Vlachs is much higher – as many people of Vlach origin have been reported as ethnic Macedonians. Moreover, as Vlachs have had a tradition of inter-marriage, there is an assumption that once Vlachs marry into an ethnic Macedonian family, their posterity assumes a Macedonian identity. This is somewhat of a historic tendency - throughout the decades, many Vlachs indeed did not pronounce or prioritize their Vlach-ness, and therefore the definitions of who is Vlach remain rather flexible – while at the same time, helping in developing the stereotypes and sometimes mythological narratives about the Vlachs and their legacy. The Vlach population of Macedonia is dispersed throughout the country; however there is still a particular concentration in the town of Krushevo. Once a prosperous merchant city, and a city of particular historic and symbolic relevance (due to the memory of the Ilinden Uprising and the Krushevo Republic), today Krushevo is somewhat of a ghost-town as many locals, and in 4 particularly the young people, have moved to Bitola and Skopje in the quest for better life. In Macedonia, currently there are two political parties that are formed by ethnic Vlachs and aim to be ethnic political representatives of the Vlach community: the Democratic Union of the Vlachs in Macedonia, which is a coalition partner of SDSM; and the Party of the Vlachs, which is a coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE. Both parties are extra-parliamentary and have a marginal role on the Macedonian political scene; while they do mobilize some of the Vlach votes, they serve mostly as an instrument (token minority partners) of the large political parties to demonstrate their nominal dedication to building a multicultural society. In rhetoric, their agenda revolves around a narrow ethnic agenda (in which they follow the predominant “minority party” model established by parties of the ethnic Albanians); in practice, however, their impact is negligible. The marginal role of the Vlach political parties however, is contrasted to the popular discourse and stereotypes that Vlachs tend to be better educated, better politically connected, more entrepreneurial, and in general, cunning and savvy in their professional life, and therefore disproportionately represented across the political, business and intellectual elite. This is often backed up by claims that some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in Macedonia’s modern history are of (or are believed to be of) Vlach origin, including some of the key figures during the Yugoslav era. There are notable Vlach politicians among the two largest parties, SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE (especially in the former). This also fuels a number of conspiracy theories about the Vlachs that have compromised the narrative of the Vlachs as contributors to the foundation and advancement of Macedonia’s statehood.
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