Milena Selimi: Bulgarians in Albania need teachers and attention

Since 2017, the Bulgarian national minority has been officially recognized by ‎the Albanian state, and since June 2023, its representative in the Committee of ‎National Minorities in Albania is Milena Selimi - writer, translator, journalist, ‎with family roots in Bulgaria. The recognition of Bulgaria's national minority is a ‎huge success and is a credit entirely to the Bulgarian community, she tells us. ‎

Milena Selimi talks to the team of Radio Bulgaria at the residence of Bulgaria's honorary consul in Tirana, Selim Hoxhaj, who has turned his home into a place for guests named after the ‎Bulgarian capital. ‎

Milena Selimi talks to Radio Bulgaria's editor-in-chief Krasimir Martinov

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"There are a total of nine national minorities recognized by law in Albania", Milena Selimi explains to us. "They have the right to live like all Albanian ‎citizens, including to study in their mother tongue. The problem is that we ‎don't have teachers of literary Bulgarian. The language of most Bulgarians in ‎Albania is a form of spoken Bulgarian which they have from their grandparents. It is a kind of a fortress for the ‎Bulgarians there which has protected them and thanks to which they have survived ‎through the centuries.

Among young people, there is interest in learning the ‎modern Bulgarian language. Many of them want to continue their higher education ‎in Bulgaria, but they know that without a good command of the language they cannot go anywhere. ‎And this is their own language, it just has to be learned according to the rules. And ‎Bulgaria could help in this regard. Here, we are now included in a program that ‎will enable 11 of our teachers to pursue a master's degree in Bulgarian philology. ‎If they graduate successfully, in about two years we will have 11 teachers of ‎Bulgarian language, which is good for a start. The Bulgarian weekend schools have their place, ‎but the children gather in them only on Saturdays and Sundays, if they wish, in ‎their free time. While in regular ‎schools they will learn systematically, ‎according to a curriculum. This is what I want for the Bulgarians in Albania. Because I ‎believe that education and culture are the things that can connect us and give us ‎hope for the future.” ‎

According to the advocate for Bulgarians in the Committee of National ‎Minorities, Milena Selimi, in the areas where there is still a compact Bulgarian ‎population, such as the villages in the Gora region, it is necessary to work very ‎actively so that people know their rights and are able to defend them.‎

‎"I have spoken with the representatives of the Bulgarian associations and have told them ‎that it is very nice to celebrate a holiday once or twice a year, but we must think ‎about the children today and what will happen to them tomorrow. Because we ‎are talking about the future of a community that has survived through the ‎centuries and we must preserve it.

I am the official representative of the ‎Bulgarians, but everything must come from them. And not only the Bulgarian associations in Albania, but also Bulgaria ‎should help. Because this is something big - to have a population with your ‎language preserved for I don't know how many centuries. Already in the ‎Middle Ages, during the period of the Bogomil movement, they came to Albania and settled in the ‎mountains. And that's how long they have preserved their tongue. It's enough to hear only one word in this old Bulgarian language to have your heart tremble, you feel proud. So, these people ‎should also be helped by Bulgaria. And where they live, there are also ‎problems with the roads - there is no infrastructure, there is nothing. What will ‎people do there and how will they live?!” ‎

Bulgarian family in Gora, northeastern Albania

In order to elect their representative in Albania's Committee of National Minorities, ‎the associations of each community meet and nominate several people for the ‎post, after which all candidates need to take an exam. This is how the representative of ‎the Bulgarians in Albania, Milena Selimi, was elected.‎

‎"This is the good thing about Albania - the nine national minorities have never ‎had problems with each other. They have lived and are living in tolerance and harmony", ‎she continues. "We have no problems with the Serbs, the Montenegrins, the ‎Greeks, only a little with the Macedonians, because there is always someone who ‎disputes something. For example, after my visit to Golemo Ostreni, I published an article on Facebook and immediately comments started about ‎how there were no Bulgarians in this village, but these were Macedonians. But you should ‎know that Albanian law gives everyone the right to self-determination. If you ‎think you are Bulgarian, that is your will. If you are Albanian, if you are Greek, ‎if you are Serbian or something else, you have to decide for yourself. And now ‎we have a very important process in Albania - a census. Its results will also ‎clarify the number of Bulgarians, since there are no official statistics yet".‎

Village of Golemo Ostreni, eastern Albania

We were tempted to ask Milena Selimi for her opinion on the problems with ‎North Macedonia in terms of language, common history, etc.: ‎ ‎

‎"I always think that the people who live together, especially in villages, get along ‎very well. And everything else is some kind of politics that wants to harm, to ‎confront. I already told you - everyone has the right to self-determination, i.e. it ‎all depends on the people, what they want and how they feel. No problem exists for me. And we are all moving towards the European Union. There is a place for ‎everyone there - Albanians, Macedonians, and Bulgarians. What do we have to ‎fight for?!

I am a translator and I have translated works of many authors from ‎North Macedonia. But I can't speak Macedonian. I understand Macedonian ‎and this is not a problem for me. But I also want people to know what is ‎happening around us. Because you can't live on your own. You have to live with your neighbours. Neighbours in the Balkans are very important. Perhaps Europe ‎cannot understand what a neighbor is, but with us neighbours have always ‎been nearby, for everything - both in joy and in sorrow. So, they are our ‎neighbours. What is there to fight over, Why should politics interfere?!” ‎

In order to follow the policy of tolerance, Albania's Committee for National ‎Minorities, of which Milena Selimi is also a part, organizes various meetings ‎and forums, one of which is the Festival of Ethnicities held for the first time in ‎the summer of 2023.

"In this way you get a good cultural exchange, you understand the ‎culture of different minorities," says Mrs. Selimi and recalls that guaranteeing ‎the rights of minorities is part of the process of Albania's accession to the ‎European Union.‎

To be continued...

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Photos: Krasimir Martinov, Kostandina Belo

English publication by Rositsa Petkova