Only a few kilometers west of the border between Greece and Albania and some 40 kilometers from the regional center Korçë is the Albanian town of Bilishta (Bilisht in Albanian). A member of the urban intelligentsia there is Lazo Nestori - a representative of the Bulgarian national minority in Albania. Born in the village of Vrabnik (Vërnik in Albanian) near Bilishta, Lazo is a philologist by education and taught Albanian language and literature for 45 years. He is now retired and divides his time between his native village and the city. We talk to him at his home in Bilishta.

"Our village Vrabnik is one of the oldest places of the Bulgarian culture in Albania", says Lazo Nestori and gives several examples: 

"The three most important places for every village are its church, the school and the cemetery. It is known that the church in Vrabnik is as old as the village itself. It was burned twice by the Ottomans, and both times it was rebuilt by the Bulgarians. Our church today is in the form it had after its second reconstruction in 1915. And it was made by the Bulgarian state. Second, the first school and the first teachers in the village of Vrabnik were Bulgarians. These were two women from Blagoevgrad - Dana Shopova and Teodorka Slivenova. The older people in the village remember them and tell their descendants about them. The first school was also built with the help of the Bulgarian state. The third evidence of the Bulgarian roots of the people of Vrabnik can be seen in the cemeteries. The epitaphs on the old tombstones are written in pure Bulgarian. In addition, many of our ancestors had shops in Sofia and thus earned money. It is known that masons from our village participated in the construction of the great cathedral St. Alexander Nevsky, i.e. both spiritually and economically our region is connected to Bulgaria."

It is with Bulgarian funds that the road to the village of Vrabnik has recently been renovated, Lazo Nestori tells us and continues:

The recognition of the Bulgarian national minority by the Albanian state in 2017 is the big step forward for the Bulgarians in Albania, Lazo Nestori states, and he is outraged by the "false Macedonianism" that exists in this part of the country as well, as he himself defines the phenomenon:

"It is known and I say this with conviction - we are Bulgarians. I also say it because I know that my grandfather and my uncle Boncho Nestorov are Bulgarians. Boncho was a famous writer in Bulgaria during the time of socialism. He wrote 22 books - short stories, novellas and novels. He used to talk to my father with great love about our Bulgarian roots, about the Bulgarian heritage in our family and our village."

Photos: Krasimir Martinov