Debar

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Debar
Дебар
Dibra / Dibër
Coat of arms of Debar
Debar (North Macedonia)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Basic data
Region : southwest
Municipality : Debar
Coordinates : 41 ° 31 '  N , 20 ° 32'  E Coordinates: 41 ° 31 '29 "  N , 20 ° 31' 40"  E
Height : 665  m. i. J.
Area (Opština) : 145.67  km²
Residents : 14,561 (2002)
Inhabitants (Opština) : 19,542 (2002)
Population density : 134 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code : (+389) 046
Postal code : 1250
License plate : DB
Structure and administration
Community type: Opština
Structure : 20 localities
Mayor : Hekuran Duka ( BDI )
Website :

Debar ( Macedonian Дебар ; Albanian  Dibra / Dibër ) is a small town in western North Macedonia . It is the official seat of the Opština (Albanian Komuna ) named after it , which includes 17 villages in addition to the city. The border with Albania is about five kilometers to the north-west.

Debar was one of the most important cities of the Albanians before the fall of the Ottoman Empire and thus before the border between Albania and Yugoslavia was drawn in the early 20th century . Well-known revivalists of the Albanian national movement came from here . Skanderbeg - today an Albanian national hero - came from the Dibra region and fought a long resistance struggle against the Turks with his League of Lezha . Many of the league's battles were fought in the area.

Today Debar is a city ​​badly affected by emigration . The road infrastructure is desolate, there are almost no jobs and for many young people leaving their hometown is the only way out of their lack of prospects. Only a few preserved buildings in the old town and a few statues and busts of famous personalities bear witness to the former glory.

geography

View of the Debarsee

Debar is located on a hill around 100 meters above Lake Debar in a historical region named after her, Dibra . It is only five kilometers to the Albanian border and around 25 kilometers to Peshkopia in Albania, the most important city in the region on the Albanian side. The capital Skopje is about 130 kilometers away.

To the northeast of the city is the Mavrovo National Park , the largest national park in Macedonia in terms of area . Today it lies within the boundaries of the newly formed municipality of Mavrovo and Rostuša . North of Debar rises the Korab Mountains with the highest mountain in Macedonia, the Golem Korab (alb. Maja e Korabit ), with 2764  m. i. J.

To the south-east you meet the Stogovo Mountains (Alb. Stogova ) with the highest peak of the same name at 2318  m. i. J.

On the Drin, upstream to the south, there are narrow gorges as far as the Struga Valley, some of which are fed by Lake Debar and Globočica .

population

14,561 people live in the city, together with the surrounding villages that form the Opština of Debar with the city , there are 19,542 inhabitants (status: 2002).

The ethnic distribution for the city in 2002 was as follows: 10,768 Albanians (73.95%), 1,415 Turks (9.72%), 1,079 Roma (7.41%), 1,054 ethnic Macedonians (7.24%) and 245 people of other origins (1.68%).

94.52 percent of the city's residents saw themselves as Muslims in 2002 . A large part of the ethnic Macedonians were Torbeschen . 4.72 percent were Orthodox Christians and 0.38 percent each described themselves as Roman Catholic or of a different faith.

history

etymology

In the 5th century BC BC when Dober was first mentioned, the name of the city changed little in the course of history. In Macedonian today it is called Debar ( Cyrillic Дебар), in Albanian Dibra (definite form, indefinite form: Dibër ) and in Turkish Debre . During the Ottoman occupation , the Turkish name was also used in an expanded form as Debre-i Bâlâ ( Ottoman دبرهء بالا) used. In Bulgarian , the city name Дебър is written. In Greek the city is called Dívrē (Δίβρη) or Dívra (Δίβρα).

Antiquity

Debar is first used in the 5th century BC. Mentioned by Herodotus as a place Dober . In the 1st century AD Strabon names an Illyrian tribe of the Doberians who settled in the region of the village Dober . Ptolemy describes on one of his maps the place Doberus / Dober , which is settled by the Illyrian tribe of the Doberians . Archaeological excavations have shown that the ancient Dober is identical to the present-day city and was thus the predecessor of Debar, which was an important trading center in its region.

During the Roman period , the place grew into a small town called Deborus , which was on a Roman road . When the Byzantines conquered the area, a castle was built.

Middle Ages and Ottomans

The city of Debar played an important role in the Albanian resistance against the Ottomans in the Middle Ages . The League of Lezha , founded by Skanderbeg - a Christian prince from the Mat region - in 1444 had its origins in Debar. In 1443 some Albanian princes met there to ally against the common enemy. One can therefore say that Debar was the origin of the Albanian struggle against the Ottoman expansion.

In 1502 the city is mentioned under the name of Dibri by Felix Petancic , an envoy from Vladislav II , the king of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia.

During the Ottoman rule , the place developed into a regional center with a large market and many shops . The Debar Art School , which was best known for its wood carvings and iconostasis , also came into being during this period .

Nationalism awakening

Debar plays an important role in the history of the Albanians . In 1844 there was a great battle between Ottoman troops under the general Hajredin Pascha and Albanian insurgents under the leadership of Iljaz Pascha Qoku. Hajredin Pasha had previously been sent from Constantinople with the task of enforcing changes to the law in Debar and the sending of young Albanian men to the Ottoman capital. However, the citizens of Debar resisted these demands and the uprising spread throughout the region. According to the reports, there were a total of about 12,000 deaths. The graves of the fallen soldiers are located near downtown Debar, where they are listed.

In Albanian folk culture, this battle is commemorated with an epic song that celebrates the bravery of the Albanian soldiers in their resistance to the Ottoman rulers.

According to § 10 of the Fermans for the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate , after a referendum was held in 1897, the Christian population in the city and region joined the Bulgarian Orthodox Church . As a result, Debar became the center of an eparchy of the Bulgarian Exarchate , which ran a high school and three primary schools for the Bulgarian population. Several revolts against the Sultan are known from the beginning of the 20th century. During this time the population is around 15,000, with the Albanians making up the majority.

Time under Yugoslavia

After the proclamation of Albanian independence on November 28, 1912, the majority of the citizens voted for their city to belong to this new state. However, Serbia was able to enforce with the great powers ( London Treaty of 1913 ) that Debar and the entire Albanian-speaking area of ​​today's Republic of Macedonia come under its rule. In September 1913 the Ohrid Debar uprising broke out in the region . It was organized by the Bulgarian Macedonia-Adrianople Revolutionary Committee and by the Albanian population and was directed against the new Serbian rule. Due to its location directly on the border, Debar was cut off from most of its hinterland ( Dibra ) on the Albanian side and, conversely, the villages in Albania were now isolated from their trading center. During the Second World War , Italy added the territory to the Italian- occupied Albania in 1941 . Since 1944 the city belonged to the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ( Socialist Republic of Macedonia ) and since 1991 to the independent Republic of Macedonia.

Sights and natural landscapes

Clock Tower Mosque

The main sights are the clock tower ( Sahat-Kula ) and some mosques from Ottoman times. About 25 kilometers northeast of the city is the Sveti Jovan Bigorski monastery from the 11th century.

The area is also known for its many natural landscapes. Among other things, the Debarsee and the untouched landscapes in its vicinity are important. The ski resort of Mavrovo and the national park of the same name are among the most famous natural attractions in Macedonia. They are located 20 kilometers east of the city as the crow flies. The Korab is the highest mountain in the country and is only 28 kilometers away as the crow flies.

economy

tourism

In Banište and Kosovrasti, both just outside Debar, there are mineral springs at temperatures of up to 40 ° C that are used for spa purposes.

traffic

The road infrastructure is also poor in a national comparison. All national roads are narrow, have no markings and some are over 30 years old.

There is a winding and bumpy road to Struga in the south that follows the course of the Drin and can be reached in around an hour. Another leads through the Mavrovo National Park to Gostivar in the northeast. It's a little longer and in roughly the same condition. The road to Maqellara and Peshkopia in Albania is important for Debar, but rather insignificant for Macedonia . This is also in a rather poor condition, although it is the main road in the Dibra region.

There is also a road to Bulqiza and Burrel . In the future, this route is to be followed by an expressway to the Albanian capital Tirana , the Rruga e Arbërit , which is currently under construction . The connection to the Tirana- Durrës conurbation (with around one million inhabitants) is for many residents the only hope of an early economic recovery in the city and region.

The entire region is at great risk of avalanches and landslides in winter.

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Debar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 2002 Census (PDF; 384 kB) State Statistics Bureau of Macedonia, according to Opštini and the places in it; Retrieved February 16, 2012
  2. ↑ a b 2002 census (PDF; 2.2 MB) State Statistics Bureau of Macedonia, only according to Opštini
  3. ^ Në Dibër të Madhe. Top Channel , October 22, 2010, accessed January 12, 2013 (Albanian).
  4. ↑ Profile of Ilyaz Pascha Qoku (Dibra). (PDF; 15.8 kB) (No longer available online.) Qark Dibra , archived from the original on December 19, 2015 ; Retrieved January 11, 2013 (Albanian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.qarkudiber.gov.al
  5. ↑ Vebi Xhemaili: Kryengritja e Dervish cares parapërgatiti Lidhjen e Prizrenit. Tetovo University , September 2009, accessed January 11, 2013 (Albanian).
  6. ↑ DM Brancoff: La Macédoine et sa population Chrétienne . Paris, 1905, p. 152 153.
  7. ↑ Васил Кънчов: Македония. Етнография и статистика. София, 1900, p. 259.