View source for Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians

{{Short description|Ethnic group}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{redirect|Ashkali|the village in Iran|Ashkali, Iran}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians
| native_name      = 
| poptime          = 
| region1          = {{flag|Kosovo}}
| pop1             = 26,960<ref>{{cite web |title=Population - by gender ethnicity at settlement level |url=http://ask.rks-gov.net/media/1614/population-by-gender-ethnicity-at-settlement-level.pdf |access-date=31 July 2019 |page=11}}</ref>{{efn|15,436 Ashkali and 11,524 Balkan Egyptians}}
| region3          = {{flag|Albania}}
| pop3             = 12,375<ref>{{cite web |title=1.1.13 Popullsia banuese sipas përkatësisë etnike dhe kulturore sipas Përkatësia etnike dhe kulturore, Variabla dhe Viti|url=https://www.instat.gov.al/media/13581/cens-i-popullsise-2023.pdf |language=sq |format=xls|work=INSTAT - Instituti i Statistikave}}</ref>{{efn|name=c|Identified as Balkan Egyptians}}
| region5          = {{flag|Montenegro}}
| pop5             = 2,054<ref>{{cite web |title=STATISTIČKI GODIŠNJAK 2011 |page=46 |url=https://www.monstat.org/userfiles/file/publikacije/godisnjak%202011/GODISNJAK%20%202011-%20new.pdf |access-date=31 July 2019 |publisher=Statistics of Montenegro}}</ref>{{efn|name=c|Identified as Balkan Egyptians}}
| region2          = {{flag|North Macedonia}}
| pop2             = 3,713<ref>{{cite book |title=Statistički godišnik na Republika Makedonija |date=2007 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFZPAQAAMAAJ |access-date=31 July 2019 |language=mk}}</ref>{{efn|name=c|Identified as Balkan Egyptians}}
| region4          = {{flag|Serbia}}
| pop4             = 2,831<ref>{{cite web|url=https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/popisni-podaci-eksel-tabele/|title=ПОПИС 2022 - еxcел табеле &#124; О ПОПИСУ СТАНОВНИШТВА|access-date=2024-09-23}}</ref>{{efn|1,484 Balkan Egyptians and 1,307 Ashkali at the 2022 census}}
| region6          = {{flag|Croatia}}
| pop6             = 172<ref>{{Croatian Census 2011|N|tabid=05|tabname=Population by ethnicity – detailed classification|access-date=20 June 2018}}</ref>
| langs            = [[Albanian language|Albanian]]
| rels             = [[Islam]]<ref name="Ismaili 2013">{{cite book |author-last=Ismaili |author-first=Besa |chapter=Kosovo |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ia5AAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA369 |editor1-last=Nielsen |editor1-first=Jørgen S. |editor1-link=Jørgen S. Nielsen |editor2-last=Akgönül |editor2-first=Samim |editor3-last=Alibašić |editor3-first=Ahmet |editor4-last=Racius |editor4-first=Egdunas |year=2013 |title=Yearbook of Muslims in Europe |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=5 |pages=369–381 |doi=10.1163/9789004255869_025 |isbn=978-90-04-25586-9 |issn=1877-1432}}</ref>
| related_groups   = 
}}

The '''Ashkali''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl-Latn|Ашкалије|Aškalije|separator=" / "|link=no}}), otherwise known as '''Hashkali''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl-Latn|Хашкалије|Haškalije|separator=" / "|link=no}}) and/or '''Balkan Egyptians''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl-Latn|Балкански Египћани|Balkanski Egipćani|separator=" / "}}; {{langx|sq|Komuniteti i Egjiptianëve të Ballkanit}}; {{langx|mk|Ѓупци|Ǵupci}}), are [[Albanian language|Albanian]]-speaking [[Muslim]] ethnic cultural minorities (recognized communities),<ref name="Ismaili 2013"/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/minority-political-representation-roma-ashkali-egyptians/ | title=Minority political representation: Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians | date=19 April 2017 }}</ref> which mainly inhabit [[Kosovo]] and [[Southern Serbia (geographical region)|southern Serbia]],<ref name="Ismaili 2013"/> as well as [[Albania]], [[Montenegro]], and [[North Macedonia]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://dailynewsegypt.com/2018/03/12/balkan-egyptians-homeland-belong/ | title=StackPath | date=12 March 2018 }}</ref> Prior to the [[Kosovo War]] of 1999, the Balkan Egyptians or Ashkali people registered themselves as Albanians.<ref name="RD">{{cite book|author1=Valeriu Nicolae|author2=Hannah Slavik|title=Roma Diplomacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6C7w6q_-VbQC|year=2007|publisher=IDEA|isbn=978-1-932716-33-7}}</ref> While some Ashkali speak [[Romani language|Romani]], Egyptians do not.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2464/2020/01/FXB-Kosovo-Report-July-2014.pdf |title=Post-war Kosovo and its policies towards the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities |date=July 2014 |publisher=Harvard: School of Public Health}}</ref> The two groups are not clearly delineated. Though they differ linguistically and culturally from the [[Romani people|Roma]], they have often been grouped together under the acronym RAE (Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians).<ref name=Lichnofsky>{{cite journal |first=C. |last=Lichnofky |year=2013 |title=Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo: New ethnic identifications as a result of exclusion during nationalist violence from 1990 till 2010 |journal=Romani Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=29–60 |doi=10.3828/rs.2013.2|s2cid=143787353 }}</ref>

==History of the Balkan Egyptians==
The origins of the Balkan Egyptians are obscure, but some Balkan historians trace the origin of Balkan Egyptians to the [[Iron Age]], citing vague references in [[Herodotus]] of the presence of [[Khener]], an [[Ancient Egypt]]ian dance group in the region. They also attribute archaeological structures in the area, notably in modern [[Ohrid]] and [[Bitola]], as temples of the [[Isis|Goddess Isis]], but the [[Mysteries of Isis]] was widespread in the [[Greco-Roman world]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unrv.com/culture/isis.php |title=Cult Of Isis in Ancient Rome &#124; UNRV.com Roman History |publisher=Unrv.com |date= |accessdate=2022-07-24}}</ref> It is also possible that the Balkan Egyptians can be traced back to the [[Doms in Egypt]];<ref>{{cite web |first=Rubin |last=Zemon |title=History of the Balkan Egyptians |url=https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/ibp/source/FS_1_10.5.pdf }}</ref> other versions are that after the [[Ottoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani]], Egyptian soldiers went to Albania.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roma of Albania |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/131933442.pdf |publisher=Center for Documentation and Information on Minorities in Europe - Southeast Europe (CEDIME-SE) |access-date=9 April 2023}}</ref> However, historians maintain that during the Ottoman era the Balkan Egyptians and other Balkan Roma were part of a single community that was called by the Ottomans ''Kıbti'' (literally '[[Copts]]'), reflecting the same group encompassed by the English ethnonym for the Roma ("Gypsies"). They see the alternate origins as part of a larger phenomenon whereby groups such as the Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians, as part of an effort to achieve greater civil emancipation and to escape anti-Roma prejudice, made an effort to separate themselves from other Roma and constructed a novel history for their peoples.<ref>{{cite book| editor1=Elena Marushiakova |editor2=Vesselin Popov |title=Roma Voices in History |year=2021 |publisher=Brill |chapter=Chapter 1: The Genesis of Roma Emancipation |pages=1–32 at 16 & 28|doi=10.30965/9783657705184_002 | isbn=978-3-657-70518-4 |s2cid=242216553 |url=https://brill.com/view/book/9783657705184/BP000007.xml}}</ref>

A 14th-century reference to a placename (Агѹповы клѣти, ''Agupovy klěti'') in the [[Medieval Bulgarian royal charters|Rila Charter]] of [[Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria]] was thought by some authors, such as [[Konstantin Josef Jireček]], to be related to the Balkan Egyptians, possible descendants of the [[Doms in Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Грамоти на българските царе |last=Даскалова |first=Ангелина |author2=Мария Райкова |year=2005 |location=София |language=bg |publisher=Академично издателство "Марин Дринов" |page=57 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/index/N241R07987226088.pdf |title=Balkan Egyptians and Gypsy/Roma Discourse |last=Trubeta |first=Sevasti |journal=Nationalities Papers |issue=1 |volume=33 |date=March 2005 |pages=71–95 |doi=10.1080/00905990500053788 |s2cid=155028453 }}</ref>

In 1990, an Egyptian association was formed in Ohrid, from which sprung the [[Egyptian Liberal Party]] <!--- North Macedonia was still called Macedonia until February 2019. --->of North Macedonia, which was attended by representatives from different Balkan countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/ibp/source/fs_1_10.5.pdf|title=History of the Balkan Egyptians|author=Rubin Zemon
|website=coe.int|access-date=10 March 2024}}</ref>

==History of Ashkali==
The origin of the Ashkali remains scientifically unexplained. The Ashkali community leaders have constructed a few narratives. According to the Persian narrative, the Ashkali people originated in Persia in the 4th century. According to the Italian narrative, which is based on folk etymology, they are colonists from ancient Rome. According to the Semitic narrative, they originated in [[Ashkelon]] (now Israel).<ref name="RG">{{cite book |chapter=History of Ashkali identity |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232803734 |via=[[ResearchGate]] |first=Rubin |last=Zemon |date=April 2010 |title=Balkan Egyptians and Ashkali history |publisher=[[Council of Europe]] |editor-first=Aurora |editor-last=Ailincai}}</ref>

The Ashkali were aligned with Albanians before, during and after the [[Kosovo war]].<ref name="RD"/> During the war, many were sent to refugee camps with the [[Romani people in Kosovo]].<ref name="RD" /> After the war ended in 1999, some of them reaffirmed their identity as Ashkali to show their pro-Albanian stance and distinguish themselves from the [[Arlije]] and [[Gurbeti]] Roma, who had been mistakenly viewed as pro-Serbian. However, viewed by the majority population as pro-Serbian Roma, they were persecuted by Albanian nationalists in the presence of [[NATO]] forces. As the majority of Kosovo Roma, many of them settled in [[Serbia]] and [[Montenegro]]. Others moved to [[Albania]], [[Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)|Serbia]] and [[North Macedonia|Macedonia]]<!--- North Macedonia was still called Macedonia during the Kosovo War. ---> and the whole of [[Western Europe]], such as [[Germany]] and [[France]].<ref name=Lichnofsky />

The first Ashkali party (''[[Democratic Ashkali Party of Kosovo]]'') was formed in 2000 under Sabit Rrahmani, who supported Kosovo's independence in the name of all Ashkali.<ref name="RD" />

==Demographics==
Most Ashkali live in Kosovo, but they also reside in Serbia and Montenegro, while most Balkan Egyptians are thought to live in [[North Macedonia]] and Albania, rather than Kosovo. In the Macedonian census of 2002, 3,713 people identified as Egyptian, while in the Serbian census of 2002 (excluding Kosovo), 814 people identified as Egyptian. In the Montenegrin census, on the other hand, 225 people identified as Egyptian.

Ashkali are predominant in the central and eastern regions of Kosovo: [[Ferizaj]], [[Fushë Kosova]], and [[Lipjan]]. Kosovo's Egyptian community is mostly to be found in its western part, in [[Gjakova]], [[Istog]], [[Peja]], and [[Deçan]]. The Ashkali as well as the Egyptian community of Kosovo had 98% unemployment in 2009.<ref name="MLV"/>

==Culture==
[[File:Flag of Ashkali.svg|200px|thumb|Ashkali Flag<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashkali.org/ |title=Ashkali |access-date=2015-12-26 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109071707/http://ashkali.org/ |archive-date=2016-01-09 }}</ref>]]

In Kosovo, Roma and Ashkali do not classify one another as ''[[gadje]]''.<ref name="MLV" />
Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians reject having any relation with the Roma.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/bildungsprojekt-in-kosovo-diese-kinder-roma-zu-nennen-das-100.html|title=Bildungsprojekt in Kosovo - "Diese Kinder Roma zu nennen, das wäre verletzend"|website=Deutschlandfunk|date=7 November 2017 |accessdate=9 April 2023}}</ref> The Ashkali and Roma claim the Egyptians as their own; whereas the Ashkali and Egyptians dispute over each other's background.<ref name="RD" />  No television or radio channels are dedicated to Kosovo's Ashkali or Egyptian minority audiences.<ref name="MLV">{{cite web|url=http://www.minelres.lv/reports/S&M/Kosovo_ShadowReport_BalkanSunflowers_2009.pdf|title=Notes made from the Ashkali and Egyptian communities for the shadow report on the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Kosovo|website=Minelres.lv|access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref>
Circumcision celebrations of their sons are organized by the Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/69444563|title=The Rite of Male Circumcision among the Muslim Population in the Western Balkans|first=Alexander|last=Novik|date=1 January 2020|accessdate=9 April 2023|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Albanians in Egypt]]
* [[Copts]]
* [[Doma (caste)]]
* [[Doms in Egypt]]
* [[Democratic Ashkali Party of Kosovo]]
* [[Egyptian Liberal Party]]
* [[Romani people in Kosovo]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Cited works ==
*Dragan Novaković, Potomci faraona u Srbiji, DT Magazin, 4. April 1998.
* {{cite book |last1=Marushiakova|first1=Elena|last2=Heuss|first2=Herbert|last3=Boev|first3=Ivan|first4=Jan|last4=Rychlik|
first5=Nadege|last5=Ragaru|first6=Rubin|last6=Zemon|first7=Vesselin|last7=Popov|first8=Victor|last8=Friedman|title=Identity Formation among Minorities in the Balkans: The cases of Roms, Egyptians and Ashkali in Kosovo|url=http://212.72.210.78/sr-www/files/Virtual%20library/Kosovo.pdf|year=2001|publisher=Minority Studies Society, Studii Romani|location=Sofia}}

==External links==
*{{citation|title=Gypsy Blood: The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian IDPs of Mitrovica, Kosovo|year=2005|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gXxHFTHSz8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/1gXxHFTHSz8 |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}
*{{citation|title=TV Debate with Ashkali and Egyptian Community Members|date=February 12, 2013|publisher=ECMI Kosovo (Youtube channel)|language=sq|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbzNS20gfWs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/bbzNS20gfWs |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}
*[http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/pas/pas2001/pas2001-05.pdf NEW ETHNIC IDENTITIES IN THE BALKANS: THE CASE OF THE EGYPTIANS ]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090319074333/http://www.balkanaegypter.de/dokuments/Scientificsymposium-PrejudiceofBE,Tirana.pdf Differences of prejudices and collective blames toward to the Balkan’s Egyptians]
*[http://www.egjiptianet.de Egjiptianëve Kosovarë]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927110421/http://www.balkanaegypter.de/ Union of Balkan's Egyptians]
*[http://www.irdk-kosova.org The New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo (''Iniciativa e re Demokrarike e Kosovës'')]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040409025414/http://www.irdk.ch.vu/ New Democratic Initiative of Kosovo], based in Switzerland
* [http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=319&s=51 Minority Rights Group]
* [http://zeljko-heimer-fame.from.hr/descr/cs-m.html#cs-m-as Ashkali flag at FAME]

{{European Muslims}}
{{Romani diaspora}}
{{Ethnic groups in Albania}}

{{Ethnic groups in Kosovo}}
{{Ethnic groups of Montenegro}}

[[Category:Ashkali| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Balkans]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Kosovo]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Albania]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Serbia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Vojvodina]]
[[Category:Muslim communities in Europe]]