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Islam in Albania

Islam arrived in Albania mainly during the Ottoman period when the majority of Albanians over time converted to Islam under Ottoman rule, but Islam was introduced to Albanians back in the 8th century during trades. Following the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) tenets and the de-emphasis of religious tradition in Albania, all governments in the 20th century pursued a secularization policy, most aggressively under the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. Due to this policy, Islam, as with all other faiths in the country, underwent radical changes. Decades of state atheism, which ended in 1991, brought a decline in the religious practice of all traditions. The post-communist period and the lifting of legal and other government restrictions on religion allowed Islam to revive through institutions that generated new infrastructure, literature, educational facilities, international transnational links and other social activities.

According to the 2023 census, there were 1,101,718 (45.86%) Sunni Muslims and 115,644 (4.81%) Bektashi Muslims. The remaining population consists of 201,530 (8.38%) Catholics, 173,645 (7.22%) Eastern Orthodox, 9,658 (0.4%) Evangelicals, 3 670 (0.15%) of other religions, 332,155 (13.82%) believers without denomination, 85,311 (3.55%) Atheists and 378,782 (15.76%) did not provide an answer.

13th century
Albania came into contact with Islam in the 13th century when Angevin expansion into Albania during the reign of Charles I Anjou was made possible in part by Muslim involvement. Lucera is located only about 240 km northwest of Brindisi, which was the main port of disembarkation. Charles claimed rights in Albania, as Manfred's successor, since 1267 when the Treaty of Viterbo was drawn up. During the winter of 1271, the Angevin forces took Durrës. Within a year, Charles began to use the title "rex Albaniae", a title that was later recognized by the king of Serbia and the tsar of Bulgaria. In 1273 both Muslim and Christian contingents sailed across the Adriatic. In April 1273, a Muslim from Lucera named Leone was appointed captain of the Muslim forces in Durrës. A month later, Musa took Leone's place as commander of 200 Muslims stationed "in partibus Romaniae". Although relations between the Church of Rome and Byzantium improved, Charles I of Anjou continued to send Muslim and Christian military forces to the east, towards Albania. The Muslim knight Salem, a regular army officer, led 300 Lucerians - archers and lancers - to Vlora, in 1275. In September of that year, Ibrahim became the captain of the Muslims of Durrës, who took the place of Musa. On 19 April 1279, Charles I ordered 53 of the best Muslim archers from Lucera to be selected by the Capitanata's justiciary, Guy d'Allemagne, to go to Durrës. As usually happens in the recruitment process, the advice of Muslim military leaders was sought. Ibrahim had to approve the selections. Orders were given that Ibrahim could take four horses with him as he crossed from Brindisi to Durrës. Ibrahim served in Durrës again in the early 1280s, as did a man from Lucera, named Pietro Cristiano. One source identifies him as "de... terra Lucerie Saracenorum", most likely a Christian convert from Islam. The demand for Muslim carpenters and blacksmiths to build war machines in Albania was so great during the summer of 1280 that it threatened to exhaust the skilled workers' pool for the construction of forts on the Italian coast. In June 1280, the king ordered the archers of the Capitanata and the Land of Bari to send 60 Muslim archers, as well as carpenters, stonemasons and blacksmiths to Albania. The archers had to report to Hugues le Rousseau de Sully in Berat. In the fall of the same year, 200 archers from Lucera were sent to Vlora. At the beginning of December, 300 archers were stationed in Durrës. Angevin forces took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berat castle, and were repulsed by Byzantine forces.

Conversion and Consolidation (15th–18th centuries)
Islam was first introduced to Albania in the 15th century after the Ottoman conquest of the area. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Albanians in large numbers converted to Islam. As Muslims, many Albanians attained important political and military positions within the Ottoman Empire and culturally contributed to the wider Muslim world.

National Awakening (19th and early 20th centuries)
By the 19th century, Albanians were divided into three religious groups. Catholic Albanians who had some Albanian ethno-linguistic expression in schooling and church due to Austro-Hungarian protection and Italian clerical patronage. Orthodox Albanians under the Patriarchate of Constantinople had liturgy and schooling in Greek and toward the late Ottoman period mainly identified with Greek national aspirations. Muslim Albanians during this period formed around 70% of the overall Balkan Albanian population in the Ottoman Empire with an estimated population of more than a million. With the rise of the Eastern Crisis, Muslim Albanians became torn between loyalties to the Ottoman state and the emerging Albanian nationalist movement. Islam, the Sultan and the Ottoman Empire were traditionally seen as synonymous in belonging to the wider Muslim community. the Albanian nationalist movement advocated self-determination and strived to achieve socio-political recognition of Albanians as a separate people and language within the state.

Wars and socio-political instability resulting in increasing identification with the Ottoman Empire amongst some Muslims within the Balkans during the late Ottoman period made the terms Muslim and Turk synonymous. In this context, Muslim Albanians of the era were conferred and received the term Turk, despite preferring to distance themselves from ethnic Turks. This practice has somewhat continued amongst Balkan Christian peoples in contemporary times who still refer to Muslim Albanians as Turks, Turco-Albanians, with often pejorative connotations and historic negative socio-political repercussions. These geo-political events nonetheless pushed Albanian nationalists, many Muslim, to distance themselves from the Ottomans, Islam and the then emerging pan-Islamic Ottomanism of Sultan Abdulhamid II. Another factor overlaying these concerns during the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) period were thoughts that Western powers would only favour Christian Balkan states and peoples in the anti Ottoman struggle. During this time Albanian nationalists conceived of Albanians as a European people who under Skanderbeg resisted the Ottoman Turks that later subjugated and cut the Albanians off from Western European civilisation. Albanian nationalism overall was a reaction to the gradual breakup of the Ottoman Empire and a response to Balkan and Christian national movements that posed a threat to an Albanian population that was mainly Muslim. Muslim (Bektashi) Albanians were heavily involved with the Albanian National Awakening producing many figures like Faik Konitza, Ismail Qemali, Midhat Frashëri, Shahin Kolonja and others advocating for Albanian interests and self-determination.

During the late Ottoman period, Muslims inhabited compactly the entire mountainous and hilly hinterland located north of the Himarë, Tepelenë, Këlcyrë and Frashëri line that encompasses most of the Vlorë, Tepelenë, Mallakastër, Skrapar, Tomorr and Dishnicë regions. There were intervening areas where Muslims lived alongside Albanian speaking Christians in mixed villages, towns and cities with either community forming a majority or minority of the population. In urban settlements Muslims were almost completely a majority in Tepelenë and Vlorë, a majority in Gjirokastër with a Christian minority, whereas Berat, Përmet and Delvinë had a Muslim majority with a large Christian minority. A Muslim population was also located in Konispol and some villages around the town. The Ottoman administrative sancaks or districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër in 1908 contained a Muslim population that numbered 95,000 in contrast to 128,000 Orthodox inhabitants. Apart from small and spread out numbers of Muslim Romani, Muslims in these areas that eventually came to constitute contemporary southern Albania were all Albanian speaking Muslims. In southern Albania during the late Ottoman period being Albanian was increasingly associated with Islam, while from the 1880s the emerging Albanian National Movement was viewed as an obstacle to Hellenism within the region. Some Orthodox Albanians began to affiliate with the Albanian National movement causing concern for Greece and they worked together with Muslim Albanians regarding shared social and geo-political Albanian interests and aims. In central and southern Albania, Muslim Albanian society was integrated into the Ottoman state. It was organised into a small elite class owning big feudal estates worked by a large peasant class, both Christian and Muslim though few other individuals were also employed in the military, business, as artisans and in other professions. While northern Albanian society was little integrated into the Ottoman world, it was instead organised through a tribal structure of clans (fis) of whom many were Catholic with others being Muslim residing in mountainous terrain that Ottomans often had difficulty in maintaining authority and control. When religious conflict occurred it was between clans of opposing faiths, while within the scope of clan affiliation, religious divisions were sidelined. Shkodër was inhabited by a Muslim majority with a sizable Catholic minority.

Balkan Wars (1912–13) and World War One (1914–18)

Realising that the collapse of Ottoman rule through military defeat in the Balkans was imminent, Albanians represented by Ismail Qemali declared Independence from the Ottoman Empire on 28 November 1912 in Vlorë. International recognition of Albanian independence entailed the imposition of a Christian monarch which alongside internal political power struggles generated a failed Muslim uprising (1914) in central Albania that sought to restore Ottoman rule. During World War one, northern, central and south-central Albania came under Austro-Hungarian occupation. In the census of 1916–18 conducted by Austro-Hungarian authorities, the results showed that Muslims in the regions of Dibër, Lumë and Gorë were over 80% of the population. In the western part of the mountainous areas, Shkodër and in the mountains east of the lake were areas that contained a large Muslim population. In central Albania, the area from the Mat region to the Shkumbini river mouth toward Kavajë encompassing the districts of Tiranë, Peqin, Kavajë and Elbasan the population was mainly Muslim. In the area of Berat Muslims were a majority population with an Orthodox minority, while south of Elbasan Muslims were a plurality alongside a significant Orthodox population. In the region of Gramsh Muslims were a majority except for two people and in the southern Peqin area only Muslims were present. Muslims also were a majority population in the Mallakastër region alongside a small Orthodox minority. The experience of World War One, concerns over being partitioned and loss of power made the Muslim Albanian population support Albanian nationalism and the territorial integrity of Albania. An understanding emerged between most Sunni and Bektashi Albanians that religious differences needed to be sidelined for national cohesiveness. Whereas an abandonment of pan-Muslim links abroad was viewed in the context of securing support internationally for and maintaining independence, though some Muslim Albanian clergy were against disavowing ties with the wider Muslim world.

Interwar period (1919–39): State interference and reforms
From the early days of interwar Albania and due to Albania's heterogeneous religious makeup, Albania's political leadership defined Albania as without an official religion. Muslim Albanians at that time formed around 70% of the total population of 800,000 and Albania was the only Muslim country in Europe. In the former Ottoman districts of Korçë and Gjirokastër forming southern Albania, the share of the Muslim population increased in 1923 to 109,000 in contrast to 114,000 Orthodox and by 1927, Muslims were 116,000 to 112,000 Orthodox. From 1920 until 1925, a four-member governing regency council from the four religious denominations (Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic, Orthodox) was appointed. Albanian secularist elites pushed for a reform of Islam as the process of Islamic religious institutions were nationalised and the state increasingly imposed its will upon them. At the first Islamic National Congress (1923) the criteria for delegates attending was that being a cleric was unimportant and instead patriots with a liberal outlook were favoured alongside some delegates being selected by the state. Government representatives were present at the congress. Following the government program of reforms, the Albanian Islamic congress in Tirana decided to deliberate and reform some Islamic traditional practices adopted from the Ottoman period with the reasoning of allowing Albanian society the opportunity to thrive. The measures adopted by the congress was a break with the Ottoman Caliphate and to establish local Muslim structures loyal to Albania, banning polygamy (most of the Muslim Albanian population was monogamous) and the mandatory wearing of veil (hijab) by women in public. A new form of prayer was also implemented (standing, instead of the traditional salat ritual).

As with the congress, the attitudes of Muslim clerics were during the interwar period monitored by the state who at times appointed and dismissed them at will. Amongst those were the abolition of Sharia law and replacement with Western law that made Muslims in Albania come under government control while the Quran was translated into Albanian and criticized for its inaccuracies. After prolonged debate amongst Albanian elites during the interwar era and increasing restrictions, the wearing of the veil in 1937 was banned in legislation by Zog. Throughout the interwar period, the Albanian intellectual elite often undermined and depreciated Sunni Islam, whereas Sufi Islam and its various orders experienced an important period of promising growth. After independence, ties amongst the wider Sufi Bektashi community in former Ottoman lands waned. The Bektashi order in 1922 at an assembly of 500 delegates renounced ties with Turkey. In 1925 the Bektashi Order whose headquarters were in Turkey moved to Tiranë to escape Atatürk's secularising reforms and Albania would become the center of Bektashism where there were 260 tekes present. In 1929, the Bektashi order severed its ties with Sunnism and by 1937 Bektashi adherents formed around 27% of the Muslim population in Albania. Apart from Bektashis, there were other main Sufi orders present in Albania during the interwar period such as the Halvetis, Qadiris, Rufais and Tijaniyyah.

World War Two (1939–45)
On 7 April 1939, Italy headed by Benito Mussolini after prolonged interest and overarching sphere of influence during the interwar period invaded Albania. Of the Muslim Albanian population, the Italians attempted to gain their sympathies by proposing to build a large mosque in Rome, though the Vatican opposed this measure and nothing came of it in the end. The Italian occupiers also won Muslim Albanian sympathies by causing their working wages to rise. Mussolini's son in law Count Ciano also replaced the leadership of the Sunni Muslim community, which had recognized the Italian regime in Albania with clergy that aligned with Italian interests, with an easily controlled "Moslem Committee" organization, and Fischer notes that "the Moslem community at large accepted this change with little complaint". Most of the Bektashi order and its leadership were against the Italian occupation and remained an opposition group. Fischer suspects that the Italians eventually tired of the opposition of the Bektashi Order, and had its head, Nijaz Deda, murdered.

Communist period, state atheism and violent persecution (1945–91)
In the aftermath of World War Two, the communist regime came to power and Muslims, most from southern Albania, were represented from early on within the communist leadership group, such as leader Enver Hoxha (1908–1985), his deputy Mehmet Shehu (1913–1981) and others. Albanian society was still traditionally divided between four religious communities. In the Albanian census of 1945, Muslims were 72% of the population, 17.2% were Orthodox and 10% Catholic. The communist regime through Albanian Nationalism attempted to forge a national identity that transcended and eroded these religious and other differences with the aim of forming a unitary Albanian identity. Albanian communists viewed religion as a societal threat that undermined the cohesiveness of the nation. Within this context, religions like Islam were denounced as foreign and clergy such as Muslim muftis were criticised as being socially backward with the propensity to become agents of other states and undermine Albanian interests. The communist regime through policy destroyed the Muslim way of life and Islamic culture within Albania.

Inspired by Pashko Vasa's late 19th century poem for the need to overcome religious differences through Albanian unity, Hoxha took the stanza "the faith of the Albanians is Albanianism" and implemented it literally as state policy. In 1967 therefore the communist regime declared Albania the only non-religious country in the world, banning all forms of religious practice in public. The Muslim Sunni and Bektashi clergy alongside their Catholic and Orthodox counterparts suffered severe persecution and to prevent a decentralisation of authority in Albania, many of their leaders were killed. Jumu'ah or communal Friday prayers in a mosque that involves a sermon afterwards were banned in Albania due to their revolutionary associations that posed a threat to the communist regime. People who still performed religious practices did so in secret, while others found out were persecuted and personal possession of religious literature such as the Quran forbidden. Amongst Bektashi adherents transmission of knowledge became limited to within few family circles that mainly resided in the countryside. Mosques became a target for Albanian communists who saw their continued existence as exerting an ideological presence in the minds of people. Through the demise of mosques and religion in general within Albania, the regime sought to alter and sever the social basis of religion that lay with traditional religious structures amongst the people and replace it with communism. Islamic buildings were hence appropriated by the communist state who often turned into them into gathering places, sports halls, warehouses, barns, restaurants, cultural centres and cinemas in an attempt to erase those links between religious buildings and people. In 1967 within the space of seven months, the communist regime destroyed 2,169 religious buildings and other monuments. Of those were some 530 tekes, turbes and dergah saint shrines that belonged mainly to the Bektashi order. 740 mosques were destroyed, some of which were prominent and architecturally important like the Kubelie Mosque in Kavajë, the Clock Mosque in Peqin and the two domed mosques in Elbasan dating from the 17th century. Of the roughly 1,127 Islamic buildings existing in Albania prior to the communists coming to power, only 50 mosques remained thereafter with most being in a state of disrepair.

Republic of Albania (1992 onward)
Following the wider trends for socio-political pluralism and freedom in Eastern Europe from communism, a series of fierce protests by Albanian society culminated with the communist regime collapsing after allowing two elections in 1991 and then 1992. Toward the end of the regime's collapse, it had reluctantly allowed for limited religious expression to reemerge. In 1990 along with a Catholic church, the Lead mosque in Shkodër were both the first religious buildings reopened in Albania. Muslims, this time mainly from northern Albania such as Azem Hajdari (1963–1998) and Sali Berisha, who later served multiple terms as president and prime minister were prominent leaders in the movement for democratic change and between 1992 and 1997 people part of the Albanian government were mostly of a Muslim background. Areas that had been traditionally Muslim in Albania prior to 1967 reemerged in a post-communist context once again mainly as Muslim with its various internal complexities. Due in part to the deprivation and persecution experienced during the communist period, Muslims within Albania have showed strong support for democracy and its institutions including official Muslim religious organisations. Within this context Muslim Albanians have also supported the separation of religion from the state with faith being considered as a personal private matter. Today, Albania is a parliamentary secular state and with no official religion.

Revival of Sunni Islam
In the 1990s, Muslim Albanians placed their focus on restoring institutions, religious buildings and Islam as a faith in Albania that had overall been decimated by the communists. Hafiz Sabri Koçi, (1921–2004) an imam imprisoned by the communist regime and who led the first prayer service in Shkodër 1990 became the grand mufti of the Muslim Community of Albania. During this time the restoration of Islam in Albania appealed to older generations of Muslim Albanian adherents, those families with traditional clerical heredity and limited numbers of young school age people who wished to qualify and study abroad in Muslim countries. Most mosques and some madrassas destroyed and damaged during the communist era had by 1996 been either reconstructed or restored in former locations where they once stood before 1967 and in contemporary times there are 555 mosques. Muslim religious teachers and prayer leaders were also retrained abroad in Muslim states or in Albania. The Muslim Community of Albania is the main organisation overseeing Sunni Islam in Albania and during the 1990s, it received funding and technical support from abroad to reconstitute its influence within the country. Due to interwar and communist era legacies of weakening Islam within Albania and secularisation of the population, the revival of the faith has been somewhat difficult due to people in Albania knowing little about Islam and other religions. Emigration in a post-communist environment of Albanians, many Muslim, has also hindered the recovery of religion, its socio-religious structures and organisation in Albania. In contemporary times the Muslim community has found itself being a majority population that is within a socio-political and intellectual minority position with often being on the defensive. Political links also emerged in the 1990s from parts of the Sunni Albanian community with the then new Albanian political establishment of whom some themselves were Muslim Albanians. The Sunni community is recognised by the Albanian state and it administers most of the mosques while also viewed as the main representative of Muslims in the country. As such it interprets its position as safeguarding an Albanian specific version of Islam which follows on institutional and ideological models established during the post-Ottoman state-building period and have gradually gained the status of an Albanian tradition. There are a few prayer houses located throughout Albania and one mosque run by the Sufi Rifai order.

Sunni Islam, transnational links, education and administrative institutions
The Albanian Sunni Community has over time established links with overseas Muslims. Due to funding shortages in Albania these ties have been locally beneficial as they have mobilised resources of several well funded international Muslim organisations like the OIC which has allowed for the reestablishment of Muslim ritual and spiritual practices in Albania. Particular efforts have been directed toward spreading information about Islam in Albania through media, education and local community centres. Around 90% of the budget of the Albanian Muslim community came from foreign sources in the 1990s, though from 2009 after the signing of agreements, the Albanian government allocates funding from the state budget to the four main religions to cover administrative and other costs. Some of these oversees Muslim organisations and charities coming from Arab countries, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, and also the Muslim diaspora in Europe and America have at times exerted sway over the Muslim Albanian community resulting in competition between groups.

The Gülen movement based on Muslim values of Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen also is present from 1992 onward and its institutions are viewed as a counterweight to more conservative Muslim organisations from Arab countries in Albania, especially in the early 1990s. Some 7 madrasas (Muslim colleges containing complementary religious instruction) were opened up in Albania by Arab NGO's, although now 2 are administered by the Muslim Community and the Gülen movement runs 5 madrassas and other schools that are known for their high quality and mainly secular education based on Islamic ethics and principles. In April 2011, Bedër University, Albania's first Muslim university was opened in Tiranë and is administered by the Gülen movement. The presence and influence of the Gülen movement in Albania has recently been a source of tension with the Turkish government headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan since it has blamed the movement for attempting to destabilize Turkey. The main state run Turkish Muslim organisation Diyanet has funded and started construction of the Great Mosque of Tiranë in 2015. The mosque will be the Balkans largest with minarets 50 meters high and a dome of 30 meters built on a 10,000-square-meter parcel of land near Albania's parliament building able to accommodate up to 4,500 worshipers. International assistance from oversees organisations such as the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) have also helped finance the restoration of Ottoman era mosques, of which only nine survived the communist dictatorship. In a post-communist environment the Muslim Community of Albania has been seeking from successive Albanian governments a return and restitution of properties and land confiscated by the communist regime though without much progress.

Revival of Sufi Islam
The Muslim Community of Albania in its statutes claims authority over all Muslim groups in Albania. The Bektashi however have reaffirmed in their statutes and kept their post-communist era independence as a separate Muslim movement of a worldwide Sufi order. A traditional reliance on hierarchy and internal structures the restoration of Sufi Islam, akin to Sunni Islam, has faced organisational problems in reestablishing and stabilising former systems of authority. That stood in contrast with the activities of local people who were quick to rebuild the destroyed tyrbes and other mausoleums of Sufi saints by the end of 1991. As Albanian migrants went abroad financial resources were sent back to fund other reconstruction projects of various Sufi shrines and tekkes. The Bektashi order in the 1990s was only able to reopen 6 of its tekkes. Other Sufi orders are also present in Albania such as the Rifais, Saidis, Halvetis, Qadiris and the Tijaniyah and combined they have 384 turbes, tekes, maqams and zawiyas. In post communist Albania competition between the Sufi orders has reemerged, though the Bektashi remain the largest, most dominant, have 138 tekes and have on occasion laid claims to Sufi shrines of other orders. The Bektashi as the main Sufi order within Albania have attempted to appeal to a younger, urban and also intellectual demographic and placing itself within the wider socio-political space.

Bektashism
The Bektashi order in Albania views themselves as the centre of a worldwide movement and have reconnected with various Turkish educational and Iran religious organisations emphasising their common links, something that other Sufi orders in Albania have done. Prominent among these have been Iranian Saadi Shriazi foundation who has funded numerous Bektashi cultural programs, while dervishes from the Bektashi have received educational training at the Theological faculty in Qom. The Bektashi though are selective of outside influence, with sometimes for example editing texts of Iranian Shia thinkers in Bektashi literature or borrowing from others. The Bektashi during most of the 1990s had no privileged links with the political establishment until 1997 when the Socialists came to power. Members from the then Albanian government, some with Bektashi heritage in the late 1990s onward have favoured Bektashism as a milder form of Islam for Albanian Islam and it playing a role as a conduit between Islam and Christianity. Bektashis also highlight and celebrate figures such as Naim Frashëri who was made an honorary baba because he was involved in the Albanian National Awakening and often referred to his Bektashi roots. Bektashis also use Shiite related iconography of Ali, the Battle of Karbala and other revered Muslim figures of Muhammad's family that adorn the interiors of turbes and tekkes. The Bektashis have a few clerical training centres though no schools for religious instruction. The Ahmadiyya movement has also established recently a presence in Albania and owns one mosque in Tiranë, the Bejtyl Evel Mosque.

Demographics
In 2011, a Pew Research Center population estimate in a global study based on growth rates put the percentage of Muslims in Albania at 82.1% (estimated number 2,601,000) However, a Gallup poll gave percentages of religious affiliations with only 43% Muslim, 19% Eastern Orthodox, 15% Catholic and 23% atheist or nonreligious. In the 2011 census the declared religious affiliation of the population was: 56.70% (1,587,608) Sunni Muslims, 2.09% (58,628) Bektashis, 10.03% (280,921) Catholics, 6.75% (188,992) Orthodox, 0.14% (3,797) Evangelists, 0.07% (1,919) other Christians, 5.49% (153,630) believers without denomination, 2.05% (69,995) Atheists, 13.79% (386,024) undeclared. Controversies surrounded the Albanian census (2011) over whether a religious affiliation option should be part of the count as people like some intellectuals in Albania feared that the results may make Albania appear "too Muslim" to Europe. From previous pre-communist highs of 69.3% (1937) and 72% (1947) the official census of 2011 was the first to count religious affiliation after an absence of many decades that showed the Albanian Muslim population to have decreased to 56.70%. The Muslim community of Albania objected to having the generic Muslim option split according to internal differentiation into categories such as Bektashi. The census results overall have been criticized by the Muslim community of Albania and they have estimated the number of all Muslims in Albania to be 70%. Owing to the large number of people in Albania not having declared a religion the census figures leave scope for other explanations and analyses of what is the actual religious composition of Albania.

Ethno-linguistic composition
Most Muslims in Albania are ethnic Albanians. There are however small though significant clusters of non-Albanian (speaking) Muslims in the country. The Romani minority in Albania are mostly Muslims and estimated to number some 50,000 to 95,000 located throughout Albania and often residing in major urban centres forming a significant minority population. The Romani community is often economically disadvantaged with at times facing socio-political discrimination and distance from wider Albanian society like for example little intermarriage or neighbourhood segregation. Within the Romani community there exist two main divisions: the Gabels who speak the Romani language and those who self identify as Jevgs that consider themselves separate from the Romani, speak Albanian and are somewhat integrated in Albania. The Romani in Albania were and are still known to be religiously syncretic often combining other elements of religions and nature in Islamic practices and pilgrimages to holy sites.

Other Muslim communities are of a Slavic linguistic background. In the north-eastern borderland region of Gorë, the Gorani community inhabits the villages of Zapod, Pakisht, Orçikël, Kosharisht, Cernalevë, Orgjost, Orshekë, Borje, Novosej and Shishtavec. In the central-eastern borderland region of Gollobordë, a Muslim Macedonian speaking community known as Gollobordas inhabits the villages of Ostren i Madh, Kojavec, Lejçan, Lladomericë, Ostren i Vogël, Orzhanovë, Radovesh, Tuçep, Pasinkë, Trebisht, Gjinovec, Klenjë, Vërnicë, Steblevë and three families in Sebisht. In Albania people from the Gollobordas community are considered Albanians instead of Macedonians, even by the Albanian state, and they are known to intermarry with Muslim Albanians and not with Orthodox Macedonians. Until the 1990s an Orthodox Macedonian minority who have since migrated used to live in some villages alongside the Gollobordas and the latter community in recent times numbers some roughly 3,000 people. The Bosniak community of the Shijak area whose presence dates back to 1875 inhabits almost entirely the village of Borakaj and in the neighbouring village Koxhas they live alongside Albanians and form a minority. Bosniaks from these settlements have also settled in Durrës, Shijak and in 1924 some went and settled in the village of Libofshë where they have mostly become linguistically assimilated. "Das Dorf Borakaj (Borak/Borake), zwischen Durrës und Tirana in der Nähe der Kleinstadt Shijak gelegen, wird fast vollständig von Bosniaken bewohnt. Zu dieser Gruppe gehören auch die Bosniaken im Nachbarort Koxhas."; p. 137. "Die Bosniaken sind wahrschlich nach 1875 aus der Umgebung von Mostar, und zwar aus Dörfern zwischen Mostar und Čapljina, nach Albanien gekommen... Einzelne bosnische Familien wohnen in verschiedenen Städten, vie in Shijak, Durrës. Die 1924 nach Libofsha in der Nähe von Fier eingewanderte Gruppe ist inzwischen sprachlich fast vollständig assimiliert, SHEHU-DIZDARI-DUKA (2001: 33) bezeichnet sie ehenfalls als bosniakisch."; p. 139. "Die von den österreichisch-ungarischen Truppen 1916 durchgeführte Volkszählung in Albanien verzeichnet für Borakaj 73 Häuser mit 305 muslimischen Einwohnern. Von ihnen werden 184 als Albaner und 121 als Serbokroaten bezeichnet. In Koxhas werden 109 Häuser mit 462 muslimischen Einwohnern erfasst, von denen 232 Albaner und 230 Serbokroaten waren, Ferner werden in Shijak 17 Serbokroaten und einer in Sukth registriert (SENER 1922: 35, 36), Für Borakaj sind die Angaben zur ethnischen Zusammensetzung problematisch. Es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass innerhalb von vierzig Jahren die Hälfte der Einwohner in Borakaj albanisiert wurde. Dem widerspricht vor allem auch die ethnische Homo-genität des Ortes bis zu Beginn der 1990er Jahre. Andererseits gibt es keine Hinweise, dass die fraglichen Albaner zwischenzeitlich wieder weggezogen sind oder von den Bosniaken assimiliert wurden. Wahrscheinlich hat sich ein Teil aus irgendwelchen Gründen nur falsch deklariert."; p. 139. "Anders stellt sich die Situation in Koxhas dar. Die Albaner dort bilden bis heute die Mehrheit, d.h. der Anteil der Bosniaken war immer kleiner und hat weiter abgenommen, sodass dieses Dorf in der unmittelbaren Nachbarschaft nicht bosniakisch geprägt ist. Weiterhin dubios bleibt jedoch für beide Ortschaften die Beizeichnung der Einwohner als ,,Serbokroaten", weil die muslimischen Slavophonen von Seiner sonst immer in die Rubrik ,,Sonstige" eingeordnet werden." There is a small Muslim Montenegrin speaking community near Shkodër whose presence dates back to 1878 and are known as Podgoriçani, due to their origins from Podgorica in Montenegro. Podgoriçani inhabit the villages of Boriç i Madh were they form a majority alongside a few Orthodox Montenegrins and some Albanians, while they live compactly in both Shtoj i Vjetër with 30 families and in Shtoj i Ri with 17 families and some families in Shkodër city. . "Am östlichen Ufer des Shkodrasees gibt es heute auf dem Gebiet von Vraka vier Dörfer, in denen ein Teil der Bewohner eine montenegrinische Mundart spricht. Es handelt sich dabei um die Ortschaften Boriçi i Madh (Borić Veli), Boriçi i Vogël (Borić Mali/Borić Stari/Borić Vezirov), Gril (Grilj) und Omaraj (Omara), die verwaltungstechnisch Teil der Gemeinde Gruemira in der Region Malësia e Madhe sind. Ferner zählen zu dieser Gruppe noch die Dörfer Shtoji i Ri und Shtoji i Vjetër in der Gemeinde Rrethinat und weiter nordwestlich von Koplik das Dorf Kamica (Kamenica), das zur Gemeinde Qendër in der Region Malësia e Madhe gehört. Desgleichen wohnen vereinzelt in der Stadt sowie im Kreis Shkodra weitere Sprecher der montenegrinischen Mundart. Nach ihrer Konfession unterscheidet man zwei Gruppen, d.h. orthodoxe mid muslimische Slavophone. Die erste, kleinere Gruppe wohnt in Boriçi i Vogël, Gril, Omaraj und Kamica, die zweite, größere Gruppe in Boriçi i Madh und in Shtoj. Unter den in Shkodra wohnenden Slavophonen sind beide Konfessionen vertreten... Die Muslime bezeichnen sich gemeinhin als Podgoričani ‘Zuwanderer aus Podgorica’ und kommen aus Zeta, Podgorica, Tuzi usw."; p. 19. "Ohne genaue Quellenangabe bringt ŠĆEPANOVIĆ (1991: 716–717) folgende ,,aktuelle" Zahlen:... Veliki (Mladi) Borić 112 Familien, davon 86 podgoričanski, 6 crnogorski und 20 albanische Familien. STOPPEL (2012: 28) sagt Folgendes über die Montenegriner in Albanien: ,,hierbei handelt es sich um (nach Erhebungen des Helsinki-Komitees von 1999 geschätzt,, etwa 1800–2000 serbisch-sprachige Personen in Raum des Shkodra-Sees und im nördlichen Berggrenzland zu Montenegro, die 1989 eher symbolisch mit ca. 100 Personen angegeben und nach 1991 zunächst überwiegend nach Jugoslawien übergewechselt waren". p. 20. "Außer in Boriçi i Madh und auch in Shtoj, wo die Slavophonen eine kompakte Gruppe innerhalb des jeweiligen Ortes bilden, sind sie in anderen Dorfern zahlenmäßig bedeutunglos geworden."; p. 131. "In Shtoj i Vjetër leben heute ungefähr 30 und in Shtoj i Ri 17 muslimische Familien, d.h Podgoričaner."

Ethno-cultural Albanian identity and Islam
Throughout the duration of the Communist regime, national Albanian identity was constructed as being irreligious and based upon a common unitary Albanian nationality. This widely spread ideal is still present, though challenged by religious differentiation between Muslim Albanians and Christians which exists at a local level. In a post communist environment, religious affiliation to either Muslim and Christian groups is viewed within the context of historical belonging (mainly patrilineal) and contemporary social organisation as cultural communities with religious practice playing a somewhat secondary to limited role. Some contemporary Muslim Albanians in Albania see themselves as being the purest Albanians. This view is based on the large contribution Muslim Albanians made to the National Awakening (Rilindja) and resistance to the geo-political aims of the Serbs. Some Muslim Albanians, meanwhile, view Islam as a force that maintained Albanian independence from Christian countries like Greece, Serbia and Italy, and united Albanians. Some Albanian Muslims also hold the view that unlike them, Christian Albanian communities of the Orthodox historically identified with the Greeks. Some Muslim Albanians often refer to Orthodox Albanians as Greeks and attribute to them pro-Greek sentiments, while Orthodox Albanians view Muslim Albanians as having historically collaborated and identified with the Ottomans thereby earning the epithet Turk. Some Muslim Albanians hold and have expressed negative views of Catholic Albanians, while some Catholic Albanians resent past political dominance held by Muslims in Albania and have expressed dislike of Islam and what they have interpreted to be its tenets, mores and values.

Islam and Interreligious relations
In rural areas in northern Albania and southern Albania, relations between Muslim Albanians and Catholic Albanians or Muslim Albanians with Orthodox Albanians vary and are often distant with both Muslim and Christian communities traditionally living in separate villages and or neighbourhoods, even within cities. Various pejoratives are in use today for different religious groups in Albanian, some based on the Ottoman system of classification: turk, tourko-alvanoi/Turco-Albanians (in Greek), muhamedan/followers of Muhammad for Muslim Albanians, kaur/infidel, kaur i derit/infidel pigs, for Orthodox Albanians, Catholic Albanians, Greeks, Vlachs and Orthodox Macedonians. Among Muslims in Albania the term used for their religious community is myslyman and the word turk is also used in a strictly religious sense to connote Muslim and not ethnic affiliation, while Christians also use the word kaur to at times refer to themselves. During the Albanian socio-political and economic crisis of 1997, religious differences did not play a role in the civil unrest that occurred, though the Orthodox Church in Albania at the time privately supported the downfall of the Berisha government made up mainly of Muslims. Over the years minor incidents between Muslim Albanians with Christian Albanians have occurred such as pig heads thrown into mosque courtyards, Catholic tombstones being knocked down, an Orthodox church in Shkodër being bombed and damage done to frescoes in a church in Voskopojë. An interreligious organisation called the Interreligious Council of Albania was created in 2009 by the four main faiths to foster religious coexistence in Albania.

In southern Albania, urban centres of central Albania and partially in northern Albania, the status of Christianity dominates in contrast to Islam which is viewed by some Muslim Albanians as a historic accident. A rejection of Islam has also been attributed to a divide that has opened up between older city dwellers and rural Muslim Albanian and somewhat conservative newcomers from the north-east to cities like Tiranë, where the latter are referred to pejoratively as "Chechens". Some young Muslim Albanians educated in Islamic Universities abroad have viewed their role as defending Islam in the public sphere over issues such as wearing of the veil, organising themselves socially and criticised the Muslim Albanian establishment. Following the lead mainly of Albanian Christians obtaining visas for work into Greece there have been instances where Muslim Albanian migrants in Greece converted to Orthodoxy and changed their names into Christian Greek forms in order to be accepted into Greek society. Some other Muslim Albanians when emigrating have also converted to Catholicism and conversions in general to Christianity within Albania are associated with belonging and interpreted as being part of the West, its values and culture. A 2015 study estimated some 13,000 Christians exist in Albania who had converted from a Muslim background, though it is not clear to which Christian churches these people were affiliated. Among Albanians and in particular the young, religion is increasingly not seen as important. In a Pew research centre survey of Muslim Albanians in 2012, religion was important for only 15%, while 7% prayed, around 5% went to a mosque, 43% gave zakat (alms), 44% fasted during Ramadan and 72% expressed a belief in God and Muhammad. The same Pew survey also estimated that 65% of Albanian Muslims are non-denominational Muslims.

Despite occasional issues, Albania's "religious tolerance" (tolerance fetare) and "religious harmony" (harmonia fetare) are viewed as part of a set of distinctly Albanian national ideals, and said to serve an important part in Albania's civic framework where sectarian communities ideally set aside their difference and work together in the pursuit of national interest. Although considered a "national myth" by some, the "Albanian example" of interfaith tolerance and of tolerant laicism has been advocated as a model for the rest of the world by both Albanians and Western European and American commentators, including Pope Francis who praised Albania as a "model for a world witnessing conflict in God's name" and Prime Minister Edi Rama, who marched with Christian and Muslim clergy on either side in a demonstration in response to religious motivated violence in Paris. Meanwhile, Albania's "example" has also drawn interest recently in the West, where it has been used to argue that "religious freedom and Islamic values not only can co-exist, but also can flourish together", and is seen as a positive argument in favor of accelerating Albania's accession to the EU.

Interfaith marriages between Muslims and Christians are held to be "common" and "unremarkable" in Albania with little social repercussion, although there is little statistical data on their prevalence. During the communist period, it is known that during the period of 1950–1968, the rates of mixed marriages ranged from 1.6% in Shkodër, 4.3% in Gjirokastër to 15.5% among the textile workers in Tiranë. In the district of Shkodër they reached 5% in the year 1980. Most Albanian Muslims nowadays approve of mixed marriages, with 77% approving of a son marrying outside of the faith, and 75% for a daughter, the highest rates of all Muslim nationalities surveyed by Pew at the time. Meanwhile, 12% of Albanian Muslims agreed that "religious conflict is a big problem in Albania", though only 2% thought Christians were "hostile" to Muslims and 4% admitted that they thought Muslims were "hostile" to Christians. 79% of Albanian Muslims said all their close friends were also Muslim, the second lowest number (after Russia) in the survey.

Holidays
In Albania a series of religious celebrations are held by the Muslim community. Two recognised by the state as official holidays are: Bajrami i Madh (Big Bayram, Eid al-Fitr) celebrated at the conclusion of Ramadan and Kurban Bajram (Bayram of the sacrifice) or Bajrami i Vogël (Small Bayram, Eid al-Adha) celebrated on 10 Dhu al-Hijjah. During the month of Ramadan practicing Sunni Muslims in Albania fast and 5 nights are held sacred and celebrated. These dates change per year as they follow the Muslim lunar calendar. In recent times during April Muhammad's birthday is commemorated and the Muslim Community of Albania holds a concert in Tiranë. It is attended by Albanian political and Muslim religious establishment representatives alongside Albanian citizens, many non-practising Muslims. Other than the Sunni related celebrations, the Sufis such as the Bektashi have a series of holidays and observances. The Day of Sultan Novruz (Nowruz) on 22 March is an official holiday that celebrates the birth of Imam Ali. Ashura, a day commemorating the massacre at Karbala is also held and multiple local festivals in various areas, some also observed as pilgrimages are held throughout the year at Sufi saints tombs and shrines like that of Sari Salltëk in Krujë. Most prominent of these is the pilgrimage on 20–25 August to Mount Tomorr to commemorate and celebrate the Shi'ite saint Abbas Ali.

Food, dress, law and burials
In Albania Halal slaughter of animals and food is permitted, mainly available in the eateries of large urban centres and becoming popular among people who are practicing Sunni Muslims. No centralised organisation exists for Halal certification of food which is unavailable in Albanian state institutions like schools, army, hospitals and so on and people requesting Halal food in those places are usually sidelined. Muslim dress is not prohibited in Albania in public areas. Unofficial restrictions and regulations on religious clothing worn within public institutions in order to maintain the secular status of the state were upheld by principals of schools and others. Examples included within schools and universities whereby some young women wearing the hijab were expelled or told to remove it. These have eased especially after the Albanian government in 2011 backed away from proposed legislation that would have officially banned displays of religious symbols in schools. Religious Muslim law as with other religious law is not recognised by the Albanian courts. The Sunni Muslim Community of Albania however recognises nikah or religious Muslim marriage although not many people undertake marriage in this form. While chaplaincy though not officially recognised within state institutions, access to, religious advice and preaching in prisons is allowed to inmates while chaplains are banned in state schools. During the communist period Muslim Albanians were buried alongside Albanians of other faiths and due to that legacy in contemporary times separate Muslim graveyards are uncommon.

Debates about Islam and contemporary Albanian identity
Within the Balkans apart from the ethno-linguistic component of Albanian identity, Albania's Orthodox neighbours also view it through religious terms. They refer to Albanians as a Muslim nation and as Muslim fundamentalists, which has placed the secular part of Albanian identity under strain.

Among Albanian intellectuals and other notable Albanians, many Muslim, this has generated much discussion and at times debates about Islam and its role within Albania and amongst Albanians as a whole in the Balkans. Within these discourses, controversial Orientalist and biological terminology has been used by some Albanian intellectuals when discussing Islam and Albanians.

Prominent in those discussions were written exchanges in newspaper articles and books between novelist Ismail Kadare of Gjirokastër and literary critic Rexhep Qosja, an Albanian from Kosovo in the mid-2000s. Kadare asserted that Albania's future lay with Europe due to its ancient European roots, Christian traditions, and being a white people, while Qosja contended that Albanian identity was both a blend of Western (Christian) and Eastern (Islam) cultures and often adaptable to historical contexts. In a 2005 speech given in Britain by president Alfred Moisiu of Orthodox heritage, he referred to Islam in Albania as having a "European face", it being "shallow" and that "if you dig a bit in every Albanian, he can discover his Christian core". The Muslim Forum of Albania called those and Kadare's comments "racist", and charged that they contained "Islamophobia" and were "deeply offensive". Following trends dating back from the Communist regime, the post-Communist Albanian political establishment continues to approach Islam as the faith of the Ottoman invader.

Islam and the Ottoman legacy has also been a topic of conversation among wider Albanian society. Islam and the Ottomans are viewed by many Albanians as the outcome of warfare, and Turkification and within those discourses Albania's sociopolitical problems are attributed as the outcome of that legacy. In debates over Albanian school textbooks where some historians have asked for offensive content regarding Turks to be removed, some Christian Albanian historians countered angrily by referring to negative experiences of the Ottoman period and wanting Turkey to seek redress for the invasion of Albania and Islamisation of Albanians. Some members of the Muslim community, while deemphasizing the Ottoman past, have responded to these views by criticizing what they say is prejudice toward Islam. Others, like academic Olsi Jazexhi, have added that contemporary Albanian politicians akin to the Communists perceive "Modernisation" to mean "De-Islamisation", making Muslim Albanians feel alienated from their Muslim traditions instead of celebrating them and embracing their Ottoman heritage. These views, however, are rare and often depicted as extremist in Albanian society.

Other debates, often in the media and occasionally heated, have been about public displays of Muslim practices, mosque construction in Albania, or local and international violent incidents and their relationship to Islam. Issues have also arisen over school textbooks and their inaccurate references of Islam such as describing Muhammad as God's "son", while other matters have been concerns over administrative delays for mosque construction and so on. Catholic and Orthodox Albanians hold concerns that any possible unification of Balkan areas populated by sizable numbers of Albanian Muslims to the country would lead to an increasing "Muslimization" of Albania. Muslim Albanians deemphasize the (Christian) religious heritage of two famous Albanian figures by viewing Skanderbeg as a defender of the nation, while Mother Teresa is acknowledged for her charitable works and both individuals are promoted as Albanian symbols of Europe and the West.

Discrimination
The school curriculum of Shkodra in northern Albania was criticized for diminishing the role of Muslims in the history of Albania. For example, "out of over 30 famous writers, historical gures, actors named in [a] textbook, there is only one Muslim in the entire list." Similarly, in 2014, Professor of Sociology at the University of Tirana Enis Sulstarova performed a comparative study of school textbooks finding that tenets of the Christian faith were often presented as a historical fact, while aspects of the Muslim faith were rendered a 'superstition.' The Deputy Chairman of the Albanian Muslim Community has accused the media in Albania of anti-Muslim bias, frequently calling individuals arrested as 'jihadists' and 'terrorists' before they have been sentenced and perpetuating a "clash of civilizations" narrative between Muslim Albanians and the rest of Europe. Legal experts noted a "violation of legal procedures, and the application of psychological pressure on [detainees] and family members with medical conditions" following the arrests of 150 people suspected of perpetrating the 2016 Balkans terrorism plot. The majority of those arrested had no connection to the incident and were promptly released, but authorities at the time "did not present arrest warrants" and questioned suspects without the presence of an attorney. On 7 August 2016, a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf was beaten on a bus and called a "terrorist."

Religious establishment views of Islam in Albania
The official religious Christian and Muslim establishments and their clergy hold diverging views of the Ottoman period and conversion of Islam by Albanians. Both Catholic and the Orthodox clergy interpret the Ottoman era as a repressive one that contained anti-Christian discrimination and violence, while Islam is viewed as foreign challenging Albanian tradition and cohesion. The conversion to Islam by Albanians is viewed by both Catholic and Orthodox clergy as falsification of Albanian identity, though Albanian Muslims are interpreted as innocent victims of Islamisation. Albanian Sunni Muslim clergy however views the conversion of Albanians as a voluntary process, while sidelining religious controversies associated with the Ottoman era. Sufi Islam in Albania interprets the Ottoman era as promoting a distorted form of Islam that was corrupted within a Sunni Ottoman polity that persecuted them. Christian clergy consider Muslim Albanians as part of the wider Albanian nation and Muslim clergy do not express derision to people who did not become Muslim in Albania. Christian identities in Albania have been forged on being in a minority position, at times with experiences of discrimination they have had historically in relation to the Muslim majority. Meanwhile, Muslim clergy in Albania highlight the change of fortune the demise of the Ottoman Empire brought with the political empowerment of Balkan Christians making Muslims a religious minority in contemporary times within the Balkans.

Conservative Islam and Muslim fundamentalism
The Muslim Albanian community has also contended with increasing numbers of Christian charities and missionaries proselytizing (especially those of the Orthodox working often in tandem with official Greek policies) which has made a part of the Sunni Albanian leadership become more assertive and calling for Islam to be declared the official religion of Albania. These calls within the scope of political Islam have greatly waned after non-Muslim Albanians objected to those suggestions. The Muslim Community of Albania opposes the legalisation of same-sex marriages for LGBT communities in Albania, as do the Orthodox and Catholic Church leaders of the country too. Muslim fundamentalism has though become a concern for Albania and its backers amongst the international community. In the 1990s, small groups of militant Muslims took advantage of dysfunctional government, porous borders, corruption, weak laws and illegal activities occurring during Albania's transition to democracy. These Muslim militants used Albania as a base for money laundering and as a transit route into the West with at times the assistance of corrupt government employees. There were claims by critics of the Albanian government that high-profile militants like Osama bin Laden passed through Albania while president Sali Berisha and head of Albanian intelligence Bashkim Gazidede had knowledge and assisted militants, though no credible evidence has emerged. Salafi and Wahhabi forms of Islam have also entered Albania and adherents have come mainly from among the young. As of March 2016, some 100 or so Albanians so far have left Albania to become foreign fighters by joining various fundamentalist Salafi jihadist groups involved in the ongoing civil wars of Syria and Iraq; 18 have died. In response to these events the Albanian government has cracked down with arrests of people associated with the few mosques suspected of radicalisation and recruitment.

Islam and Albanian geopolitical orientation
With the collapse of the isolationist communist regime, Albania's geopolitical orientation between West and East and the role of Christianity and Islam became debated among Albanian intellectuals and its politicians. Within the context of nationalist discourses during the 1990s the governing Albanian Democratic Party regarding European aspirations stressed aspects of Catholicism and as some government members were Muslims made overtures to Islam to join international organisations like the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In 1992 Albania became the only entirely European member of the OIC, generating intense controversy within Albania due to concerns that Albania might deviate from a secular and Western-aligned political direction. The Albanian government viewed membership in the OIC as being a bridge between the Muslim-Christian worlds and also as having a "civilising mission" role within the Islamic world due to the Western orientation of Albania. The government of Sali Berisha in the 1990s generated a Muslim network in Albania which was dismantled by Socialist Party (organizational heirs of the ultra-secularist Communists) when it came to power in 1997. By 1998–99 Albania's OIC membership was suspended and temporarily withdrawn by prime-minister Fatos Nano who viewed it as inhibiting Albania's European aspirations. In the post communist period different socio-political reactions have occurred by regional neighbours and international powers toward Albania and Muslim Albanians. For example, in the 1990s, Greece preferred and assisted Orthodox Albanian leaders like Fatos Nano in Albania over Muslim Albanian ones like Sali Berisha as they were seen as being friendlier to Greek interests. During the Kosovo crisis (1998–1999), the Albanian political establishment was concerned with Western public opinion viewing Albanians as "Islamic" due to Serbian government claims portraying the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as interested in creating a Balkan Islamic state.

In a post-communist environment, Albania emerged as being generally supportive of the US. During the Kosovo War (1999) and ethnic cleansing of mostly Muslim Albanians by Orthodox Serbs alongside the subsequent refugee influx into the country, Albania's status as an ally of the US was confirmed. Support for the USA has remained high at 95% in Muslim majority Albania in contrast to the rest of the Islamic world. Albania joined the NATO military alliance in 2009 which remains popular in the country especially due to its intervention in the Kosovo war and Albania has contributed troops to NATO led operations in Afghanistan. Within the wider Balkans Albania is considered to be the most pro-EU and pro-Western country in the region and, unlike its neighbours (except Kosovo), it has little to negligible support for Russia. Albania is an aspirant for European Union membership after formally submitting its application to join in 2009. Sentiments among the EU exist of viewing Albania as a mainly Muslim country cause concerns for the Albanian political establishment who promote an image of Western orientation for Euro-Atlantic integration, especially when overt displays of Muslim practice arise such as dress or rituals. State relations of Albania with Turkey are friendly and close, due to maintenance of close links with the Albanian diaspora in Turkey and strong Turkish sociopolitical, cultural, economic and military ties with Albania. Turkey has been supportive of Albanian geopolitical interests within the Balkans. In Gallup polls conducted in recent times Turkey is viewed as a friendly country by 73% of people in Albania. Albania has established political and economic ties with Arab countries, in particular with Arab Persian Gulf states who have heavily invested in religious, transport and other infrastructure alongside other facets of the economy in addition to the somewhat limited societal links they share. Albania is also working to develop socio-political and economic ties with Israel.

title: Islam in Albania


text:
Hesters Way

Cheltenham West is an area in the western part of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. It is the generic name for an area which includes the council wards of Hesters Way, Springbank, Arle, Rowanfield, Alstone, Fiddlers Green, St Mark's and some of St Peter's and the Moors.

This area has a population of about 30,000 and includes large amounts of social housing.

Retail
Coronation Square shopping centre is at the centre of Cheltenham West and includes supermarkets, an optician, a dental practice, charity shops, betting shops and a variety of fast food outlets. After a number of years of decline, a regeneration programme for the shopping centre was started in 2013. More recent signs of new life include the opening of the Cheltenham Science Centre and innovative new business Create on the Square. There is also a public library with a GrowthHub satellite business hub.

History
Much of the area was originally built as a Wimpey no-fines council area in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a national initiative to increase housing post WW2. The houses provided accommodation for a variety of people, including those working for GCHQ, which arrived in 1952, and local engineering companies. Changes that took place over the following thirty years adversely affected the area and reflected changes in society in general. Owner occupation, structural changes in the economy and the make up of the housing stock and subsequent housing allocations led to a concentration of relative poverty in this area of predominantly social housing.

The earliest use of the term “Cheltenham West” to describe the area was around 2016, when local volunteers established the Cheltenham West community website and newsletter. Prior to that, the area was often referred to as Hesters Way or West Cheltenham, both titles being geographically inaccurate, but also carrying the negative image historically associated with them.

Regeneration
Cheltenham West wards, particularly Hesters Way, have been the focus of regeneration since the 1990s, with projects like the Hesters Way Neighbourhood Project establishing resource and community centres.

In 2017, Cheltenham Borough Council and Cheltenham Borough Homes instigated a joint “Cheltenham West Vision” listening project. Local residents were invited to give their views on a new vision for the area. The Vision also consolidated the designation of “Cheltenham West” to describe the area.

In addition, several new private housing developments have been completed. The largest of these being on the site vacated by GCHQ, when it moved to its new site, also located in Hesters Way.

India and Pakistan House
India and Pakistan House were built February 1959: Two eight-storey blocks of flats approved for Hester's Way providing 78 homes. They were heralded as monuments to modern architecture.

1960: The first residents move in.

July 1984: Cheltenham Borough Council carries out £100,000 of repairs to the outer cladding.

November 1989: India House residents complain lifts have been out of action for two weeks.

January 1993: More than 100 residents are evacuated after fire breaks out in Pakistan House.

December 1993: Tenants say the reputation of the flats has been tarred by vandalism, muggings and fears of fire.

July 2004: Council leaders vote to demolish India and Pakistan House.

November 2004: Fire breaks out in India House. The council unveils plans to turn the flats into bed and breakfast accommodation.

September 2005: The flats feature in two episodes of BBC1 drama Casualty.

January 2006: The flats are earmarked for demolition

Overall the blocks of flats were demolished due to the high crime and low maintenance of the blocks. The demolition of several blocks of council flats (most recently Pakistan House and India House) which were derelict and deemed an eyesore. They are systematically being replaced by a mix of private and housing association houses and flats.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Hesters Way


text:
Martin Gouge

Martin Gouge (c. 1360 – 25 November 1444), surnamed De Charpaigne, was a French chancellor.

He was born at Bourges about 1360. A canon of Bourges, in 1402 he became treasurer to John, duke of Berry, and in 1406 bishop of Chartres. He was arrested by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, with the hapless Jean de Montaigu (1349-1409) in 1409, but was soon released and then banished. Attaching himself to Louis, the Dauphin of France, he became his chancellor, the king's ambassador in Brittany, and a member of the grand council; and on 13 May 1415 he was transferred from the see of Chartres to the see of Clermont-Ferrand.

In May 1418, when the Burgundians re-entered Paris, he only escaped death at their hands by taking refuge in the Bastille. He then left Paris, but only to fall into the hands of his enemy, the Georges de la Trémoille, who imprisoned him in the castle of Sully. Rescued by the dauphin Charles, he was appointed chancellor of France on 3 February 1422.

He endeavoured to reconcile Burgundy and France, was a party to the selection of Arthur, earl of Richmond, as constable, but had to resign his chancellorship in favour of Regnault of Chartres; first from 25 March to 6 August 1425, and again when La Trémoille had supplanted Richmond. After the fall of La Trémoille in 1433 he returned to court, and exercised a powerful influence over affairs of state almost till his death, which took place at the castle of Beaulieu (Puy-de-Dôme) on 25 or 26 November 1444.

title: Martin Gouge


text:
CHAS-FM

CHAS-FM (100.5 MHz) is a radio station licensed to and serving Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Owned and operated by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media, the station broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format branded as Kiss 100.5.

History
The station was originally launched by Highland Broadcasting on May 15, 1964 as CJIC-FM, a sister station to CJIC and CJIC-TV. In 1976, the stations briefly became the property of Huron Broadcasting, retained the television station but sold the radio stations to Gilder Broadcasting under concentration of media ownership rules. With the TV and radio stations no longer having common ownership, the radio stations adopted the new callsigns and signed on as CFYN (for the AM station) and CHAS on February 1, 1977.

The original on air schedule of CHAS included Berg Neuman from 6:00 - 10:00 a.m., CBC Radio's Morningside from 10:00 a.m. - noon, Brian W. Martin from noon - 2:00 p.m., Fred Edwards from 2:00 - 6:00 p.m., Tony Marziale from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m., CBC Radio's The World at Ten and Mostly Music from 10:00 p.m. - midnight and "The Incredible Rod Wayne" from midnight – 6:00 a.m. The station dropped its CBC programming after CBSM was launched in 1981.

In 1985, CFYN and CHAS were sold to Telemedia. Telemedia refined the "Beautiful Music" format of CHAS, incorporating elements of the "Music of Your Life" format to create a hybrid that was targeted mainly at the 45 plus listener.

As the influence of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan's WYSS attracted more of the Ontario audience, pressure to follow suit grew. CHAS evolved to a younger sound, moving the format to adult contemporary and adopting Lite 100.5 as the station's branding, later changing to Mix 100.

By the early 1990s, the Sault Ste. Marie area's economic circumstances combined with diminishing audiences on both of the city's Canadian commercial AM stations severely curtailed the profitability of Telemedia's Soo radio operations, prompting Telemedia to enter into a local management agreement (LMA) with Pelmorex, retaining ownership of CHAS but giving Pelmorex the management rights; the companies' Sault AM signals (Telemedia's CFYN and Pelmorex's CKCY) would be turned off as part of the deal. The arrangement, one of the first LMAs in the Canadian radio industry, took effect on August 31, 1992, with CHAS moving into CJQM-FM's studios at 642 Great Northern Road, where the two stations remain to this day. The deal also saw all but 3 CHAS staffers being laid off: Marlene Yanni would stay on as sales representative, while James Warner-Smith would become program director; Gino Cavallo was offered the news/sports director position, but instead accepted a public relations and play-by-play position with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds hockey club. Several former CKCY staffers would join CHAS, including Frank Raven, Scott Turnbull, the late John Campbell, John Murtha, the late Mitch Drolet and Dan Bonk.

CHAS continued to broadcast for the next seven years as "Mix 100". Among the benchmarks of that time for the station, were reaching a weekly audience of 30,000 listeners and negotiating the broadcast rights for all Greyhounds home and away games away from the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan-based WKNW. In 1999, Telemedia bought CJQM from Pelmorex, assuming full control of both CJQM and CHAS. At this point, CHAS and 3 other Telemedia-owned stations in Northern Ontario adopted the "EZ Rock" format and branding patterned after Standard Broadcasting's CJEZ-FM in Toronto. Standard Broadcasting would acquire several Telemedia-owned stations in 2002; CHAS and CJQM were among those stations, but they would be sold to Rogers Radio almost immediately.

On July 4, 2011, CHAS altered its musical format, keeping the "EZ Rock" branding but presenting a more contemporary version of its AC Mainstream Plus blend. With this shift, the station cancelled 'The 80's Lunch program and Sunday at the '70s. Solid Gold Saturday Night was replaced by The Saturday Night Show, a program featuring music from the 1970s to present. Scott Turnbull remains as host. The station also adopted a new logo as well as the positioning statement "Today's Best Music". CHAS, as noted above, was one of four EZ Rock-branded stations owned and operated by Rogers Media, all of which are located in Northern Ontario (the others being CKGB-FM Timmins, CHUR-FM North Bay, and CJMX-FM Sudbury). With the June 2013 acquisition by Bell Media Radio of Astral Media, which owned the "EZ Rock" trademark in Canada, Rogers would seek new branding for all 4 of its EZ Rock stations; on August 29, 2013, CHAS and its "EZ Rock" stations all adopted the "Kiss" branding, with no other discernible on-air changes.

As of the fall of 2019, CHAS-FM and the other "KISS" stations had returned to a mainstream adult contemporary direction with a playlist spanning the 1980s to today's hits.

In 2020, CHAS changed its moniker to "The New KiSS 100.5", but kept the same slogan and format. The station began carrying the Roz and Mocha Show from CKIS-FM Toronto which also airs on other Rogers-owned "Kiss" stations across Canada.

title: CHAS-FM


text:
User:Johntex

Johntex\talk

Where to find me
I have a variety of interests on Wikipedia, including:
 * Creating/improving articles related to Texas, History, Science, Geography and College football.
 * Working on the Texas Portal, Texas Wiki Project and the Texan Collaboration of the Month.
 * Working on the new UT Wiki Project and the new UT Portal
 * Working on the new Indigenous people Wiki Project and Portal.
 * Also WikiProject Military history, WikiProject Ships, WikiProject Oklahoma, Portal:Oklahoma, Portal:Scouting, WikiProject Scouting
 * And of course WikiProject College football and College football portal
 * WikiProject Fact and Reference Check and WikiProject Moving free images to Wikimedia Commons
 * Greeting new users with a message.
 * Patrolling Special:Newpages for articles that need to be improved or deleted
 * Voting on Articles_for_deletion
 * Contributing to policy discussions
 * Answering questions at Help:Contents
 * Following the wiki trail to related articles, like Hipparchus to Farnese Atlas to Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli to Atlas (cartography) to Atlas (mythology)...
 * Improving any article linked from the front page, since these reach the most people we want them to be good!
 * Clicking the Special:Random feature for a new article to learn about and hopefully improve!

Contributions table
This is an experiment with listing some of my contributions in a sortable table. I have edited thousands of articles, so this is just a sample.

I am listed at List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations for the successful nomination of Baby Gender Mentor and 2005 Texas Longhorn [[2005 Texas Longhorn football team to FA status.

Notes:

A few more contributions: 2007 Fiesta Bowl - 2007 Sugar Bowl -   50-Miler Award -   Boy Scouts of America -  Cedric Griffin, DYK 2006 May 1. - Cichlid -  Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark -   Crystal Gail Mangum -   Culture of Egypt  -   Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium  -   Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans -   Farnese Atlas -  Fernando Jara -  Gourd Dance, featured in "Did You Know" on the Wikipedia Main Page on 2006 February 14. - Gustav Klimt  -   Hook 'em Horns  -   Houston Chronicle -   Jamarat Bridge -  Jazil -  JetBlue Airways Flight 292  -  John Kerry  -  Lolicon  -   Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (where else can you find Lolicon next to the Lutheran Church?) -   Mack Brown –  Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin,  featured in "Did You Know" on the Wikipedia Main Page on 2006 January 20. - Michel Rodange -    Mustelus hacat -   NASA -   Opie Otterstad -   Philmont Scout Ranch  - Product Placement -  Ramonce Taylor  -      Rénert the Fox  -   Rockall  -  SS Nicaragua  -  SS Petersburg (T-AOT-9101)  -  Stardust (spacecraft)  -  Stratellite -   Texas Exes -  Texas longhorn (the large mammal) -   Texas Longhorns  (the sports teams) – Texas Longhorns football  -     Texas Tech Red Raiders  -   The University of Texas Longhorn Band -   USS Texas (BB-35) -  Vailulu'u  -   Vince Young  -   World Crest

Photos I have uploaded
Please see the Image Gallery

Milestones in Edit Count

 * 12 December 2004 - made my first edit
 * Sometime in 2005 - passed Jimbo Wales in editcount. :-)
 * 28 September 2005 - reached 2001 Total edits
 * 5 October 2005 - reached 1,006 distinct pages edited (approximately 2.23 edits / page)
 * 10 October 2005 - branching out a little, made my first edit to WikiTravel.
 * 15 October 2005 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at
 * Main Article Space - #1642 with 1557 edits
 * All namespaces - #1435 with 2438 edits

 * 21 October 2005 - passed 2500 Total edits
 * 15 January 2006 - passed 3500 Total edits
 * 11 February 2006 - passed 4000 Total edits
 * 12 February 2006 - passed 4100 Total edits
 * 2 March 2006 - passed 4500 Total edits
 * 11 March 2006 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at
 * Main Article Space - #1699 with 2253 edits
 * All namespaces - #1219 with 4904 edits

 * 15 March 2006 - passed 5000 Total edits
 * 16 March 2006 - passed 5100 Total edits
 * 17 March 2006 - passed 5200 Total edits
 * 19 March 2006 - passed 5300 Total edits
 * March 2006 - the first time I ever had >1,000 edits in one month, also the first month > 2,000 edits
 * 20 March 2006 - passed 5400 Total edits
 * 29 March 2006 - passed 6000 Total edits
 * 30 March 2006 - passed 6200 Total edits
 * 2 May 2006 - passed 7100 Total edits
 * 16 June 2006 - created my first page on the Portuguese Wikipedia.
 * 27 June 2006 - passed 8300 Total edits
 * 12 July 2006 - passed 9000 Total edits
 * 4 August 2006 - passed 10,000 Total edits
 * 23 September 2006 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 798.
 * 10 October 2006 - passed 11,000 Total edits
 * 4 November 2006 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 779.
 * 30 November 2006 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 790.
 * 12 December 2006 - my second anniversary - 12,555 Total edits on the English Wikipedia.
 * 9 February 2007 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 710 with 13,967 edits.
 * 18 March 2007 - passed 15,000 edits.
 * 18 April 2007 - passed 16,000 edits.
 * 2 August 2007 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 756 with 16,663 edits.
 * 20 August 2007 - passed 17,000 edits.
 * 12 September 2007 -now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 715 with 18,097 edits.
 * 1 November 2007 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 694 with 19,356 edits.
 * 12 March2008 - passed 20,200 edits.
 * 18 November 2008 - now listed in the List of Wikipedians by number of edits at number 993 with 21,033 edits.
 * Edit counts aren't everything, but for what it is worth, here is the current
 * If that edit counter is broken for en.wiki, you can use this one instead.

Resources
Here are some of my favorite Resources for editing Wikipedia.

Useful quote: "...as a general rule, I think that almost any argument, on any topic, which has premises beginning with 'Jimbo said...' is a pretty weak argument. Surely the merits of the proposal should be primary, not what I happen to think.' - Jimbo Wales"

title: User:Johntex


text:
User:Alangh

Being a self-proclaimed know-it-all, it makes natural sense to participate in adding to the Wikipedia project.

By day, I am VP of Technology at Unishippers, and by night I am a contributor to several Open Source Projects including Fire and Adium (both of which are Instant Messaging clients for Mac OS X).

The fascination with creating free software started in 1990 as I made my first public patches to OSF/Motif and TWM. Soon after, I released a network savvy enhancement to the Calendar Manager for SunOS.

Lest it be inferred that I am completely altruistic in my development efforts, be it known that my desire to eat has driven me to the Capitalist pursuits of employment in the Software Industry. I have worked for such companies as Amdahl, Novell and Citrix as well as several other smaller companies in the technology industry.

When dealing with computers or playing WoW wears too heavily on my senses, I have been known to spend time with my wife & kids as well as acting in local theater and film productions.

title: User:Alangh


text:
CHUR-FM

CHUR-FM (100.5 MHz) is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format in North Bay, Ontario. The station uses the on-air brand KiSS 100.5.

History
The station was launched in 1984 by Gateway City Broadcasting, at 1110 AM. It was subsequently acquired in 1985 by Mid-Canada Radio, who also changed the station's frequency to 840. In 1990, the station was acquired by the Pelmorex Radio Network.

Pelmorex converted the station to FM in 1994, and sold it to Telemedia in 1999. Under Telemedia's ownership, the station adopted the "EZ Rock" brand.

In 2002, Telemedia was acquired by Standard Broadcasting, and CHUR was one of the stations sold by Standard to Rogers Radio.

In July 2010, the station altered its musical format to present a more contemporary version of its AC Mainstream Plus blend more in line with the Hot AC version of American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. With this shift, the station cancelled The 80's Lunch program and Sunday at the 70's. Solid Gold Saturday Night was replaced by AT40. In July 2011, the station adopted a new logo as well as the slogan "Today's Best Music".

By January 2012, more hot adult contemporary and rhythmic contemporary hits were added to the playlist. The station also unveiled the HitStorm countdown, based out of Toronto's CKIS-FM. In March 2012, all of the Rogers-owned "EZ Rock" stations in Northern Ontario started to air the Top 20 Most Wanted, a countdown show produced by CJMX-FM in Sudbury. By June 2012, the station dropped the entire 1980s library and most pre-2000 music from its playlist, making it one of the few AC stations to not follow the adult contemporary pattern.

CHUR was one of four EZ Rock-branded stations owned and operated by Rogers Media, all of which are located in Northern Ontario (the others being CJMX-FM Sudbury, CHAS-FM Sault Ste. Marie, and CKGB-FM Timmins). On August 29, 2013, all four "EZ Rock" stations rebranded to "Kiss", discarding the "EZ Rock" branding now owned by Bell Media Radio.

In 2020, CHUR changed its moniker to "The New KiSS 100.5", but kept the same slogan and format. The station began carrying the Roz and Mocha Show from CKIS-FM Toronto which also airs on other Rogers-owned "Kiss" stations across Canada.

title: CHUR-FM


text:
Wise Men of Gotham

Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to an incident where they supposedly feigned idiocy to avoid a Royal visit.

Legend
The story goes that King John intended to travel through the neighbourhood. At that time in England, any road the king travelled on had to be made a public highway, but the people of Gotham did not want a public highway through their village. The villagers feigned imbecility when the royal messengers arrived. Wherever the messengers went, they saw the rustics engaged in some absurd task. Based on this report, John determined to have his hunting lodge elsewhere, and the wise men boasted, "We ween there are more fools pass through Gotham than remain in it."

According to the 1874 edition of Blount's Tenures of Land, King John's messengers "found some of the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a pool of water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn, to shade the wood from the sun; others were tumbling their cheeses down a hill, that they might find their way to Nottingham for sale; and some were employed in hedging in a cuckoo which had perched upon an old bush which stood where the present one now stands; in short, they were all employed in some foolish way or other which convinced the king's servants that it was a village of fools, whence arose the old adage, "the wise men of Gotham" or "the fools of Gotham".

The Towneley Mysteries mentioned the "foles of Gotham" as early as the fifteenth century, and a collection of their jests was published in the sixteenth century under the title Merrie Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham, gathered together by A.B. of Phisicke Doctour. The "A.B." was supposed to represent Andrew Borde or Boorde (1490?–1549), famous among other things for his wit, but he probably had nothing to do with the compilation.

Similar stories
The localizing of fools is common to most countries, and folklorists have a special term for this genre: blason populaire. There are many other reputed imbecile centres in England besides Gotham. Thus there are the people of Coggeshall, Essex; the "carles" of Austwick, Yorkshire; the "gowks" of Gordon, Berwickshire; and for many centuries the charge of folly has been made against silly Suffolk and Norfolk (Descriptio Norfolciensium about twelfth century, printed in Wright's Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems).

In Germany there are the "Schildbürger", from the town of Schilda; in the Netherlands, the people of Kampen; in Bohemia, the people of Kocourkov; and in Moravia the people of Šimperk. There are also the Swedish Täljetokar from Södertälje and Kälkborgare from Kälkestad, and the Danish tell tales of the foolish inhabitants of Mols, while the Finnish talk of the Hölmöläiset and the Bembölebor. In Romania, Caracal is known as the place where "the cart of fools tipped over". Among the ancient Greeks Boeotia and Cyme were the homes of fools; among the Thracians, Abdera; among the ancient Jews, Nazareth; among modern Jews (those in Europe anyway), Chełm; among the ancient Anatolians, Phrygia.

Nursery rhyme
The Wise Men of Gotham are recalled in a popular nursery rhyme with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19695, an adaptation of the tale Three Sailors of Gotham. The lyrics are:

Three wise men of Gotham, They went to sea in a bowl, And if the bowl had been stronger My song would have been longer.

The rhyme was first recorded in Mother Goose's Melody published around 1765, and from then appeared in many collections.

Legacy
In Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man (1791) Paine asserts that Edmund Burke “puts the nation as fools on one side, and places his government of wisdom, all wise men of Gotham, on the other side.”

Reminded of the foolish ingenuity of Gotham's residents, Washington Irving gave the name "Gotham" to New York City in his Salmagundi Papers (1807).

There is a passing reference to the wise men of Gotham in Lorna Doone (1869).

The most notable use of the name Gotham in popular culture was by Bill Finger in naming the home of Batman, Gotham City. In a story titled "Cityscape" in Batman Chronicles #6 (1996) it is revealed that Gotham was initially built for the purpose of housing the criminally insane, and Robin reads a journal that tells of how Gotham got its name: "I even have a name for it. We could call it 'Gotham' after a village in England – where, according to common belief, all are bereft of their wits." In DC Comics' The Batman of Arkham (2000) the Joker recites the "Wise Men of Gotham" rhyme specifically. The existence of Gotham, Nottinghamshire in the DC Universe was acknowledged in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #206 (2006), and again in 52 #27 (2007), although the connection between two names within the DCU has not been fully explained.

Responding to the connection between Gotham, Nottinghamshire and the name Gotham for New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York, wrote that it was "a pleasure to have this opportunity to acknowledge the cultural and historical link" between the two places.

title: Wise Men of Gotham


text:
User:Serapio

I am a computational/quantitative linguist, working as an NLP engineer at a large tech company.

Wikiprojects of interest to me
WikiProject Physics WikiProject Mathematics WikiProject History WikiProject Latin America countries

Pages of major contributions

 * Penny press
 * David Awschalom
 * ID/LP grammar
 * George Frederick Wright
 * Demographics of Colombia
 * James Orr (theologian)
 * Li Cheng

title: User:Serapio


text:
CJMX-FM

CJMX-FM (105.3 MHz) is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format in Sudbury, Ontario. The station uses the on-air brand KiSS 105.3. The station is owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media.

History
On April 12, 1979, the CRTC approved an application by the Sudbury Broadcasting Company Limited to operate a new English language FM radio station at Sudbury, Ontario on the frequency 105.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts.

CJMX was established on October 13, 1980 by F. Baxter Ricard and Alma Ricard, the owners of Sudbury's CHNO and CFBR. CJMX's studios were located in the old King George School building at 295 Victoria Street until 1997. Its transmitter site was shared with CICI-TV and CIGM-FM near Huron Street in Sudbury.

In the 1980s the station was branded as CJMX Stereo 105 and FM 105 CJMX. The stations became part of Mid-Canada Radio in 1985, and were then sold to the Pelmorex Radio Network in 1990. Pelmorex's ownership of the stations was controversial, as most of their programming was delivered by satellite from a facility in Mississauga. Under Pelmorex's ownership, the station was branded as Mix 105, and aired a more hot adult contemporary format.

After a change in CRTC media ownership rules, Pelmorex sold CJMX to Telemedia, the owner of CJRQ and CIGM, in 1998. In late April 1999, shortly after the Telemedia purchase was finalized, CJMX dropped its hot AC format in favour of a soft AC format with the "EZ Rock" branding and moved from the 493B Barrydowne studios to 880 LaSalle Boulevard Telemedia studios to join with sister stations CIGM and CJRQ-FM. Prior to the change to "EZ Rock", CJMX aired the syndicated countdown show Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 on Saturday afternoons from June 1998, until its last airing on February 13, 1999. The station had also aired satellite programming by Pelmorex radio. Pelmorex subsequently sold its other stations (CHNO and CHYC) in Sudbury to Haliburton Broadcasting Group.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, CJMX overtook former ratings leader CJRQ in the market, based in part on actively promoting itself as a station suitable for workplace listening. In 2006, however, it lost that status to a resurgent CHNO after the latter station flipped to an adult hits format. Telemedia was acquired by Standard Broadcasting in 2002, but Standard sold the "EZ Rock" stations in Northern Ontario to Rogers before the main acquisition had closed and received regulatory approval.

Under Rogers ownership in 2002, the station laid off several employees, including Dave Lindsay, afternoon drive time disc jockey and president of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 725-M, which represented staff at CJMX and CHNO. Lindsay was replaced in the shift by program director Mike Allard. It was alleged in the press that Lindsay may have been targeted as a union leader, and the layoff was contested; eventually, Lindsay returned to the afternoon shift.

In late October 2004, a fire damaged a transmission line at the transmitter that knocked CJMX off the air for 25 hours. A replacement antenna was brought in from Thunder Bay to get the station back on the air. The station went back to its regular 100 kW power months after the fire.

In 2009, CJMX's sister station CIGM was sold to Newcap Broadcasting, then moved to the FM dial in August that same year.

In July 2011, the station altered its musical format to present a more contemporary version of its AC Mainstream Plus blend. With this shift, the station cancelled The 80's Lunch program and Sunday at the 70's. Solid Gold Saturday Night was replaced by The Saturday Night Show, a program featuring music from the 70s to present. Scott Turnbull remains as host. The station also adopted a new logo as well as the positioning statement "Today's Best Music".

By January 2012, more hot adult contemporary and rhythmic contemporary hits were added to the playlist; however, the station is still a Canadian adult contemporary reporter per Mediabase & Nielsen BDS. This was in order to compete up against CHR/Top 40 station CIGM-FM and lessen the competition with Newcap Broadcasting classic hits station CHNO-FM. The station also unveiled the HitStorm countdown, based out of Toronto's CKIS-FM. In addition, most of the 80s hits were reduced, all pre-1979 hits faded and has also retained the "EZ Rock" branding. By June 2012, the station dropped the entire 80s library and most of pre-2000 music from its playlist, making it one of the few AC stations to not follow the adult contemporary pattern. On June 27, 2012, the station was moved to the Nielsen BDS Canadian hot AC panel, but Mediabase still reported the station on the Canadian AC panel (until July 20, 2012) and per parent Rogers Radio & RadioStationWorld.com, still describes the station as an AC. Rival CHYC-FM airs a French hot AC format with some English hits mixed in.

On August 7, 2012, Rogers received approval to change the authorized contours of the radio programming undertakings CJRQ-FM and CJMX Sudbury, in order to change the polarization of CJRQ's antenna, and to increase CJMX's effective height of antenna above average terrain from 227.5 to 285 metres.

CJMX was one of four "EZ Rock" stations owned and operated by Rogers Media, all of which are located in Northern Ontario (the others being CKGB-FM Timmins, CHUR-FM North Bay, and CHAS-FM Sault Ste. Marie). On August 29, 2013, all of the "EZ Rock" stations were rebranded to "Kiss", discarding the "EZ Rock" branding owned by Bell Media.

On May 24, 2015, Rich Griffin, the morning host on CJMX died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 52. Griffin recently celebrated 14 years as a morning show host for CJMX in April. A moment of silence was held on all Sudbury radio stations at 9:00am EDT, May 25, 2015.

title: CJMX-FM


text:
CKGB-FM

CKGB-FM (99.3 MHz) is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts a hot adult contemporary format in Timmins, Ontario. The station uses the on-air brand KiSS 99.3 and is owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media.

History
The station was launched in late 1933 by young Northern Ontario media entrepreneur Roy Thomson, who would later become the owner of The Times of London. Thomson acquired the Timmins Daily Press in 1934, and the newspaper and radio station shared a building and ownership for many years. In the 1940s and 1950s, CKGB was operating on 94.5 FM as CKRT-FM, until it was shut down. The station broadcast on AM from its inception, periodically changing frequencies until its last AM home at 750 in 1984, and adopting a country format in 1990. Coincidentally, Thompson hired Jack Kent Cooke to be a sales rep in the hungry 1930s. He went on to own the Los Angeles Kings hockey franchise. The station was an affiliate of CBC Radio's Trans-Canada Network until 1962 and then the CBC Radio network. In 1984, CKGB was authorized to drop its CBC affiliation as network service was now available in the area from CBC-owned CBCJ-FM.

In 2001, the station received CRTC approval to move to the FM dial, retaining its legendary call letters as CKGB-FM but taking on the "EZ Rock" brand and adult contemporary format, giving the small Timmins radio market its first direct competition, as the Haliburton Broadcasting Group-owned CHMT-FM had launched as AC/CHR hybrid just a few months before. Less than a year after EZ Rock's Timmins launch, CHMT flipped to fill the void in country radio as Moose FM.

In July 2011, the station altered its musical format to present a more contemporary version of its AC Mainstream Plus blend. With this shift, the station cancelled The '80s Lunch program and Sunday at the '70s Solid Gold Saturday Night was replaced by The Saturday Night Show, a program featuring music from the 1970s to present. Scott Turnbull remains as host. The station also adopted a new logo as well as the positioning statement, "Today's Best Music".

CKGB was one of four EZ Rock-branded stations owned and operated by Rogers Media, all of which are located in Northern Ontario (the others being CJMX-FM Sudbury, CHUR-FM North Bay, and CHAS-FM Sault Ste. Marie); as of July 2013, Rogers is in the process of rebranding all 4 stations, and is entertaining listener input through surveys on the stations' websites and through social media. On August 29, 2013, all "EZ Rock" stations rebranded to "Kiss", discarding the "EZ Rock" branding now owned by Bell Media.

In 2020, CKGB changed its moniker to "The New KiSS 99.3", but kept the same slogan and format. The station began carrying the Roz and Mocha Show from CKIS-FM Toronto which also airs on other Rogers-owned "Kiss" stations across Canada.

Contributions to Canadian Music
Canadian country musician Stompin' Tom Connors recorded his first 45-RPM singles at the CKGB radio station in the mid-1960s. They were pressed by Quality Records in Toronto, and paid for (and sold) by Tom personally. Each of these singles features the CKGB logo.

title: CKGB-FM


text:
Cleostratus (crater)

Cleostratus is a lunar impact crater near the northwest limb of the Moon. It lies to the northeast of the crater Xenophanes, and west-southwest of the prominent Pythagoras. From the Earth this crater appears highly elongated due to foreshortening.

The rim of this crater has become soft-shouldered due to steady impact erosion, and the formation is now just a depression in the surface surrounded by an eroded rise. A pair of small craters lie across the southwest rim, forming part of a short chain of craters leading to the west. Along the crest of the southern rim is a linear ridge. The satellite crater Cleostratus E is attached to the northwest rim, and intrudes slightly into the inner wall. The interior floor of this crater is flat and nearly featureless, having only a few tiny craterlets marking the surface.

Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Cleostratus.

title: Cleostratus (crater)