Lazo Nestori from Albania: Being Bulgarian is a source of pride and a great name!

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

Team of Radio Bulgaria is visiting the Bulgarians in Albania

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

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

Over 7 thousand Bulgarians live in Albania

The entrance to the village of Vrabnik with the newly asphalted road

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

"Many emissaries from neighboring countries came to our region, claiming that they would help us, they would do this, they would do that, they said they would do everything for Vrabnik. But only Bulgaria made a concrete contribution. With Bulgarian funds, the road to Vrabnik was asphalted not long ago and now it is much easier for everyone to go to the village, repair their houses and have a more normal life."

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

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

In response to our question how far his family's Bulgarian roots extend, Lazo Nestori tells us that he has relatives in Sofia and Plovdiv. The son and daughter of the writer Boncho Nestorov live in Sofia, where Lazo's children also graduated from higher education.

An article about Boncho Nestorov in a Bulgarian newspaper

"Speaking of the false Macedonianism, we must say that until the 1990s it was very difficult to talk about Bulgaria here. The Bulgarian language was neglected in various ways, as the goal was to create the belief that young people do not Bulgarian, that they are not of Bulgarian origin. But with the political changes in the 1990s, everything fell into place. The borders were opened, and the Bulgarian state could already be interested in its compatriots in Albania. And everything started, or rather continued, as it was a century ago - high school students finished secondary education here and then took the mother road to Bulgaria to graduate university and work. We can say that almost every family has one, two or three children who took a university degree in Bulgaria or who work there. That is why we are all very grateful for Bulgaria's policy towards us", explains Lazo Nestori.

Touching on the subject of the so-called Macedonianism and the open questions that stand between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia regarding our identity and joint history, Lazo Nestori shares that he is monitoring how bilateral relations develop in the context of North Macedonia's accession to the European Union.

"I think that the area most associated with "Macedonianism" is the region of Mala Prespa (the region on the western shore of Lake Prespa). There are some factors of this Macedonianism there. For example, in the 1990s, a large part of the people worked in neighboring Macedonia and their economic interests are related to it. Personally, the word Macedonian does not bother me, but I think that Macedonia is an artificial state created within the framework of Tito's Yugoslavia, with the great ideas of Alexander the Great, etc.

And historically speaking this is a Bulgarian region such as Thrace for example. What the Bulgarian state wants from North Macedonia - the recognition of the Bulgarian minority, as well as the questions about the historical figures, national heroes, these must be cleared. The truth should be told and everything should be resolved with the means of mind and reason."

Asked to wish something to our listeners in Bulgaria and to our compatriots living around the world, Lazo Nestori delivered the following message:

"Being Bulgarian is a great name and a great pride. I wish all Bulgarians, wherever they are in the world, to love Bulgaria, to protect it and to work well for the Bulgarian name. I believe that everyone is and will be proud of this name."

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Photos: Krasimir Martinov

English publication by Rositsa Petkova