Leskovik

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Leskovik

Municipal unit

The city of Leskovik and the Melesini Mountain

 Leskovik

Coordinates: 40°9′N 20°36′ECoordinates: 40°9′N 20°36′E

Country Albania
County Korçë
Municipality Kolonjë

Elevation 913 m (2,995 ft)

Population
(2011)
• Municipal unit 1,525

Time zone UTC+1 (CET)

• Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)

Postal Code 7402

Area Code (0)871

Leskovik is a town and a former municipality in the Korçë County,

southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of
the municipality Kolonjë.[1] It is located right at the Greek-Albanian border. The
population at the 2011 census was 1,525. [2]
 Contents

 1History
o 1.1Etymology
o 1.2Ottoman period
o 1.3World War II
o 1.4Cold War
o 1.5Today
 2Geography
 3Notable people
 4References
 5External links

History[edit]
Etymology[edit]
The toponym Leskovik is formed from the Slavic word leska meaning ‘hazel, corylus
avellana’ or ‘hazel river' along with the suffix ik(ë).[3] The name of the town has been
written as Lexovico in a map (1821) by Pouqueville and as Leskovik in an Ottoman
document (1851).[3]
Ottoman period[edit]
The area came under Ottoman rule in the 15th century and became part of the Sanjak
of Ioannina.[4][5] Leskovik was recognized as a town in the early 1800s. It was conceived
as a relaxing and retreat center for the Ottoman administration. Leskovik subsequently
was elevated from kaza into a sanjak.[4] Leskovik kaza (subdistrict) was located
within Yanya sanjak, part of Yanya Vilayet (province) till 1912.[6]
Leskovik and the nearby mountain Melesin was the site of a battle in 1831.[7]
Ottoman Albanian spahis and landowners from nineteenth century Leskovik owned
estate properties (chiftlik) in parts of the Balkans and in particular the Thessalian plain,
until its loss to Greece in 1881 leading to local economic decline and increasing reliance
on agriculture.[8]
Leskovik was a significant centre for the Sufi Bektashi order[9][10] and it was strongly
established in the surrounding area.[11] The Sufi Halveti order was also present in the
town[10] and the Sufi Hayatiyya order had a tekke dating from 1796.[12] In the late Ottoman
period and on the eve of the Balkan Wars, the population of Leskovik was mostly
Muslim Bektashi.[13][14][10] In Leskovik, a Bektashi tekke was founded in 1887 by Abedin
Baba, a town native and religious figure. [15][12] The tekke housed a small number of
dervishes and Abedin Baba's gravesite, later destroyed by war. [14] Another religious
building was the Pazar (Bazaar) mosque of Leskovik.[16] A few Muslim Albanians from
Leskovik were employed in the Ottoman bureaucracy as administrative officials
governing some districts in parts of the empire.[17] Greek education was present in
Leskovik at the 1898-1899 school year with one boys' and one girls' school and a total
of 100 pupils attending them.[18]
During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) Ottoman rule came to an end and Leskovik briefly
came under the control of the Greek forces. Shortly after the town was visited by an
international commission who was responsible to draw the precise borders between
the Kingdom of Greece and the newly established Principality of Albania.[19] There was
some difficulty in drawing the new border by the international demarcation border
commission as the area around Leskovik and nearby Konitsa contained mixed
populations of Albanians and Greeks.[20] After the partition of Leskovik kaza (1913) along
demographic lines, its Greek settlements went to Greece and its Albanian settlements
became part of Albania, with Leskovik itself placed in the Albanian province of
Kolonjë.[21]
Leskovik was finally ceded to Albania under the terms of the Protocol of Florence (17
December 1913). In March, 5 [O.S. February, 20] 1914 the town officially joined
the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.[22]
World War II[edit]
At 21 November 1940, during the Greco-Italian War, units of the II Army Corps of the
advancing Greek forces entered Leskovik after breaching the Italian defences. [23] Latter,
the town showed a strong support to communist partisans during the Italian and
German World War II occupation.[citation needed]
Cold War[edit]
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, being an ally of the Soviet Union, was
involved in the Greek Civil War (1946-1949) by supporting the communist led Greek
Democratic Army. Leskovik became for a period its headquarters. The town also hosted
a training, a supply center, as well as medical facilities for the communist guerrillas, who
mounted several invasions from Albanian soil into the Greek region of Grammos and
fled back to Albania once an operation was completed. [24]
Today[edit]
The population has decreased after the 1990s, due to emigration. In the modern period,
the town of Leskovik is religiously mixed, composed of Muslim Bektashis and Orthodox
Christians.[25][10]
Few monuments in Leskovik surviving its turbulent past are the decorated tomb of Kani
Pasha, located inside the present Bektashi tekke. [9]
In the wider area, the religious composition is distributed between Islam: (Bektashis
and Halvetis) such as in nearby Gjonç and Gline and Christianity
(mostly Orthodoxy)[26] with some converts to Orthodoxy,[10] others to Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as some irreligious people.

Geography[edit]
Leskovik is located 0.7 miles from Melesin mountain,[27] inside Ersekë-Konitsa-
Çarshovë triangle.

Notable people[edit]
 Ibrahim Sirri Leskoviku, Albanian politician.[28]
 Abedin Baba (Leskoviku) - Bektashi religious figure and poet.[9]
 Vasileios Sotiriadis, Greek politician.
 Ahmed Vefiku, Albanian politician.[29]
 Jani Vreto, Albanian rilindas, born in the village of Postenan within Leskovik
municipality.
 Asllan Rusi, volleyball player, the main volleyball arena in Tirana bears his name
 Mustafa Hilmi Leskoviku, better known as Muço Qulli, Albanian patriot, publicist,
publisher of "Populli" newspaper in Shkodër
 Ajdin Asllan, musician and patriot, Vatra activist, composer of Vatra's hymn[30]
 Naim Frashëri (actor)

References[edit]
1. ^ Law nr. 115/2014 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ 2011 census results Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ Jump up to:a b Elsie, Robert (1994). Hydronymica Albanica. A survey of river names in
Albania(PDF) (30(1) ed.). Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22
March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b H. Karpat, Kemal (1985). Ottoman population, 1830-1914: demographic and social
characteristics. p. 146. ISBN 9780299091606. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
5. ^ Motika, Raoul (1995). Türkische Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte (1071-1920).
p. 297. ISBN 9783447036832. Retrieved 22 September 2011. Sancaks Yanya (Kazas: Yanya,
Aydonat (Paramythia), Filat (Philiates), Meçova (Metsovo), Leskovik (war kurzzeitig Sancak) und
Koniçe (Konitsa)
6. ^ Hartmann, Elke (2016). Die Reichweite des Staates: Wehrpflicht und moderne Staatlichkeit im
Osmanischen Reich 1869-1910. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh. p. 118. ISBN 9783657783731.
7. ^ Portrait of Albania, "8 Nëntori" Publishing House, 1982, p. 50, The battles in the Melesin Mountain
(Leskovik) in 1831 and in Shkodra in 1835,...
8. ^ Clayer, Nathalie (2007). Aux origines du nationalisme albanais: La naissance d'une nation
majoritairement musulmane en Europe [The origins of Albanian nationalism: The birth of a
predominantly Muslim nation in Europe]. Paris: Karthala. p. 110. ISBN 9782845868168.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b c Elsie, Robert (2019). The Albanian Bektashi: History and Culture of a Dervish Order
in the Balkans. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 174. ISBN 9781788315715.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Bachis, Francesco; Pusceddu, Antonio Maria (2013). "Mobilities, Boundaries,
Religions: Performing Comparison in the Mediterranean". Journal of Mediterranean Studies. 22 (2):
371. "The villages of the Kolonjë district are commonly either Muslim or Orthodox Christian, whereas
the towns of Ersekë and Leskovik have a mixed population. Leskovik used to have a majority Muslim
population, related to the Bektashi and Halveti sufi brotherhoods. In connection with growing migration
to Greece, conversion to Christianity has increased, as being a Christian Orthodox—even if only by
name (Kretsi 2005)—was perceived as a better way to position oneself in Greece."
11. ^ Clayer, Nathalie (1990). L'Albanie, pays des derviches: Les ordres mystiques musulmans en
Albanie à l'époque post-ottomane (1912-1967). Harrassowitz. p. 118. ISBN 9783447030885.
12. ^ Jump up to:a b Norris, Harry Thirlwall (1993). Islam in the Balkans: religion and society between
Europe and the Arab world. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 111–112. ISBN 9780872499775.
13. ^ Winnifrith, Tom (2002). Badlands-borderlands: a history of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania.
London: Duckworth. p. 127. ISBN 9780715632017. "Durham proceeded to Kolonia... and to Leskovik,
mainly full of Bektashi Muslims"
14. ^ Jump up to:a b Hasluck, F. W. (1915–1916). "Geographical Distribution of the Bektashi". The Annual
of the British School at Athens. 21: 118. JSTOR 30102759. "Liaskovik.-The population of this (till the
war) thriving hill-town is largely Bektashi. The tekke just outside it, on a hill above the Kolonia road, is
 said to have been about thirty-five years old; it contained the grave of Abeddin Baba, and housed
seven or eight dervishes. It is now entirely destroyed"
15. ^ Elsie 2019, p. 275.
16. ^ Clayer 2005, pp. 331.
17. ^ Clayer 2005, pp. 319, 324, 331.
18. ^ *Koltsida, Athina. Η Εκπαίδευση στη Βόρεια Ήπειρο κατά την Ύστερη Περίοδο της Οθωμανικής
Αυτοκρατορίας (PDF) (in Greek). University of Thessaloniki. pp. 227–228. Retrieved 2
December 2012.
19. ^ Stickney, Edith Pierpont (1926). Southern Albania or Northern Epirus in European International
Affairs, 1912–1923. Stanford University Press. pp. 38–39. ISBN 978-0-8047-6171-0.
20. ^ Nitsiakos, Basilēs G.; Nitsiakos, Vassilis (2010). On the Border: Transborder Mobility, Ethnic Groups
and Boundaries Along the Albanian-Greek Frontier. LIT Verlag Münster.
p. 40. ISBN 9783643107930. The ethnic and cultural mosaic of the wider area was so composite, it
was impossible to mark down the border in a way that would yield a clear distinction between
Albanians and Greeks... The difficulty, as is well known, was not created only by the fact that
populations were mixed even within the same areas and villages (i.e. Konitsa and Leskovik)
21. ^ Kokolakis, Mihalis (2003). Το ύστερο Γιαννιώτικο Πασαλίκι: χώρος, διοίκηση και πληθυσμός στην
τουρκοκρατούμενη Ηπειρο (1820–1913) [The late Pashalik of Ioannina: Space, administration and
population in Ottoman ruled Epirus (1820–1913)]. Athens: EIE-ΚΝΕ. p. 199. ISBN 960-7916-11-
5. "Ύστερα από τη διανομή του μεταξύ Ελλάδας και Αλβανίας (1913), η περιφέρεια του Λεσκοβικιού
κυριολεκτικά διαλύθηκε «στα εξ ων συνετέθη»: Τα ελληνικά της χωριά πέρασαν οριστικά στην
επαρχία της Κόνιτσας, ενώ τα αλβανικά μοιράστηκαν ανάμεσα στις επαρχίες Πρεμετής και Κολωνίας.
Στην τελευταία υπάγεται και σήμερα η πόλη του Λεσκοβικιού."
22. ^ Kaphetzopoulos, Ioannis; Flokas, Charalambos; Dima-Dimitriou, Angeliki (2000). The struggle for
Northern Epirus. Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate.
p. 153. ISBN 9789607897404. In the area of Leskovik and Kolonia, following the proclamation of
autonomy in Leskovik on 20 February 1914 by Konstantinos Melas
23. ^ Eisenhower, [author, Ivor Matanle] ; foreword by Viscount Montgomery, Manfred Rommel, John
S.D. (1998). World War II. New York: Smithmark. p. 82. ISBN 9780765192653. 21st saw the Greek
2nd Corps under Genera Papadopoulos cross the Albanian frontier to take Erseke and Leskovik.
24. ^ Shrader, Charles R. (1999). The withered vine : logistics and the communist insurgency in Greece,
1945-1949 ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger. pp. 188–192. ISBN 9780275965440.
25. ^ Pusceddu 2018, p. 151.
26. ^ Pusceddu, Antonio Maria (2018). "Dealing with boundaries: Muslim pilgrimages and political
economy on the Southern Albanian frontier". In Flaskerud, Ingvild; Natvig, Richard J. (eds.). Muslim
Pilgrimage in Europe (PDF). Routledge. pp. 143–149, 151–152. ISBN 9781317091080.
27. ^ "1" (PDF), Local Environmental Action Plan (in Albanian), Leskovik Municipality, 2007, p. 13,
retrieved 22 September 2013,
Qyteti i Leskovikut është i vendosur në një lartësi mesatare 920 mmbi nivelin e detit dhe shtrihet rrëzë
malit të Melesinit dhe kodrave përreth tij. Leskoviku është i rrethuar nga një sërë kodrash dhe malesh.
Në krahinën e Leskovikut bëjnë pjesë, përveç qytetit, një mori fshatrash të përmendura jo vetëm në
traditat historike e kulturore, por edhe aktualitetin agro-blegtoral të tyre. Këtu përmenden fshatrat
Postenan, Lashovë, Cërckë, Gërmenj, Podë, Radat, Glinë, Vrepckë, Radanj, Pobickë. Në lindje, qyteti
kufizohet me malin e Vashës dhe në perëndim me malin e Melesinit. [Leskovik is located at an
average height of 920 meters above sea level and lies at the foot of the Melesin Mountain and
hills around him. Leskovik is surrounded by a range of mountains and hills. In Leskovik
province, in addition to the town, there are a number of villages referring not only to the
historical and cultural traditions, but also the relevance of their agro-livestock. We can
mention here the villages of Postenan, Lashovë, Cerckë, Germenj, pode, Radati, Glina,
Verpcka, Radanje, Pobickë. To the east, the city is bordered by Vasha Mountain and to the
west by Melesin Mountain.]

28. ^ Clayer 2005, p. 311.

29. ^ Clayer, Nathalie (2005). "The Albanian students of the Mekteb-i Mülkiye: Social networks and trends
of thought". In Özdalga, Elisabeth (ed.). Late Ottoman Society: The Intellectual Legacy. Routledge.
p. 319. ISBN 9780415341646.
 30. ^ Dalip Greca (7 August 2013), Enigma e Hymnit të Federatës "VATRA" [Enigma of the "Vatra"
Federation Hymn] (in Albanian), New York, NY: "Dielli" online, retrieved 17 September2013

External links[edit]
 "Zylyfar Poda" dance

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Cities and towns in Albania

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Subdivisions of Korçë County

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Subdivisions of Kolonjë Municipality