Albanophobia is a term associated with stereotyped views on Albanian immigrants and Albanian people as criminal and degenerate[1]. It is more widely present in countries having large Albanian minorities like Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, and in countries with large numbers of Albanian emigrants like Greece[2] and Italy[3].
A similar term used with the same denotation is anti-albanianism[4] used in many sources similarly with albanophobia, although its similarities and/or differences are not defined.
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Albanophobia as a term was coined by Anna Triandafyllidou on a report analysis called Racism and Cultural Diverstiy In the Mass Media published in 2002[1]. The report by Triandafyllidou represented Albanian migrants in Greece[5] and was followed by other researchers like Karyotis in Greece and Mai in Italy. The form Albano-phobia (dashed) is used on some references (including Traindafullidou), apparently with the same meaning.
The origins of anti-Albanian propaganda in Serbia started by the end of 1800s and the reason for this was the claims made by Serbian state on territories that were about to be controlled by Albanians after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire[6].
Albanian stereotypes that formed amid the creation of an independent Albanian country and stereotypes that formed during 80s, 90s massive immigrations from Albania and Kosovo, though may differ, are still both considered Albanophobic and anti-Albanian by many authors such as Triandafyllidou, Banac, Karyotis.
Albanophobia signifies a wider range of concepts that could be roughly grouped in two main categories:
Ethnic disputes between Albanians and Serbs are sometimes referred to as phobic. During the end of eighties and in the beginning of nineties, in some occasions activities undertaken by Serbian officials in Kosovo have been marked as albanophobic[7]. The dissolution of Kosovo's constitution in 1989 is on instance of Albanophobia[8].
The Serbian media during Milošević's era was known to espouse Serb nationalism while promoting xenophobia toward the other ethnicities in Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanians were commonly characterised in the media as anti-Yugoslav counter-revolutionaries, rapists, and a threat to the Serb nation.[9]
Throughout Kosovo, the forces of the FRY and Serbia have harassed, humiliated, and degraded Kosovo Albanian civilians through physical and verbal abuse. Policemen, soldiers, and military officers have persistently subjected Kosovo Albanians to insults, racial slurs, degrading acts, beatings, and other forms of physical mistreatment based on their racial, religious, and political identification.[10]
– War Crimes Indictment against Milosevic and others
The Albanian stereotype as criminal and degenerate in Greece has been subject of study by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. [11] [12][13]. It is considered to be still present in Greece,[citation needed] while at a more pale scale in Italy.[citation needed]
According to a statement of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Albanians are the more likely ethnic group in Greece to be killed by Greek law enforcement officials (28 May 2002, 153).[14] Albanian criminality (see Albanian mafia) is largely responsible for the social construction of negative stereotypes through prejudicial representations of Albanians by the Greek media, in contrast to the commonly held belief that Greek society is neither xenophobic nor racist.[15]
In addition the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) singles out ethnic Albanians as principle targets of racism. Furthermore, the EUMC found that undocumented Albanian migrants "experience serious discrimination in employment, particularly with respect to the payment of wages and social security contributions" [16] [17][18].
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