Cerje, Albania

Village in Korçë, Albania

Cerje Церје
Village
40°44′58″N 20°58′32″E / 40.74944°N 20.97556°E / 40.74944; 20.97556
Country	Albania
County	Korçë
Municipality	Pustec
Municipal unit	Pustec
Population (2000)
• Total	252
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Cerje (Albanian definite form: Cerja, Macedonian: Церје) is a village at the southeastern end of Pustec Municipality which is officially recognised as a Macedonian minority zone^[1] located in the Korçë County of Albania,^[2] near the border with Greece. The village is composed of ethnic Macedonians,^[3] which form part of the larger Macedonian minority in Albania.^[4]

History

In 1900, Vasil Kanchov gathered and compiled statistics on demographics in the area and reported that the village of Cerja (Церя) was inhabited by about 120 Bulgarian Christians.^[5] In 1904, following the Ilinden Uprising, Cerje came under the Bulgarian Exarchate.

In 1911, the village was recorded by Georgi Trajčev as a Bulgarian village having six houses and 54 inhabitants.^[6]

In 1939, on behalf of 15 Bulgarian houses in Cerje Fote Fotev signed a request by the local Bulgarians to the Bulgarian tsaritsa Giovanna requesting her intervention for the protection of the Bulgarian people in Albania - at that time an Italian protectorate.^[7]

Demographics

According to a 2007 source, Cerje is the least populous village in Pustec Municipality, having only a small amount of elderly residents.^[8]

Year	Population^[9]
1900	120
1926	98
1945	175
1960	250
1969	308
1979	308
1989	297
2000	252

References

^ "Macedonians". 19 June 2015.
^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). pp. 6372–6373. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
^ Xhaxho, Manjola (2007). Minority Rights and the Republic of Albania: Missing the Implementation (Thesis). Faculty of Law, Lund University.
^ "Census 2011 Data: Resident population by ethnic and cultural affiliation". The Institute of Statistics of Republic of Albania. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
^ Vasil Kanchov (1901). Васил Кънчов. „Македония. Етнография и статистика“. София, 1900, стр. 241. (Macedonia: Ethnography and Statistics, p. 242 Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 13 May 2018 (in Bulgarian)
^ Трайчев, Георги. Български селища в днешна Албания, в: Отецъ Паисий, 15-31 юли 1929 година, стр. 212.
^ Елдъров, Светозар. Българите в Албания 1913-1939. Изследване и документи, София, 2000, стр. 324-326.(in Bulgarian)
^ Бело, Раки. Селищни имена в Мала Преска - Албания, в: Македонски преглед, ХХХ, №3, стр.135.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-11. Retrieved 2008-04-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)