Derviçan

Village in Gjirokastër, Albania

Derviçan Δερβιτσάνη
Village
40°1′57″N 20°10′24″E / 40.03250°N 20.17333°E / 40.03250; 20.17333
Country	Albania
County	Gjirokastër
Municipality	Dropull
Municipal unit	Dropull i Poshtëm
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Derviçan (Albanian definite form: Derviçani; Greek: Δερβιτσάνη, romanized: Dervitsani, also known as Dervician) is a settlement in the former Dropull i Poshtëm municipality, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania.^[1] At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Dropull.^[2] It is within the larger Dropull region. The village is inhabited solely by Greeks.^[3]

In 1991, the political organization Omonoia was founded in Dervican, by representatives of the Greek national minority.^[4]

In 2023, the Albanian prime minister Edi Rama unveiled the statue of Konstantinos Mitsotakis, the first Greek prime minister who visited Albania after the fall of communism, as a symbol of coexistence and unity between Albanians and Greeks.^[5]

Demographics

In the 1520 Ottoman tax register the Albanian anthroponyms Gjon and Gjin as well as others are found in the village of Derviçan, which appears in the same register with a fairly large population for the time, with a large influence by Greek culture. Characteristic Albanian anthroponyms include: Jani Gjini, Gjin Spato, Gjon Jorgji, Jorgo Gjoni, Nako Bard(h)i, Jorgo Babi, Mano Çuni, Jani Çuni, Kosta Lula, Mano Shpata, Lluka Prushi, Dhimo Prushi, Jani Dragoi and others.^[6]

Notable people

Lefter Millo (1966-1997), footballer
Spiro Ksera, politician

Gallery

Derviçan Road Sign

References

^ "Location of Derviçan". Retrieved 3 September 2010.
^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). p. 6371. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
^ Καλλιβρετάκης, Λεωνίδας (1995), Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography], p. 58, ISBN 978-960-08-0054-8, retrieved 2021-10-09
^ Report submitted by Albania puruant to article 25, paragraph 1 of the framework convention for the protection of national minorities. Archived 2010-09-02 at the Wayback Machine ACFR/SR (2001). 26 July 2001.
^ "Përurohet busti i Mitsotakis në Dropull, Rama: Do të kisha dëshiruar që këtu të ishte edhe Kyriakos". Gazeta Tema (in Albanian). 27 October 2023.
^ Demiraj, Shaban (2008). "La situation ethnique-linguistique des habitants de Dropulli et de Vurgu au cours des siecles". Studia Albanica. 1. Academy of Sciences of Albania: 77–91. ISSN 0585-5047.