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Albania: People
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The Eastern Orthodox (20%) and Catholic Church (10%) are the other main religions in Albania, though in Albania religious fanaticism has never been a serious problem with people from different religions living in peace and even getting married without any problem. The majority of the south of Albania is Alevi-Bektashi, people who follow a faith originating in the Turkish migrations into Turkey, and came to Albania through the Ottoman Janissaries. It has outwardly Shi'ite Islamic elements, but is really a Shamanic-Pantheistic faith. The main prophet of Alevism is Haxhi Bektash Veliu, and it is currently headed by Baba Flamur Shkalla, the successor of Baba Rexhep, based in Madison, USA..
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Albania is the direct descendent of ancient ILLYRIA which, after its final conquest by the Romans in 167 BC, supplied Rome's famous Praetorian Guard and even some of its emperors. The central theme of Albania's history is that of the struggle and suffering of a fiercely independent but hopelessly outnumbered people against the tide of conquest in Europe. Albania's greatest triumph, under the direction of its leader and military genius, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, was the decimation, year after year, of huge Turkish armies that were sent by the Sultans in Istanbul to crush him and to conquer Albania. Its greatest sorrow was almost 500 years of bondage to the Turks a few years after Skanderbeg's death in 1468 until, finally, a short-lived independence was achieved only in this century on November 28, 1912.
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Albania adopted a new constitution in 1998 to bring the nation into full compliance with the constitutions of Europe's other nations and to facilitate Albania's need for foreign investment in the nation's financial future. Under the 1998 constitution the nation's head of state is a president elected for a five-year term by the legislature. The president, who is advised by a cabinet, appoints the prime minister. Albania has a unicameral legislature (Kuvendi Popullor) with 155 members serving four-year terms. Most legislators are elected by direct popular vote with a smaller number elected by proportional vote. Part Two of the constitution, The Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, guarantees the Albanian people human rights and freedoms that are indivisible, inalienable, and inviolable, and protected by the judicial order.
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Albania stood in an unenviable position after World War II. Greece and Yugoslavia hungered for Albanian lands they had lost or claimed. The NLF's strong links with Yugoslavia's communists, who ... enjoyed British military and diplomatic support, guaranteed that Belgrade would play a key role in Albania's postwar order. The Allies never recognized an Albanian government in exile or King Zog, nor did they ever raise the question of Albania or its borders at any of the major wartime conferences. No reliable statistics on Albania's wartime losses exist, but the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration reported about 30,000 Albanian war dead, 200 destroyed villages, 18,000 destroyed houses, and about 100,000 people left homeless. Albanian official statistics claim somewhat higher losses.
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Albania is governed under the constitution of 1998. The president, who is the head of state, is elected by the legislature for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The government is headed by the prime minister. The legislature, the unicameral People’s Assembly (Kuvendi) has 140 members, 100 of them elected directly by popular vote and 40 proportionally; they all serve four-year terms. Administratively, Albania is divided into 12 counties.
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Organic farming in Albania is regulated by a law, approved by the People’s Assembly Law no. 9199 of 26.2.2004 ‘On production, processing, certification and marketing of ‘bio’ products. The law, which was drafted with assistance from foreign donors, received many contributions from members of the organic movement and was coordinated by the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection. The law is not yet fully implemented.
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