According to Macedonian sources quoting Bulgarian historians writing in the first half of the 20th century, Muslim Albanians settled in the place of the Slavic population that migrated from Serbia and northern Macedonia to the Habsburg territories after the Ottoman-Habsburg war of 1689-1690 (Limanoski, 1984:22). Mass Albanian migrations to Macedonia started only in the second half of the 18th century. By the end of that century, 1,500 families settled in 30 villages in western Macedonia. Another wave of 50,000 settlers arrived in western Macedonia around the middle of the 19th century (Limanoski, 1984:22; Purvanov, 1992:142-143). However, when considering this information one should take into account Albanian historical and historic-linguistic arguments that suggest the long pre-Slavic presence of the Albanians in today’s Macedonia (Fraenkel, 1999).
According to detailed statistical information of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, the number of Albanians on the territory of present-day Macedonia has been growing steadily, particularly after the Second World War. In the last half of the 20th century, there was a discernible trend of continuous growth of the number of the Albanians. For example, in 1953 there were 162,524 Albanians in Macedonia; in 1971 there were 279,871; in 1981, 373,726; and in 1991, already 441,987 according to official figures (MFA, 1997:46). This is attributed to two main reasons: first, the higher birthrate of the Albanians as compared to that of Macedonians (Poulton, 1995:125); and second, the fluctuation of identity of minorities of the Muslim faith in Macedonia – Albanians, Turks, Roma and Muslims. Poulton claims that many Albanians declared themselves Turks in order to benefit from the emigration opportunities for Tukey between 1953 and 1966, while thereafter the official number of “Turks” dropped, since Albanians and other minorities reinstated their previous identities (Poulton, 2000:138).
It should be noted that the Albanians did not accept the 1991 census figures; they believed the census was discriminatory. They invoked the same argument of higher birthrates as evidence that the Albanians should compose at least 20-36 percent of the population. However, their expectations were not supported by the last census (1994), funded and monitored by the international community, according to which the Albanians composed 22.9 percent of the population or, 443,914 people (HRW, 1996:10). The community once again questioned the results, and many Albanian leaders claimed that the Albanians constituted 40-50 percent of the population (CSCE, 1992:13).
. Според тоа, во зависност од потребата, од тој конгломерат се повикуваат на соодветното културно наследство и тоа го презентираат.
