Flag of the Aromanians

Aromanian nationalism (Aromanian: Natsionalismu armãneascu) is the ideology asserting the Aromanians as a distinct nation. A large number of Aromanians have moved away from nationalist themes such as the creation of a nation state of their own or achieving ethnic autonomy in the countries they live. Despite this, an ethnic-based identity and pride is prevalent in them.[1] In history, Aromanian nationalists often found themselves divided into pro-Greek factions and pro-Romanian ones.[2]

The repeated persecution, attacks and murders against the Aromanians by Greek and Bulgarian gangs in the Ottoman Empire fueled the nationalism of the Aromanians, which was further promoted by the works of some Aromanians in Romania.[3] In 1917, during the presence of Italian troops in Greece in World War I, a group of Aromanian nationalists attempted the creation of an Aromanian state, backed by Romania. However, the Italian troops eventually withdrew, and the Greek authorities subsequently chased these figures.[4]

Such a project was revived in World War II after the Axis invasion of Greece, and a Principality of the Pindus was established in 1941, being led by the Aromanian nationalist Alcibiades Diamandi. Despite lacking any real political power, this principality had its own military forces, the Roman Legion, which collaborated with fascist Italian and Nazi German forces. Aromanian was made the official language, the use of Greek was prohibited and the formation of an Aromanian parliament was attempted. However, the Axis forces retreated and the Greek resistance, with several Aromanian members, took over the region in 1944.[5]

Aromanian nationalism has focused greatly in Moscopole. Moscopole was a prosperous city in the Ottoman Empire with a large Aromanian population that was largely devastated and destroyed in the second half of the 18th century. With the birth of Aromanian literature, many Aromanian writers, predominantly those young Aromanians who had been educated in Romanian schools, began to write about Moscopole in a utopian way, in which feelings such as love, nostalgia or superstitions, as well as traditions and everyday aspects of life, were predominant. Depression and nostalgia for the city became the main feelings in this Aromanian literary phenomenon. Romanian historian Sorin Antohi described the Aromanian elites engaging in this utopic literary discourse about Moscopole as having an exalted feeling of finding of a "magnetic beauty and without any imperfection of a brilliant city" which "evokes a dreamlike image". The founder of this Aromanian literary trend was Leon Boga, but it also includes works by Nicolae Velo, Nicolae Caratană, Kira Mantsu and Ion Foti.[6]

Today, a common Aromanian phrase expressing ethnic pride is S-bãneadzã armãnamea ("Long live the Aromanians").[7] Another famous phrase is Armãnlu nu cheari ("The Aromanian [person] does not perish").[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nowicka, Ewa (2016). "Ethnic identity of Aromanians/Vlachs in the 21st century" (PDF). Res Historica. 41: 213–235. doi:10.17951/rh.2016.0.213.
  2. ↑ Crețulescu, Vladimir Constantin (2021). "Aromanian ethnicity in the accounts of British travelers through the Balkans (approx. 1800–1860)". Hiperboreea. 8 (1): 38–58. doi:10.5325/hiperboreea.8.1.0038. JSTOR 10.5325/hiperboreea.8.1.0038. S2CID 236719881.
  3. ↑ Clark, Roland (2015). "Claiming ethnic privilege: Aromanian immigrants and Romanian fascist politics". Contemporary European History. Cambridge University Press. 24 (1): 37–58. doi:10.1017/S0960777314000411. JSTOR 43299461. S2CID 154589916.
  4. ↑ Tușa, Enache (2013). "The Peace of Bucharest of 1913: Political effects and demographic realities in Southern Dobrogea". Revista Română de Studii Eurasiatice. 9 (1–2): 43–52.
  5. ↑ Motta, Giuseppe (2011). "The Fight for Balkan Latinity. The Aromanians until World War I" (PDF). Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 2 (3): 252–260. doi:10.5901/mjss.2011.v2n3p252. ISSN 2039-2117.
  6. ↑ Lambru, Steliu (2001). "Narrating national utopia. The case of Moschopolis in the Aromanian national discourse" (PDF). Xenopoliana. 9 (1–4): 54–81.
  7. ↑ Vulcan, Petru (1996). "Armãna" (in Aromanian). Editura Cartea Aromână. ISBN 9789739636094.
  8. ↑ Roznoveanu, Mirela (2021). Vlachica: Mountaintops Above a Stormy Sea of Contending Empires. Xlibris. ISBN 9781664168053.
  9. ↑ Popescu, Adam (4 October 2010). ""Lali Vasili a stat 20 de zile pe pământ după moarte"". Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian).
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