The Kosovo Liberation Army was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the 1990s. Albanian nationalism was a central tenet of the KLA and many in its ranks supported the creation of a Greater Albania, which would encompass all Albanians in the Balkans, stressing Albanian culture, ethnicity and nation. Throughout its existence the KLA was designated as a terrorist group by FRY.
Djivan Gasparyan was an Armenian musician and composer. He played the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is known as the "Master of the duduk". In 2006 he was nominated for Grammy awards for the Best Traditional World Music Album.
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
FC TVMK is a defunct Estonian football club. TVMK won the Estonian Meistriliiga in 2005. They are also multiple winners of the Estonian Cup.
FC Lantana Tallinn is a defunct Estonian football club. Lantana won the Estonian Meistriliiga in 1996 and 1997. The club was dissolved after the 1999 season.
Sokol Bulku is a retired Albanian footballer who played the majority of his career with KF Tirana, also having stints at Partizani Tirana, KF Elbasani and Kastrioti Krujë.
Leonidas Sabanis, sometimes spelled Leonidas Sampanis, is a Greek retired weightlifter, born in Southern Albania, who represented Greece in 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He has also been a World Champion representing Greece. He was named the 1998 Greek Male Athlete of the Year.
The fall of Communism in Albania, the last such event in Europe outside the USSR, started in earnest in December 1990 with student demonstrations in the capital, Tirana, although protests had begun earlier that year in other cities such as Shkodra and Kavaja. The Central Committee of the communist Party of Labour of Albania allowed political pluralism on 11 December and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, was founded the next day. March 1991 elections left the Party of Labour in power, but a general strike and urban opposition led to the formation of a "stability government" that included non-communists. Albania's former communists were routed in elections in March 1992 amid economic collapse and social unrest, with the Democratic Party winning most seats and its party head, Sali Berisha, becoming president.
Mahir Halili is an Albanian retired footballer. He played for Tirana, Dinamo Tirana, Kastrioti Krujë and his last team Partizani Tirana. He also played abroad in Switzerland with SR Delémont in the 1997–98 season and in Slovenia with ND Gorica where he played for two seasons from 1998 to 2000. He was also a member of the Albanian national team from 1996 to 1999.
Aurela Gaçe is an Albanian singer and songwriter. She is a three-time Festivali i Këngës winner, a three-time Kënga Magjike winner and a two-time Balkan Music Award winner for Balkan's Song of the Year and Best Singer from Albania. She was a judge on the third season of The Voice of Albania.
Nikol Duman, born Nikoghayos Ter-Hovhannisyan, was an Armenian fedayee from Karabakh.
Nikol Romanovna Gosviani is a Russian figure skater. She placed sixth at the 2013 European Championships.
Nikaj-Mërtur is a region of the Gjakova Highlands of Northern Albania whose territory is synonymous with the historic Albanian tribes of Mërturi and Nikaj. The region of Nikaj-Mërtur is located in the south-east of the Albanian Alps, bordering Dukagjin highlands within Tropojë District. It is a southern extension of the Highlands of Gjakova. Nikaj shares the same patrilineal descent with most brotherhoods of Krasniqi tribe, while Mërturi is direct blood and relative to the Berisha, which is why it also called Berisha-Mërturi. In 2014, the region was proclaimed as the Nikaj-Mertur Regional Nature Park.
KB Vllaznia is a professional basketball team based in Shkodër, Albania. The club is one of the major basketball teams in Albania, having won 9 leagues, 12 cups and one supercup. The club, founded in 1919, is the oldest in the country.
The Insurgency in Kosovo began in 1995, following the Dayton Agreement. In 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began attacks, which targeted Serbian governmental buildings and police stations. The insurgency led to the Kosovo War in February 1998.
Faruk Myrtaj is an Albanian novelist, poet, translator and engineer. Myrtaj was born in a small mining town in Vlora. He was deprived the right for higher education (University) because of the communist regime, then in power. Only after 9 year was given to him the possibility to continue University, in the Mining Engineering Faculty of the University of Tirana, where he graduated in 1988.
Gery-Nikol Nikolaeva Georgieva, better known mononymously as Gery-Nikol, is a Bulgarian recording artist who rose to fame in late 2014 after participating in the third season of the singing competition X Factor Bulgaria.
Nikol Merizaj is an Albanian swimmer. She competed in the women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics where she finished 43rd in the heats and did not advance.
Albania (ALB) competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, represented by the Albanian National Olympic Committee (KOKSH). Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
