Country Macedonia | Region Polog Statistical Region Mayor Emshi Ejupi Population 12,310 | |
Čegrane (Macedonian: Чегране; Albanian: Çegran) is a village in the Gostivar Municipality of the Republic of Macedonia. The village lies approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) east of the city of Gostivar. It has a population of over 6,000 inhabitants.
Contents
Map of Čegrane
History
At the beginning of the 19th century Čegrane was a predominantly Albanian village in Tetovo's Gostivarska Nahiya of the Ottoman Empire. According to the statistics of Vasil Kanchov (Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics), in 1900, Čegrane had 800 Muslim Albanian inhabitants. In 1913, the village came under the control of the Kingdom of Serbia along with the rest of Macedonia. According to Afanasij Selishchev, in 1929, Čegrane was the center of the Gornopolozhkiya municipality of five villages. Prior to merging with Gostivar Municipality, Čegrane was the seat of Čegrane Municipality.
Demographics
According to Selishchev, the village had 234 houses with 1,364 Albanian inhabitants Albanians in 1929. The 2002 Macedonian national census recorded that the village had 6,748 inhabitants.
Ethnic groups in Čegrane include:
Refuge camp
During the Kosovo War, a massive makeshift camp was set up for ethnic Albanian refugees in Čegrane by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and local NGOs. The area had been used as a rubbish dump, but the tiers that had cut into the steep hillside were filled with rows of thousands of tents. It was managed by CARE, which initially expected 3,000 refugees. It was filled to capacity in a matter of days. It became the largest single camp in the entire crisis, housing over 43,000 people. First hand reports describe that the Čegrane camp "held 57,000 displaced and emotionally shattered people." They were provided with some humanitarian care, until safe passage was available back to Kosovo.