Bajram Curri (town)

Bajram Curri
Administrative Unit
Bajram Curri, the seat of the municipality
Bajram Curri
Coordinates:
Country	Albania
County	Kukës
Municipality	Tropojë
Population (2011)
• Administrative Unit	5,340
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area Code	0213
Vehicle registration	BC

Bajram Curri Monument in the town square

Bajram Curri is a town and a former municipality in Kukës County, Northern Albania, near the border with Kosovo, in a remote, mostly mountainous region. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Tropojë. The population at the 2011 census was 5,340. Bajram Curri is located down the valley of the river Valbonë. It is the main access point by road to the villages of Valbona and Rrogam. Water from the mountains flow into the waters of the Valbonë, the latter being famous for having the clearest river water in Albania. The town is named after Bajram Curri, a national hero of the early 20th century. Bajram Curri is located in the former Tropojë District.

Bajram Curri's last mayor (elected in 2011) was Agron Demushi, affiliated with the Democratic Party of Albania.

History

Bajram Curri mosque

Tropojë was founded by the Berisha tribe and was the center of the commercial trade from the east (Kosovo Vilayet) to the west (Scutari Vilayet) in order to get imported products from the Adriatic Sea. One of the principal trade commodities was salt, which was exchanged for agricultural products. Having this geographical importance, Tropojë was the center of the former highlands of the famous and old city of Đakovica. Tropojë e Vjetër is also the name of a pass, which goes through the mountains, where the people from all over this region go during the summer to relax and to have access in the green fields with their cattle. In modern times, these highlands attract tourists, especially those from Europe and Israel.

Economy

Statue of the Unknown Soldier near Bajram Curri

Tropojë has many agricultural products and is famous for its chestnuts, apples, nuts, grapes, and especially blueberries. Large reserves of platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, palladium, iridium, and osmium have been discovered in Tropojë. Albanian, Italian, and Chinese engineers, working for Albanian Minerals and Bytyci ShPK in Tropojë, suggest the area may have more than 500 million tons of chrome ore and more than two billion tons of olivine in which platinum is 5-7 grams present per ton. This gigantic body of ore is one of the largest in the world.

Notable people

Left: Chestnut Festival. Right: Sofra Dardane Festival

• Zhaneta Byberi – Miss Universe Albania 2014
• Fatime Sokoli
• Azem Hajdari
• Sali Berisha
• Besnik Mustafaj - The 62nd Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania

Notes and references

Notes:

a.

^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the Brussels Agreement. Kosovo has been recognised as an independent state by 108 out of 193 United Nations member states.

See also

• Albanian Alps
• Lake Koman Ferry