Editing Enver Hoxha (section)

=== Cultivating ultranationalism ===
{{main|Albanian nationalism}}
During the anti-religious campaign, Enver Hoxha declared that "the only religion of Albania is Albanianism",<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Reynolds|2001|p=233 "the country". Henceforth, Hoxha announced, the only religion would be "Albanianism".}}</ref> a quotation from the poem ''O moj Shqiperi'' ("O Albania") by the 19th-century Albanian writer [[Pashko Vasa]].

[[Muzafer Korkuti]], one of the dominant figures in post-war Albanian [[archaeology]] and now the Director of the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana, stated the following in an interview on 10 July 2002:<ref name=":0">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Galatia|Watkinson|2004}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Archaeology is part of the politics which the party in power has and this was understood better than anything else by Enver Hoxha. [[Folklore]] and archaeology were respected because they are the indicators of the nation, and a party that shows respect to national identity is listened to by other people; good or bad as this may be. Enver Hoxha did this as did [[Hitler]]. In Germany in the 1930s there was an increase in Balkan studies and languages and this too was all part of nationalism.}}
[[File:HoxhaAndAlbanians.jpg|thumb|Hoxha and Albanians]]
Efforts were focused on an [[Illyrians|Illyrian]]-Albanian continuity issue.<ref name=":0" /> An Illyrian origin of the Albanians (without denying ''[[Pelasgian]]'' roots<ref name="schwandner2">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Schwandner-Sievers|Fischer|2002|p=96}} "but when Enver Hoxha declared that their origin was Illyrian (without denying their Pelasgian roots), no one dared participate in further discussion of the question".</ref>) continued to play a significant role in Albanian nationalism,<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Eya|1997|p=196}} "From time to time the state gave out lists with pagan, supposed Illyrian or newly constructed names that would be proper for the new generation of revolutionaries."</ref> resulting in a revival of given names supposedly of "Illyrian" origin, at the expense of given names associated with [[Christianity]]. At first, Albanian nationalist writers opted for the Pelasgians as the forefathers of the Albanians, but as this form of nationalism flourished in Albania under Enver Hoxha, the Pelasgians became a secondary element<ref name="schwandner2" /> to the Illyrian theory of [[Origin of the Albanians|Albanian origins]], which could claim some support in scholarship.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Madgearu|Gordon|2008|p=146}}</ref>

The Illyrian descent theory soon became one of the pillars of Albanian nationalism, especially because it could provide some evidence in support of the belief that there was a continuous Albanian presence in [[Kosovo]] and [[Southern Albania]], i.e. areas that were subjected to [[ethnic conflict]]s between Albanians, Serbs and Greeks.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Schwandner-Sievers|Fischer|2002|p=118}}</ref> Under the government of Enver Hoxha, an [[Indigenism|autochthonous]] [[ethnogenesis]]<ref name=":0" /> was promoted and physical anthropologists<ref name=":0" /> tried to prove that Albanians were different from all other [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] populations, a theory which is currently discredited.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Belledi |first1=Michele |last2=Poloni |first2=Estella S. |last3=Casalotti |first3=Rosa |last4=Conterio |first4=Franco |last5=Mikerezi |first5=Ilia |last6=Tagliavini |first6=James |last7=Excoffier |first7=Laurent |title=Maternal and paternal lineages in Albania and the genetic structure of Indo-European populations |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |publisher=Macmillan |volume=8 |issue=7 |pages=480–486 |date=2000 |pmid=10909846 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5200443 |doi-access=free}}</ref> They claimed that the Illyrians were the most ancient people<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Bideleux|Jeffries|2007|p=23}} "they thus claim to be the oldest indigenous people of the western Balkans".</ref> in the [[Balkans]] and greatly extended the age of the [[Illyrian language]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Bideleux|Jeffries|2007|p=36}}</ref>