Debar

Debar (Macedonian: Дебaр [ˈdɛːbar]; Albanian: Dibër/Dibra) is a city in the western part of the Republic of Macedonia, near the border with Albania, on the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ethnic Albanian majority and is the Republic of Macedonia's only city in which ethnic Macedonians do not rank first or second demographically.

Geography

Debar is surrounded by the Dešat, Stogovo, Jablanica and Bistra mountains. It is located 625 meters above sea level, next to Lake Debar, the Black Drin River and its smaller break-off river, Radika.

Population

According to the last census data from 2002, the city of Debar has a population of 14,561, made up of 10,768 (74.0%) Albanians, 1,415 (9.7%) Turks, 1,079 (7.2%) Romani, 1,054 (7.2%) Macedonians, and 245 (1.7%) others.

Name

The name of the city in Macedonian is Debar (Дебар). In Albanian; Dibër/Dibra or Dibra e Madhe (meaning: Big Dibra, in contrast to the other Dibër in Albania). In Serbian Debar (Дебар), in Bulgarian Debǎr (Дебър), in Turkish Debre or Debre-i Bala, in Greek, Divrē (Δίβρη) or Divra (Δίβρα) and in Roman times as Deborus