what is the capital city of albania?
Tirana
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 The city is home to a diocese of the Eastern Orthodox Church , part of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania . 

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 In 1925 , Albania became the world center of the Bektashi Order , a Muslim sect . The sect was headquartered in Tirana , and Gjirokastër was one of six districts of the Bektashi Order in Albania , with its center at the tekke of Baba Rexheb . The city retains a large Bektashi and Sunni population . Historically there were 15 and tekkes and mosques , of which 13 were functional in 1945 . Only Gjirokastër Mosque has survived ; the remaining 12 were destroyed or closed during the Cultural Revolution of the communist government in 1967 . 

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 At the same time , the Albanian independence movement gathered momentum . On 28 November 1912 in Vlorë , Ismail Qemali declared Albania 's independence , and a provisional government was soon formed that exercised its authority only in the immediate area of Vlorë . Elsewhere , the Ottoman general Essad Pasha formed the Republic of Central Albania at Durrës , while conservative Albanian tribesmen still hoped for an Ottoman ruler . Most of the area that would form the Albanian state was occupied at this time , by the Greeks in the south and the Serbs in the north . 

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 Albania 

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 The city appears in the historical record in 1336 by its Greek name , Argyrokastro ( Αργυρόκαστρο , often written Argyrocastro or Argyro @-@ Castro ) , as part of the Byzantine Empire . It later became the center of the principality ruled by John Zenevisi ( 1373 @-@ 1417 ) before falling under Ottoman rule for the next five centuries . Taken by the Hellenic Army during the Balkan Wars of 1912 @-@ 3 on account of its large Greek population , it was eventually incorporated into the newly independent state of Albania in 1913 . This proved highly unpopular with the local Greek population , who rebelled ; after several months of guerrilla warfare , the short @-@ lived Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus was established in 1914 with Gjirokaster as its capital . It was definitively awarded to Albania in 1921 . In more recent years , the city witnessed anti @-@ government protests that lead to the Albanian civil war of 1997 . 
