Expert Ardian Muhaj, invited this Friday to Euronews Albania with Esmeralda Mulaj, spoke about a recent study related to DNA which explains that the Albanian people are the oldest in the Balkans. He explained that this study has 3 versions and the publication took years.
“The study has been published, the publishing process has practically lasted three years, three versions. This is the final version. So before the first version, the submission of the first version in 2003, there was an intermediate version, a pre-print, as it is called, in order to obtain the critical opinion not only of the authors and censors and others, but also of the wider community and make it public.
At the same time, the criticisms should be seen, tested, so an open confrontation, let’s say, of facts, not people. From submission for publication to publication, three years have passed, and there are several years before that, so it has been five to six years since it started as a project. The first version was not in Albanian in 2003 and it was not possible to publish, then we, the group of Albanian researchers, voluntarily joined in,” he said, among other things.
He added that DNA revealed that neither Thracian, nor Dacian, nor other forms of other populations have been preserved.
“Our DNA shows what was thought, but I would only extend it to the Illyrians. So the fact that we do not have many or enough preserved elements has not only affected the Illyrians. All the old Balkan populations with the exception of the Ghegs who, for a certain reason, but also due to the contribution of the ancient Albanians in their expansion outside the European continent, have preserved a written form of the language, but neither Thracian, nor Dacian, nor other forms of other populations have been preserved.
“So this problem has not only affected the Illyrians and this problem is now not beyond doubt, but a new window opens for reinterpretation and addition of data and a better understanding in this aspect as well,” he said, among other things.