Čelopek, Brvenica

Čelopek (Челопек, Çellopek) is a village in the municipality of Brvenica, North Macedonia.

medieval history
According to the 1467-68 Ottoman defter, Čelopek appears as being largely inhabited by an Orthodox Christian Albanian population. Some families had a mixed Slav-Albanian anthroponomy - usually a Slavic first name and an Albanian last name or last names with Albanian patronyms and Slavic suffixes.

The names are: Marko, son of Arbnas; Stanisha, son of Arbnas; Dralla, son of Trajko; Nicholas, his brother; Bogdan, son of Dono; Andre Protogjer; Rala, son of Marin; Rala, son of Pren-çe; Nik-o, son of Dushman; Prusha, son of Petrush; Hamza, son of Gjin; Martin Arbanas; Dimitri, son-in-law of Martin; Kojcin, Jorgji's son-in-law; Nikolla, son of Dushman; Ugrin, son of Kologjer; Rada, son of Gjuka-le; Nik-o, son of Dushman; Ugrin, son of Bojk-o-s; widow Donika; widow Pronka; widow Nika; the widow of Andre.

20th century history
In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the village of Čelopek was inhabited by 1000 Muslim Albanians and 520 Orthodox Bulgarians.

It is believed that Čelopek's name before 1912 was Balište, during the First Balkan War, Serbia annexed Macedonia and the Slavs named the Village from Balište to Čelopek,Čelopek in Slavic means "place where the sun always hits your forehead" because the village is always exposed to the sun.

According to the 1942 Albanian census, Čelopek was inhabited by 1858 Muslim Albanians, 100 Serbs and 710 Bulgarians.

In World War II,211 Albanian volunteers from Čelopek got mobilized and they were a part of the Seventh Albanian Assault Brigade of Macedonia, they fought in the Adriatic campaign and Syrmian Front of World War II and in 1945, out of all of them 21 never returned.

Demographics
As of the 2021 census, Čelopek had 4,459 residents with the following ethnic composition:
 * Albanians 3,898
 * Macedonians 395
 * Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources 157
 * Others 9

According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 5,287 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village included:


 * Albanians – 4,803
 * Macedonians – 463
 * Turks – 2
 * Serbs – 1
 * Others – 18

Notable citizens

 * Ljube Boškoski - former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia
 * Nastoski Gavro-member of MRO and courier of Pitu Guli's guard