Ethnic groups in Kosovo

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Ethnographic map of Kosovo 2011

In addition to the Kosovar Albanians , who make up the majority of the population, live in Kosovo as well as a number of ethnic groups ( ethnic groups ), the largest of which is that of the Serbs . There are also Turks , Bosniaks , Croats ( Janjevci ), the Slavic-speaking Muslim Torbeschen and Gorans , the Roma and the Ashkali and Egyptians ( Balkan Egyptians ) who belong to the Roma groups.

historical development

Ethnic composition of Kosovo
year Albanians Serbs Other
1948 68.5% 23.6% 8th %
1953 64.9% 23.5% 11.6%
1961 67.2% 23.6% 9.3%
1971 73.7% 18.4% 8th %
1981 77.4% 13.2% 8th %
1991 81.6% 9.9% 8th %
2000 * 88% 7% 5%
2006 * 92% 5% 3%
* Estimated data
Source: Military History Research Office (MGFA),
Guide to History - Kosovo , Weltband (for 2000) and OSCE (for 2005)

Kosovo has been multiethnic since the early Middle Ages. The various ethnic groups lived largely apart from one another; Marriages between Albanians and Serbs were rare even during communist Yugoslavia . Since the 1960s there has been a tendency towards ethnic unification of residential areas. Ethnically mixed residential areas have been the exception since the 1980s.

The statistics show that the proportion of minorities in the total population of Kosovo has decreased significantly over the past 25 years. The last official census (1981) in the former Yugoslavia showed a majority of 77.4% Albanians. According to estimates by the World Bank , which were taken over by the Statistical Office of Kosovo, their share rose to around 88% by the year 2000 and subsequently increased by a further three percentage points, according to OSCE reports.

Current situation

Since the war in Kosovo , an estimated 240,000 members of the minorities have lost their place of residence through flight or displacement. This figure is based on information from the Serbian government and is supported by other comparative figures . Between 2000 and November 2004 inclusive, over 12,000 returned to the province voluntarily. The demographic majority of Albanians has increased even further as a result of this flight since the Kosovo war.

Overall, the fighting between Serbs and Albanians, coupled with expulsions, has meanwhile resulted in large parts of the ethnic groups being separated into clearly defined areas. The remaining minorities either live in coherent larger areas or in enclaves , i.e. in individual villages, districts or complexes of houses.

According to a March 2005 UNHCR report, members of minorities are still exposed to ethnically motivated attacks “in which transports are stone pelted, individuals are physically assaulted, harassed or intimidated, or in which the property and possessions of ethnic minorities are looted , destroyed or illegally confiscated, cemeteries and grave sites desecrated and hate speech written on the walls of public buildings. "

Regional settlement areas

The table and the maps show where in 2005 which minorities were located in the then thirty large municipalities of Kosovo (source: OSCE reports 2005 ). Today Kosovo is divided into 38 municipalities .

Municipality (Albanian / Serbian) number of inhabitants Albanians Serbs Roma / Ashkali / Egyptians Turks Bosniaks Gorans Other
Deçan / Dečani 50,500 50,000 22nd 423 not specified 51 k. A. k. A.
Dragash / Dragaš 34,562 24,856 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. 9,706 k. A.
Gjakova / Đakovica 153,000 143,300 6th 6,700 k. A. 60 k. A. k. A.
Drenas / Glogovac 70,400 70,400 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Gjilan / Gnjilane 129,690 116,000 12,300 350 k. A. k. A. k. A. 1005
Istog / Istok 44,610 41,000 540 1,740 k. A. 1,330 k. A. k. A.
Kaçanik / Kačanik 43.009 43,000 k. A. 9 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Kamenica / Kosovska Kamenica 63,000 52,000 10,500 500 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Klina 54,900 53,000 94 1,800 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Fushë Kosova / Kosovo Polje 40,000 34,000 3,239 2,647 k. A. k. A. k. A. 21st
Leposaviq / Leposavić 18,500 67 18,000 203 k. A. k. A. k. A. 240
Lipjan / Lipljan 76143 63,478 9,300 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. 2,253
Malisheva / Mališevo 65,520 65,500 k. A. 20th k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Mitrovica / Kosovska Mitrovica 107.045 95,000 10,400 545 600 k. A. k. A. 2,000
Novobërdë / Novo Brdo 3,751 2,300 1,400 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. 51
Obiliq / Obilić 28,653 24,000 3,425 1,141 k. A. k. A. k. A. 82
Rahovec / Orahovac 78.297 76,577 1,300 420 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Peja / Peć 91.112 78.712 1,000 6,300 k. A. 5,000 k. A. k. A.
Podujeva / Podujevo 131,300 130,200 27 1,067 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Prishtina / Pristina 564,800 550,000 12,000 1,000 k. A. k. A. k. A. 1,800
Prizren 221.374 180.176 194 5,148 14,050 21,266 k. A. k. A.
Skënderaj / Srbica 70,414 70,000 326 68 k. A. 20th k. A. k. A.
Shtërpca / Štrpce 13,633 4,500 9,099 34 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Shtime / Štimlje 29,000 28,247 k. A. 738 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Suhareka / Suva Reka 80,460 80,000 k. A. 460 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Ferizaj / Uroševac 143,842 140,000 147 3,594 k. A. k. A. k. A. 248
Vitia / Vitina 59,810 56,400 3,300 20th k. A. k. A. k. A. 60
Vushtrria / Vučitrn 102,662 98,000 4.137 525 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Zubin Potok 14,800 800 14,000 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A.
Zveçan / Zvečan 16,600 350 12,050 k. A. k. A. k. A. k. A. 4,450

Overview maps

  • Distribution of ethnic groups in 1991

  • Distribution of Albanians in 2005

  • Distribution of Serbs in 2005

  • Distribution of Roma / Ashkali / Egyptians 2005

  • Distribution of the Turks in 2005

  • Distribution of Bosniaks, Gorans and other minorities in 2005

Minority Political Organizations

The minorities in Kosovo are usually politically organized, and many of the minority parties are represented in Kosovo's parliament. The parliamentary representation of the minorities is assured: in the 120-member Kosovo parliament, 10 seats are reserved for representatives of Kosovar Serbs, four seats for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, three for Bosniaks, two for Turks and one for Gorans.

Refugees from Kosovo

Because of the persecution of ethnic minorities in Kosovo, many members of these groups fled to Serbia and Montenegro or Western and Central Europe.

Germany

According to the Permanent Conference of Interior Ministers , around 38,000 refugees from ethnic minorities from Kosovo lived in Germany in 2004. There is a readmission agreement with Kosovo. Germany is repatriating members of ethnic minorities to Kosovo, some of which are compulsory. It is estimated that 2,500 repatriation applications will be filed each year. 14,000 people from the Roma minority group are particularly hard hit by the deportation .

On December 19, 2011, the then federal government issued a detailed position on the deportation of Roma to Kosovo in Bundestag printed paper 17/8224. In it she gave the number of tolerated people from Kosovo as 5574 and those from Serbia as 11,819.

On December 17, 2013, the parliamentary group Die Linke made a similar small request to the new federal government . 'Die Linke' writes in it, "The solution [could] only consist in a generous regulation of the right to stay for members of minorities from Kosovo."

There is a central register for foreigners in Germany . There (as of December 2011) no information on ethnicity or region of origin is recorded.

Serbia and Montenegro

According to the UN refugee organization UNHCR, there are over 220,000 displaced persons from Kosovo in Serbia and Montenegro. “Refugees and internally displaced people are competing for resources that are already scarce in an environment characterized by high unemployment, the general collapse of social security systems and drastically declining international aid measures for displaced persons. In view of these conditions, the displaced are faced with difficult challenges in their efforts to achieve a reasonably adequate standard of living. Members of minorities who belong to the group of internally displaced persons are in the vast majority not able to integrate into the host society of Serbia and Montenegro or at least to live there under reasonably dignified conditions, ”says a UNHCR situation report.

Of the members of ethnic minorities who fled after the NATO invasion of 1999, only 16,100 had returned to their home communities by the beginning of 2007.

literature

  • Jean-Arnault Dérens: Isolated, Ignored, Forgotten (In: Die Wochenzeitung April 20, 2006).
  • Identity formation among minorities in the Balkans: the cases of Roms, Egyptians and Ashkali in Kosovo Sofia 2001, Minority Studies Society "Studii Romani", ISBN 954-90855-1-1 .
  • John R. Lampe, Mark Mazower (Eds.): Ideologies and national identities: the case of twentieth-century Southeastern Europe Lampe and Mark Mazower. Budapest, New York 2004, European University Press. ISBN 963-9241-72-5 , ISBN 963-9241-82-2 .
  • Tonny Brems Knudsen and Carsten Bagge Laustsen: Kosovo between war and peace: nationalism, peacebuilding and international trusteeship. New York 2006 Routledge ISBN 0-7146-5598-8 .
  • Mirjana Menković: Kosovo i Metohija u svetlu etnologije: zbornik radova Beograd 2004, Etnografski muzej (results of a colloquium on "Kosovo and Metohija in the Light of Ethnology") ISBN 86-7891-017-8 .
  • Gordana Jovanović: Prilog bibliografiji Beograd 2004, Etnografski muzej (Serbian bibliography on ethnic groups in Southeastern Europe)
  • Asne Seierstad: With your back to the world. Tito's heirs. Merlin Verlag 2001 with a report on Kosovar Serb refugees in Serbia ISBN 3-87536-221-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ International Crisis Group: Return to Uncertainty: Kosovo's Internally Displaced and The Return Process ( Memento of August 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), pp. 1–2.
  2. ↑ UNHCR position on the continuing need for protection of people from Kosovo (PDF) UNHCR. Archived from the original on January 12, 2006. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  3. ↑ Press report by Roma-Kosovoinfo (April 15, 2010)
  4. ↑ Threatened by Deportation: Roma in Germany
  5. ^ Answer of the Federal Government (pdf, 36th p.) To a small question
  6. ↑ Answer of the Federal Government (pdf, 36th p.) To a small question, p. 7.
  7. ↑ page 2 of the inquiry, printed matter 18/197
  8. ↑ Bundestag printed paper 17/8224 p. 6.
  9. ↑ UNMIK press release of January 31, 2007 ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )