Serbs and Montenegrins in Albania

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Morača Rozafa Association
The minority flag proposed by the Morača Rozafa organization for the Serbs and Montenegrins in Albania

Serbs and Montenegrins are a small minority in Albania . Differences between the Serbian and Montenegrin ethnic groups are gradual, so that both groups are sometimes summarized as Serbian-Montenegrin .

As a result of a repressive policy of assimilation to the Albanian majority population during the communist dictatorship under Enver Hoxha , the number of those who profess to be Serbs or Montenegrins has shrunk. While the Albanian census of 1928 still recorded 65,000 Serbs and Montenegrins (with 7.83% the largest minority in the country), only 366 Montenegrins were recorded in the 2011 census.

present

As a recognized ethnic minority, the Montenegrins have equal human rights in accordance with Article 20 of the Albanian Constitution , in particular with regard to education, language, culture and religion. The Serbs and Bosniaks, however, are not recognized as an ethnic minority. Contrary to the wishes of the minority, no Serbian school has yet been opened in the Shkodra region, as the Albanian state assumes that the number of students is too low.

Today there is the Serbian Orthodox cultural association Sveti Jovan Vladimir ("Saint Jovan Vladimir ") in Albania , which is in close contact with the Montenegrin Metropolitan and campaigns for minority rights in Albania, especially for the maintenance of one's own language, religion and Culture and renaming the Albanian first and last name. There is also close cooperation between Omonia , an association of the Greek minority living in Albania , and the Serbs of Albania.

history

Women from Vraka in 1913 in Shkodra

The first Slavic tribes immigrated to what is now Albania as early as the 6th and 7th centuries when the Slavs took over the Balkans . Numerous place names in Albania have Slavic roots.

According to the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII , Serbs lived in the eastern Roman provinces of Dalmatia , Praevalitana and Moesia . A Slavic-Albanian symbiosis in Prokletije already existed in the Middle Ages, many Albanian and Slavic families attribute their origins to the same families. During the Serbian Empire under Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan , all of Albania, including Epirus , was under Serbian rule for a short time.

In Ottoman Defter (register) Tahrir defterleri from 1528 had most of northern Albania, a Serbian population: in Sandzak İşkodra (Shkodra) lived 81,700 Serbs and Sandjak Dirac (Durres) 8600 Serbs. According to current information, the Serbian-Montenegrin language island of Vraka north of Shkodra was founded by immigrants from Montenegro in the mid-18th century.

In 1828 the Ottomans allowed the opening of a Serbian-speaking school in Shkodra. In the First Balkan War , when Montenegro took Shkodra for a few months, 10,000 Serbs and Montenegrins fell in and around Shkodra, mainly around Shkodra Castle , Bardhanjoret Hill and on Tarabosh . The Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha ordered the destruction of the Serbian cemeteries and two Serbian places of worship after all religious practice was banned in 1967. Since then, hardly anything has reminded of the graves , but an initiative was started in 2008 to place a memorial plaque there, so far without success.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia opened several private schools in 1923 and 1924, one in Vraka with 72 students and three in Shkodra. There was also an ethnic Serbian football club and two youth organizations ( Guslar and Obilić ) in Shkodra. The establishment of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania in 1929 weakened the Serbs in the country. The 14 churches and monasteries still in operation were gradually closed. In 1934 the Serbian school in Vraka was closed.

Practically all of the around 2000 Montenegrins from northwest Albania left the country after the collapse of communism. Several hundred subsequently returned.

Settlement areas and number

Serbs and Montenegrins in Albania (Albania)
Tirana
Tirana
Fier
Fier
Shkodra
Shkodra
Vraka
Vraka
Libofsha
Libofsha
Hamil
Hamil
Koxhas / Boraka
Koxhas / Boraka
Prespa
Prespa
Dibra
Dibra
Gora
Gora
Greece
Kosovo
Macedonia
Montenegro
Italy
Adriatic
Slavic minorities in Albania:
settlement areas of
  • Serbs and Montenegrins
  • Bosniaks
  • Gorans
  • Macedonians
    •

    The 1989 Albanian census put the number of Serbs and Montenegrins in the country at exactly 100, while the 1928 census showed 65,000. In the 2011 referendum, 366 people identified themselves as Montenegrins, and 66 said Serbo-Croatian was their mother tongue. The Albanian Helsinki Committee estimates that 2000 Serbo-Montenegrins live in Albania, while the Serbian-Montenegrin interest group “Morača-Rozafa” in Shkodra estimates the size of the minority at 30,000.

    The minority lives mostly in villages just north of Shkodra ( serb. / Montenegr. Скадар / Skadar ) in the region Vraka (Врака) with the villages Boric i vogel (Мали Борич / Mali Boric ), Boric i madh (Велики Борич / Veliki Borič ), Grila (Гриљ / Grilj ), Omaraj (Омара / Omara ) and Rrash-Kullaj (Раш / Raš ). According to a newspaper article from 2003, Serbs and Montenegrins also live or lived in the following places in the near and far outskirts of Shkodra : Brodica, Bardosh, Grishaj, Koplik , Puka , Vafa, Kamenica, Shtoj i vjetër, Shtoj i ri, Dobraç, Golem, Mushan and Bushat . Several hundred families also lived in Durrës and the capital Tirana , and there are communities in Elbasan and Korça . In the 2011 census, 282 people in Shkodra Qark identified themselves as Montenegrins and 55 people said Serbo-Croatian was their mother tongue, with around 7.5% and 0.1% respectively not answering the questions.

    In Fier live mainly in the villages Rreth-Libofsha (serb./montenegr. Ретли Боуша / Retli Bouša about 2,000 Serbs Orthodox faith) and Hamil. There is also the Serbian cultural association Jedinstvo ("The Enigment"). Other Serbian residents of this region say they are originally from Novi Pazar and of Muslim faith. Serbian schools were opened in the villages of Libofsha and Hamil in Fier County in 2010 and 2014, respectively. The Serbian side stated the size of the minority on this occasion as 20,000 people. Other Serbs live in Berat . In the Fier and Berat regions, hardly any or no person reported being of Montenegrin origin or speaking Serbo-Croatian.

    Personalities

    literature

    • Klaus Steinke, Xhelal Ylli: The Slavic minorities in Albania. 4th part Vraka - Borokaj (=  Slavic contributions . Volume 491 ). Otto Wagner, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-86688-363-5 .

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ a b c Instat (Ed.): Population and Housing Census in Albania 2011: Main Results (Part 1) . Tirana December 2012 ( online version (PDF) [accessed January 31, 2019]).
    2. ↑ a b Vladimir Ortakovski: Minorities in the Balkans . Transnational Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-1-57105-129-5 , pp. 114 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
    3. ↑ a b c Manjola Xhaxho: Minority Rights and the Republic of Albania: Missing the implementation. (PDF) In: Lund University , Faculty of Law. Pp. 11, 28, 87 f. , accessed on May 27, 2016 (English, Master's thesis, Master's Program in International Human Rights Law, Professor Gudmundur Alfredsson).
    4. ↑ a b c Vlada Republike Srbije >> Vesti >> Politika >> Srbi u Albaniji jedna od najugroženih manjina u svetu. In: www.arhiva.srbija.gov.rs. Retrieved May 2, 2016 .
    5. ↑ Varia turcica IV. Comité international d'etudes pré-Ottomanes et Ottomanes . VIth Symposium Cambridge, 1–4 July 1984. Istanbul-Paris-Leiden 1987, pp. 105-114 .
    6. ^ Konrad Clewing: Serbs / Montenegrins in Albania. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 3, 2016 ; Retrieved August 3, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dediserver.eu
    7. ↑ a b Skadar: Zaboravili i junake i grobove. In: www.novosti.rs. Retrieved May 2, 2016 .
    8. ↑ Albanija. October 4, 2009, archived from the original on October 4, 2009 ; accessed on May 2, 2016 .
    9. ↑ Udruženje Morača-Rozafa - Istorijat. March 28, 2012, archived from the original on March 28, 2012 ; accessed on May 2, 2016 .
    10. ↑ Report submitted by Albania pursuant to Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minirockes. (PDF) In: Council of Europe. June 26, 2001, accessed May 27, 2016 .
    11. ↑ Albania. (PDF) Introduction: Linguistic topography. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, p. 56 , archived from the original on June 11, 2007 ; accessed on June 7, 2016 .
    12. ↑ RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of Serbia: Pavle Brajović: Zahtevi i očekivanja. In: www.rts.rs. Retrieved May 2, 2016 .
    13. ↑ Slobodan Šćepanović: Najnoviji demografski i drugi Podaci o Vraki. In: Projekat Rastko Skadar. Retrieved May 30, 2016 (rs).
    14. ↑ Vojislav Stanovčić: Položaj i identitet srpske manjine u jugoistočnoj i centralnoj Evropi: zbornik radova sa naučnog skupa održanog 26-29. novembra 2003. godine . . Srpska Akad Nauka i Umetnosti, 2005 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - Уосталом, српскоцрногорског живља и сада има у северној Албанији, код Скадра, у насељима: Бродица, Бардош, Грижа, Врака, Коплик, Пука, Вафа, Каменица, Омара, Велики Барич, Мали Барич, Грил, Раш, Стари Штој, Нови Штој, Добрач, Голем, Мушан, Бушат итд. Такође, живе и у окрузима Лежа, Драч, Тирана, Елбасан, Либражд ...).
    15. ^ Albanian Academy of Sciences (ed.): Kultura popullore . Instituti i Kulturës Popullore, 1992 ( limited preview in Google book search - Nërrethinat e Shkodrës, sidomos në Vrakë, në rrethinat e Elbasanit e të Korçës, ka pasur fshatra me popullsi serbe. Serbë të shiptarizë, nuar Maizë , në Malësi etj. Oaza mё e madhe serbe, sipas tij, është ...).
    16. ↑ Instituti i Statistics (ed.): Population and Housing Census - Shkodër 2011 . S. 39 f . ( Document as PDF (1.6 MB) [accessed on June 29, 2016]). Document as PDF ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.instat.gov.al
    17. ↑ a b c RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of Serbia: Srbi u Albaniji žele čvršću vezu sa maticom. In: www.rts.rs. Retrieved May 2, 2016 .
    18. ↑ Shkolla Serbe ne Fier - Vizion Plus - Lajme on YouTube
    19. ↑ Shekulli: Fier, hap dyert shkolla serb. Ambasadori Zariç: Do hapim edhe të tjera. In: malesia.org. September 19, 2010, accessed June 3, 2016 (Albanian).
    20. ↑ a b Eri Murati: Serbian-language school in Albania is a sign of improving relations. In: SETimes.com. January 23, 2014, archived from the original on October 27, 2014 ; accessed on May 27, 2016 (English).
    21. ↑ Ines Nurja: Censusi i popullsisë dhe banesave / Population and Housing Census - Fier 2011 . Results Kryesore / Main Results. Ed .: INSTAT . Pjesa / Part 1. Adel Print, Tirana 2013, p. 39 f . ( Document as PDF [accessed on January 31, 2019]).
    22. ↑ Ines Nurja: Censusi i popullsisë dhe banesave / Population and Housing Census - Berat 2011 . Results Kryesore / Main Results. Ed .: INSTAT . Pjesa / Part 1. Adel Print, Tirana 2013, p. 39 f . ( Document as PDF [accessed on January 31, 2019]).