Serb enclaves in Kosovo

See also: Kosovo Serbs

Serb population of Kosovo in 2011

A street in Gračanica, 2008.

Serb enclaves are settlements in Kosovo outside North Kosovo ("south of the Ibar") where Serbs form a majority. ^[1]

Serbs have often built roadblocks and barricades, to prevent access by Kosovo Police and customs officers. ^[2] After the initial outflow after the Kosovo War the situation of the Kosovo Serb communities has improved. ^[3] The 2013 Brussels Agreement allowed full operation of Kosovo Police and customs officials, while the Community of Serb Municipalities is planned to be created within the Republic of Kosovo legal framework.

History

According to the 1991 census in Yugoslavia, there were five municipalities with a Serb majority in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. Those were: Leposavić, Zvečan, Zubin Potok, Štrpce and Novo Brdo. ^[4] The remaining municipalities had an Albanian majority, while other significant ethnic minorities (such as ethnic Muslims and Romani) did not form majorities in any of the municipalities.

Serbs in enclaves during 2004 unrest

Prior to the 1999 Kosovo War, there were many more Serbs living in the territory of Kosovo. Many of them left in 1999, and some more left during the 2004 unrest, when the Serb community and Serbian cultural heritage were targeted, and as a result 35 churches, including 18 monuments of culture, were demolished, burnt or severely damaged. Estimates of the number of Serbs thus displaced range from 65,000 to 250,000 ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]} Only about 3.000 of them have returned since. Based on Serbian former Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, 312 of 437 towns and villages in which Serbs lived were completely ethnically cleansed, and in the ensuing violence, more than 1.000 Serbs were killed, while 841 were kidnapped and 960 wounded. ^{[9] [10]}

Between 2000 and 2008, the UNMIK administration created eight new municipalities on the territory of Kosovo, three of which have an ethnic Serb majority: Gračanica, Klokot-Vrbovac and Ranilug. In 2008, the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija was created to coordinate the efforts of the Serbian minority in Kosovo. There are some 120,000 Serbs in Kosovo, of whom about a third are in the north. They believe that if Republic of Kosovo government officials are deployed on the border, Kosovo will eventually take control of the north, which is now a de facto part of Serbia. Kosovo's Serbs, especially in the north, reject its independence. ^[2]

During the ethnic tensions in the 2004 unrest in Kosovo, numerous Serb enclaves were assaulted by Kosovo Albanian rioters. ^[11]

Demographics

Municipalities

The Community of Serb Municipalities created by the 2013 Brussels Agreement.

According to the 2011 census, which was boycotted in North Kosovo and partially boycotted by Serbs in southern Kosovo, ^[12] the municipalities of Gračanica, Parteš and Ranilug (enclaves, outside North Kosovo) have a Serb majority, while Serbs form about 45% of the total population of Novo Brdo, Štrpce and Klokot. ^[13]

Towns and villages

From 2009 to 2010, 5 new municipalities were formed of settlements with Serbian ethnic majority, in order to establish Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo. These municipalities are: Gračanica/Graçanicë, Klokot/Kllokot, Ranilug/Ranillugë, Parteš/Parteshi and Novo Brdo/Artana.

Serbian settlements in other municipalities (as of the 2011 Kosovo Census): ^[14]

• Vushtrri/Vučitrn municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore. In Prilužje and Grace Serbians still form a significant minority.
• City of Pristina: Gračanica/Graçanicë has a Serb majority. ^[15]
• Lipjan/Lipljan municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore. Dobrotin, Livađe, Donja Gušterica, Gornja Gušterica, Suvi Do became part of Gračanica/Graçanicë municipalility.
• Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore. Batuse became part of Gračanica/Graçanicë municipalility.
• Gjilan/Gnjilane municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore. Pasjane and Donja Budriga became part of the Parteš/Parteshi municipality, while Koretište, Gornje Kusce, Straža, Gornji Makreš became part of the Novo Brdo/Artana municipality, in Šilovo Serbians still form a significant minority. ^[16]
• Peja/Peć municipality: Goraždevac; ^[17]
• Burim/Istok municipality: Osojane
• Rahovec municipality: officially no Serb majority settlements anymore, however Hoçë e Madhe/Velika Hoča is estimated to have a Serb majority. ^[18]
• Skënderaj municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore, formerly Suvo Grlo.
• Dardana municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore. Ranilug became a municipality.
• Viti/Vitina municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore. Klokot became a municipality.
• Artana/Novo Brdo municipality: Prekovce
• Klina municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore, formerly Vidanje. ^[19]

Smaller Serbian communities are also present in Prizren, Gjilan and Kastriot (Obiliq).

Serbian-language media in enclaves

• RadioKiM
• Klokot radio
• Radio Kontaktplus North Kosovska Mitrovica
• RTV Puls

See also

• Enclave (film), a 2015 Serbian film

Notes and references

References

1. Cross, S.; Kentera, S.; Vukadinovic, R.; Nation, R., eds. (2013). Shaping South East Europe's Security Community for the Twenty-First Century: Trust, Partnership, Integration. Springer. p. 201. ISBN   9781137010209.
2. "Serbia and Kosovo: On the border of conflict". The Economist . 21 November 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
3. "Serb community in Kosovo" (PDF). Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. June 2012. p. 11. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
4. Brunborg, Helge (14 August 2002). "Report on the size and ethnic composition of the population of Kosovo" (PDF). icty.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. pp. 8–9.
5. European Stability Initiative (ESI): The Lausanne Principle: Multiethnicity, Territory and the Future of Kosovo's Serbs (.pdf), 7 June 2004.
6. Coordinating Centre of Serbia for Kosovo-Metohija: Principles of the program for return of internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija.
7. US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI): Country report: Serbia and Montenegro 2006 Archived 19 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine .
8. International Relations and Security Network (ISN): Serbians return to Kosovo not impossible, says report (.pdf), by Tim Judah, 7 June 2004.
9. B92: Interesovanje za povratak na Kosovo (The Interest for Returning to Kosovo), 8 June 2009 (in Serbian)
10. "Raseljeni Srbi žele povratak na Kosovo". RTS . 8 June 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
11. Deliso, Christopher (2017). The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 64. ISBN   9780275995263.
12. "ECMI: Minority figures in Kosovo census to be used with reservations". ECMI.
13. "REKOS 2011: Results". Statistical Office of Kosovo. September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
14. "Évolution de la population 1948-2011". pop-stat.mashke.org (in Albanian). Retrieved 16 December 2013..
15. Calu, Marius-Ionut (2020). Kosovo Divided: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Struggle for a State. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 163–164. ISBN   9781838606602.
16. "Deputy Prime Minister Petrovic Visited the Village of Shilovë". mapl.rks-gov.net (in Albanian). 22 May 2012.
17. Glas Javnosti: Setva u okruženju Archived 4 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine , 1 April 2000 (Retrieved 29 November 2010) (in Serbian)
18. John Petersen (8 January 2013). "ECMI: Minority figures in Kosovo census to be used with reservations". infoecmi.eu. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
19. "Évolution de la population 1948-2011". pop-stat.mashke.org (in Albanian). Retrieved 7 December 2013..