Serbs and Montenegrins in Albania

Serbs and Montenegrins (Serbs-Montenegrins) are an ethno-linguistic community in Albania. They are one of the recognized national minorities. The population was concentrated in the region of Vraka, but largely emigrated in the 1990s. The community is bilingual and by majority adhere to Eastern Orthodoxy, while a minority professes Islam. The majority of the Serbo-Montenegrin community came to Albania from Montenegro during the interwar Zogist period following 1926 and later from 1938 until 1948.^[1] In the latest census (2011) 366 citizens declared themselves as Montenegrins and 142 as Serbs.

Serbo-Montenegrin minority in Albania

Total population
508 (2011 census)
Regions with significant populations
Shkodër County
Languages
Albanian and Serbian/Montenegrin
Religion
Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam

Terminology

The community is commonly known as Serbs-Montenegrins (Montenegrin/Serbian: Срби-Црногорци, Srbi-Crnogorci; Albanian: Serbomalazezët në Shqipëri), "Serbs" (Srbi) or "Montenegrins" (Crnogorci). It has also been called the Serbo-Montenegrin minority (srpsko-crnogorska manjina) by the Council of Europe^[2] or simply Serbo-Montenegrins.^[3]

Demographics

In the late 19th and 20th century, of the 600-700 people of the Orthodox faith living in the city of Shkodër, some 500-600 were Serbo-Montenegrins.^[4] The area of Vraka had a population of 600-700 Orthodox Slavophones.^[4]

During the first World War occupying Austro-Hungarian forces conducted a census (1916-1918) of parts of Albania they held.^[5] Of the area corresponding to the contemporary wider Shkodër region, settlements that listed Slavophone populations within them had the following ethnic and religious demographics:^[5]

• Koplik (12 settlements counted as one) - 199 households, 1429 people: 1427 Albanians, 2 Serbo-Croats; 2 Orthodox, 1427 Muslims.^[5]
• Buza e Ujit (with the settlements Flakë, Jubicë, Kalldrun, Kamicë, Stërbicë counted as part of the village) - 117 households, 755 people: 677 Albanians, 78 Serbo-Croats; 167 Catholics, 86 Orthodox, 502 Muslims.^[5]
• Boriç (Boriç i Ri and Boriç i Vjetër counted as one settlement) - 61 households, 482 people: 482 Albanians; 3 Catholics, 479 Orthodox.^[5]
• Grilë - 28 households, 205 people: 1 Albanian, 204 Serbo-Croats; 1 Catholic, 204 Orthodox.^[5]
• Rrash-Kullaj - 10 households, 122 people: 122 Albanians; 122 Orthodox.^[5]
• Omaraj - 25 households, 153 people: 5 Albanians, 148 Serbo-Croats; 4 Catholics, 148 Orthodox, 1 Muslim.^[5]
• Rrash - 9 households, 102 people: 102 Albanians; 83 Orthodox, 19 Muslims.^[5]
• Shtoj - 35 households, 166 people: 166 Serbo-Croats; 7 Catholics, 159 Muslims.^[5]
• Tarabosh - 19 households, 197 people (including Romani): 19 Albanians, 24 Serbo-Croats; 2 Catholics, 7 Orthodox, 188 Muslims.^[5]
• Sukat e Vezirit - 20 households, 164 people, 161 Albanians, 3 Serbo-Croats; 6 Catholics, 2 Orthodox, 155 Muslims.^[5]

Linguists Klaus Steinke and Xhelal Ylli consider the overall census results to be first instance of reliable information on the number of households and inhabitants as well as the ethnic and religious composition of these places.^[5] Both linguists however note that the data for Boriç and Rrash-Kullaj are somewhat unclear as the inhabitants are referred to there as both Albanians and Orthodox.^[5]

In the Albanian census of 1989, there was no accurate data about the minority population of Vraka.^[6] In the early 1990s, scholar Slobodan Šćepanović resorted to collecting information through interviews with individual Albanian immigrants and Albanian citizens of the region that came to Yugoslavia. Without specifying the sources, he gave the following "present" figures:^[7]

At the time in Shkodër County, the Vraka region is where most of the community lived:

• Boriç i Vogël (Stari/Mali Borič), majority of Serbs–Montenegrins (67 households) and minority of Albanians (8 households)
• Boriç i Madh (Mladi/Veliki Borič), majority of Slavic Muslims (Podgoriçani) hailing from Podgorica (86 families) and minorities of Albanians (20 families) and Serbs–Montenegrins (6 families)
• Grilë (Grilj), majority of Serbs–Montenegrins (76 households) and minority of Albanians (9 households)
• Omaraj (Omara), majority of Serbs–Montenegrins (68 households) and minority of Albanians (11 households)
• Rrash-Kullaj (Raš i Kule), was inhabited by Serbs–Montenegrins until World War II when the whole population emigrated to Yugoslavia

The official statistics of the Albanian government (early 1990s) placed the Montenegrin community at 100, as some Albanian government officials stated that those numbers were accurate due to 700 of them leaving Albania during the democratisation process.^[8] The Association of Montenegrins (AM), a social-cultural organisation founded in Vraka claimed some 1,000 members that represented the interests of a community of 2,500 people located in Shkodër and the surrounding area.^[8] AM during that time urged the Albanian government to recognise the Montenegrin and Serb communities in Albania and allow certain linguistic, education, cultural and other rights.^[8] In the 1990s, the Albanian Helsinki Committee estimated that there were ca. 2,000 "Serb–Montenegrins" in total with their center in Vraka. In the early 1990s, almost all of the settled in Montenegro, but later about 600 out of 2000 returned back to Albania.^[9][6]

During the early 2010s linguists Klaus Steinke and Xhelal Ylli seeking to corroborate villages cited in past literature as being Slavic speaking carried out fieldwork in settlements of the area.^[10] Of the Shkodër area exists seven villages with a Slavophone population that speak a Montenegrin dialect.^[10]

• Boriç i Madh - one third of the population is compact and composed of Muslim Podgoriçani.^[11]
• Boriç i Vogël - inhabited by 15 families and the Slavophone families are the only compact group of the Orthodox in Vraka.^[11]
• Grilë - the village officially has 1,090 inhabitants or 195 families, whereas the number of Orthodox Montenegrin families ranges between two, three to ten.^[11] An Albanian school exists in Grilë along with a newly built Orthodox church that is without a priest.^[11] According to Slavophone locals, the Orthodox population moved from Montenegro to Darragjat, due to blood feuds and later between 1935 and 1936, they relocated themselves to the Vraka area in places such as Grilë.^[11] Some Orthodox Montenegrins from the village moved to Montenegro in the 1990s with some thereafter returning to Grilë.^[11]
• Omaraj - in the village only two Orthodox Montenegrin families remain.^[11]
• Kamicë - the village is almost deserted, with five or six minority Orthodox Montenegrin families left, alongside the few Albanian families.^[11]
• Shtoj i Ri - the village has a compact population of 17 Muslim Podgoriçani families.^[11]
• Shtoj i Vjetër - the village has a compact population of 30 Muslim Podgoriçani families.^[11]
• Shkodër (city) - some Orthodox Montenegrin and Muslim Podgoriçani families live there.^[12][13][10]

Serbo-Montenegrin minority organizations, along with organizations from other minority groups, called for a boycott the 2011 census over disagreements on how ethnic and religious declarations were handled and other issues. Official statistics counted 366 Montenegrins and 142 Serbs.^[14]

History

Medieval Period

 

Icon from the Ardenica Monastery, with scenes of the Jovan Vladimir's life and miracles according to his Greek hagiography

With short interruptions, the territory that later became a part of Sanjak of Scutari in the Ottoman Empire, belonged to the Serbian medieval feudal states for many centuries.^[15] According to Emperor Constantine VII (r. 913–959) the early Serbs lived in the former Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Praevalitana and Moesia. During the rule of Časlav Klonimirović (r. 927–960), all of Albania was part of Bulgarian Empire (eastern) and the Byzantine Empire (Dyrrhachium (theme), western maritime). After the Byzantine annexation of Raška, the Serbian principality of Duklja succeeded as the main Serb state and it included much of the land north of Durrës, with Shkodër being an important city. Emperor Samuel of Bulgaria (r. 997–1014) had by 997 conquered all of Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, and most of modern Albania.^[16]

Jovan Vladimir ruled Duklja during the war between Byzantine Emperor Basil II and Samuel. Vladimir allegedly retreated into Koplik when Samuel invaded Duklja, and was subsequently forced to accept Bulgarian vassalage. Vladimir was later slewn by the Bulgars, and received a cult; Shingjon (the feast of St. Jovan Vladimir), which is celebrated by the Albanian Orthodox Christians.^[17] In 1018 Basil II conquered most of the Balkans and established the Archbishopric of Ohrid for the South Slavs. In the 1030s, Stefan Vojislav expelled the last strategos and defeated the Byzantines (1042), then set up Shkodër (Skadar) as his capital.^[18]

 

The ruins of the Shirgj Church, founded by Helen of Anjou, Queen consort of Serbia (1245–1276)

Constantine Bodin accepted the crusaders of the Crusade of 1101 in Shkodër. After the dynastic struggles in the 12th century, Shkodër became part of the Nemanjić Zeta province. In 1330 Stefan Uroš III appointed his son Stefan Dušan as the "Young King" and ruler of Zeta seated in Shkodër.^[19] According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, several Serbian rulers and members of the Vojislavljević dynasty of Duklja were buried in the Shirgj Church on the Bojana river, founded by Helen of Anjou, queen consort of Serbian Kingdom (1245–1276), such as Constantine Bodin, Mihailo I, Dobroslav, Vladimir and Gradinja.^[20]

During the fall of the Serbian Empire (14th century), Shkodër was taken by the Balšić family of Zeta who surrendered the city to Venice, in order to form protection zone from the Ottoman Empire. During Venetian rule the city adopted the Statutes of Scutari, a civic law written in Venetian, which also contained Albanian elements such as Besa and Gjakmarrja.^[21][22] Principality of Zeta, a former Ottoman vassal, lost its status as an independent state and was largely incorporated into the Sanjak of Scutari in 1499. In 1514, this territory was separated from the Sanjak of Scutari and established as a separate sanjak, under the rule of Skenderbeg Crnojević. When he died in 1528, the Sanjak of Montenegro was reincorporated into the Sanjak of Scutari as a unique administrative unit (vilayet) with certain degree of autonomy.^{[citation needed]}

Modern

 

Kosta Miličević, early 20th-century Impressionist painter

During the Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78), the Montenegrin army managed to capture certain areas and settlements along the border, and incorporated them into the state such as the town of Podgorica that had a significant Slavic Muslim population.^[23] The Muslim population of Podgorica fled^[24] and Slavic Muslims from the town migrated and resettled in Shkodër city and its environs.^[13][12] From 1878 onward a small Muslim Montenegrin speaking community living near Shkodër exists and are known as Podgoriçani, due to their origins from Podgorica in Montenegro.^[12][13]

In the late Ottoman period, the French consul of Shkodër noted the sentiments of the people of Vraka wanting to be united with Montenegro, though this was not achievable due to the distance of Vraka from the then border.^[4]

 

Flag of Montenegro in Shkodër during the Siege of Scutari of the First Balkan War

During the interwar period, relations between King Zog and Yugoslavia were less problematic and Yugoslav-Albanian borders allowed for the free movement of populations.^[1] The majority of the Serbo-Montenegrin community came to Albania from Montenegro during the interwar Zogist period following 1926 and later from 1938 until 1948.^[1] At the time Vraka contained poor land and was still an undeveloped area.^[1] Unlike the Albanian inhabitants of the area, the new population from Montenegro had skills in operating the iron plough and motor vehicles to cultivate the land.^[1]

The Serbian minority in Scutari had celebrated its liturgy in Serbian. The Serbian Metropolitan of Scutari participated in the Albanian Synod.^[25]

 

Welcome of the Serbian army in Durrës, 1912

Vraka is known for having been the place where poet Millosh Gjergj Nikolla became teacher on 23 April 1933, and it was in this period that he started to write prose sketches and verses.^[26]

Socialist Albania (1944–1992)

 

In 1946, a Serbian man, symbolized as a "Chetnik," is depicted engaging in forced labor in northern Albania. Behind him stands an Albanian figure, compelling him to work. The "Chetnik" is adorned with the flag of the People's Republic of Albania, signifying his subjugation under the Albanian regime.

As part of assimilation politics during the rule of communist regime in Albania, Serb-Montenegrins were not allowed to have Serbian names, especially family names ending with the characteristic suffix "ich".^[14]

After the 1981 student protest in Kosovo, Albanian Serbs complained on harassment and pressure to leave the country.^[27]

Contemporary

In 1990 most of the minority community of Vraka went to Montenegro.^[6] As the border opened up, many members of the community left between March–December 1991 for Montenegro and Vraka, Boriç and other nearby areas became severely depopulated.^[1] During that time with economic problems and tensions arising in areas of the former Yugoslavia, it made some 600 of them return home to Albania.^[6] The Morača-Rozafa Association was established in 1992.^[28]

During the Yugoslav Wars, there were incidents of violence against the Serb-Montenegrin minority in places like Vraka, Boriç i Vogël and Boriç i Madh, where the Albanian government tried to forcibly take land from them. There were reports that the Albanian government also attempted to forcibly resettle Serb-Montenegrins and Podgoriçani from Boriç i Vogël, Boriç i Madh, Vraka and other places.^[29][30]

In March 1992, as part of state policy by Serbia and Montenegro to increase the numbers of Serbs in Kosovo, nearly 3,000 people from the Serb minority in Albania emigrated to the region after accepting a government offer for employment and housing in the area.^[31][32][4] Another wave came with the Kosovo War.

In the early twenty first century, the community lives largely on trade with Montenegro and communal relations with Albanian inhabitants are regarded as good by many of its members.^[33]

Notable people

• Stefan Marinović (fl. 1563), Venetian printer, born in Shkodër.
• Nikola Musulin (1830–fl. 1897), Serbian teacher who found the Prizren manuscript of Dušan's Code.
• George Berovich (1845–1897), Ottoman official, born in Shkodër.
• Nikola Vulić (1872–1945), Serbian historian, classical philologist and archaeologist, born in Shkodër, member of SANU.
• Kosta Miličević (1877–1920), Serbian painter, born in Vrakë.
• Vojo Kushi (1918–1942), Albanian communist, Hero of Albania and Hero of Yugoslavia, born in Shkodër.
• Nada Matić, Serbian paralympic table tennis player
• Llazi Sërbo -(9 March 1945 – 12 September 2010) Albanian actor and director born in Korçë. His surname may suggest his fathers side had Serbian origin or had come from modern Serbia.

See also

•  Serbia portal

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serbs in Albania.

• Albania–Montenegro relations
• Albania–Serbia relations
• Demographics of Albania
• Albanians in Serbia
• Albanians in Montenegro
• Kosovo Serbs

References

1. Miranda Vickers; James Pettifer (1997). Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 203. ISBN 978-1-85065-279-3.
2. ECRI report on Albania (PDF). Coe.int (Report). 2010. p. 31. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
3. Francesco Palermo; Natalie Sabanadze (14 February 2011). National Minorities in Inter-State Relations. BRILL. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-90-474-2942-5.
4. Clayer, Nathalie (2007). Aux origines du nationalisme albanais: La naissance d'une nation majoritairement musulmane en Europe [The origins of Albanian nationalism: The birth of a predominantly Muslim nation in Europe]. Paris: Karthala. ISBN 9782845868168. p. 65. "Shkodër... Elle comprenait six à sept cents personnes dans la ville, dont cinq à six cents «Serbo-Montenegrins»... Le village de Vrakë, situé à une heure - une heure et demie de march au nord de Shkodër, comptait sept à huit cent orthodoxes slavophones. D'après le consul français, les habitants de ce village souhaitaient etre rattachés au Monténégro, ce qui était imposible étant donné l'éloignement de la frontier.[15]... [15] Un siècle plus tard, leurs descendants ont fini par émigrer en Yougoslavie après la chute de régime communiste et ont été installes… au Kosovo."
5. Steinke & Ylli 2013, pp. 17 "Die ersten verlasslichen Angaben zur Häuser- und Einwohnerzahl sowie zur ethnischen und religiösen Zusammensetzung der Orte macht SEINER (1922: 29, 32). Nur zwei Angaben sind unklar, nämlich für Boriç und Rrash Kullaj, weil die Einwohner dort gleichzeitig als Albaner und Orthodoxe bezeichnet werden.... Hauser H, Einwohner E, Albaner A, Serbokroaten Skr, Katholiken K, Orthodoxe O, Muslime M.... Koplik[footnote 21] 199 H, 1429 E, 1427 A, 2 Skr, 2 O, 1427 M; Buza e Ujit[22] 177 H, 755 E 667 A, 78 Skr, 167 K, 86 O, 502 M; Boriçi[23] 61 H, 482 E, 482 A, 3 K, 479 O; Gril 28 H, 205 E, 1 A, 204 Skr, 1 K, 204 O; Rrash-Kullaj[24] 10 H 122 E, 122 A, 122 O; Omaraj[25] 25 H, 153 e, 5 A, 148 Skr, 4 K, 148 O, 1 M; Rrashi 9 H, 102 E, 83 O, 19 M; Shtoji (Hamidija) 35 H, 166 E, 166 Skr, 7 K, 159 M; Taraboshi 19 H, 197[26] E, 19 A, 24 Skr, 2 K, 7 O, 188 M; Sukat e Vezirit 20 H, 164 E, 161 A, 3 Skr, 6 K, 2 O, 155 M.... Footnotes: [21] Umfasst zwölf Dorfer bzw, Vietel, [22] Umfasst die Dorfer Flaka, Jubica, Kalldrun, Kamica, Stërbica, [23] Boriçi i Ri und Boriçi i Vjetër, [24] Als Kullat e Rrashit angegeben, [25] Als Omaret e Vrakës angegeben, [26] Davon 154 Ziguener.
6. Genov, Nikolai (2006). Ethnicity and Mass Media in South Eastern Europe. Lit Verlag. p. 25. ISBN 9783825893484. "Vraka to the north of the city of Shkodra and near the border with Montenegro. There are no accurate data about this ethnic minority in the population census of 1989. It was considered that it consisted of about 2,000 people. Almost all of them left for Montenegro in 1990. Economic difficulties and the tensions created in the former Yugoslavia urged about 600 of them to return to their homes in Albania.
7. Steinke & Ylli 2013, p. 19 "Ohne genaue Quellenangabe bringt ŠĆEPANOVIĆ (1991: 716-717) folgende ,,aktuelle" Zahlen: Omara 79 Haushalte, davon 68 crnogorski, 11 albanische; Grilj 85 Haushalte, davon 76 crnogorski, 9 albanische; Stari (Mali) Borić 75 Haushalte, davon 67 crnogorski, 8 albanische, Veliki (Mladi) Borić 112 Familien, davon 86 podgoričanski, 6 crnogorski und 20 albanische Familien. STOPPEL (2012: 28) sagt Folgendes über die Montenegriner in Albanien: ,,hierbei handelt es sich um (nach Erhebungen des Helsinki-Komitees von 1999 geschätzt,, etwa 1800-2000 serbisch-sprachige Personen in Raum des Shkodra-Sees und im nördlichen Berggrenzland zu Montenegro, die 1989 eher symbolisch mit ca. 100 Personen angegeben und nach 1991 zunächst überwiegend nach Jugoslawien übergewechselt waren."
8. Vance, Charles; Paik, Yongsun (2006). Managing a Global Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities in International Human Resource Management. M.E. Sharpe. p. 713. ISBN 9780765620163. The Association of Montenegrins (AM) was formed in Vraka, near the town of Shkodër, in northern Albania, as a social-cultural organization and not as an avowedly political group. Although the Montenegrins were not recognized by the Albanian authorities as a distinct national minority, the Association claimed to have over 1,000 members representing the interests of a 2,500-strong minority residing mainly in the around Shkodër. The AM challenged the official statistics issued by Tirana in the early 1990s, in which the number of Montenegrins and Serbs was placed at only 100. Some Albanian officials contended that several hundred Slavs had left the country since the onset of the democratic changes, including both Serbs and Montenegrins, that the numbers were accurate. Members of the Association advocated promoting the culture and customs of Montenegrins and urged the recognition of Montenegrin and Serbian minorities in Albania and the return of original Slavic names to members of these minorities. The AM planned to reopen elementary schools in the mother language and to form a Montenegrin-Serbian club.
9. Manjola Xhaxho. Minority Rights and the Republic of Albania: Missing the Implementation (Report). pp. 20–21. With the beginning of the democratic processes in Albania, almost all the Montenegrin minority left to Montenegro. The economic difficulties and the tensions created in former Yugoslavia urged a part of those who had left to return to their homes in Albania. About 600 of two thousand people, who moved to Montenegrin, have returned to their houses. The rest either continued to live in Montenegro (the majority) or moved to other countries of Western Europe, USA or Canada.
10. Steinke, Klaus; Ylli, Xhelal (2013). Die slavischen Minderheiten in Albanien (SMA). 4. Teil: Vraka - Borakaj. Munich: Verlag Otto Sagner. ISBN 9783866883635. p. 9. "Am östlichen Ufer des Shkodrasees gibt es heute auf dem Gebiet von Vraka vier Dörfer, in denen ein Teil der Bewohner eine montenegrinische Mundart spricht. Es handelt sich dabei um die Ortschaften Boriçi i Madh (Borić Veli), Boriçi i Vogël (Borić Mali/Borić Stari/Borić Vezirov), Gril (Grilj) und Omaraj (Omara), die verwaltungstechnisch Teil der Gemeinde Gruemira in der Region Malësia e Madhe sind. Ferner zählen zu dieser Gruppe noch die Dörfer Shtoji i Ri und Shtoji i Vjetër in der Gemeinde Rrethinat und weiter nordwestlich von Koplik das Dorf Kamica (Kamenica), das zur Gemeinde Qendër in der Region Malësia e Madhe gehört. Desgleichen wohnen vereinzelt in der Stadt sowie im Kreis Shkodra weitere Sprecher der montenegrinischen Mundart. Nach ihrer Konfession unterscheidet man zwei Gruppen, d.h. orthodoxe mid muslimische Slavophone. Die erste, kleinere Gruppe wohnt in Boriçi i Vogël, Gril, Omaraj und Kamica, die zweite, größere Gruppe in Boriçi i Madh und in Shtoj. Unter den in Shkodra wohnenden Slavophonen sind beide Konfessionen vertreten... Die Muslime bezeichnen sich gemeinhin als Podgoričani ‘Zuwanderer aus Podgorica’ und kommen aus Zeta, Podgorica, Tuzi usw."
11. Steinke & Ylli 2013 p. 20. "Außer in Boriçi i Madh und auch in Shtoj, wo die Slavophonen eine kompakte Gruppe innerhalb des jeweiligen Ortes bilden, sind sie in anderen Dorfern zahlenmäßig bedeutunglos geworden."; p. 103. "Boriçi i Madh - Borić Veli. Das Dorf besteht zu einem Drittel aus muslimischen Slavophonen. Zusammen mit Shtoj bildet Boriçi i Madh die größte kompakte Ansiedlung von den Podgoricanen in Vraka."; p. 108. "Boriçi i Vogël - Borić Mali / Stari / Vezirov. Mit ungefahr 15 Familien bilden die Slavophonen von Boriçi i Vogël die einzige kompakte Gruppe der Orthodoxen in Vraka."; p. 111. "Gril - Grilj. In Gril leben offiziell 1.090 Einwohner bzw. 195 Familien. Die Angaben über die Zahl der orthodoxen Familien der montenegreschen Minderheit schwanken zwischen zwei bis drei und zehn. Hier befindet sich die die albanische Schule für Vraka und ferner eine neugebaute orthodoxe Kirche, die freilich keinen Priester hat. Die orthodoxen Einwohner sollen zunächst wegen der Blutrache von Montenegro nach Daragjat und von dort 1935-1936 nach Vraka gezogen sein, wie VK angbit. Er ist auch einer der wenigen Rückkehrer, der am Anfang der 1990-er nach Montenegro ging und wider zurückkam."; p. 117. "Kamica - Kamenica. Das Dorf ist fast verlassen, und heute wohnen dort nur noch fünf bis sechs orthodoxe Familien der Minderheit und einige hinzugekommene albanische Familien."; p. 126. "Omaraj - Omara. In Omaraj wohnen nur noch zwei orthodoxe Familien der Minderheit."; p. 131. "Shtoji - Štoj. In Shtoj i Vjetër leben heute ungefähr 30 und in Shtoj i Ri 17 muslimische Familien, d.h Podgoričaner."
12. Tošić, Jelena (2015). "City of the 'calm': Vernacular mobility and genealogies of urbanity in a southeast European borderland". Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. 15 (3): 391–408. doi:10.1080/14683857.2015.1091182. pp. 394–395. "As noted above, the vernacular mobility term ‘Podgoriçani’ (literally meaning ‘people that came from Podgoriça’, the present-day capital of Montenegro) refers to the progeny of Balkan Muslims, who migrated to Shkodra in four historical periods and in highest numbers after the Congress of Berlin 1878. Like the Ulqinak, the Podgoriçani thus personify the mass forced displacement of the Muslim population from the Balkans and the ‘unmixing of peoples’ (see e.g. Brubaker 1996, 153) at the time of the retreat of the Ottoman Empire, which has only recently sparked renewed scholarly interest (e.g. Blumi 2013; Chatty 2013)."
13. Gruber, Siegfried (2008). "Household structures in urban Albania in 1918". The History of the Family. 13 (2): 138–151. doi:10.1016/j.hisfam.2008.05.002. S2CID 144626672. p. 142. "Migration to Shkodra was mostly from the villages to the south-east of the city and from the cities of Podgorica and Ulcinj in Montenegro. This was connected to the independence of Montenegro from the Ottoman Empire in the year 1878 and the acquisition of additional territories, e.g. Ulcinj in 1881 (Ippen, 1907, p. 3)."
14. (PDF) (Report). Republic of Albania Ombudsman. 2014. pp. 13–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2017. The Serbian-Montenegrin minority, during the past century, has been the subject of injustices by the state structures of that time, while institutional repressive measures led to discrimination and attempts to assimilate this minority. This repressive policy of assimilation begins with the regime of King Zog, who banished schools in Serbian language and continued with the communist regime, when the Serbiain-Montenegrin nationality was forbidden, along with the names and in particular the family names ending with the characteristic suffix "ich", as well as the right of education and the right of information in their mother tongue, the right to maintain contacts with the mother country, the right of religion etc.
15. Luka, David. "Regjistri turk i vitit 1485*". Kulturserver-hamburg.de (in Albanian). Retrieved 30 April 2011. Për katër shekuj me radhë (XI-XIV) me pak ndërprerje krahinat e Shqipërisë Veriore (përafërsisht ato që në të ardhmen do të bëjnë pjesë në sanxhakun e Shkodrës), qëndruan nën sundimin e feudalëve serbë të shtetit të Dioklesë dhe të Rashës.
16. Fine 1991, p. 193
17. Koti 2006, para. 1, 2
18. Fine 1991, p. 206
19. Miladin Stevanović; Vuk Branković (srpski velmoža.) (2004). Vuk Branković. Knjiga-komerc. p. 38. ISBN 9788677120382. Retrieved 20 April 2013. После битке код Велбужда млади краљ Душан, чији је углед знатно порастао, добио је од оца на управљање Зету са седиштем у Скадру.
20. Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor. Vol. 51–52. Državna Štamparija. 1988. p. 94.
21. Anamali, Skënder and Prifti, Kristaq. Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime. Botimet Toena, 2002, ISBN 99927-1-622-3 pp. 231-232
22. Nadin, Lucia. Statuti di Scutari: della prima meta del secolo XIV con le addizioni fino al 1469 / Statutet e Shkodrës: në gjysmën e parë të shekullit XIV me shtesat deri më 1469. Tirana: Onufri, 2012.
23. Roberts, Elizabeth (2005). Realm of the Black Mountain: a history of Montenegro. London: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801446016. p. 22. "Meanwhile Austria-Hungary’s occupation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, which had been conceded at the congress, acted as a block to Montenegrins territorial ambitions in Hercegovina, whose Orthodox Slav inhabitants were culturally close to the Montenegrins. Instead Montenegro was able to expand only to the south and east into lands populated largely by Albanians – both Muslims and Catholics – and Slav Muslims.... The areas to the south and east of Podgorica were inhabited by Albanians from the predominantly Catholic tribes, while further to the east there were also concentrations of Slav Muslims. Podgorica itself had long been an Ottoman trading centre with a partly Turkish, but largely Slav Muslim and Albanian population. To incorporate such a population was to dilute the number of Montenegrins, whose first loyalties lay with the Montenegrin state and Petrović dynasty, not that this was seen as sufficient reason for the Montenegrins to desist from seeking to obtain further territory."
24. Blumi, Isa (2003). "Contesting the edges of the Ottoman Empire: Rethinking ethnic and sectarian boundaries in the Malësore, 1878–1912". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 35 (2): 237–256. doi:10.1017/S0020743803000102. JSTOR 3879619. S2CID 162217114. p. 254. footnote 38. "It must be noted that, throughout the second half of 1878 and the first two months of 1879, the majority of Albanian-speaking residents of Shpuza and Podgoritza, also ceded to Montenegro by Berlin, were resisting en masse. The result of the transfer of Podgoritza (and Antivari on the coast) was a flood of refugees. See, for instance, AQSH E143.D.1054.f.1 for a letter (dated 12 May 1879) to Dervish Pasha, military commander in Işkodra, detailing the flight of Muslims and Catholics from Podgoritza."
25. Ines Angjeli Murzaku (2009). Returning Home to Rome: The Basilian Monks of Grottaferrata in Albania. Analekta Kryptoferris. p. 154. ISBN 978-88-89345-04-7.
26. Robert Elsie (2005). Albanian Literature: A Short History. I.B.Tauris. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-1-84511-031-4.
27. Michael Anthony Sells (27 September 1996). The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia. University of California Press. pp. 55–. ISBN 978-0-520-92209-9.
28. . Archived from the original on 2015-06-15. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
29. Daily Report: East Europe 116–126. The Service. 1994. The report that the Albanian authorities have tried forcibly to resettle members of the Serb and Montenegrin minorities, residents of Vraka and Podgoricani, from the villages of Stari Boric and Mladi Boric, in which they have always lived, has caused great concern among the Yugoslav public.
30. Daily Report: East Europe, 136-146. 1995. On that occasion the Albanian authorities attempted to forcibly requisition land from the members of the Serbian and Montenegrin minority from the village Stari Boric and Mladi Boric near Shkodra by demanding that they sign a statement ...
31. IDSA News Review on USSR/Europe. Institute For Defence Studies and Analyses. January 1991. p. 293.
32. Janjić, Dušan; Lalaj, Anna; Pula, Besnik (2013). "Kosovo under the Milošević Regime". In Ingrao, Charles W.; Emmert, Thomas A. (eds.). Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative. Purdue University Press. p. 290. ISBN 9781557536174.
33. Hermine de Soto (1 January 2002). Poverty in Albania: A Qualitative Assessment. World Bank Publications. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-8213-5109-3.

Sources

Reports

• Xhaxho, M. Minority Rights and the Republic of Albania: Missing the Implementation (Report). lup.lub.lu.se.

External links

• Association of the Serbo-Montenegrin minority in the Republic of Albania "MORAČA-ROZAFA"
• Kvadratura kruga: Kako su Srbi postali Albanci, Belgrade: RTS (Documentary in Serbian)
• Srbi u Albaniji, Valjevo: Vujić televizija, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, 29 min. (Documentary in Serbian)