The Serb-Montenegrin community in Albania is estimated to number ca. 30,000 people. In the latest census (2011), boycotted by the national minorities, citizens had the option to declare as "Montenegrins" (366 did so). The population is concentrated in the region of Vraka. The community is bilingual and by majority adhere to Eastern Orthodoxy, while a minority professes Islam.
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Nomenclature
The community is commonly known as Serbs-Montenegrins (srbi-crnogorci), "Serbs" (srbi) or "Montenegrins" (crnogorci). It has also been called the Serbo-Montenegrin minority (by the Council of Europe) or simply Serbo-Montenegrins.
Human rights
According to the Serbian Ministry of Diaspora in 2009, the most vulnerable minority of Europe were the Serbs in Albania, who since Communist Albania have not had their right to the use of the Serbian language or the religious orientation (Serbian Orthodox). During the rule of Enver Hoxha, they were forced to change names but have not been able to reclaim them.
Economy
The community lives largely on trade with Montenegro.
Population
In 2000, the Albanian Helsinki Committee estimated that there were ca. 2,000 "Serb–Montenegrin" people in Albania. The Morača-Rozafa Association had 4,000 members in 2009, while President Pavle Brajović claimed a number closer to 30,000. The 2011 census in Albania was boycotted by the national minorities. According to the Assembly for the Diaspora, the Serb minority in Albania number ca. 30,000 people.
In Shkodër County, the Vraka region is where most of the community live:
According to a 2003 paper, the Serb-Montenegrin community currently inhabited the following villages near Shkodër: Brodica, Bardoš, Griža, Vraka, Koplik, Puka, Vafa, Kamenica, Omara, Veliki Borič, Mali Borič, Gril, Raš, Stari Štoj, Novi Štoj, Dobrač, Golem, Mušan, Bušat, etc.
Smaller communities live outside northern Albania. Several hundred families live in Durrës and Tirana. There are also communities in Elbasan and Korça. In two villages of Fier, the inhabitants declare as Serbs of Islamic faith. In Fier, there are some 2,000 Serbs of Orthodox faith, living mostly in the settlements of Retli Bouša and Hamir. Shijak is inhabited by a community of Bosniaks who descend from families that fled Bosnia in 1885, heading for Turkey, but were settled in the villages of Koxhas and Borake.
Middle Ages
With short interruptions, the territory that later became a part of Sanjak of Scutari in the Ottoman Empire, belonged to the Slavic medieval feudal states for many centuries. The South Slavs ("Sklavenoi") began raiding Byzantine territories in the 520s and had conquered Durrës and most of Epirus and Macedonia in 548. 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), most of Albania was part of Bulgaria (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. Khan Samuel of Bulgaria (r. 997–1014) had by 997 conquered all of Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia, and most of modern Albania. 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. In 1018 Basil II conquered most of the Balkans and established the Archbishopric of Ochrid 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. 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. According to the study of a Serbian chrysobull dating 1330, northern Albania was populated by Orthodox Serbs and several town names attest to a prominence of Serbs: Trebo polje, Bajbane, Luzane, Gorane, Buljane etc. 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. 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. The first Ottoman censuses (1431, 1467 and 1485) show such substantial presence of Slavic toponyms.
1582 Ottoman census
In 1582, in Ottoman defter "Tahrir defterleri", most of northern Albania had Serb populations; the Sanjak of Scutari had 81,700 Serbs, while Durrës Sandjak had 8,600 Serbs. In the east of the Shkodra lake there were Serb enclaves, also attested in place-names: Zlogora, Brezje, Grnčar, Podgor, Kosmač, Gradič, Dobre, Trnoslav, Gradec, Rumište, Maličevo, Kosovo, Brdence, Poljičani, Popine, and the village Srbin and city of Šklav. The 1582—1583 Scutari defter show many nahiyah with a total of 709 villages, of which the following were located within Albania:
Early modern
Montenegrins and Serbs began migrating to Vraka in the late 17th century. From confirmed documents, one of the first families to inhabit the area of Vraka was in 1705 were the Đurčevići from the village of Momče in Kuči. A certain Jerko Đurčević was the only one from his clan in Vraka to convert to Islam. His descendants later became known as the Jerkovići, who are found in the village of Štoj, near Ulcinj.
Modern
In 1828, a Serbian school was opened in Shkodra, which Nikola Musulin attended.
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was not certain "how far there are Serbs in Albania and Macedonia".
In 1909, the Eparchy of Raška–Prizren had 15 protopresbyteriates, the last of which was Skadar, in which the parishes of:
In 1918, besides the Serb Orthodox in Scutari, there were communities in different neighbouring villages such as Vraka, Vramenica, Derigniat, etc., as well as several thousands of Slavic Muslims of Montenegrin and Bosnia-Herzegovina origin. With the establishment of Yugoslavia, almost all of the ethnic Serbs had been united into one state, except for those scattered in Hungary, Romania and a small number in Albania. In 1920, the following villages had Serb majority or plurality: "Brch, Basits, Vraka, Sterbets, Kadrum" and farming was the chief occupation.
According to Russian consulate Ivan Yastrebov's estimations published in 1874, there were 80.000 Catholic males, 20.000 Orthodox males, and 9.500 Muslim males in the Sanjak of Scutari. The majority of the population spoke the Albanian language. He asserted that the Orthodox, and a number of Catholics and Muslims spoke the Serbian language.
In 1939 there were ca. 4,000 Serbs west of Ohrid, and several villages were inhabited by Serbian refugees.
According to Jovan Erdeljanović, in his book "Stara Crna Gora", all descendants of Jovan Martinović, who has been mentioned since 1687, have emigrated to Vraka.
In the Zog period, the Yugoslav-Albanian borders offered free movement. In 1921, Albanian government declared that the Greeks were to be registered as a minority, the Orthodox Serbs however were to register themselves as Albanians (thus becoming nationals of Albania) in a two-year period. In the Albanian census the Greeks numbered 15,000 while Serbs and Bulgarians numbered 200 families. During the time of 1921-1928 the Serb community in Albania was strengthened through efforts of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which opened several Serbian private schools in 1923-1924 of which the school of Vrake had 72 pupils in 1930, three schools in Shkodra. An ethnic Serb football team existed in Shkodra that competed in the Albanian league. Two youth organizations (Guslar and Obilich) existed in Shkodra. The formation of Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania weakened the Serbs and Greeks in the country. The active 14 churches and Monastery were slowly closed by the Albanian government. The Serb school in Vrake was destroyed in 1934.
1928 data shows that Albania had 65,000 (7.83%) Serbs and Montenegrins.
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.
Following the liberation of the Balkan states, Serbs from Albania began to migrate to Serbia and Montenegro. A period of migration occurred between 1925 and 1934. This wave marked the return of many Montenegrin families to Montenegro, leaving their homes in Vraka behind.
Socialist Albania (1944–1992)
Enver Hoxha decided to destroy the Serbian cemeteries and 2 of the Serb temples. In 1966, the state abolished religion, and in 1968 the state forced parents to name their children with contemporary and revolutionary (Illyrian) names. The surnames were forcibly changed by the Albanian government, from Slavic into Albanian ones, as part of Albanianization.
After the 1981 student protest in Kosovo, Albanian Serbs complained on harassment and pressure to leave the country.
Contemporary
In 1992, the Morača-Rozafa Association was established.
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 also tried to forcibly take land from them. The Albanian government also planned to forcibly resettle Serb-Montenegrins and Podgoričani from Boriç i Vogël, Boriç i Madh, Vraka and other places. Many moved to Serbia and Montenegro. Another wave came with the Kosovo War.
Demographic history
Religion
Serb-Montenegrins in Albania are adherents of two rellgions: Eastern Orthodoxy and Sunni Islam.
The Serbian minority in Scutari had always celebrated its liturgy in Serbian. The Serbian Metropolitan of Scutari participated in the Albanian Synod.
Names
As part of assimilation politics, Serbs were not allowed to have Serbian names. Many Serbs took simple words as surnames: Druri (drvo, tree), Arra (orah, walnut), Guri (kamen, stone), Hekuri (gvožđe, iron), Qershia (trešnja, cherry), Dritarja (prozor, window).
Architecture
On the small route from Elbasan to Djuhaze are the remains of 99 Serbian Orthodox buildings. In Shkodra is the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, in Donja the church of Mother Mary.
Anthropology
Many towns with historical Serb population derive their name from the early Middle Ages when Slavs ruled Albania.
In the Shkodra region, especially in Vrakë, and on the outskirts of Elbasan, Korça, there were villages with Serbian population. Albanized Serbs exist in Cermenikë, Bulqizë, in Mokër, in Malësia, etc.
The Ljumljani were Serbs that were Islamicized and subsequently Albanised.
The Kastrati clan was recorded for the first time in 1416. The clan's centre was once at the ruins of a Roman castra on the Shkodra-Orosh road. According to a local legend they are descendants of Krsto who was a brother of Grča, the ancestor of Kuči. It was also recorded that Alexius Kastrati, a lord of three villages, had in 1403 received a gift from the governor of Shkodra. In a work of Jovan Cvijić it was recorded that in one of the villages (Kamenicë) of the Kastrati region the majority of the population were Orthodox Serbs. Cvijić also recorded that the Kastrati themselves have a story about their mixed Serbian-Albanian origin. The region had 300 Catholic and 200 Muslim households. According to the founding legend of the clan, 300 houses descend from a Delti or Dedli from Drekalovići of Kuči, while 200 houses descend from Slavs who were living on the territory before arrival of Delti.