Serb enclaves in Kosovo

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.{{cite web |last1=Brunborg |first1=Helge |title=Report on the size and ethnic composition of the population of Kosovo |url=https://www.icty.org/x/file/About/OTP/War_Demographics/en/milosevic_kosovo_020814.pdf |website=icty.org |publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |pages=8–9 |date=14 August 2002}} 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.

File:Kosovo-metohija-koreni-duse030.jpg]]

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 250,000European Stability Initiative (ESI): [http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_document_id_53.pdf The Lausanne Principle: Multiethnicity, Territory and the Future of Kosovo's Serbs (.pdf)], 7 June 2004.Coordinating Centre of Serbia for Kosovo-Metohija: [https://web.archive.org/web/20040416201639/http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/coordination_centre/index.html Principles of the program for return of internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija].US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI): [http://www.refugees.org/countryreports.aspx?id=1624 Country report: Serbia and Montenegro 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219224304/http://www.refugees.org/countryreports.aspx?id=1624 |date=19 February 2008 }}.International Relations and Security Network (ISN): [http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_lausanne_reactions_id_1.pdf Serbians return to Kosovo not impossible, says report (.pdf)], by Tim Judah, 7 June 2004. 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.B92: [http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2009&mm=06&dd=08&nav_category=640&nav_id=364851 Interesovanje za povratak na Kosovo] (The Interest for Returning to Kosovo), 8 June 2009 {{in lang|sr}}{{cite news|title=Raseljeni Srbi žele povratak na Kosovo|url=http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/9/Srbija/66432/Raseljeni+Srbi+%C5%BEele+povratak+na+Kosovo.html|accessdate=23 September 2012|newspaper=RTS|date=8 June 2009}}

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.

During the ethnic tensions in the 2004 unrest in Kosovo, numerous Serb enclaves were assaulted by Kosovo Albanian rioters.{{cite book |last1=Deliso |first1=Christopher |title=The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780275995263 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BarOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64}}

File: Zajednica srpskih opstina.png 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,{{cite news|title=ECMI: Minority figures in Kosovo census to be used with reservations|publisher=ECMI|url=http://www.infoecmi.eu/index.php/ecmi-minority-figures-in-kosovo-census-to-be-used-with-reservations/}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://esk.rks-gov.net/rekos2011/?cid=1,92|title=REKOS 2011: Results|date=September 2012|publisher=Statistical Office of Kosovo|accessdate=22 September 2012}}

{{more citations needed section|date=August 2024}}

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):{{cite web|access-date=16 December 2013 |language=sq |title=Évolution de la population 1948-2011 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/kosovo-census-ks.htm |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}.

• 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.{{cite book |last1=Calu |first1=Marius-Ionut |title=Kosovo Divided: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Struggle for a State |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781838606602 |pages=163–164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsXVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA163}}
• 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.{{cite web |title=Deputy Prime Minister Petrovic Visited the Village of Shilovë |url=https://mapl.rks-gov.net/news/zevendeskryeministri-petrovic-vizitoi-fshatin-shilove/ |website=mapl.rks-gov.net |language=Albanian |date=22 May 2012}}
• Peja/Peć municipality: Goraždevac;Glas Javnosti: [http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2000/04/02/srpski/p00040101.shtm Setva u okruženju] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004021459/http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2000/04/02/srpski/p00040101.shtm |date=4 October 2012 }}, 1 April 2000 (Retrieved 29 November 2010) {{in lang|sr}}
• 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.{{Cite web|author=John Petersen|url=http://www.infoecmi.eu/index.php/ecmi-minority-figures-in-kosovo-census-to-be-used-with-reservations/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405145221/http://www.infoecmi.eu/index.php/ecmi-minority-figures-in-kosovo-census-to-be-used-with-reservations/ |title=ECMI: Minority figures in Kosovo census to be used with reservations |work=infoecmi.eu |date=8 January 2013 |archive-date=5 April 2016 |access-date=25 August 2024}}
• Skënderaj municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore, formerly Suvo Grlo.
• Artana/Novo Brdo municipality: Prekovce
• Klina municipality: no Serb majority settlements anymore, formerly Vidanje.{{cite web|access-date=7 December 2013 |language=sq |title=Évolution de la population 1948-2011 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/kosovo-census-ks.htm |website=pop-stat.mashke.org}}.

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

• [http://www.radiokim.net/ RadioKiM]
• [http://www.radioklokot.com/ Klokot radio]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100330054013/http://www.radiokontaktplus.rs/ Radio Kontaktplus North Kosovska Mitrovica]
• [http://www.rtvpuls.com/ RTV Puls]

• Enclave (film), a 2015 Serbian film

;References:

{{reflist}}

{{Community of Serb Municipalities}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosovo Serb Enclaves}}