Country: Montenegro

Group: Albanians

Date: 4/19/2020

Team: Colleen Clauss (lead), Vianney Mancilla, Erika Walker

The ethnic Albanian population in Montenegro lives predominantly in the southern part of the country, near the border with Albania (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). During the First Balkan War in 1912-1913, Montenegrin troops joined the Serbian army to systematically kill and oppress Albanians. This include “forced killing and conversions” against Bosniaks and Albanians in Montenegro, although Montenegro does not commonly acknowledge these events” (Milosevic, 2018).  It appears that these events took place in modern-day Albania and Kosovo, not within the territory of Montenegro, but the war these armies both undertook resulted in Albanians being forced to accept a Serb nationalist ideology and feel like a minority (Lellio, 2006). When the Serbian military forced Albanians to leave as refugees in 1998-1999, the government of Montenegro kept relations stable with resident Albanians and received many of the refugees (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). In 1998, the government provided the Albanians with their minority five seats in the republic’s assembly (which were previously denied) and have exercised their minority rights since then, but the underlying intention of this compromise was to gain the Albanian’s support for the ruling coalition (Džankić, 2012).  Today, education at primary, secondary, and university levels is offered in the Albanian language, but some community leaders argue that there are too few qualified teachers and that Albanian history and culture should be included (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). Albanians face language and cultural barriers when seeking employment, and are “underrepresented in the public-sector employment, face some exclusion from economic life and everyday indirect discrimination” (Džankić, 2012; “Albanian”, n.d).

Our team rated the data quality as a 2 because only one peer-reviewed journal regarding the group in Montenegro was found, and the sources were not very detailed. This may be considered ethnocide because of the atrocities committed by the Montenegrin army against the Albanian population in the region nearby Montenegro. However, more evidence may be needed to show systematic, deliberate destruction of Albanian culture within the territory of Montenegro.

Sources

  1. Dzankic, J. (2012). Montenegro’s Minorities in the Tangles of Citizenship, Participation, and Access to Rights. Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 11(3), 40-59. Retrieved from https://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2012/Dzankic.pdf
  2. Lellio, AD (2006).  The Case for Kosovo: Passage to Independence. Anthem Press: London.
  3. Milosevic, M. (2018) Montenegro’s Muslims Stage Mass Prayer to Mark ‘Genocide’. Balkan Insight,. https://balkaninsight.com/2013/03/06/montenegro-minorities-raise-up-voice-about-past-terrors/
  4. Minority Rights Group. (n.d.). Albanians. Minority Rights Group. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/albanians-4/