Serbs and Montenegrins or Serbs-Montenegrins are a recognized ethnic minority in Albania. According to data from the 2023 census, 586 declared themselves as ethnic Serbs and 511 as ethnic Montenegrins.
The majority of the Serbo-Montenegrin ethnic minority came to Albania from Montenegro during the interwar period but largely emigrated in the 1990s.
History Middle Ages
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. 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.Fine 1991, p. 193
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.Koti 2006, para. 1, 2 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 in 1042, then set up Shkodër (Skadar) as his capital.Fine 1991, p. 206
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 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 of Serbia, such as Constantine Bodin, Mihailo I, Dobroslav, Vladimir, and Gradinja.
During the fall of the Serbian Empire in the 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.Anamali, Skënder and Prifti, Kristaq. Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime. Botimet Toena, 2002, pp. 231-232Nadin, 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. 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.
Modern period 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. 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." The Muslim population of Podgorica fled 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." and Slavic Muslims from the town migrated and resettled in Shkodër city and its environs. 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. 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)." 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)."
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.
During the interwar period, relations between King Zog and Kingdom of Yugoslavia were less problematic and Yugoslav-Albanian borders allowed for the free movement of populations. The majority of the Serbo-Montenegrin community came to Albania from Montenegro during the interwar period, following 1926 and later from 1938 until 1948. At the time Vraka contained poor land and was still an undeveloped area. 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.
The Serbian minority in Scutari had celebrated its liturgy in Serbian. The Serbian Metropolitan of Scutari participated in the Albanian Synod.
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.
Contemporary period 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".
After the 1981 protests in Kosovo, Albanian Serbs complained of harassment and pressure to leave the country.
As the borders of Albania opened up in 1990, many members of the Serbo-Montenegrin community left between March and December 1991 for Montenegro and Vraka, Boriç, and other nearby areas became severely depopulated. 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. "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. The Morača-Rozafa Association was established in 1992.
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.
In 1992, as part of state policy by Serbia to increase the numbers of Serbs in Kosovo, nearly 3,000 Serbs from Albania emigrated after accepting a government offer for employment and housing in the area. 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.... Un siècle plus tard, leurs descendants ont fini par émigrer en Yougoslavie après la chute de régime communiste et ont été installes… au Kosovo."
Nowadays, the community lives largely on trade with Montenegro and communal relations with Albanian inhabitants are regarded as good by many of its members.
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. The area of Vraka had a population of 600-700 Orthodox Slavophones.