Goraždevac

Goraždevac (Serbian Cyrillic: Гораждевац, Albanian: Gorazhdevc or Kastrat/Kastrati) is a village near the city of Peć in Kosovo. It has been inhabited since at least the thirteenth century, when it was mentioned in the chrysobull of Stefan Nemanja (or his son, Stefan the First-Crowned).

Gorazhdec Goraždevac
Village
Gorazhdec Location in Kosovo
Coordinates: 42°38′00″N 20°22′00″E
Location	Kosovo[lower-alpha 1]
District	Pejë
Municipality	Pejë
Population  (2011)[1]
• Total	570
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

History

As a Serb-inhabited enclave in a heavily Albanian-inhabited region of western Kosovo, Goraždevac has been the scene of ethnic tensions between the two communities. It was the scene of attacks by the guerilla group, the Kosovo Liberation Army, in the late 1990s as they fought the Serb military forces, accused of committing atrocities against the Albanian population. After the end of the Kosovo War in June 1999, many of its population of around 2,000 Serbs fled attacks by Albanian militants, though some later returned. The population today is said to be around 850 people.

In June 2003, Veselin Besović from Goraždevac was sentenced by an international court in Peć to serve seven years in prison for crimes allegedly committed in the villages of Čuska and Zahać.[2] He has appealed.[3]

According to the 2011 census in Kosovo, the village had 570 people, of whom 255 were Serbs (44.7%), 148 were Albanians (25.9%), 139 Roma and Egyptians (24.4%), 26 Bosniaks (4.6%) and 2 others.[4] The census was partially boycotted by the Serb population.[5]

2003 Goraždevac murders

The village has come under repeated attack by Albanian extremists since the end of the Kosovo War and is one of a number of Kosovo Serb enclaves under 24-hour guard by troops from KFOR. In August 2003, a 19-year-old Serbian teenager and a 12-year-old boy were killed, with four more children wounded, with fire from automatic rifles, while swimming in the Bistrica river near Goraždevac. The attack occurred just before 200 Kosovo Serb refugees were to return to their homes, and the return was quickly aborted following the incident. It was widely blamed on Albanian extremists but the culprits have not yet been found.[6][7][8][9]

Notes

1. Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.

References

1. 2011 Kosovo Census results
2. Concerns in Europe and Central Asia: January to June 2003 (Amnesty International) Archived 2006-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
3. Prisoners in Kosovo start hunger strike in protest at alleged delays: UN mission
4. http://esk.rks-gov.net/rekos2011/?cid=1,92
5. http://www.infoecmi.eu/index.php/ecmi-minority-figures-in-kosovo-census-to-be-used-with-reservations/
6. "Two Serbs die in Kosovo attack". BBC. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
7. "New Violence Feared in Kosovo After Death of 2 Serbian Youths". The New York Times. 15 August 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
8. "Unsolved Crimes Add to Plight of Serbs in Kosovo". The New York Times. 15 August 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
9. "UN acts over Kosovo killings". BBC. 14 August 2003. Retrieved 21 October 2012.

See also

• Kosovo Serbian enclaves