Baština (Jan 2018)
The actuality of Cvijic's research in the context of Serbian-Albanian relations in Kosovo and Metohija
Abstract
The area of Kosovo and Metohija has always attracted researchers, including a prominent geographer Jovan Cvijić. This was due to its strategic position, physical-geographical features, but also because of the dynamic ethnographic processes. Populated by Slavic tribes from the earliest times, the greatest rise was experienced in the medieval Nemanjić state. After the fall of the Serbian state under Ottoman rule, a large number of Serbs moved to the north, while the Arbanasi (Albanians) occupied this area. Impoverished by the Balkan and the First World War, Kosovo and Metohija became a part of the first Yugoslav state. The first half of the 20th century was marked by increase in the share of the Albanian population, with the planned immigration of Serbs through colonization processes in the late 1920s and 1930s. After the Second World War and the formation of the SFRY, the Serbian national question was ignored and pushed into the background. The breakup of the federal-state has led to the culmination of Albanian nationalism in K&M, which soon has grown into an armed conflict. With the NATO involvement and the bombing of the FR Yugoslavia, and support of the Albanians, one of the greatest ethnic cleansings in the contemporary history was carried out. Today, ten years after the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence, the key issues of protecting national interests and improving the living conditions of the Serbian community in the southern province have been negotiated.
