 | |
| Total population | |
| 19,419[1] (2024, census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Balkan Turks,Gagauz people,Turkish people and otherTurkic peoples |
| Part ofa series of articles on |
| Turkish people |
|---|
 |
Traditional Areas of Turkish Settlement Turkish majorities:
|
Turks in Kosovo (Albanian:Turqit në Kosovë), also known asKosovo Turks orKosovan Turks (Turkish:Kosova Türkleri;Albanian:Turqit Kosovar), are the ethnicTurks who constitute a minority group inKosovo. Kosovo Turks make up the majority of inhabitants inMamusha and form a considerable community inPrizren. The national Observance DayThe Day of Turks has been declared annually on 23 April.[2]
Turkish settlement intoKosovo began in the late 14th century after the medievalSerbian state lost theBattle of Kosovo and the territory came underOttoman rule. Although Turkish colonists began arriving in 1389–1455 when, during the Ottoman conquest, numbers of soldiers, officials, and merchants began to make their appearance in the major towns of Kosovo, the overwhelming majority of modern Turks in Kosovo are ofAlbanian origin.[3][4]
During Ottoman rule, the cities ofPrizren,Mitrovica,Vushtrri,Gjilan andPristina experienced a widespread phenomenon where villagers settling in the cities would, upon arrival, begin adopting Turkish customs and the Turkish language. Those who settled in these urban environments, where Turkish was the language of communication with the government and the language of social prestige, opted to refer to themselves as Turks, in order to distinguish themselves from those who had not migrated to the cities and as a marker of socioeconomic status. A large number of these Turkified inhabitants still retain names alluding to their ethnicAlbanian origin, usually consisting of tribal names such asBerisha,Bytyçi,Gashi,Hoti,Kastrati,Krasniqi,Kryeziu,Luma and others.[4]
In 1912 the Ottoman Turks lost control over Kosovo and the region became a part of theKingdoms of Serbia andMontenegro. From this point, Kosovo as a political entity was discontinued as the region was divided among new administrative units. Following the Austrian and Bulgarian occupation duringWorld War I, Serbia and Montenegro became part of the newly createdKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918. When theAxis powers occupiedYugoslavia in 1941, the former territory of Kosovo became part ofAlbania, which was itself controlled byItaly. With the defeat of the Axis powers, Yugoslavia, then ruled by Communists led byJosip Broz Tito, regained control over the region. In 1946, Kosovo returned to maps when a region bearing the nameKosovo and Metohija was granted autonomous status withinFPR Yugoslavia.
After theKosovo War, a variety of non-Albanian communities, includingSerbs,Roma,Bosnians,Montenegrins, and evenTurks, were persecuted by elements of theKosovo Liberation Army and other Albanian extremists. This persecution took various forms, including killings, burning of houses, destruction of churches and monasteries, as well as threats against monks and nuns.[5]
As a result of the Turkification policies enacted by the Yugoslavian government between 1948 and 1956, the number of registered Turks in Kosovo jumped from a mere 1,313 (or 0.2% of the population) in 1948 to 34,343 (4.3% of Kosovo's population) in the 1953 census. This was partly the result of the historical connotations of the wordTurk, which had been synonymous withMuslim during the Ottoman era. These self declared Turks, almost exclusively consisting of ethnicAlbanians, then began to emigrate toTurkey until 1958 on the basis of a bilateral agreement between Yugoslavia and Turkey.[6][7]
| Turks in Kosovo according to official censuses[8] | ||
| Year of census | Turks | % of total population |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 27,920 | 6.3% |
| 1931 | 23,698 | 4.3% |
| 1939 | 24,946 | 3.8% |
| 1948 | 1,315 | 0.2% |
| 1953 | 34,583 | 4.3% |
| 1961 | 25,784 | 2.7% |
| 1971 | 12,224 | 1.0% |
| 1981 | 12,513 | 0.8% |
| 2011 | 18,738 | 1.1% |
| 2024 | 19,419 | 1.2% |
In 1993, theHuman Rights Watch stated that there was approximately 20,000 Kosovan Turks, constituting about 1% of Kosovo's population.[9]
According to the 2024 national census, 19,419 citizens identified themselves as Turks, constituting 1.2% of Kosovo's total population.[10]
The Turkish minority of Kosovo have a majority population in the municipality ofMamusha. However, the largest Turkish population in Kosovo lives inPrizren.[11] They constitute roughly 6.6% of Prizren's population, and the town remains the historical, cultural and political centre of the Kosovan Turkish community. In theGjilan municipality, the Turkish community resides mostly in the city and in the villages of Livoç i Epërm and Dobërçan, constituting between 0.9% of the total population of the municipality. Kosovan Turks living inMitrovica amount to roughly 0.4% of its total population; in the southern part of the town, Kosovan Turks live scattered in the city, while those who live in northern region reside in the "Bosniak Mahalla" neighbourhood. InVushtrri Turks constitute about 0.37% of the total population, and live scattered throughout the urban areas. In thePristina region together with Turkish speaking Muslim Roma the Divanjoldjije Group, they are concentrated in the urban areas of the city, and constitute roughly 0.9% of the total municipal population, and in the rural settlements ofJanjevo and Banullë in theLipjan municipality, where they amount to 0.27% of the population.[10]
According to the 2024 national census by theKosovo Agency of Statistics, the Turkish population in Kosovo is (Turkish majority inbold):
| Municipality | Turks (2024 Census)[10] | % Turkish |
|---|---|---|
| Prizren | 9,819 | 6.66% |
| Mamusha | 5,220 | 93.09% |
| Pristina | 2,138 | 0.93% |
| Gjilan | 745 | 0.89% |
| Dragash | 354 | 1.22% |
| Mitrovicë | 257 | 0.39% |
| Vushtrri | 230 | 0.37% |
| Fushë Kosovë | 195 | 0.3% |
| Lipjan | 153 | 0.27% |
| Other municipalities | 308 | % |
| Total | 19,419 | 1.22% |
There are three Turkish political parties in Kosovo:
See also theMosque of Muderis Ali Efendi
The KLA and other Albanian extremists sought to expel almost all non-Albanians (Serbs, Roma, Bosnians, Montenegrins, and even Turks). Some were killed, houses were burned, churches and monasteries destroyed.
Frau Adilji, Ihre Mutter stammt aus Pristina, ist aber ursprünglich Türkin. Ihr Vater wuchs als Albaner in einem serbischen Dorf nahe der kosovarischen Grenze auf.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link).