armans in kosovo (aromânii în kosovo)

Upload: valercrushuveanlu

Post on 08-Apr-2018

259 views

Category:

Documents


3 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    1/23

    Kosovo and MetohijaLiving in the Enclave

    Edited byDuan . Batakovi

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    2/23

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    3/23

    Kosovo and Metohija Living in the Enclaveis printed with financial support

    from the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    4/23

    C o n t e n t s

    Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Duan T. BatakoviKosovo and Metohija: Identity, Religions & Ideologies . . . . . . . . . .

    Milo LukoviKosovska Mitrovica: Present and Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Helena ZdravkoviHistorical Victimage of Kosovo Serbs and Albanians. . . . . . . . . . . .

    Valentina PituliFolklore in the Serb Enclave: Preserving Identity in Hostile Environment

    Harun HasaniMigrations of Goranies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Radivoje MladenoviTe Sirinika upa: trpce Municipality Historical Backgroundand Current Field Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Mirjana MenkoviTe Enclave of Velika Hoa: Cultural Heritage as a Means of Socio-economicRenewal and Preservation of Serbian Identity in Kosovo and Metohija .

    Milo Lukovizintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina and Kosovska Mitrovica

    Duan T. BatakoviSurviving in Ghetto-like Enclaves: Te Serbs of Kosovoand Metohija . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    AppendixChaos and disorder: Kosovo and Metohija four years laterby Fr. Sava Janji .

    Roma in Kosovo and Metohija: Arguments against independenceof Kosovo and Metohija by Rajko Djuri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Belgrade Valedictory : March by Julian Harston . . . . . . . . . . .

    Kosovo and Metohija at the Crossroads by Fr. Sava Janji. . . . . . . . . . .

    Te Visoki Deani Monastery Land Issueby Visoki Deani Monastery . . .

    Kosovo Future Status by Joseph K. Grieboski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Abstracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    5/23

    Foreword

    Tis collection of papers is devoted to the post-war situation in Serbiastroublesome autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija, which, after

    three months of continuous NAO air strikes in , eventually was, inJune , entrusted to the United Nations Interim Administration ofKosovo (UNMIK) by UNSC Resolution .

    Most of the pre- and post- writings on Kosovo have been fo-cused on often dramatic developments revolving around the Albanian na-tional cause in the Province, and the suffering of Albanians after they wentinto full-scale uprising. As they are the majority population in Kosovo (anestimated seventy to seventy five percent of the Provinces population priorto the bombing), researchers and analysts worldwide have concentratedprimarily on their problems, somehow oblivious to the fact that despite

    their dense concentration in certain areas of Kosovo, the Kosovo Albanianshave only been the largest ethnic minority (eighteen percent) within thewhole Republic of Serbia, legal successor both of the Federal Republic ofYugoslavia () and of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro(). Terefore, it should be underscored once more that there is nosuch thing as a separate Kosovo identity for the population of the Province,divided, for centuries, into Albanians and Serbs as the main rivalling com-munities.

    Contrary to the widespread interest in the Albanian side of the prob-lem, this collection of papers focuses on the neglected developments amongthe discriminated, harassed and persecuted Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanian ethnic groups, forced to live, under difficult conditions, withinisolated enclaves, often heavily guarded by the NAO-led military contin-gents of KFOR, whose forces have been scaled down from , soldiersfrom various states in June to , in .

    Ranging from general historical overviews, multidisciplinary socio-logical and communicological approaches (Helena Zdravkovi), regionaland micro histories (Milo Lukovi), to important cultural heritage sites(Mirjana Menkovi on Velika Hoa) and case studies of certain communi-

    ties (Radivoje Mladenovi on Sirinika upa), folklore as the way of pre-

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    6/23

    serving ones endangered identity (Valentina Pituli), or specific historicareas (Gora by Harun Hasani), the volume is focused on various aspects ofthe extremely complicated struggle for survival of the Serbs and other non-

    Albanian communities. wo extensive papers of D. . Batakovi are histori-cal surveys of the past, including the most recent developments, coveringthe whole phenomenon of the Serb-Albanian dispute over Kosovo, cut intotwo different phases by the NAO bombing.

    Te Appendix brings important documentary material concerningthe situation after the March pogrom and the perspectives frominside Metohija (Fr. Sava Janji of the Deani Monastery), a balanced viewof Julian Harston, the outgoing UN representative in Belgrade (BelgradeValedictory), as well as a paper on the difficult position of the Kosovo Roma

    (Rajko Djuri). Te volume also bring out a key document, with analysis,on the endangering of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church bylocal Albanian authorities, as well as an important insight of the Washing-ton D.C.-based Institute of Religion, gained during a visit to Kosovo andMetohija, with possible outcomes of the Provinces uncertain future.

    It is of utmost importance to mention here the valuable collaborationof Biljana Sikimi of the Institute for Balkan Studies, who suggested severalpapers from her volume on enclaves previously published in the Serbianlanguage, as well as of Andrija Stupar, for his shrewd advice and tirelesscopy-editing of the main articles in this volume, thus facilitating the deli-

    cate work of the Institute staff (Marina Adamovi-Kulenovi and KranislavVrani) involved in the preparation of the texts for printing.

    Editor

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    7/23

    Milo Lukovi

    Tzintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritinaand Kosovska Mitrovica

    Introduction

    For more than years, a sizeable community of Hellenized Vlachs, knownas zintzars has lived in Uroevac (Ferizovi, Ferizaj), on the southern rimof the Kosovo Basin. Tere was in fact a zintzar Alley near the main

    zintzars (alternative names [doublets]: Vlachs, Aromanians/Arumanians, and in z-intzar: Armn, Aromn, Romn, Rman) are mostly Hellenized Vlachs, and have been

    a familiar subject of historiography on Serbia, Old Serbia and both Slavic and GreekMacedonia. Recent decades have seen a profusion of literature on zintzars in vari-ous Balkan countries (Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, urkey); see also usefulbut not always reliable information provided by the websites on zintzars www.vla-chophiles.net and www.aromanian.net. Te work of organisations such as the Belgrade-based Serb-zintzar Society Lunjina(Lunjina= Light), and the Skopje-based Unionfor the Culture of zintzars from Macedonia (Unija za kultura na Vlasite od Makedonija)has contributed to this. Regulations on cultural and language rights of zintzars (Aro-manians) have been included in acts of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assemblyin Strasbourg in and ; see web site: www.coe.int//E/Human_Rights_Mi-norities/.GENERAL_PRESENAION/PDF_DH-MIN().pdf.

    Te term Kosovo (alternatively the Kosovo Basin) is used in this paper not in its po-litical but in its geographical meaning as defined by Jovan Cviji, Branislav Nui andAtanasije Uroevi. Cviji defines Kosovo as a sizeable basin extending in a meridiandirection, its longest longitudinal axis being km from Kaanik to Zvean aboveMitrovica, and the widest latitudinal km between Pritina and Drenica (see Cviji: ; cf. Uroevi , Nui : , ). Terefore, the term Kosovo refers hereneither to an administrative subdivision of the Ottoman Empire nor to an autonomoussubdivision of the post-Second World War Republic of Serbia (first the AutonomousRegion of Kosovo and Metohija , then the Socialist Autonomous Provinceof Kosovo , and finally the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.) Te territory of this province was placed under the administration of UN

    and NAO-led military forces (KFOR) in June . In Serbian tradition, Kosovo as

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    8/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    street, where all the zintzar families, usually at least bilingual, Serb- andVlach-, but sometimes Greek-speaking as well, were originally grouped andlived there until the expulsion of both Serbs and non-Albanians by

    Albanian extremists. Uroevac remained cleansed, without its previous Serband Serbo-Vlach zintzar population. Facing violence, they left prior to orsoon after KFOR took control of Kosovo and Metohija in June . Onlythree women of the Nikoli family have remained (two sisters with theiraged mother). And so it happened that there are hardly any zintzars left inUroevac, despite their visible role in its origin and development.

    In lesser numbers, zintzars (Cincari or) also inhabitedother Kosovo towns along the railway line opened in : Lipljan, Obili,Pritina and Kosovska Mitrovica. Lacking basic security for Christian popu-lation, another two towns along the same railway line, Vuitrn and Kaanik,did not attract the zintzars, traditionally traders ( Jugovi : ; Cviji(Jugovi : ; Cviji: ). Tis railway line connected the Kosovo towns Mitrovica (the. Tis railway line connected the Kosovo towns Mitrovica (theTis railway line connected the Kosovo towns Mitrovica (thelast station to the north), Vuitrn, Pritina, Lipljan, Uroevac and Kaanikwith Skoplje, and further south along the Vardar Valley with Gevgelija andwith Tessalonica in the Salonica Bay. With the opening in the Kingdomof Serbia in of the railway from Belgrade via Ni to Vranje, and itsconnection with the railway in the Vardar Valley (via Skoplje), the Kosovorailway lost some of its previous importance, while retaining certain influ-ence on trade and economy within Kosovo (cf. Nui : , ; Uroevi

    : ; Lutovac : , ). Tese Kosovo railway towns as termed byJovan Cviji were marked by their business-oriented zintzar communi-ties, who usually intermarried with Serbs and Greeks. Te landmark areaof their presence was Uroevac known as the youngest town in Kosovo(Vidai : ; Maloku : ). Teir presence is recorded by varioussources, including both published and oral ones.published and oral ones.

    a geographical area is clearly differentiated from the neighbouring geographical areasof Drenica, Metohija, Ibarski Kolain, Srednje Poibarje and Gornja Morava, which to-

    gether make up the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. Albanians fromthis territory insist on the monomial term Kosovo or, in Albanian, Kosova for this ad-ministrative unit, and these appellations are also accepted, at least the first Serb one, bythe international community. Tis paper is a revised version of Lukovi , published in Serbian. Jovan Cviji () was the leading Serbian and internationally recognized ge-ographer and anthropogeographer, expert on the geography of the Western Balkans andinterethnic relations within urkey-in-Europe. Cviji classified all Kosovo towns into:) Kosovo railway towns, and ) remote towns. Neither he nor other Serbian scholarshave counted as Kosovo towns those in the adjacent area called Metohija by the Serbs,Vlachs and other non-Albanians, and Dukagjin bythe Albanians. Cf. Cviji : ,

    .

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    9/23

    M. Lukovi, zintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina...

    Tis paper relies on ample information provided by Nikola (Niko)and Meropi Nikoli, a couple from a prominent Uroevac family, well-in-formed on other zintzar families. Nikola Nikoli (b. , Uroevac) and. Nikola Nikoli (b. , Uroevac) andNikoli (b. , Uroevac) and

    his wife Mrs. Meropi Nikoli (b. , Uroevac, of the zintzar Dedifamily) lived in Uroevac until the arrival of NAO-led international forcesin Kosovo in June , when they were forced to move out, arriving even-tually in Belgrade. Teir native language remained to be Vlach or zintzar.

    Uroevac (Ferizovi)

    ) Published sources

    Data on the zintzar community in Ferizovi (renamed to Uroevac after

    the First Balkan War ) is available in the various publications of theolder generation of anthropo-geographers ( J. Cviji, Jefto Dedijer, AtanasijeUroevi), political analysts (Branislav Dj. Nui, Boko Jugovi), historians(Duan Popovi []), travel-writers or Kosovo Serb culture historians(Petar Kosti), with occassional data in the consular dispatches of B. Nuiand Milan M. Raki, both Serbian consuls in Pritina in the last decadesof Ottoman rule. Te most detailed data is provided by Uroevi, while thepost-Second World War monographs regarding the zintzar community inUroevac were based mostly on earlier results (Vidai ; Kaleshi ),Vidai ; Kaleshi ),,and on studies on Serbia in general (Vlahovi : ) and on zintzars in(Vlahovi : ) and on zintzars in: ) and on zintzars in

    particular, in the rest of Serbia (Petrovi : ).(Petrovi : )..Prior to the building of the railway, the location where Uroevac wasthe building of the railway, the location where Uroevac waswas

    founded was in the fens and forests of Nikodim village. Tere was an Otto-man inn (han) there, belonging to Feriz eivar, an ethnic urk whose fam-ily eventually moved to urkey after the Balkan Wars (). Te localpeasants called the newly-formed settlement asjan (a metathesis of theFrench word station). Soon afterwards the name Ferizovi(with the Serbianextension -i) established itself among the inhabitants of the town and thevicinity. In the town was raised to the level ofmudirluk (district sta-tion), the Ottoman authorities discarded the name

    Ferizovifrom public

    use on account of its Serbian form and introduced the name Feriz Bey afteran Ottoman hero who in the late fourteenth century had seized Zveanfrom the Serbs and become its commander (kefalija). Te new name wasnot easily accepted by the population, either Albanian or Serb, and the oldname Ferizoviremained in widespread use. After Kosovo was reintegratedinto the Kingdom of Serbia in the town was renamed Uroevac, afterthe Serbian Emperor Uro I, the last ruler from the House of Nemanjiwho died in the nearby royal residence of Nerodimlje in . In the post-Second World War period, along with the name Uroevac, the Albanian

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    10/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    form Ferizajwas in use as well (cf. Uroevi : ; Vidai :; Kaleshi : , ).

    In his major work onOttoman-held Old Serbia and Macedonia,

    Cviji concludes that among the railway towns, Ferizovi became the mostimportant as a crossroads and important trading station, since at that timethis little town was the stop for Prizren, Podrima, Prizrenski Podgor, Obi-ca, Lugovi and Gnjilane. He also notes that there are but a few Albaniansin it and that it is a comparatively safe little town. Cviji points out thatFerizovi originated from the time when the Kosovo railway line passedthrough it, and records its swift development. At the time of Cvijis visitin Ferizovi already had about households and shops withlarge warehouses, especially for Kosovo grain, as well as for transport ofimported European goods to other locations.

    Writing on the population of Ferizovi, Cviji identified three reli-gious groups: Christian Orthodox, Muslim and Roman Catholic. Amongthe Christian Orthodox population, mostly Serbs, there were eighteenzintzar houses (Cviji : , , also uses the alternative Serbianterm Aromunii.e. Aromanians). Tey were originally from the zintzar-in-habited area of BitoljKruevo (Bitolj, Gope, Magarevo and Kruevo) andwere very active at the time. However, Cviji fails to mention the names ofthese families (Cviji : , ).(Cviji : , ).: , ).

    As vice-consul of the Kingdom of Serbia, Branislav Dj. Nui spent

    three years () in Pritina, after his first two-month sojourn therein . During those years Nui visited many places in Kosovo, travel-ing as far as Scutari in northern Albania. As a result, he published severalimportant travel books and a richly documented monograph on Kosovo(Nui ). In Kosovo Nui notes that Ferizovi is a very lively sta-tion, which led to a village, which used to be very small and a long way offfrom the station, develop quite a little town around it with a proper arija(downtown), stores, inns, shops and uninterrupted trade (Nui : ,(Nui : ,).Grain trading was a profitable business in Kosovo. o the Tessalonica. Grain trading was a profitable business in Kosovo. o the Tessalonicamarket alone, Kosovo sends over ten million okas of grain annually [,wagons], as well as some to markets nearer home (Nui : ). Even(Nui : ). Even. Eventhough Pritina (as the most populous town and surrounded by the richest

    Cviji : . Cvijis monumental research on the whole of Old Serbia and Mac-edonia was published in three extensive volumes by the Royal Serbian Academy (second edition in ). In the s solid roads from Ferizovi to timlje (on the road to Prizren) and fromFerizovi to Gnjilane were constructed, considerably facilitating local traffic, whilethe road to Prizren was reconstructed in , as was the road to Sirinika upa

    (Jugovi ; Maloku : ).

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    11/23

    M. Lukovi, zintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina...

    villages) had the liveliest trade, at that time Ferizovi and Mitrovica werealready threatening to surpass Pritina (Nui : ).(Nui : )..

    In referring to Kosovo, Nui describes the zintzars as Vlachs, a name

    much used for zintzars in other languages as well. Nui says that there areconsiderable numbers of Vlachs in Kosovo, that they all are Christian Or-thodox, and that they are engaged in trade; there are some in villages, butthey mostly gravitate towards better markets, such as those in [Kosovska]Mitrovica, Pritina and Ferizovi. Pointing out that people call themGoge,Nui concludes that they, however, are mostly from the Vilayet of Mo-nastir, from those same villages that send them to Serbia.

    In his travelogue B. Jugovi, an employee at the Serbian consul-ate in Skopje (in he travelled from Skoplje through Kosovo as far asDevi monastery in the Drenica area), notes that Ferizovi is the centreof all the trade for those areas (those of Prizren, Djakovica and Gnjilane)in which Greek or zintzar merchants are involved. He provides a morethorough explanation of their business success: Fleeing from oppressionin their homelands, they settled here one by one. With their skills theysoon became the masters of trade. Teir moving here may be observed eventoday in Kosovo. One refugee opens a small shop and trades in everything,buys and sells everything, lends everything, bears everything: the scorn, thesneers and beatings. His first concern is money; he is as diligent as a mole.When he has stood on his own feet, he sends for his wife and children; and

    when they have settled in, it will be their relatives turn, his and his wifes.And so their colony strengthens gradually (Jugovi : ).( Jugovi : ).: ).

    Te renowned expert for Kosovo inter-ethnic relations AtanasijeUroevi, in his short prewar volume Uroevac, a own in Kosovo (),lists the names of all the prominent families in Uroevac, in particular thoseinvolved in trade and commerce. Among the quite numerous settlers fromPrizren, there was a single zintzar family, by the name of Konstantinovi.However, according to Uroevi, the zintzar group of the Bitolj [Monastir]area moved there in far greater numbers: the Santi, Kurti, Nikoli, Dedi,Dini, Dora, Erka and Cingar families from Gope, the Parafest family

    Te name Goge was a common expression used only for the zintzars of Prizren(Kosti ). Obviously lacking time for additional research, Cvijis disciple Jefto Dedijer simplyreiterates Cvijis observations and data on Ferizovi in his bookNova Srbija (Te NewSerbia), published in after theBalkan Wars to cover the areas of Old Serbia andSlavic Macedonia reintegrated into the Kingdom of Serbia. See Dedijer : ,. Te zintzar Kurti family should be distinguished from the Albanian Catholic Kurti

    family in Uroevac. Both lived in Uroevac at the same time.

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    12/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    from Niopolje near Bitolj, the Mazni family also came from Gope andmoved to Skopje in . Te arrival ofmuhadjirs [displaced Muslims]after the war between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire Bosniaks

    from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albanians from oplica and Jablanica andCircassians from Ni forced the Ottomans to provide greater security forthe inhabitants of the newly-formed settlement. Terefore, the merchantsfrom Prizren commenced moving their families to business-promisingUroevac (Uroevi : ).(Uroevi : ).: ).

    Te settling of the zintzars in Uroevac began with the arrival of theKurti and Santi families from Gope, who took over the entire grain ex-port business; due to the profitability of this business, the grain merchantsmultiplied, and between and new zintzar families arrived fromSlavic Macedonia (these are not mentioned by name, but there are sporadicreferences to the Nikoli family, cf. Vidai : ).

    Te same data is confirmed in Ferizaj dhe rrethina (Uroevac and itsEnvirons) published in Albanian in , where the famous zintzar mer-chant families of Kurti and Santi from the vicinity of Bitolj, from thevillage of Gope are mentioned (Maloku : ), as well as the piece of(Maloku : ), as well as the piece ofinformation that zintzar families, such as the Nikolis, continued to arrivethat zintzar families, such as the Nikolis, continued to arrivethroughout the late nineteenth century (Zdravkovi : ).(Zdravkovi : )..

    ) Oral histories: Families and destiniesTe Nikolies point out that the first families to move to Uroevac werethe Santis and Kurtis (the Kurti family left the area a long time ago),while most of the zintzar families in Uroevac came from Gope. Tesewere the Santi, Nikoli, Atanasijevi, Dedi and Jovanovi families, as wellas some persons without their extended families. Te surnames of familiesoriginally from Kruevo and Prizren are also known. Information given bythe Nikolis is fragmented and not of equal detail for all zintzar families,but it is useful for further research and will, therefore, be given here in itsentirety.

    In the interwar period Dimitrije Santi was in the grain trade. He hadtwo sons and a daughter. Even before the Second World War, they owned alarge apartment building in Tessalonica and farmland near Uroevac. Afterthe war, they first moved to Skopje and eventually on to Tessalonica. Fora time one of the Santis was the representative of the Yugoslav ehno-prometCompany in Tessalonica. Te present day surname of the Santis inGreece is not known.

    Uroevi : . Uroevi also lists the families of other settlers in Uroevac.

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    13/23

    M. Lukovi, zintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina...

    Djordje Atanasijevi was brought from Gope by his brother-in-law and sister, Naa and Santa Nikoli, who had already lived in Uroevac.When he arrived, they helped him develop his business in the grain trade.Djordje and his wife Kostandina (also from Gope) had no children of theirown, but they adopted a boy and a girl from among their relatives. Djordjeand Kostandina were buried in Uroevac. Teir adopted children movedfrom Uroevac to Belgrade, which is where they died.

    Aleksa Dedi in the interwar period traded in colonial or mixedgroceries and metal products (ploughs, tools, hardware products etc.). Onthe eve of the world war he went bankrupt (a good man, he signed too

    many promissory notes for others), so the bank foreclosed on his house,

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    14/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    which was mortgaged. After the death of his wife Kostandina, Aleksa re-married. From his first marriage he had five children: two sons a) Djordje(nicknamed Djoka), and b) Dimitrije; and three daughters c) Agapi; d)

    Sterija (called ea in Uroevac and erdjo by the zintzars); and e) Marika.Aleksas second wife was Vasilika, originally from Gope. In Gope, Vasilikawas formerly married to Djordje (Djordjaki in zintzar) from the Pagenakifamily (Djordjes father was a priest in Gope), who died. A daughter, An-tula, was born of this marriage (). From his marriage to Vasilika, Aleksahad two children: a daughter, Meropi (), and a son, Nikola ().Antula (the Serbian equivalent of her name is Cveta) also lived with them.Aleksa Dedi and his two wives were buried in Uroevac.

    Atanas Jovanovi lived for a short while in the village of Babljak (onthe railway line to Kosovo Polje) where he traded in colonial goods. Tenhe moved to Uroevac, where he expanded his business to the grain trade.Atanass wife had died before the Second World War, and he remarried.He had four sons from this first marriage: Kosta, Aleksandar, Djordje andMihailo. From his second marriage, he had two more sons and a daugh-ter. He lived in Uroevac where his business was, while his wife and theirthree children remained in Gope. Atanas supported and visited them there.However, during the war, Atanass entire family moved from Uroevac toGope, and after the war those who had lived in Uroevac returned there.Later on they all dispersed, so that Kosta was buried in Kovin, Aleksandar

    in Belgrade, Djordje in Kruevac, and Mihailo in Uroevac. Te Nikolisalso remember some individual zintzars in Uroevac (without an extendedfamily), originally from Gope (their surnames are also mentioned by A.Uroevi in his work on Uroevac published in ).

    Panta Dora worked as a bus driver on intercity lines maintainedby the transport company owned by Rogoi. He moved with his sister toSkopje. Vandjel, nicknamed Sotir (his surname was probably Lerka), was inthe trade business. After he went bankrupt, he moved to Romania. Prior to, Kosta [al] Dina, previously a small-scale merchant in the nearby vil-lage of Babljak, lived in Uroevac.

    Nikola Cingara worked in the Nikoli family bank in Uroevac. After when this private bank was liquidated, he moved to Skopje and mar-ried a Greek woman. Nikola died and was buried in Skopje. Teir son Koa(Kosta) studied technology in Zagreb, settled there and was joined by his

    Among the settlers from Gope, A. Uroevi cites the Dora, Erka, Dini and Cingarfamilies, and the Parafest family settlers from Niopolje (near Gope).Dina is a female zintzar name, and the preposition albefore it is used to give it thepossessive genitive form; hence Kosta al Dina means Dinas Kosta and this is undoubt-

    edly the Dinifamily cited by A. Uroevi.

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    15/23

    M. Lukovi, zintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina...

    widowed mother Aliki. Atanas Kosti (his wifes name was Vita) was, as aliterate man, the president of the tradesmens association in Uroevac after. Atanass brother took the surname of Dimitrijevi and his descen-

    dants carry this name.Panta Sotirovi lived on for some fifteen years after and wasburied in Uroevac. He never married and lived from renting apartmentsin his house.

    Prior to Nikola Parafesta, originally f rom Niopolje (Niepole)near Bitolj, used to be the municipal organ of order (night watchman) inUroevac. He died and was buried in Uroevac.

    Te Risti family originally came from Kruevo. Between the twoworld wars Jovan Risti (who also married in Kruevo) worked as a cop-persmith. He had seven children: three sons Vasilj (the copper-smithbusinessman in his fathers shop, moved to Skopje and married a girl fromKruevo), omislav (bank clerk, died very young) and Hristaki (or Rista,an electrician), and four daughters Filomena, Ljubica (born about ),Marija and Antina.

    Te Zabunovi, Konstantinovi and Bilicarevi families were origi-nally f rom Prizren. In Uroevac (as in Prizren) these zintzar families werecalled the Gogecommunity. In the beginning these families were craftsmen.Later one of the Bilicarevi family became a lawyer and a judge.

    Again according to the Nikolis, several zintzar families lived, for

    various periods, in the village of Babljak near Uroevac and in places a littlefurther away: in timlje and trpce. As we have mentioned already, theJovanovi family lived for a short period in the village of Babljak (on theKosovo Polje railway line). Tey traded in colonial merchandise, and thenthey moved to Uroevac, expanding their trade to the grain business. Tesame goes for the Dina family. In the late nineteenth century, Spira Kosti,originally f rom Gope, settled in timlje, where he traded in colonial mer-chandise and liquor, as owner of a wine and brandy cellar. His children lefttimlje. At the same time, Nikola Mau, also originally from Gope, ownedan inn (han) in timlje, which he subsequently sold and opened a shopselling assorted goods. After his descendants moved to Skopje. TeNikoli and Dedi families also first came to trpce, and after a couple ofyears of working in the retail trade they moved to Uroevac.

    Lipljan

    In the early twentieth century, J. Cviji recorded that in a new settlementaround the railway station at the village of Lipljan there were eight zintzarhouses, who had moved there during the previous two decades, and all of

    them from Gope (Cviji : ). In his travelogue, B. Jugovi(Cviji : ). In his travelogue, B. Jugovi: ). In his travelogue, B. Jugovi

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    16/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    says that in the small dirty village of Lipljan beside the railway track thereare several shops and kafane (coffeehouses-cum-restaurants) mostly be-longing to zintzars (Jugovi : ). And in March M. Raki( Jugovi : ). And in March M. Raki: ). And in March M. Raki

    (Raki ) reported that there are nine houses belonging to zintzarsand Greeks in Lipljan.According to research by A. Uroevi (b: ), until the(b: ), until theb: ), until the

    opening of the railway line in , Lipljan was an ordinary village, but wellknown as a road junction. With the opening of the railway, merchant shops(primarily for the export of grain from Kosovo to Tessalonica) and work-shops opened around the station, on the spot where a grove used to be, andin this way the arija (a street of shops) sprang up. Te first building witha kafana was built in by a zintzar immigrant from Gope, DjordjePeko. After him, during the same year, grain merchants of the Dora fam-ily, also from Gope, built houses and shops. Tere were some other zint-zar families there too, but during the Serbian-Ottoman war theyleft Lipljan. Until that war the railway station in Lipljan was also used forgrain export by other zintzars who had grocery stores in the neighbour-ing villages. However, the war brought turmoil, so the zintzar families ofPeko, Dora and others (and a Serb merchant family, the Markovis) fledto Bitolj and Gope. When the war was over, the Doras did not return toLipljan (although the Markovis did) but settled in Uroevac. However,new settlers from Gope arrived in Lipljan: the Romo and Veljan families

    (the latter then took on the surname Kuzmanovi). A couple of years later() two more zintzar merchant families settled in Lipljan: the rpufamily from Gope, who ran a grocery store in the surrounding villages asfar back as , and the rpe family from Gope, who in moved toRomania (urnu Severin).

    Uroevi also writes that in the zintzar Jankovi family movedto Lipljan from Malovite village near Bitolj, and opened a wine, groceryand grain shop. After the First World War () two houses of the zint-zar family of orbu (Djordjevi), originally from Gope, who ran grocerystores in Janjevo and the neighbouring village of Dobrotin, moved to Lipljanand opened grocery-cum-grain stores. During that period in Uroevac therewere also some Serb families from Prizren and Lipljan and the vicinity,immigrants from around Veles (Macedonia) and an Albanian family fromPritina (Sejefedini) who also traded in grain (and other goods). Duringthe period between two world wars there was an increase in the number ofSerb families in trade and some of them received financial support from thezintzar rpe family. zintzar families continued living in Lipljan (in Lipljan only had inhabitants). However, according to Uroevi, thesefamilies were already becoming Serbianized. In the Veljan (Kuzmanovi)

    family, where the mother was Serbian, zintzar was no longer spoken. At

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    17/23

    M. Lukovi, zintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina...

    that time, two Serbian girls married into the orbu (Djordjevi) family, sothat zintzar was not the only language spoken in the house.

    According to the Nikolis, there were two zintzar families living in

    Lipljan: Djordjevi and Jovanovi; the latter moved to Skopje after .Tey can also verify the information given by A. Uroevi that the Djordjevifamily previously lived in the village of Dobrotin.

    Obili

    Te station in Globoderica village, some ten kilometres from Pritina, atfirst the only one on the LipljanVuitrn railway line, became a station forPritina (the village was named Obiliafter the Balkan Wars, cf. Uroevi

    : ; Uroevi : ). After the opening of a new station for Pritinain Kosovo Polje in the early twentieth century, Globoderica remained animportant railway station for the area of the Kosovo Basin around the con-fluence of the Lab and the Sitnica, while for the Lab and Drenica areas itwas especially important as a grain market (Uroevi : ). Accordingto earlier research, four zintzar families settled in Globoderica, but thenames of only three are available: Jovanovi, Erkovi and rpevi (Uroevi(Uroevi: , ). Te first Jovanovis arrived as early as , but theyTe first Jovanovis arrived as early as , but theydid not bring their families from Gope until after the Balkan Wars, whenthe whole of Kosovo and Metohija were reintegrated into the Kingdom of

    Serbia. During the Great War they temporarily withdrew to Gope. TeErkovi family arrived in , returned to Gope during the Great War,and then back to Obili in . Te rpevi family came from Gopeonly in (Uroevi : ).

    According to the Nikolis (and based on information from descen-dants of the rpevi family), the first to arrive in were the two rpevibrothers: elemah and Janako. elemah never married, and Janako broughthis family from Gope only after the Great War. His two sons continuedthe family merchant trade. Besides them, according to the Nikolis, otherzintzar families in Obili were: Mazni (probably that fourth family inObili left unnamed by Uroevi) and Jovanovi (who moved away to Sko-pje after ).

    Pritina

    odays settlement of Kosovo Polje was formed in the interwar periodaround the Pritina railway station. Only with the opening of a new railwayline to Pe in was the station officially named Kosovo Polje, the sameas the Serb-inhabited village around the station with no zintzar families

    (Uroevi : ).

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    18/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    Tere were zintzars, however, in nearby Pritina, which in be-came an important Ottoman administrative centre, the seat of the newly-established Vilayet of Kosovo. After the seat of this vilayet was moved to

    Skopje in , Pritina remained the centre of one of its sanjaks. Back in, travel writer Juki recorded that with the economic decline of thetown, many of its thirty zintzar families moved away to Skoplje (Uskub).In the s the zintzars were mostly immigrants from Prizren with onlyfew families from Gope and one f rom Uroevac. Prior to the Balkan Warsthere were twenty-five zintzar houses in Pritina, mostly Serbianizedbut aware of their ethnic origin. Te families of Vanetovi, Lazi, Nasti,Nikoli and Djordjevi, with their roots in Prizren, spoke only Serbian. Teopal and Ganga families were f rom Gope, while the Koovi family camefrom Uroevac (Uroevi : ).After ,among Pritinas , in-(Uroevi : ). After , among Pritinas , in-After , among Pritinas , in-habitants there were only seventeen persons declared as zintzars (Uroevi: ).

    Kosovska Mitrovica

    Mitrovica developed much in the same way as Ferizovi (Uroevac). It wasthe last stop on the Kosovo railway line. In still a village with thatched houses, Mitrovica, as seen by Cviji in the early twentieth century,is becoming the main trading place in Kosovo, with which only Ferizovi

    will be able to compete in the future (Cviji : ). Relying on the(Cviji : ). Relying on the. Relying on thedata provided by the traveller Ippen in (that year Mitrovica had justbegun to be called Kosovska instead ofPazarska, because it was made part ofthe Pritina sanjak instead of the Novi Pazar sanjak; Uroevi a: ),Cviji says that along with the Greeks there is a small number of Vlachs(i.e. zintzars) in Mitrovica.

    Atanasije Uroevi confirms that among the numerous families livingin Kosovska Mitrovica after the opening of the railway and the Serbian-Ottoman War there are also zintzar families: the Nikolis fromBitolj, and the Karamika, Pirikli and Marina families from Kruevo. Tezintzars traded in consumer goods and exported timber (timber was trans-ported down the Ibar from the Roaje area). Only one zintzar (MijaleNikoli) was in the grain business, which was at the time in the hands ofSerb, Ottoman and Albanian tradesmen. Te zintzars later moved fromMitrovica, but some of the houses belonging to these families remainedeven after (Uroevi a).(Uroevi a)..

    Te Nikolis mention two zintzar families who continued to livein Kosovska Mitrovica after : the Karamika family, originally fromKruevo, and the Vaka family from Prizren. Tey also know about families

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    19/23

    M. Lukovi, zintzars in Uroevac, Lipljan, Obili, Pritina...

    originating from Gope, but only remember the name of the Hentu fam-ily.

    Data contained in the published sources and oral traditions presented

    in this paper lay the groundwork for genealogies of the zintzar familiesthat once lived in Kosovo and Metohija. Such genealogies may be of broad-er relevance than just to the historical past of the families or the identity oftheir members, present and future; they may provide distinctive evidence forthe zintzar component of the multiethnic structure of Kosovo and Meto-hija in the past.

    References

    Cviji J. Cviji: Balkansko poluostrvo i junoslovenske zemlje. Osnovi

    antropogeografije, Beograd.Cviji J. Cviji: Sabrana dela. Knjiga . Osnove za geografiju i geologiju Make-donije i Stare Srbije, Beograd.

    Dedijer J. Dedijer: Nova Srbija, Beograd.Jugovi B. Jugovi, Jedna retka knjiga, Delo. List za nauku, knjievnost i drutveni

    ivot, Beograd, .

    Kaleshi H. Kalei: Pod turskom vlau, [in:] Uroevac i okolina. Ferizaj dhe rre-thina [ed. Mihailo Maleti], Beograd, .

    Kosti P. Kosti: Cincarska naseobina u Prizrenu i borba oko crkve sv. Spasa,Brastvo XIX, Beograd, .

    Lukovi M. Lukovi: Cincari u Uroevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimCincari u Uroevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimu Uroevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimu Uroevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimUroevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimUroevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimevcu i drugim kosovskim eljeznikimi drugim kosovskim eljeznikimi drugim kosovskim eljeznikimdrugim kosovskim eljeznikimdrugim kosovskim eljeznikimkosovskim eljeznikimeljeznikimkimkimvaroima prilog istoriji Cincara u Srbiji,ima prilog istoriji Cincara u Srbiji,ima prilog istoriji Cincara u Srbiji, prilog istoriji Cincara u Srbiji,prilog istoriji Cincara u Srbiji,istoriji Cincara u Srbiji,istoriji Cincara u Srbiji,Cincara u Srbiji,Cincara u Srbiji,u Srbiji,u Srbiji,Srbiji,Srbiji,, Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANUEtnografskog instituta SANUEtnografskog instituta SANUinstituta SANUinstituta SANUSANUSANULII,,Beograd,.,.

    Lutovac M. V. Lutovac: Geografski i politiko-geografski znaaj pokrajineKosova u Srbiji, Glas SANUCCLXXXII, Beograd, .

    Maloku . Maljoku: Geografski poloaj, in: Uroevac i okolina. Ferizaj dhe rre-thina, ed. Mihailo Maleti, Beograd, .

    Nui B. Nui: Kosovo. Opis zemlje i naroda [edicija Knjige Matice srpske, broj], Novi Sad.

    Petrovi Dj. Petrovi: Cincari u Republici Srbiji, in Poloaj manjina u Republici

    Srbiji, .Popovi D. J. Popovi, O Cincarima, Novi Sad (st ed. ).Raki M. Raki: Konzulska pisma , Beograd.

    Renik na makedonskiot jazik nik na makedonskiot jazik nik na makedonskiot jazik na makedonskiot jazik na makedonskiot jazik makedonskiot jazik makedonskiot jazik jazik jazik Renik na makedonskiot jazik so srpskohrvatskitolkuvanja IIII, Skopje.IIII, Skopje.III, Skopje.III, Skopje., Skopje.

    Lukovi offers the account of a typical and branched zintzar family of Uroevac,the Nikolis. Supplying detailed data for the familys genealogy and the basic genea-logical table, it has hoped to encourage genealogical study into other zintzar families

    inhabiting Kosovo and Metohija until recently.

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    20/23

    Kosovo and Metohija

    Uroevi A. Uroevi: Uroevac, varoica na Kosovu, Glasnik Skopskog uenogdrutva XVXVI, Skoplje, .

    Uroevi A. Uroevi: Pritina (Antropogeografska ispitivanja), Zbornik radova

    Etnografskog instituta SANUXIV, Beograd, .Uroevi a A. Uroevi: Kosovska Mitrovica (Antropogeografska ispitivanja),

    Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANUIIIII, Beograd, , .

    Uroevi b A. Uroevi: Lipljan, Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU IIIII,Beograd, .

    Uroevi A.Uroevi: Kosovo,Srpski etnografski zbornik, knjiga LXXVII. Naseljai poreklo stanovnitva, , Beograd, .

    Vidai N. Vidai: Na obalama Nerodimke, Novi Sad.

    Vlahovi P. Vlahovi: Srbija. Zemlja, narod, ivot, obiaji, Beograd, .Zdravkovi a S. Zdravkovi: rgovina, in: Uroevac i okolina. Ferizaj dhe rre-

    thina, ed. M. Maleti, Beograd, .Zdravkovi b S. Zdravkovi: Saobraaj i veze, in: Uroevac i okolina. Ferizaj dhe

    rrethina, ed. M. Maleti, Beograd, .

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    21/23

    List of Contributors

    Duan . Batakovi,PhD, Institute for Balkan Studies, SASA, Belgrade

    Rajko Djuri,PhD, Te Roma Union, Member of the Parliament of Serbia

    Joseph K. Grieboski,Founder and President, Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Washington DC

    Julian Harston,Former United Nations Representative in Belgrade

    Harun Hasani,MD, Member of Kosovo and Metohija Committee, SASA, Belgrade

    Fr. Sava Janji,Hieromonk, Monastery of Deani

    Milo Lukovi,PhD, Institute for Balkan Studies, SASA, Belgrade

    Radivoje Mladenovi,PhD, University of Kragujevac

    Mirjana Menkovi,MA, Mnemosyne, Belgrade

    Valentina Pituli,PhD, University of Kosovska Mitrovica

    Helena Zdravkovi,MA, Independent researcher, rieste

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    22/23

  • 8/7/2019 Armans in Kosovo (Aromnii n Kosovo)

    23/23

    CIP - ,

    323 -1(=163.41)(497.13 5)1999/2007(082)323.17(497.115)1999/2007(082)KOSOVO and Metohija : living in the enclave / edited by Duan T. Batakovi,

    - Belgrade : Serbian Academy o Sciences and Arts, Institute or Balkan Studies,2007 (Beograd : igoja tampa). - 323 str. ; ilustr. ; 24 cm, - (Special editions /Serbian Academy o Sciences and Arts, Institute or Balkan Studies ; 96)Na spor. nasl. str.; . -Tira 600. - Napomene i bibliograskereerence uz tekst. - Bibliografja uz pojedine radove.

    ISBN 978-86-7179-052-9

    1. Stv. nasl. na upor. nasl. str. 2. Batakovi, Duan T. []

    a) - - 1999-2007 - b) - 1999-2007 - ) - - 1999-2007 -

    COBISS.SR-ID 145859084