| Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo i Metohija Аутономна Покрајина Косово и Метохиja Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija |
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| An Autonomous Province of the Socialist Republic of Serbia |
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| Capital | Priština | |||
| Official languages | Serbo-Croatian | |||
| Area - Total - Water |
10,686 km² Negligible |
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| Population - Total - Density |
1,584,441 183.1/km² |
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| Currency | Yugoslav dinar | |||
| Time zone | UTC + 1 | |||
| History of Kosovo | |
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This article is part of a series |
|
| Early History | |
| Prehistoric Balkans | |
| Roman Empire | |
| Byzantine Empire | |
| Middle Ages | |
| Bulgarian Empire | |
| Medieval Serbia | |
| Battle of Kosovo | |
| Ottoman Kosovo | |
| Eyalet of Rumelia | |
| Vilayet of Kosovo | |
| Albanian nationalism | |
| 20th century | |
| First Balkan War | |
| Kingdom of Serbia | |
| Kingdom of Yugoslavia | |
| Albanian Kingdom (1939–1943) | |
| Albanian Kingdom (1943–1944) | |
| AP Kosovo and Metohija | |
| SAP Kosovo | |
| AP Kosovo and Metohija | |
| Recent history | |
| Kosovo War | |
| UN administration | |
| 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence | |
| Contemporary Kosovo | |
| See also Timeline of Kosovo history | |
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Kosovo Portal |
The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbian, Croatian, Serbo-Croatian: Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo i Metohija, Аутономна Покрајина Косово и Метохија Albanian: Territori Autonom i Kosovës dhe Metohisë) was an autonomous province of Serbia, within the larger federation of Yugoslavia from 1963 to 1974, when it was replaced by the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo. From 1946 to 1963 it was Autonomous District of Kosovo and Metohija, i.e. a lower level of self-autonomomy than Vojvodina with which it was equalised in 1963.
During the interwar period, the name of Kosovo was associated with a specific region, though did not exist as any form of political subdivision. Its new outline following the end of the war and the establishment of Josip Broz Tito's Communist regime was carved out of the southeastern corner of Serbia. The entity of Kosovo had last existed as an Ottoman Province. By 1946, one piece of the Ottoman Province had been given to the new Yugoslav republic of Macedonia (including the former capital Skopje), whilst another chunk had passed to Montenegro, also a new entity. Whilst another significant piece had formed a part of Albania since the Treaty of London in 1913, the remainder had been conquered by Serbia.[1] The new province's borders were demarcated with the purpose of incorporating a large area within Serbia where there had been a significant presence of Albanian ethnic minority population, and thus was created the autonomous region of Kosovo and Metohija in 1946 (to the contrary, Vojvodina held a higher rank -- of a province -- from the onset of Communist rule).
Kosovo officially became an autonomous province in 1963.
Tensions between ethnic Albanians and the Yugoslav government were significant, not only due to national tensions but also due to political ideological concerns, especially regarding relations with neighbouring Albania.[2] Harsh repressive measures were imposed on Kosovo Albanians due to suspicions that they there were Kosovo Albanian sympathisers of the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha of Albania.[2] In 1956, a show trial in Pristina was held in which multiple Albanian Communists of Kosovo were convicted of being infiltrators from Albania and were given long prison sentences.[2] High-ranking Serbian communist official Aleksandar Ranković sought to secure the position of the Serbs in Kosovo and gave them dominance in Kosovo's nomenklatura.[3]
Islam in Kosovo at this time was repressed and both Albanians and Muslim Slavs were encouraged to declare themselves to be Turkish and emigrate to Turkey.[2] At the same time Serbs and Montenegrins dominated the government, security forces, and industrial employment in Kosovo.[2] Albanians resented these conditions and protested against them in the late 1960s, accusing the actions taken by authorities in Kosovo as being colonialist, as well as demanding that Kosovo be made a republic, or declaring support for Albania.[2]
After the ouster of Ranković in 1966, the agenda of pro-decentralisation reformers in Yugoslavia, especially from Slovenia and Croatia succeeded in the late 1960s in attaining substantial decentralisation of powers, creating substantial autonomy in Kosovo and Vojvodina, and recognising a Muslim Yugoslav nationality.[4] As a result of these reforms, there was a massive overhaul of Kosovo's nomenklatura and police, that shifted from being Serb-dominated to ethnic Albanian-dominated through firing Serbs in large scale.[4] Further concessions were made to the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo in response to unrest, including the creation of the University of Pristina as an Albanian language institution.[4] These changes created widespread fear amongst Serbs that they were being made second-class citizens in Yugoslavia by these changes.[5]
The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija received more and more autonomy and self-government within Serbia and Yugoslavia during the 1970s, and its name was officially changed in 1974 to Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo ("and Metohija" was removed because it was not used by the Kosovo Albanians and "Socialist" was added to further show the Socialist ideal of the then SFRY). In the 1974 Constitution of Yugoslavia, Kosovo was granted major autonomy, allowing it to have its own administration, assembly, and judiciary; as well as having a membership in the collective presidency and the Yugoslav parliament, in which it held veto power.[6]