Kosovo Serb Enclaves are the areas of Kosovo[a] where Serbs form a majority, except for North Kosovo. While North Kosovo is connected to the rest of Serbia and mostly functions as a part of it, the enclaves are surrounded with areas of Albanian majority. Prior to the 1999 Kosovo War, there were many more Serbs living in the territory of Kosovo. Many of them left in 1999, and some more left during the 2004 unrest when some Serb villages were completely destroyed by Muslim Albanians. The current Serb enclaves are just a small part of those areas where a Serb majority had existed before 1999.
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According to the 1991 census in Yugoslavia, there were five municipalities with Serb majority in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. Those were:Leposavić, Zvečan, Zubin Potok, Štrpce and Novo Brdo. The remaining municipalities had Albanian majority. Other significant ethnic minority in Kosovo were Muslims by nationality (today mostly identify as Bosniaks), and Roma who did not form majority in any of the municipalities.
In 1999, after the end of the Kosovo War, more than 250.000 Serbs and other minorities left Kosovo in less than a month. Only about 3.000 of them have returned since. 312 of 437 towns and villages in which Serbs lived were completely ethnically cleansed. In the ensuing violence, more than 1.000 Serbs were killed, while 841 were kidnapped and 960 wounded.[1]
Between 2000 and 2008, the UNMIK administration created eight new municipalities on the territory of Kosovo. Three of those new municipalities have ethnic Serb majority: Gračanica, Klokot-Vrbovac and Ranilug. This move is not recognized by the Government of Serbia. In 2008, the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija was created to coordinate the efforts of the Serbian minority in Kosovo.
This is the list of municipalities, towns and villages in which Serbs form a majority. The municipalities listed are the municipalities recognized by Serbia, not the new municipalities of Kosovo.
In Peć, Serbs compose a majority in a part of Belo Polje, and also in some parts of Orahovac and Lipljan. Smaller Serbian communities are also present in Prizren, Gnjilane and Obilić.
| a. | ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, while Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. Its independence is recognised by 86 UN member states. |