| Preševo Прешево Presheva |
|
|---|---|
| — Municipality and Town — | |
| Preševo overview | |
| Location of the municipality of Preševo within Serbia | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Serbia |
| District | Pčinja |
| Settlements | 35 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ragmi Mustafa |
| Area[1] | |
| • Municipality | 264 km2 (101.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2011 census)[2] | |
| • Town | unknown |
| • Municipality | unknown(estimated over 30,000) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Postal code | 17523 |
| Area code | +381 17 |
| Car plates | VR |
| Website | www.presevo.rs |
Preševo (Serbian: Прешево pronounced [ˈpɾɛʃɛvɔ], Albanian: Presheva ), is a town and municipality in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia, bordering Republic of Macedonia. It is the largest town of the region known as the Preševo valley, and the cultural center of Albanians in Central Serbia.
According to 2011 census, the municipality of Preševo has a population of 3,066 people, but in 2002, the municipality of Preševo has a population of 34000 people, because mainly Albanians boycotted census.
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From 1929 to 1941 Preševo was part of the Vardar Banovina. During the April War the Kingdom of Yugoslavia capitulated to the Axis Powers. On April 20 Bulgaria occupied part of the Kingdom, including Preševo. The Bulgarians held the area until September 7, 1944 when they switched to the Allies. The Albanian Balli Kombëtar subsequently took over the area. In mid-November Yugoslav Partisan's forced the retreat of the Albanian forces.[3]
The population of the Preševo municipality has, at close to 90%, the highest percentage of ethnic Albanians in Serbia, excluding the disputed territory of Kosovo. Most of the remainder of its inhabitants are Serbs.
Most settlements in Preševo municipality have an absolute Albanian majority. The exceptions are the villages: Ljanik, Svinjište, Slavujevac and Cakanovac, where Serbs compose an ethnic majority.
Also, most villages have a 99% Albanian population, but there are some settlements in which the Serbs of Preševo Valley live and where they form a significant minority: Buštranje, Golemi Dol, Reljan, Strezovce, Trnava, Čukarka, and the town of Preševo.
| Ethnic Composition | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Serb | % | Albanian | % | Total | ||||||||
| 1961 | 6,741 | 25.21% | 18,229 | 68.18% | 26,738 | ||||||||
| 1971 | 5,777 | 19.22% | 23,625 | 78.60% | 30,057 | ||||||||
| 1981 | 4,204 | 12.38% | 28,961 | 85.31% | 33,948 | ||||||||
| 1991 | 3,206 | 8.23% | 34,992 | 89.85% | 38,943 | ||||||||
| 2002 | 2,984 | 8.55% | 31,098 | 89.10% | 34,904 | ||||||||
In 1992, the Albanians of the area organized a referendum in which they voted that Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac should join Kosovo. Between 1999 and 2001, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla organization, the "Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac" (UCPMB), was operational in this region with a goal to secede these three municipalities from Yugoslavia and join them to a future independent Kosovo. The activities attracted less international media interest than the related events of Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia. The uprising was quelled by Serb forces, the current situation is stable but with some tension.
Since December 2005, the previous president lost in his seat and was replaced by the Albanian Democratic party (PDSH) with leader Skender Destani. After six months, the population again voted and again Skender Destani was chosen as Municipal President of Preševo for the next four years.
A total of 161 depleted uranium bullets have been recovered in Reljan near Preševo in southern Serbia. The Serbian government has funded the cleanup operation of the Reljan site with 350,000 euros.[4]