The Preševo Valley (Serbian: Прешевска долина, Preševska dolina, Albanian: Lugina e Preshevës), is an Albanian political catchphrase[1] used to describe the two south Serbian municipalities of Bujanovac and Preševo, which have a majority ethnic Albanian population. Medvedja municipality is sometimes also included under this term, although it has a majority Serbian population.[2] Officially they are being referred to as the "municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa".[3]
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Geographically, the Preševo Valley is coterminous with the river basin of Preševska Moravica, from its source near the town of Preševo to the confluence with Južna Morava at Bujanovac. It is part of the Morava/Vardar North-South route across the Balkans, which follows the flows of Great Morava and Južna Morava through Serbia. This route carries the pan-European corridor X and European road E75. The importance of this route to the Serbia has increased since 1999, when the main alternative route, through Pristina, became unusable due to the Kosovo War.
Albanians refer to the area as the "Preševo valley" (Lugina e Preshevës) or simply "[the] valley", and usually associate the municipality of Medveđa at the northern edge with the area. Because of Albanian demands for territorial autonomy, the parallel Serbian term "Preševska dolina" is somewhat politically loaded. In Serbian official statements, the area is usually referred to as the "territory of municipalities of Preševo and Bujanovac [and also Medveđa but only when denoting political context of the region]".
Both municipalities of the Valley have ethnic Albanian majorities, while the municipality of Bujanovac also has a large ethnic Serb population. The largest settlements in the valley are towns of Preševo (with Albanian majority), Bujanovac (with Serbian plurality) and Medveđa (with Serb majority).
In 2001, as a follow-up to the Kosovo War, there were reported clashes between Yugoslav security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas linked to the KLA. The aim of the movement was to take full control of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa and hold them until such time as the adjacent lands, Kosovo and Western Macedonia, also came under Albanian control. This should have been followed by the gradual opening of the borders. Lacking the attention of the international media, the incidents paused as the activities spread south of the border into Macedonia from where the twin organization ONA, engaged in a war against Macedonian authorities.
This conflict ended when the Declaration for Demilitarization was signed by the leaders of the Movement, after the government set an agreement for amnesty and promised to include the local inhabitants into police and other spheres of social and institutional life.
In September 2007, Boris Tadić stated that former and current terrorists, who recently managed to escape from prison in Kosovo, were located in northern regions of the Republic of Macedonia. According to Tadić, terrorists are planning new attacks on municipalities in southern Serbia in order to start a new Preševo Valley conflict.[4] However, most of the terrorists were either captured or killed in a Macedonian police operation, Operation Mountain Storm.
The Albanians of the area are represented politically by the Albanian Coalition from Preševo Valley, which won one seat in the 2007 Parliamentary election.
Representatives from the municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa have adopted a declaration asking for the formation of the "Preševo Valley region" in early August 2009.[5] Milan Marković, the President of the Coordinating Body for Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa stated that such demands will not solve any problems.[6]
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