| Kosovska Mitrovica Mitrovica/Mitrovicë |
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| — Municipality and city — | |||
| Kosovska Mitrovica | |||
| Bridge over the Ibar, which divides the city in two. | |||
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Kosovska Mitrovica
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Kosovo[a] | ||
| District | District of Kosovska Mitrovica | ||
| Area | |||
| • Land | 350 km2 (135.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2011) | |||
| • Municipality and city | 71,601 (municipality) | ||
| • Density | 213.0/km2 (551.7/sq mi) | ||
| • Metro | 45,000 City | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 40000 | ||
| Area code(s) | +381 28 | ||
| Car plates | 02 | ||
| Website | Municipality of Mitrovica (Albanian) | ||
Kosovska Mitrovica (Albanian; Mitrovicë or Mitrovica, Serbian: Косовска Митровица / Kosovska Mitrovica; Turkish: Mitroviça), is a city and municipality in northern Kosovo[a]. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous district.
Since the end of the Kosovo War of 1999 it has been divided between an ethnic-Albanian-majority south and an ethnic-Serb-majority north. Its northern part is the de facto capital of the Serb enclave of North Kosovo.
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The city was named "Civitas Sancti Demetrii" in the 14th century after Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki,[1] a name that later became "Mitrovica", as happened to other locations in the Balkans named after Saint Demetrius.[2][3]
After Tito's death, when each of the constituent parts of Yugoslavia had to have one place named with the word 'Tito' (or 'Tito's') included, the city was also known as Titova Mitrovica (Титова Митровица) in Serbian or Mitrovica e Titos in Albanian.
The city is known as Kosovska Mitrovica (Косовска Митровица) in Serbian and Mitrovica or Mitrovicë in Albanian.
The city is one of the oldest known settlements in Kosovo, being first mentioned in written documents during the Middle Ages. The name Kosovska Mitrovica comes from the 14th century, from Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki, but there are some other legends on the origin of its name. Near Kosovska Mitrovica is the medieval fortress of Zvečan, which played an important role during the Kingdom of Serbia under Nemanjić rule.
Under Ottoman rule Kosovska Mitrovica was a typical small Oriental city. Rapid development came in the 19th century after lead ore was discovered and mined in the region, providing what has historically been one of Kosovo's largest industries.
It became an industrial town, formerly the economic centre of Kosovo because of the nearby Trepča Mines. It grew in size as a centre of trade and industry with the completion of the railway line to Skopje in 1873-1878, which linked Kosovska Mitrovica to the port of Thessalonika.[4] Another line later linked the town to Belgrade and Western Europe.[4] During World War II, the city was part of Axis-backed Serbia. In 1948, Kosovska Mitrovica had a population of 13,901 and in the early 1990s of about 75,000.[4]
Both the town and municipality were badly affected by the 1999 Kosovo War. According to the OSCE, the area had been the scene of guerrilla activity by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) prior to the war. It came under the command of NATO's French sector; 7,000 French troops were stationed in the western sector with their headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica. They were reinforced with a contingent of 1,200 troops from the United Arab Emirates, and a small number of Danish troops.
In the aftermath of the war, the town became a symbol of Kosovo's ethnic divisions. The badly damaged southern half of the town was repopulated by an estimated 50,000 Albanians. Their numbers have since grown with the arrival of refugees from destroyed villages in the countryside. Most of the approximately 6,000 Roma fled to Serbia, or were relocated to one of two resettlement camps, Chesmin Lug, or Osterrode, in North Kosovska Mitrovica. In the north, live some 17,000 Kosovo Serbs, with 2,000 Kosovo Albanians and 1,700 Muslim Slavs inhabitting discrete enclaves on the north bank of the Ibar river. Almost all of the Serbs living on the south bank were displaced to North Kosovska Mitrovica after the Kosovo War. In 2011, the city had an estimated total population of 71,601 and the municipality's population is estimated to be some 71,601.
Kosovska Mitrovica became the focus for ethnic clashes between the two communities, exacerbated by the presence of nationalist extremists on both sides. The bridges linking the two sides of the town were guarded by armed groups determined to prevent incursions by the other side. Because of the tense situation in the town, KFOR troops and the UNMIK police were stationed there in large numbers to head off trouble. However, violence and harassment was often directed against members of the "wrong" ethnic community on both sides of the river, necessitating the presence of troops and police checkpoints around individual areas of the city and even in front of individual buildings.
On March 17, 2004, the drowning of an Albanian child in the river prompted major ethnic violence in the town and a Serbian teenager was killed. Demonstrations by thousands of angry Albanians and Serbs mobilized to stop them crossing the river degenerated into rioting and gunfire, leaving at least eight Albanians dead and at least 300 injured. The bloodshed sparked off the worst unrest in Kosovo seen since the end of the 1999 war (in which 11 [Serb]]s were killed).
A Bosniak resident of southern Kosovska Mitrovica was murdered after being overheard speaking the Bosnian language.[5]
The local prison was the scene of an international incident on April 18, 2004 when Ahmad Mustafa Ibrahim, a Jordanian policeman working as a UN prison guard, opened fire on a group of UN police officers leaving a class, killing three.[6][7]
Tensions rose considerably in the city of Kosovska Mitrovica after the Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008. Some 150 Kosovo Serb police officers refused to take orders from the ethnic Albanian authorities and were suspended.
Serb protesters prevented ethnic Albanian court employees from crossing the bridge over the Ibar River. UN police raided and seized the courthouse on March 14 using tear gas against Serbs and leaving some of them wounded.
The explosion of a hand-grenade injured several UN and NATO staff on March 17; UN forces were later withdrawn from the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.[8]
The Serbian minority has formed the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija in the city, but it has no police force. Serbs refuse to accept the jurisdiction of Kosovo courts,[9] Republic of Kosovo leaders have expressed concern over the future of the region, stating their commitment to keep Kosovska Mitrovica part of Kosovo and prevent crime or war there.[10]
"To build trust and confidence, Kosovo authorities need to be attentive to culture and religious symbols, such as the Serb Orthodox cemetery in Mitrovica, on the Albanian, south, bank of the Ibar. The main Albanian cemetery is in the North and intact. The Serb cemetery is devastated, hundreds of headstones in shards and the chapel at its centre desecrated and burned. Most of the damage dates to 1999 and March 2004, but also to 2007 and 2008. The site is unguarded and open to sporadic vandalism, some allegedly perpetrated by residents of a neighbouring Ashkali settlement apparently seeking to ingratiate themselves with Albanians by lashing out at Serbs. Northern Serbs often cite the two cemeteries as signs of their tolerance and Albanian hostility. The Kosovo authorities’ failure to repair and secure the graveyard sends a terrible message to Northern Serbs: this is what your future will look like, once you have integrated." [11]
Before the 1999 Kosovo War, the municipality had a population estimated by the OSCE to comprise some 116,500 people, 81% of them Kosovo Albanian, 10% Serb and the remainder other ethnicities (notably Roma). Most of the non-Albanians lived in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica, which had a population of 68,000 – 71% Kosovo Albanian, with approximately 9,000 Serbs and 10,141 other nationalities. Kosovo Albanians lived throughout the city, but most Serbs lived in the north side, divided from the predominantly Albanian south side by the Ibar River.
| Ethnic Composition, Including IDPs | |||||||||||||
| Year/Population | Albanians | % | Serbs | % | Bosniaks | % | Roma/Ashkali | % | Turks | % | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 34,481 | 57.55 | 21,533 | 35.94 | 59,913 | ||||||||
| 1991 | 82,837 | 78 | 10,698 | 10.2 | 5,205 | 4.96 | 4,851 | 4.63 | 431 | 0.41 | |||
| 1998 | 95,231 | 81.74 | 10,447 | 8.96 | |||||||||
| Current figure | N/A | N/A | 2,000 | 1.76 | 545 | 0.48 | 600 | 0.53 | |||||
| Source: 1991 census: FRY Institute of Statistics and UNHCR statistics of 1998/OSCE estimates. It is noted that the 1991 census was highly politicised and is thus unreliable. Ref: OSCE[12] |
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In Kosovska Mitrovica Municipality Albanian, Serbian and Turkish languages are official languages.[13]
The Trepča Mines are located in Kosovska Mitrovica, though they are currently not operating. With the closure of the Trepča complex, the influx of refugees and IDPs and the lack of investment, unemployment (estimated at approximately 77%) has been prevalent among all communities in the Kosovska Mitrovica municipality.
Serbian faculties of the University of Pristina were relocated from Pristina to Kosovska Mitrovica after the Kosovo War.
Three football clubs are situated on the territory of Kosovska Mitrovica: FK Partizan (in North Kosovska Mitrovica), and KF Trepça and KF Trepça'89 in south.
Kosovska Mitrovica is twinned with:
Notes:
| 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. |
References: