Written by: Nehat Hyseni. Translation Petrit Latifi

Abstract

This study examines the historical presence, social role, and subsequent disappearance of the Albanian population in Vranje from the early Middle Ages to the present day. Drawing on Ottoman sources and Serbian historiography, it demonstrates that Muslim Albanians constituted an indigenous and significant component of Vranje’s urban and rural society, playing a central economic, cultural, and demographic role during the Ottoman period. The year 1878 marked a decisive rupture, as Serbian occupation following the Congress of Berlin led to massacres, mass expulsions, and forced assimilation of Albanians and other Muslim populations. The resulting displacement, known as the Muhajir movement, fundamentally altered the region’s demographic structure. Today, the near-total absence of Albanians in Vranje represents a largely undocumented historical and humanitarian tragedy.

The Historical Presence of Albanians in Vranje

Throughout early history, from the early Middle Ages until the end of the nineteenth century, Vranje was a city with a mixed ethnic and religious population. Within this demographic structure, Muslim Albanians constituted an important economic and social stratum, both as urban residents (craftsmen and merchants) and as inhabitants of the surrounding villages, who were mainly engaged in agriculture and livestock breeding.

Ottoman sources, as well as Serbian authors, including Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević, clearly mention the existence of Albanian Muslim quarters (mahallas) and Albanian families who had embraced Islam, the vast majority of whom were indigenous rather than newcomers.

Vranje During the Ottoman Period

During the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Vranje contained mosques, Albanian Muslim cemeteries, and a typical Ottoman urban structure composed of hammams, mektebs, and other religious and educational institutions.

It must be emphasized in particular that Albanians in Vranje were native, indigenous inhabitants and not an immigrant minority.

The Year 1878: A Historical Turning Point

The year 1878 represents the most dramatic historical turning point to the detriment of the Albanian population, primarily Muslim Albanians, but also a considerable Turkish minority in Vranje and its surroundings.

Following the Serbian occupation, as a consequence of the decisions of the Congress of Berlin, massacres of a genocidal character occurred, along with the mass expulsion of Muslim Albanians from Vranje and its surrounding areas.

Through brutal and organized violence exercised by the state and by segments of the Serbian population, Albanians were forcibly displaced toward Preševo, Bujanovac, Gjilan, central Kosovo, and North Macedonia. These expelled populations are historically known as the Muhajirs of Vranje.

Expulsion, Violence, and Forced Assimilation

The continuous, planned, and organized pressures aimed at expelling Albanians from their homes, properties, and ancestral lands constitute the main reason why Vranje today no longer has an indigenous Albanian community.

After 1878, rape, systematic violence, extreme pressure, forced assimilation, and the near-total disappearance of the Muslim population prevailed in Vranje and its surroundings. A very small portion of this population was forcibly converted to Orthodoxy, Slavicized in name and language, and ultimately registered as Serbian.

Local toponymy and family memory still preserve clear traces of Albanian presence, but without a publicly recognized or acknowledged identity.

The Situation of Albanians in Vranje Today (21st Century)

Today, only several dozen individuals who declare themselves Albanian live in Vranje according to official censuses. According to the 2011 census, only 12 (twelve) Albanians lived in Vranje, while according to the 2022 census, there were only 19 (nineteen) Albanians, less than 0.01% of the total population.

These are mainly individuals who have moved from Preševo and Bujanovac or members of mixed families.

In Vranje and its surroundings in the twenty-first century, there is practically and realistically no organized Albanian community: there are no schools in the Albanian language, no Albanian mosques, and no Albanian cultural or educational institutions.

A Silent Historical Tragedy

This situation represents a major human tragedy and a genuine humanitarian, national, and historical catastrophe, which for decades has remained a taboo subject and almost a state secret.

This historical paradox and human tragedy have remained largely undocumented and insufficiently studied, not only by Serbian historiography but also by Albanian historiography.

Vranje, which until 1878 had a significant indigenous Albanian community that dominated the city’s economic and cultural life, today has almost no native Albanians. Meanwhile, Preševo and Bujanovac were filled with muhajirs expelled from Vranje and its surroundings.

Demographic and Historical Consequences

This great human tragedy caused profound demographic changes, the violent interruption of Albanian urban continuity in Vranje, and the mass displacement of Albanians toward the Preševo Valley.

Conclusion

Albanians in Vranje were an indigenous and significant population until 1878; after the Serbian occupation, they were almost completely expelled.

Today, only 19 Albanians live in Vranje, less than 0.01% of the population, that is, a purely symbolic number without local historical continuity.