Serbian Community

The Serbs comprise the largest minority community in Kosovo.

The Serb community have settled in South-Eastern Europe around the sixth and seventh century AD, as part the migration of Slav tribes to this region in that period.The Serb community in Kosovo is Orthodox Christian, and the Serbian Orthodox Church continues to play a central role in Serb identity today. Great value is attached to the large number of important monasteries and churches built in Kosovo in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and particularly to the relocation of the seat of the Archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church to Pejë/Peć at the end of the thirteenth century. Many of these churches and monasteries remain in Kosovo today and are considered an important part of Serb cultural heritage.

Kosovo was also the location of the ‘Battle of Kosovo’, fought in 1389 against Ottoman forces. This battle continues to play an important part in Serb history and myth today and is still commemorated annually on 28 June through the celebration of ‘Vidovdan’ The Serb community is approximately equally divided between northern Kosovo and southern Kosovo. There are a total of ten municipalities where the Serb community constitutes a numerical majority. The largest Serb communities reside in the four northern municipalities, and in the southern municipalities of Gračanica/Graçanicë and Štrpce/Shtërpcë. Smaller Serb communities can also be found throughout Kosovo below the Ibar River, particularly in Central and Eastern Kosovo.

The Serb community in Kosovo speaks Serbian which, alongside Albanian, is one of the two official languages of Kosovo. Both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts are used by the Serb community in Kosovo.

The Serb community has a minimum of ten (10) seats guaranteed in the Kosovo Assembly, and five (5) representatives in the Community Consultative Council (CCC).