Dulje

Dulje (Serbian Cyrillic: Дуље, Albanian: Duhël/Duhla) is a settlement in the Suva Reka municipality in the disputed region of Kosovo.[lower-alpha 1] The village is exclusively ethnic Albanian; in the 1991 census, it had 1399 inhabitants.

Duhël

Village
Duhël
Location in Kosovo
Coordinates: 42°24′33″N 20°52′22″E
Location Kosovo[lower-alpha 1]
DistrictPrizren
MunicipalitySuharekë
First mention1348
Area
 • Total54.6 sq mi (141.3 km2)
Elevation
2,106 ft (642 m)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total1,688
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code(s)+381 290
Car plates04

Geography

The village lies in Prizrenski Podgor, about 25 km east of Prizren, on the west side of the Crnoljeva and offset of the Šar Mountains.[2] It lies in the region of Podrimlje.[3] From its heights, one can view almost the whole of Metohija.[4] Dulje extends over a lake terrace, nearly 1 km wide, around 750 m high, which in this part represents the border of the Metohija-Prizren region.[2] The rural settlement lies on a cadastral area of 1413 hectares.[5] Dulje includes two major physiognomic parts: Dulje, the main part with three mahala (hamlets); Rafš, Srpska (Mahallae Shkijeve) and Sopska; the second part is Dragačin, an isolated hamlet on the right valley side of the Dragačin river.[5] The Suva Reka-Dulje-Mališevo road goes through the village.[6]

Dulje was formerly a seat of a municipality with the same name, though it still represents an administrative and cultural center for the neighbouring villages.[7]

History

The village is mentioned for the first time in the Saint Archangels charter (Svetoarhanđelska povelja) of Emperor Stephen Uroš IV Dušan, dating to 1348, as Duhlje.[5][8] A medieval road crossed Dulje, from Prizren to Štimlje, further to the interior of Serbia.[9] There are ruins of the medieval Serbian Orthodox Churches of Parascheva (Sv. Petka), on a graveyard, and the Holy Salvation (Sv. Spasa), by the spring of the Lukara stream, in the village.[10]

In 1881, when Dervish-Pasha crushed the rebel Albanians in Ferizovići (Uroševac), he hung Albanian Sejf-Košar to a pear tree between Ferizovići and Štimlje.[11] Some of the Albanians sought rest in Dulje Hana, after their defeat.[11] When the innkeeper burnt trees in the furnace, the Albanians woke up in fear; they thought Dervish-Pasha had come after them shooting guns, after which they fled.[11]

During the Serbian Campaign (World War I), in 1915, after the Bulgarian breakthrough of Serbian positions, the last Serbian contingents in Kosovo had divisions in Crnoljeva; the Cavalry Division had retreated to the Dulje Hana.[12]

During the Kosovo War, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) operated in the region and the area experienced bombings by NATO forces. KLA forces were reported to have killed and wounded several Serbian policemen and civilians.[13][14][15]

Demographic history

The village was historically inhabited by Serbs, and the Albanian families came from Malesia in northern Albania,[7] most likely in the 18th century. According to data which is older than the 18th century from the Devič monastery, all villages of Drenica were inhabited by Serbs.[16] In 1875, there were 26 Albanian/Albanianized and 4 Serb families in the village.[5] In 1879, there were 16 Albanian and 4 Serb families in the village.[5] In 1910, there were 6 Serb families[5] (no data on Albanians). In 1921, there were 52 houses and 299 inhabitants.[5]

Population counts in censuses conducted between 1948 and 1991 are provided in the table below. Information on population by ethnic group is not available for most years in this period. In 1981, 1229 people were listed as Albanian and 1 person was listed as Muslim; no residents were identified as Serbs, Montenegrins, Turks, or other groups.[17]

Population history
1948 1953 1961 1971 1981[17] 1991
Population count[18] 564 649 722 881 1230 1399

Annotations
  1. Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008. Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 98 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 113 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.

Notes
  1. 2011 Kosovo Census results
  2. Glasnik, p. 392
  3. Nusic 1966, pp. 197-198
  4. Nusic 2005, p. 37
  5. Stamenković, p. 115
  6. Stamenkovic, p. 118
  7. Glasnik, p. 394
  8. Južnoslovenski filolog, p. 373
  9. Skrivanic, p. vi
  10. Rastko, The Shortened List of the Shrines of Kosovo and Metohija from 13th to 20th centuries
  11. Stankovic, Prvi Odeljak, J
  12. Bojovic, p. 94
  13. Steven Erlanger, CRISIS IN THE BALKANS: IN KOSOVO; In Kosovo, Empty Towns, Burned Homes and Shops, New York Times, April 17, 1999, page 3.
  14. Unmik Online, DC No 86-09
  15. Members of the Ministry of the Interior - Victims of Albanian Terrorism in 1998, March 10, 1999
  16. Nusic 1966, p. 223
  17. 1981 Census, Kosovo Archived March 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (Preliminary)
  18. Kosovo censuses 1948-1991

References
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