These days an elite debate is taking place in the Assembly of Serbia, in which MP Shaip Kamberi and Minister in the Government Brnabić are participating. But the problems of this debate are much older and more complex than the debate between Kamber and Vulin. The term Šiptari is still used unofficially in Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and others. So, throughout the territory of the former Yugoslavia. But when a member of the Government insults the ethnic minority, publicly, repeatedly and in the Assembly, when the Supreme Court legitimizes the public insult, then we go far back in time, as in the time of the persecution and public stigmatization of the Jews in the time of Hitler. When the Serbian Assembly claims that the southern province, with almost two million Albanians, is part of Serbia, and on the other hand there is no translator for the Albanian language, this is where the first contradictions and cynicism appear.
The generator of these stigmas against Albanians have always been Serbian nationalist circles, and especially the Church. So hate speech is the beginning of a very bad instinct. Then how can a minister insult a national minority that lives in the Preševo Valley and throughout Serbia, in the neighboring countries? Issues of democracy and the Constitution are the responsibility of the Government before the Parliament. Therefore, the punishment of ethnic, religious, linguistic, and other hatred is a constitutional and moral issue.
The main reason is that there is a misunderstanding in public opinion that Albanians are called that and use the name Shiptar in mutual communication, but the truth is not like that.
If we look for the word Šiptar in the Serbian-Albanian Dictionary, we get the answer - Albanian. The difference when Vulin and others use it is that the letter q is missing, so one letter. In plural Šiptari = Albanians - the difference is two letters. This is the spelling in the Albanian language which is used by Albanians orally and in writing.
So there is a problem that Vulini and others pronounce the word Šiptar with the missing letter. Please, can you imagine how Albanians can pronounce the word srb without a letter - and address you like that - just try to do it yourself, you will feel extremely depressed.
also Racism with the seal of "Serbian justice"The name Šiptar, used in the Serbian Parliament and Government, is a Slavized form of the Albanian ethnonym. This term had a negative connotation and was used by Tito's partisans sometime in 1943. The original idea was – insult
In the administrative practice of 1968, after the fall of Aleksandar Ranković, its official use was banned, but it was used unofficially by nationalists, especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, with offensive connotations.
In Tito's Yugoslavia, at the time of fraternization and unification, when a large number of Albanians came to Belgrade and other Serbian cities for manual work as masons, diggers, porters, bakers, confectioners ... all were labeled and called Šiptari.
Historically, names such as Arbanas and Arnaut have been used for Albanians in Serbian written documents. In the law of Tsar Dushan, when Albanians and Serbs had the same religion, Article 77 shows discrimination: "For weaving: Cloth between villages fifty perper, for Vlachs and Arbanasi one hundred perper, and they half to the emperor and half to the lord whose village is ".
And so in Article 82: "For Vlachs and Arbanas: When the Vlachs or Arbanas stay in the village, no one else should stop in that village, going after him, if he stops by force, he must pay cloth and the one who has pasture".
also Serbia's last war, the Albanian-Croatian oneWell-known Serbian sociologist and ethnographer Sreten Vukosavlević in his work "History of Rural Society - Rural Institutions and Regulations" uses the term arbanas, as does Serbian ethnographer Jovan Cvijić in his work "The Anthropogeographical Problem of the Balkan Peninsula".
In favor of this thesis are the data for a large number of toponyms that still exist in Serbia and Bosnia, such as the village of Arbana near Prokuple, the mountains of Arbanashka, Toplica, Arbanashki put and others. We also have many toponyms related to Arnauts; for example. - Arnautski Dol, Arnautska trla, put, Arnautovac, Arnautski sir, Lug, and others.
The Serbian writer Dositej Obradović wrote about Albanians as Albanians, while the name Arnaut is used by Vuk Karadžiqi, Ilija Garashanin, Vasa Cubrilović, Ivo Andriqi, Bora Stanković and others.
So, before 1940 there is no written document among Serbs with the name Šiptar.
Vulin uses hate speech like Freudian types, with cynicism. This way of communication with the Albanians has its continuity from Car Dushani, Garashanini, Andriqi, Rankoviqi, Milosheviqi etc. The Serbian philosopher Dimitrije Tucovic testifies to this best in his book "Serbia and Albania". "Our government's policy towards Albanians ended in defeat, which cost us huge casualties. Even greater casualties await us in the future. With the warmongering policy of the Serbian Government towards the Albanian people, such relations have been created in the southwestern border of Serbia, that peace and a normal situation can hardly be expected in the near future".
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The NGOs demand Bërnabiq's reaction to Vulini's hateful language for Albanians
The progressive forces between Serbs and Albanians must stop this way of communication. An immediate process of reconciliation and mutual respect must begin. We are historical neighbors and have always lived close to each other, so we must continue to live in peace and mutual respect. After a bad past, we must cultivate a soft and respectable language. In that way we would build a civic perspective for both Serbs and Albanians.
The author is a professor at the University of Southeast Europe, North Macedonia
