Why have population censuses in the region become a political issue?

The population census, which by nature should be a routine statistical survey, in which citizens are usually asked for data on age, gender, place of birth, education level, employment, housing conditions, marital status, etc., has taken on a significant political dimension in some countries of the region. Questions about religion and nationality, to which citizens in some states are not required to respond, have proved to be a major stumbling block.

In the past few weeks, the issue of the census in Montenegro has significantly stirred political passions, and the new Government in Podgorica decided to postpone the census to November 30 during its first session. Initially, it was planned to be conducted from November 1 to November 15. The census delay followed a boycott campaign led by the Democratic Party of Socialists, in which they called on citizens not to participate in the census. According to their view, this process was "planned ethnic engineering aimed at increasing the number of the Serbs in Montenegro".

The census in Albania, which began on September 18 and was originally scheduled to last until the end of October, was extended by 15 days because not all rural areas were registered within the prescribed timeframe. In Kosovo, the census was supposed to start today. However, census enumerators have not started so far. The reason for this, as stated by the Executive Director of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, Ilir Berisha, was that the Kosovo Government had not provided tablet computers for the census, although the decision to conduct the population census from November 1 to December 15 was still in effect.

The representatives of certain national minorities in Albania recently said for Kosovo Online that they were not satisfied with the way the census was being conducted because citizens were not typically asked to declare their ethnic affiliation. However, the President of the Association of the Serbian National Minority "Jedinstvo" in Fier, Eqerem Dulevic, said today for our portal that the census in the villages around that city had been conducted, and there had been no issues. As he stated, they had asked questions about nationality, religion, citizenship, etc., and he had identified as a Serb.

Regarding Kosovo, Prime Minister Albin Kurti recently called on all minority communities to participate in the census, and he linked this process to future plans for allocating funds for the needs of the communities, such as schools, roads, the economy...

A historian Cedomir Antic stated for Kosovo Online that the census in the Balkans had turned from a technical into a political issue because, in his view, not all nations were given the same rights.

"The census has become a political, not a technical issue because NATO, as the sole representative of the EU in the Balkans, and the nationalisms it supports and operates through here, do not want democracy in the Balkans. So, if they wanted democracy, they would give rights to all nations, and they would not treat the Serbs in Croatia differently from, for example, the Albanians in North Macedonia or the Albanians in Kosovo and the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Macedonians would not have a different status from Montenegrins or Croats, and it would not be allowed for Albanians to create a 'Greater Albania' in front of the eyes of the whole world, although they do not have support in a large part of the countries they would include within their borders", Antic says.

He explains that in such conditions, the census "has become a weapon".

"In the time of communism, to which the Albanians were extremely loyal, they were the only nation in Europe that was neither denazified nor 'decommunized', meaning that the communists did not face anti-authoritarian laws in any country where Albanians lived in the majority. At that time, they created a fantasy about the number of Albanians. At one point, the Albanians almost outnumbered the Serbs in the Balkans", Antic explains.

He says that, no matter how undemocratic society is in Kosovo or North Macedonia, censuses still show reality.

"Albania is the homeland of very aggressive nationalism that aspires to create a huge state envisioned from Austro-Hungary, Nazi Germany, and fascist Italy, not by the democratic will of the Albanians or anyone else. On the other hand, they do not want to accept the equality of other nations. It is known that they boycotted the census in Kosovo and Metohija. When it was conducted, it turned out that there were far fewer of them. In the area of Presevo, Bujanovac, and what they inaccurately call Medvedja, the 'Presevo Valley', they boycotted the census to avoid showing that these images of how many of them exist were false and had always been false. They also counted the diaspora and colonized Serbian regions in Kosovo", Antic explains.

According to him, a similar situation occurred in North Macedonia regarding the Albanians.

"Everything was fabricated there after one uprising, after which those who were attacked, the Macedonians, were held responsible. It was fabricated that they (the Albanians) could have constitutive rights with a 25% share of the population. So why don't the Serbs in Montenegro have constitutionality? Should they take up arms? A US Admiral spoke about how the Serbian Orthodox Church is an enemy of NATO in the Balkans. That's why it is like that, primarily concerning Albanian nationalism. We can see that Montenegrin chauvinism is copying Albanian nationalism. The situation is similar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosniaks reported 150,000 people who will never be residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina again," Antic emphasizes.

He adds that they "completely disrupted the rules of the census".

"They did it with the idea that, when it comes to the census, the Bosniaks will one day have 51 percent", Antic assesses.

The President of the “Matica Albanaca“ in Serbia, Demo Berisha, says for Kosovo Online that the census is a legal issue, but the key problem in the region for the implementation of this process is presenting the accurate number of Serbs living in those areas, which is why it became politicized.

Berisha states that the former President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, politicized the census to the extent that he even referred to the clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church as bandits in black robes. This, as he says, indicates that no one in the region is satisfied with the number of Serbs living outside the borders of Serbia in the region.

"This is crucial, not how many other inhabitants there are, but how many Serbs there are in, for example, Montenegro. According to the last census, 28 percent of the population identified as Serbs, and all estimates indicate that this percentage could go above 37 percent, which is neither in Montenegro's interest, nor in Bosnia and Herzegovina's, nor in Kosovo's", Berisha says.

When it comes to Kosovo, as Berisha explains, the census has not been conducted since 2011. According to estimates, there are currently around one million residents there, of which approximately 120,000 are Serbs.

"A large number of the Albanian population have renounced the citizenship of the newly established state of Kosovo, and there are an estimated 120,000 Serbs who stayed to live in Kosovo. Albin Kurti doesn't like this fact, which is why he has been postponing the census date since he came to power, even though he took 4.8 million euros from the European Union that were intended to determine how many people live in Kosovo. Kurti's estimate is that it does not work in his favor at the moment", Berisha believes.

Speaking about the number of Serbs in Kosovo, Berisha says that in the northern part, there are 40,000 people with the right to vote, and he adds that in recent years, the Serbian birthrate has increased.

"One can talk about 120,000 people of Serbian nationality, which disrupts Kurti's idea of Kosovo's independence. Regardless of what he says about the process being completed, we see that it is not, and according to Resolution 1244 and other documents, Kosovo is not an independent state but is under the Constitution of Serbia," he says.

Berisha believes that Albin Kurti will not move towards conducting the census at this moment because, as he points out, he does not want to reveal the true data regarding the number of Serbs in Kosovo.

As for Montenegro, he thinks the key question is why the census is being avoided. He points out that the previous Government of Dritan Abazovic in Montenegro passed the necessary regulations and laws for this purpose. He notes that the new Government of Montenegro, led by Milojko Spajic, will have to change its approach to cooperation with the Serbs in Montenegro because the crucial issue is the relationship of the Serbs in the region with Serbia and Serbia's relationship with the Serbs in the region.

"This should not be an obstacle; rather, the presence of the Serbs in the region should be turned around and used positively, as we have seen in critical moments, for example, during the COVID epidemic when there was a shortage of food. President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that countries in the region should not worry because what Serbia had, they also had. So, the presence of the Serbs in the region should be used in the opposite way, and not to be feared. The Serbs in the region should certainly be a bridge, and not to scare the citizens of those countries, once their exact number is determined", our interlocutor says.

Regarding Albania, Berisha states that a population census has never been completed properly in that country since World War II, and there are disputes about the number of Serbs in Albania, who, as he says, are found in the regions of the Municipalities of Tirana, Shkoder, Fier, Vlore.

He notes that in Albania, there is another majority community, the Greek community, and says that religious issues are not given much importance in that country.