Reçak (; ) is a village in the

Shtime Shtime ( sq-definite, Shtimja) or Štimlje ( sr-Cyrl, Штимље), is a town and municipality located in the Ferizaj District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Shtime has 7,225 inhabitants, while the municipality has 27,324 ...

municipality of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. It was the site of the January 1999

Račak massacre The Račak massacre () or Račak operation () was the massacre of 45 Kosovo Albanians that took place in the village of Račak () in central Kosovo in January 1999. The massacre was perpetrated by Serbian security forces in response to Albani ...

, in which 45 villagers were killed by Serbian forces.

History

Middle Ages

The village was first mentioned in a

chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine emperors and monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Description A golden bull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors. It was later used by monarchs in Europe ...

by the

Serbian Emperor Between 1345 and 1371, the Serbian monarchs held the title of emperor (tsar). The full title was initially Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, later Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians in Serbian and ''basileus'' and '' autokrator'' of Ser ...

Stefan Dušan Stephen (honorific), Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан), also known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Силни; – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of th ...

in 1343. Noted in an Ottoman

defter A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Etymology The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...

of 1487, the village was home to a monastery, consecrated in the name of

Saints Cosmas and Damian Cosmas and Damian ( – or AD) were two Arabs, Arab physicians and early Christian martyrs. They practised their profession in the seaport of Yumurtalık, Aegeae, then in the Roman province of Cilicia (Roman province), Cilicia. Cosmas and ...

Kosovo War

Prior to the summer of 1998, Račak had a population of around 2,000 people. Most of its population was displaced by fighting between the Yugoslav Army and soldiers from the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an Albanians, ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Republic of Serbia (1992–2006), Republic of R ...

(KLA) in July 1998. By January 1999, about 350 people had returned to the village, according to the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(OSCE). On 16 January 1999, OSCE monitors found the bodies of 45 people in and around the village in what became widely known as the

. Following the incident, for which the international community blamed the Serbian military, the remaining population fled and did not return until the end of the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

in June 1999. There is a memorial to the victims of the massacre in the village, where an annual ceremony to honour them is held.

Geography

Reçak is located about half a kilometer southwest of the town of

. The village lies on the

Carraleva Carraleva (; ) is a mountain in central Kosovo, dividing its two main geographical regions, the Kosovo Plain and Metohija. Carraleva is also a point where all three drainage basins of Kosovo (and three out of four in the Balkans) meet, making the ...

-mountain range. This mountain range divides the

Kosovo field Kosovo field (; ) is a large karst field, located in the middle part of Kosovo. It is mostly known for being the site of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) between the Balkan Alliance led by Lazar of Serbia and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman armies led by Mura ...

and

Metohija Metohija (), also known in Albanian as Dukagjini, (, ) is a large drainage basin, basin and the name of the region covering the southwestern part of Kosovo. The region covers 35% (3,891 km2) of Kosovo's total area. According to the 2024 ce ...

Climate

Population

As of the census of 2011, Reçak had a population of 1,638 of whom 1,629 were

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

, one was

Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and eight did not answer. 1,631 were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s and seven did not answer.

References

External links

Location

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racak Villages in Štimlje