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Kosovo, a province of the former Yugoslavia
Kosovo's largest export is scrap metal from abandoned cars
Serbia does not recognise the secession of Kosovo and considers it a United
Nations-governed entity within its sovereign territory |
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While more recently it was of course the
Christian Serbs who were responsible for the "ethnic cleansing" of
Albanian Muslims in Kosovo. [source: Deconstructing Terrorism] |
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Analysts |
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- Alan J. Kuperman
- Alexander del Valle
- Dusan Relijic
- Erling Have
- Gerald Knaus
- Ibrahim Rexhepi
- James Lyon
- Naim Uka
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- Nenad Vasić
- Philip Alston
- Predrag Simić
- Robert Wilton
- Shinasi Rama
- Stephen Suleyman Schwartz
- Tai-Heng Cheng
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Local people in Pristina only use numbers
as names for their streets.
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Pristina skyline |
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11-foot high statue of Bill Clinton |
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Cities |
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- Pristina (600,000)
- Prizren (221,000)
- Pec (170,000)
- Urosevac (170,000)
- Dakovica (150,000)
- Suva Reka (150,000)
- Kosovska Mitrovica (110,310)
- Podujevo (130,000)
- Vucitrn (106,000)
- Gnjilane (103,675)
- Orahovac (85,698)
- Glocovac (73,000)
- Srbica (70,000)
- Lipljan (69,451)
- Malisevo (65,520)
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- Klina (65,033)
- Kosovska Kamenica (63,000)
- Vitina (57,290)
- Istok (57,261)
- Decani (50,500)
- Dragas (41,000)
- Kacanik (35,000)
- Stimlje (35,000)
- Obilic (30,000)
- Kosovo Polje (28,600)
- Leposavic (21,000)
- Zvecan (17,000)
- Strpce (12,800)
- Zubin Potok (8,749)
- Novo Brdo (3,900)
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Mosque in Prizren
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High school students in Pristina |
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Demographics |
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- Population: 1,804,838
- Life Expectancy: 70.4 years
- Literacy: n/a
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Median Age: 25.9 years
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Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
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Kosovo national library in Pristina |
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Economics |
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- 2nd largest coal reserves in Europe
- Electric power grid is very unstable
- Unemployment officially 40-50%
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Mosque in Pristina |
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Garbage is often dumped on both
sides of the road in Kosovo |
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Kosovo should have energy, literally, to burn. It’s a
small country sitting on top of billions of tons of coal. It should be
able to export electricity to its neighbors while supporting a variety
of energy-intensive industries at home. Instead, Kosovo’s cities are
still plagued by blackouts, while its largest industry has to import
coal from abroad.
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Geographics |
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- Land: Slightly larger than Delaware
- Land Size: 10,887 sq km
- Total Area: 10,887 sq km
- Water: 0 sq km
- Bjeshket e Nemuna National Park
- Deravica Mountains
- Erenik River
- Lake Badovac
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- Lake Batlava
- Lake Gazivida
- Lake Radonjic
- Metohija Basin
- Sar Mountains
- Sar Mountains National Park
- White Drin River
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History |
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- Part of Bulgarian Empire (850s)
- Battle of Kosovo introduced Islam in region, when it became
part of the Ottoman Empire (1389)
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The Ottoman Empire ruled Kosovo until 1913 when
it was partitioned between Serbia and Montenegro.
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The region was incorporated into Yugoslavia
following the First World War.
- Kosovo War (1998-1999)
- UN Security Council Resolution 1244 placed Kosovo
under transitional UN administration (June 10, 1999)
- President Rugova dies in office (January 21,
2006)
- Kosovo declares independent from Serbia
after13 years of conflict and peacekeeping troops (February 17,
2008)
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Language |
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- Albanian (official)
- Serbian (official)
- Bosnian
- Turkish
- Roma
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Organizations |
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- Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)
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Religion |
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- Muslim (90%)
- Christian (8%)
Serbian Orthodox
Roman Catholic
- Other (2%)
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