Talk:Gjakova/Old Gjakova article

Gjakova or Đakovica (Gjakova or Gjakovë; Ђаковица, Đakovica;) is a city and municipality in western Kosovo. It is also the administrative centre of the homonymous district. The municipality's population is estimated at 150,000 (2007). The city is located at 42.39°N, 20.43°W.

Name
There are a number of theories concerning the name of the town: that it derives from the Serbian word đak (pupil) from earlier d(i)jak; that it is named after one of the large land-owners of the area, Jak Vula - Jakova - Gjakova - (Serb Djakovica); or that it derives from the Albanian word for "blood" (gjak).

It is also plausible to conclude that the Albanian name for the town, 'Gjakova'  may in fact represent an Albanized version of otherwise  south slavonic (possibly Serbian) genitive case 'Jakova', as in  "(zemlja) Jakova", meaning "(the land) of Jak", Jak allegedly being an Albanian landlord who gave up his land to enable to establishment of the town of Gjakova.

Demography
Before 1999. in the city lived 61 400 citizens. Albanians made up 89% of population, Serbs 4% and the other national minorities 7%. Those are data records by OESC. After 1999, due to various reasons, primarly due to their ethnicity the Serbs were forced out of the area.

Balkan Wars
Đakovica has been mentioned as a city that suffered greatly from the Serbian-Montenegrin army during the Balkan Wars. The New York Times reported in 1912, citing Austro-Hungarian sources, that people on the gallows hung on both sides of the road, and that the way to Đakovica became a "gallows alley." In the region of Đakovica, Montenegrin police-military formation Royal Gendarmerie Corps (Kraljevski žandarmerijski kor), known as krilaši, committed much abuse and violence against the non-Christian population.

In Đakovica, Serbian priests carried out violent conversion of Albanian Catholics to Serbian Orthodox faith. Vienna Neue Freie Presse (20 March 1913) reports that Orthodox priest with the help of military force convert 300 Đakovica Catholics in the Orthodox faith, and that franciscan Pater Angelus, who refused to renounce his faith, was tortured and then killed with bayonets.

Kosovo War
The town was badly affected by the war, suffering great physical destruction and large-scale human losses and human rights abuses.

Yugoslav units were stationed in and near the town in two barracks due to the risk of an attack by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) from across the border in Albania. The KLA were attacked on several occasions by NATO forces. In one incident, NATO aircraft misidentified a convoy of Albanian refugees and attacked it.

Actions on the ground had a devastating effect on the town. According to the ICTY, OSCE, and international human rights organizations, about 75% of the population was forcibly expelled from the town by Serbian police and paramilitaries as well as Yugoslav forces, while many civilians were killed in the process. Large areas of the town were destroyed, chiefly through arson and looting but also in the course of localised fighting between government security forces and members of the KLA. The actions of the government forces in Đakovica formed a major part of the United Nations war crimes indictment of the then-President Slobodan Milošević. The number of missing people from the municipality is among the highest in all of Kosovo, numbering over 300. In the course of the current year several dozen corpses have been identified and returned to their families, though the number is relatively small compared to the figures of those who are still missing. As a result, any reference to the return of the former Kosovo Serb population remains highly sensitive. 

Most of the Albanian population returned following the end of the war. In 2001 free democratic elections were held, with a majority won by LDK. Thousands of new stores were rebuilt and opened. Qarshia e Madhe is a good example where hundreds of stores were destroyed during the war; in 2001 as many were rebuilt as they had been before the war. New television and radio media were launched such as Radio Gjakova, Radio Pandora, Radio Amadeus, and TV Syri. Local businesses set up manufacturing enterprises such as the IMN brick factory was one of these. Businesses are now booming, with aid from foreign organizations, and their activities are based mainly on free market trade.

Geography and population
The municipality covers an area of 521 km², including the town of Đakovica and 84 villages. As of October 2007, the population is estimated to be of approximately 150,000 people, out of which 90,000 (60%) live in the town and 60,000 (40%) reside in the surrounding villages. The Kosovo Albanians constitute about 95% of the population (69% citizens from Đakovica and 31% Kosovo Villagers), while some 7060 Muslims by nationality, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians making up ca. 4.7% represent the main minority communities.

According to OSCE estimations, before the Kosovo War of 1999 the municipality had a population of about 145,000, of which 93% were Kosovo Albanians and 7% non-majority communities, including some 3,000 Kosovo Serbs, who mostly lived in the main town.

Sport
Apart from being a culture and educative center of Kosovo, Đakovica is also known as a sports center. The best example of this is the fact of having 38 clubs, which compete in all leagues over Kosovo. Đakovica's most successful team is KF Vëllaznimi which has won 9 titles of Kosovar Superliga, and 4 Kosovo Cups. "Shani Nushi" is the city's sports hall, which has a capacity of 3500 seats, while Đakovica's City Stadium has a capacity of 6000 (2000 seats).

Celebrities and famous figures of Gjakova origin

 * Aleksandar Tijanić, Journalist and current Serbian national TV director
 * Ali Podrimja, Well known poet and writer
 * Avni Mula, Famous Albanian singer, composer and musician
 * Bajram Curri, Politician and Albanian activist
 * Besnik Hasi, Former Albanian football player
 * Božidar Delić, Retired general of the Yugoslav Army
 * Emin Duraku, Albanian and Yugoslav partisan
 * Fadil Hoxha, Member of the Federal Presidency of Yugoslavia and recipient of the People's Hero of Yugoslavia award
 * Ismet Peja, Singer
 * Lorik Cana, Albanian football player
 * Luan Krasniqi, Former German Heavyweight and European Heavyweight boxing champion
 * Miodrag Vlahović, Montenegrin Ambassador to the United States
 * Mahmut Bakalli, 5th President of the League of Communists of Kosovo

Notes and references
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References:

Category:Populated places in Kosovo Category:Municipalities of Kosovo