Montenegro
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| Official language | Serbian | ||
| Capital | Podgorica | ||
| Area - Total - % water | 13,812 km² n/a | ||
| Population - Total (2003) - Density | 616,258 48.7/km² | ||
| Ethnic groups | Montenegrins: 40% Serbs: 30% Albanians: 9% Bosniaks: 7% Others: 14% | ||
| President | Filip Vujanović | ||
| Prime Minister | Milo Đukanović | ||
| Anthem | Hej Sloveni | ||
| Time zone | UTC +1 | ||
| Currency | Euro | ||
The Republic of Montenegro (Crna Gora/Црна Гора) is a small, mountainous republic on the Balkans, bordering the Adriatic Sea. Between 1945 and 2003 it was a republic of Yugoslavia; it is now one of two constituent parts of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.
The principal cities are the capital Podgorica (130,000 inhabitants), Nikšić (60,000) and Pljevlja (22,000). The former royal capital is Cetinje.
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2 Union with Serbia 3 See also 4 External links |
Ethnic composition according to the 2003 census:
Ethnic issues
According to the constitution of Montenegro, the official language is Serbian of the Ijekavian standard. It is identical to the Serbian dialect spoken in Bosnia. As of 2003, 59,67% of the population declare Serbian their mother tongue, while 21,53% declare Montenegrin language. The Montenegrin language mostly favors Latin over Cyrillic alphabet and may include a slightly amended alphabet. The linguist Vojislav Nikčević has become the champion of a separate Montenegrin language and alphabet, but his ideas don't garner the majority support as he studied literature in Zagreb and prints his dictionaries in Croatia instead of Montenegro.
There is also an attempt to create a splinter autocephalous Church yet the movement has no real support among the populace whose faithful remain very close to the Serb Orthodox Church.
On the last referendum on joining Serbia in 1992, some 96% of the votes were cast for the federation with Serbia, although the turnout was at 66% because of a boycott by the Muslim and Catholic minorities as well as some of the Montenegrins. Today, the political scene is more polarized over this issue.
Since 1996, Milo Đukanović's government de facto isolated Montenegro from Serbia (back then still under Milošević) in many regards. Montenegro formed its own economic policy and switched to the Deutsche Mark as its currency. It is currently using the Euro, though it is in fact not part of the Eurozone.
The government of Montenegro carries out pro-independence policies, even questionable ones such as postponing the census twice, from 2001 to 2002 and then November 2003). They also postponed the independence referendum countless times, which caused many independence supporters losing faith in the government's will for independence and entrenched the pro-union coalition. On January 13, 2002, following a ban on a celebration of the Julian calendar New Year's Eve, an estimated 50,000 people gathered in the capital Podgorica as a show of defiance to the government as well as support to the Serb national identity with the event being coined the 'Serbian New Year's Eve' [1].
In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro came to a new agreement regarding continued cooperation. In 2003, the name Yugoslavia was replaced in favor of Serbia and Montenegro and the possible referendum for Montenegro's independence was postponed until 2006.
The Djukanovic government was further rocked by scandals involving cigarette smuggling as well as sex-slave trafficking (Moldovan girls). The Moldovan scandal, as it was dubbed in the Montenegrin media, involved Montenegrin government officials such as Djukanovic, Bozidar Vukcevic, the former state prosecutor and Misko Perovic a top Djukanovic party aid. Although the practice was known for years the true depth of the issue only began to surface in the last few years.
Union with Serbia
See also
External links
Former Yugoslavia (SFRY)
Republics
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatia | Macedonia | Montenegro | Serbia | Slovenia
Autonomous provinces of Serbia
Kosovo | Vojvodina