Ethnic Aromanian minority within Serbia
Ethnic group
The
Aromanians in Serbia
(
Aromanian
:
armanji
or
rramanji
;
Serbian
:
Аромуни
/
Aromuni
or
Армани
/
Armani
), most commonly known as "Tsintsars" (Serbian:
Цинцари
/
Cincari
) and sometimes as "
Vlachs
" (Serbian:
Власи
/
Vlasi
), are a non-recognized
Aromanian
ethnic minority
in
Serbia
. Historically, they were an isolated group who focused on preserving their
culture
,
language
and identity and on
nomadic pastoralism
. However, from the second half of the 20th century, the Serbian Aromanians would begin to put aside this practice and migrate to the cities, where they would be subject to
assimilation
.
[3]
Many Aromanians came to Serbia after leaving
Moscopole
. This city had been the economic and cultural center of the Aromanians for years, even becoming the second biggest city of the
Ottoman Empire
, but it was plundered and destroyed in the mid-18th century. Many former inhabitants of this city went north, reaching various European cities, including some in modern Serbia such as
Belgrade
,
Novi Sad
and
Zemun
. Upon arriving, the Aromanians started being called Tsintsars by the
Serbs
, name that they ended up adopting and the one that they insist that it be used to refer to them today.
[3]
Today, the Aromanians in Serbia do not conform compact communities anywhere in the country and live scattered throughout it, living mostly in Serbian cities such as in
Knja?evac
,
Pan?evo
,
Smederevo
and, specially, Belgrade and
Ni?
.
[4]
There are an estimated 5,000,
[2]
10,000
[5]
or 15,000 Aromanians living in Serbia,
[3]
despite the fact that only 243 people declared themselves ethnic "Tsintsar" (Aromanian) in the
2011 Serbian census
.
[6]
This is why the Aromanians have not been recognized as a national minority of Serbia yet, as the minimum number of people a minority has to have to be declared as such must be 300.
[2]
They reached this threshold in the
2022 census
, in which 327 persons declared Aromanian ethnicity.
[1]
Nowadays, there is a
cultural organization
known as the
Lunjina Serbian?Aromanian Association
with the aim of preserving the Aromanian minority in Serbia and its customs, culture, language, name and traditions.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Становништво према национално? припадности"
(in Serbian).
Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia
. Retrieved
9 May
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
Joki? Stamenkovi?, Dragana (30 January 2017).
"Цинцари ? крвоток Балкана"
.
Politika
(in Serbian).
- ^
a
b
c
d
Ru?ica, Miroslav (2006). "The Balkan Vlachs/Aromanians awakening, national policies, assimilation".
Proceedings of the Globalization, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflicts in the Balkans and Its Regional Context
: 28?30.
S2CID
52448884
.
- ^
Sorescu-Marinkovi?, Annemarie; Miri?, Mirjana; ?irkovi?, Svetlana (2020).
"Assessing linguistic vulnerability and endangerment in Serbia. A critical survey of methodologies and outcomes"
.
Balcanica
(51): 65?104.
doi
:
10.2298/BALC2051065S
.
hdl
:
21.15107/rcub_dais_10446
.
S2CID
235067245
.
- ^
a
b
?ivanovi?, Katarina (22 February 2013).
"Zrno soli među balkanskim narodima"
.
Danas
(in Serbian).
- ^
"Попис становништва, дома?инстава и станова 2011. у Републици Срби?и"
(PDF)
(in Serbian). Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Archived from
the original
on 14 June 2017.
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Larger ethnic minorities
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Smaller ethnic minorities
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