Bosniaks of Montenegro

Montenegrin Prime Minister-designate Dritan Abazovic at a press conference. Photo: Government of Montenegro

Abazovic said that the mandate of his government will be one year, and that its main task will be to prepare state institutions for next spring's early elections.

Jovanovic was sentenced in late April in the first instance to a year in prison for inciting ethnic hatred; Nilevic has been charged with the same.

On opposing sides of an ideological divide, Jovanovic and Nilevic are part of an alarming war of words playing out on social media in Montenegro, a war that took off in 2019 but has intensified since an earthquake election last year.

Representatives of the ethnic Albanian-majority Tuzi municipality and the Albanian diaspora unveiled a monument on Sunday to Dede Gjon Luli, an Albanian nationalist figure and guerrilla leader, in front of his former home in the village of Bardhaj, which has been turned into a museum.

A man selling Turkish flags in Istanbul, Turkey, 02 August 2018. EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

The Foreign Ministry in Montenegro has tried to ease concerns expressed about the expatriate cards it is offering its large diaspora community after some ethnic Bosniaks from Montenegro now living in Turkey expressed fears that it was designed to undermine their ethnic identity.

Rising Star
Bosko Obradovic. Photo: BIRN

One of the rising stars of the '1 of 5 million' protests, which have been going on for months in Serbia, is Bosko Obradovic, the leader of the right-wing Dveri party. Deeply conservative, claims to espouses traditional Serbian values and supports closer ties with Russia.

Montenegro is offering expatriate card to members of its diaspora - but some Bosniaks whose ancestors migrated from today's Montenegro to Turkey fear the cards will undermine their identity.

A group of Serbs and Bosniaks in Montenegro is working on a declaration of reconciliation in a bid to overcome the disputes that have caused new tensions between the two ethnic groups.

The Montenegrin government informed parliament on Wednesday that it will withdraw a bill on public holidays which was to include a state holiday to mark the birth in 1813 of Njegos, a bishop, prince and poet who ruled Montenegro in the 19th century.

The agreement is expected to be officially confirmed on Wednesday after the Bosniak Party emerged as a kingmaker following the election on October 16 and won three seats in Montenegro's 81-seat parliament.