Vitina


Vitina or Viti, is a town and municipality located in the District of Gjilan in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Vitina has 4,924 inhabitants, while the municipality has 46,987 inhabitants.

Municipality

Ottoman period

The municipality has several settlements historically inhabited by the Laramans, crypto-Catholics.

Kosovo War and aftermath

Following the 1999 Kosovo War, it was the home of A Company, 2/505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, the first KFOR troops to begin stabilization efforts in the municipality. After the initial unit left, Vitina was the site of a subsequent international scandal when a Staff Sgt. Frank J. Ronghi, from A company, 3/504 Parachute Infantry Regiment raped and killed a local girl. The subsequent investigation uncovered serious training and leadership deficiencies in the 3/504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, and catalysed a tremendous change in the training of units deploying for peacekeeping operations. The Church of the Holy Mother of God, Podgorce was looted during the conflict.
During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the Orthodox cemetery in Vitina and the village of Dobreš were hit by missiles.
In August 2003, explosive devices planted in Klokot destroyed five Serb houses, with several injuries, including two American KFOR soldiers.
Serbian Orthodox cemeteries have been destroyed in Vitina, among other towns, and in 2004 during unrest, nuns of the Binča monastery were physically attacked, by ethnic Albanians.

Contemporary

In 2013 in response to a KLA monument being removed by Serbian authorities in Preševo, a Kosovo Albanian crowd in Vitina demolished a Yugoslav-era memorial for anti-fascist Partisans that were killed during the Second World War. Members of the Kosovo Police were present but did nothing to intervene. The incident was filmed and posted to YouTube.

Demographics

According to the last official census done in 2011, the municipality of Vitina has 46,987 inhabitants. Based on the population estimates from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics in 2016, the municipality has 47,370 inhabitants.

Ethnic groups

The ethnic composition of the municipality: