Bellacërkë
Fortesë (Bellacërkë)
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|---|---|
Village | |
Fortesë (Bellacërkë) | |
| Coordinates: 42°21′N 20°35′E / 42.350°N 20.583°E | |
| Location | Kosovo |
| District | Gjakovë |
| Municipality | Rahovec |
| Population (2024) | |
• Total | 1,582 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Fortesë (Bellacërkë) (Albanian: Fortesë) (Serbian: Bela Crkva/Бела Црква) is a village in the municipality of Rahovec of the District of Gjakova. Before 1999 the village was called Bela Crkva.
Demographics
As of 2024, the village had a total population of 1,582 people. Of this, approximately 98.79% were Albanians, while Ashkalis and Egyptians made up 1.21%.[1]
History
The village Fortesë (Bellacërrkë/Bela Crkva) was mentioned as 'Beloçerkova' in the Ottoman register of the 16th century. The inhabitants of Fortesë (Bellacërrkë/Bela Crkva) in the 16th century bore Albanian (Marku, Nika, Pepa, Vuja, Kragui, Bojçi) and Slavic surnames (Stojko, Radula, Janko, Pervane). The villagers predominantly had Islamic names. The mansions ('Bashtina') listed bore Islamic, Albanian and Slavic names.[2]
On 25 March 1999, one day after NATO began bombing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the village of Bellacërrkë was the site of a mass killing, during which over 60 ethnic Albanian civilians were executed by Serbian forces.[3][4][5]
References
- ^ "Popullsia sipas gjinisë, etnicitetit dhe vendbanimit" [Population by gender, ethnicity, and place of residence] (PDF) (in Albanian). Prishtinë: Kosovo Agency of Statistics. July 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Popullsia Shqiptare e Kosoves Gjate Shekujve – page 327
- ^ "Fortesa massacre, proof of the serbian genocide" (In Albanian)
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/386580.stm
- ^ https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword-11B.html