Saraj Municipality
- Saraj, which means "palace" in Turkish, is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found.
- It is a rural municipality and it is not part of the urban core of Skopje proper.
Geography
Saraj borders
- Jegunovce Municipality to the northwest,
- Želino Municipality to the southwest,
- Sopište Municipality to the south,
- Karpoš Municipality and Ǵorče Petrov Municipality to the east, and
- Kosovo to the north.
History
In the early 2000s municipal boundaries within Macedonia in some areas were redrawn. During difficult negotiations the governing Macedonian Social Democrats (SDSM) gave in to the request of its Albanian coalition partner that wanted Albanians within Skopje to surpass the 20% population mark by attaching two rural Albanian inhabited municipalities, Saraj and Kondovo. The municipalities attachment to the capital city raised the Albanian population from 15.30% to 20.49%. The change was seen as an important win among Albanians, while Macedonians were concerned with a more visible Albanian presence in Skopje and the increasing fragmentation of the urban population based on ethnicity.
Demographics
According to the 2021 North Macedonia census, Saraj municipality has 38,399 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the municipality include:
| 2002 | 2021 | |||
| Number | % | Number | % | |
| TOTAL | 35,408 | 100 | 38,399 | 100 |
| Albanians | 32,408 | 91.53 | 34,586 | 90.07 |
| Bosniaks | 1,120 | 3.16 | 1,043 | 2.72 |
| Macedonians | 1,377 | 3.89 | 1,005 | 2.62 |
| Roma | 273 | 0.77 | 255 | 0.66 |
| Turks | 45 | 0.13 | 28 | 0.07 |
| Serbs | 18 | 0.05 | 10 | 0.03 |
| Vlachs | 4 | 0.01 | ||
| Other / Undeclared / Unknown | 167 | 0.47 | 18 | 0.04 |
| Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources | 1,450 | 3.78 | ||
Inhabited places
There are 23 inhabited places in this municipality.
| Inhabited Places | Total | Macedonians | Albanians | Turks | Roma | Vlachs | Serbs | Bosnians | Others |
| Saraj Municipality | 38,399 | 1,005 | 34,586 | 28 | 255 | - | - | 1,043 | 1,466 |
| Arnakija | 1.163 | 5 | 1.086 | - | - | - | - | - | 71 |
| Bojane | 2.132 | 1 | 2.070 | - | - | - | - | - | 60 |
| Bukoviḱ | 1.842 | - | 1.769 | - | - | - | - | - | 73 |
| Čajlane | 639 | - | 602 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 37 |
| Dolno Svilare | 2.172 | - | 2.128 | - | - | - | - | - | 46 |
| Dvorce | 145 | - | 141 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 |
| Glumovo | 2.152 | 1 | 2.060 | - | - | - | - | 32 | 59 |
| Gorno Svilare | 845 | - | 830 | - | - | - | - | - | 15 |
| Grčec | 36 | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 33 |
| Kondovo | 3.626 | 18 | 3.353 | 9 | - | - | 2 | 66 | 177 |
| Kopanica | 1.790 | - | 1.761 | - | - | - | - | - | 29 |
| Krušopek | 2.017 | 4 | 1.977 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 35 |
| Laskarci | 1.169 | - | 1.127 | - | - | - | - | - | 42 |
| Ljubin | 2.426 | 5 | 1.493 | 5 | 1 | - | - | 859 | 64 |
| Matka | 466 | 156 | 248 | - | - | - | 1 | 5 | 55 |
| Paničari | 130 | - | 107 | - | - | - | - | - | 23 |
| Raduša | 1.533 | - | 1.447 | - | - | - | - | - | 86 |
| Raoviḱ | 79 | - | 40 | - | - | - | - | - | 39 |
| Rašče | 2.835 | 1 | 2.760 | - | - | - | - | - | 74 |
| Rudnik Raduša | 179 | - | 156 | - | - | - | - | - | 23 |
| Saraj | 6.265 | 307 | 5.379 | 11 | 167 | - | 4 | 73 | 324 |
| Semenište | 798 | 2 | 754 | 9 | - | - | - | 5 | 37 |
| Šiševo | 3.958 | 505 | 3.294 | 2 | 87 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 61 |
Twin towns
Twin municipalities
References
- ^ Ragaru, Nadege (2008). "The Political Uses and Social Lives of "National Heroes": Controversies over Skanderbeg's Statue in Skopje". Südosteuropa. 56 (4): 535.
- ^ 2021 census results in English and Macedonian (PDF)
- ^ "Попис на населението, домаќинствата и становите во Република Северна Македонија, 2021 - прв сет на податоци" (PDF). stat.gov.mk. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ Komuna e Sarajit binjakëzim me komunën turke Uskudar Archived 2012-06-04 at the Wayback Machine, INA, 2012-06-01 (in Albanian)
External links
