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The Republic of Montenegro (Crna Gora/Црна Гора) is
a small, mountainous republic on the Balkans, bordering the Adriatic Sea. Between 1945 and 2003 it was a republic of Yugoslavia; it is now
one of two constituent parts of the state union of Serbia and
Montenegro.
The principal cities are the capital Podgorica (130,000 inhabitants), Nikšić (60,000) and Pljevlja (22,000).
The former royal capital is Cetinje.
Demographics
Main article: Demographic
history of Montenegro
Ethnic composition according to the 2003 census:
- Montenegrins: 273366 (40,64%)
- Serbs: 201892 (30,01%)
- Bosniaks: 63272 (9,41%)
- Albanians: 47682 (7,09%)
- Muslims: 28714 (4,27%)
- Croats: 7062 (1,05%)
- Roma: 2875 (0,43%)
- other: 8376 (1,25%)
- undeclared: 27715 (4,12%)
- no data: 10532 (1,57%)
The status of Montenegrins as an ethnic group is a
matter of some controversy.
According to the constitution of Montenegro, the official language is Serbian of the Ijekavian standard. It is identical to the Serbian dialect spoken in Bosnia. As of 2003, 59,67% of the population declare Serbian their mother tongue, while 21,53% declare
Montenegrin language.
There is also an attempt to create a splinter autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church yet the movement has no
real support among the populace whose faithful remain very close to the Serb Orthodox Church.
Union with Serbia
On the last referendum on joining Serbia in 1992, some 96% of the votes were cast
for the federation with Serbia, although the turnout was at 66% because of a boycott by the Muslim and Catholic minorities as
well as some of the Montenegrins. Today, the political scene is more polarized over this issue.
Since 1996, Milo Đukanović's government de facto isolated Montenegro from Serbia
(back then still under Milošević) in many regards.
Montenegro formed its own economic policy and switched to the
Deutsche Mark as its currency. It is currently using the Euro, though it is in fact not part of the Eurozone.
The government of Montenegro carries out pro-independence policies, even questionable ones such as postponing the census
twice, from 2001 to 2002 and then November 2003). They also postponed the independence
referendum countless times, which caused many independence supporters losing faith in the government's will for independence and
entrenched the pro-union coalition. On January 13, 2002, following a ban on a celebration of the Julian calendar New Year's Eve, an estimated 50,000 people gathered in the capital Podgorica as a show of defiance to the government as well as support to the Serb national identity with the event being coined the 'Serbian New Year's Eve' [1] .
In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro came to a new agreement regarding continued cooperation.
In 2003, the name Yugoslavia was replaced in favor of Serbia and Montenegro and the possible referendum for Montenegro's independence was postponed
until 2006.
The Đukanović government was further rocked by scandals involving cigarette smuggling as well as sex-slave trafficking (Moldovan girls). The
Moldovan scandal, as it was dubbed in the Montenegrin media, involved high Montenegrin officials such as Zoran
Piperovic, the deputy state prosecutor. He was initally arrested in the case, but the charges were later dropped in a cover-up
attempt by the government. Although the practice was known for years the true depth of the issue only began to surface in the
last few years.
See also
External links
Montenegro is also a city and municipality of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The town was established in 1847 to
be settled by German immigrants. The local language was Riograndenser Hunsrückisch for most of its history. Today Portuguese prevails, mostly because the campaign of Nacionalization or Nacionalizaçăo driven by
president and dictator Getúlio Vargas in the 1940's.
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