Vlachs of Serbia

"Vlach" is a word of Germanic origin, originally used by the Germanic tribes to refer to the Romans. It would later be adopted by the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire and virtually all Slavs to refer to the Romance languages-speakers in the Balkans that remained following the various migrations into the area. These peoples never referred to themselves as "Vlachs", but as some variant of "Roman". Today there are several peoples that are still commonly referred to as Vlachs, these including the Vlachs of eastern Serbia. , 1870 There are hypotheses about an autochthonous origin of the Vlachs in the area in which they currently live. Researchers who promoted this idea include the researcher Atanasie Popovici, a native of the area. However, most researchers agree that the Vlachs of eastern Serbia originate from areas in present-day Romania and settled in land in which they live today as a result of migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. These migrations occurred due to the difficult living conditions in Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia. Strong migrations were recorded between 1718 and 1739 after the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718; during this time, eastern Serbia was part of the Banat of Temeswar. Migrations to eastern Serbia continued after this period, albeit on a smaller scale. More precisely, migrations were recorded in the periods of 1723–1725, 1733–1734, 1818 and 1834. These were directed to the settlements of Jošanica, Krepoljin, Laznica (), Osanica (), Ribare, Suvi Do, Vukovac, Žagubica ( or ). These migrations increased the number of houses in the area around the Homolje Mountains (; or ) from 80 in 1718 to 155 in 1733. Furthermore, the two latter waves led to the foundation of the settlements of Bliznak, Breznica, Izvarica, Jasikovo, Krupaja, Milanovac, and Sige. According to the place of origin of these new migrants, the Vlachs of eastern Serbia were divided into (originating from the Kingdom of Hungary, or more precisely, from Banat and Transylvania proper) and (originating from Moldavia and Wallachia). The Vlachs are still divided into these two groups according to the Romanian dialect they speak; the have a speech closely related to the Banat Romanian dialect while the dialect of the is closer to the Wallachian one. Dialectally, there are two other groups of Vlachs, the and the , but these are largely assimilated into the former two. Before the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859, the Vlachs in eastern Serbia were officially known as "Romanians". On the other hand, the country of Wallachia (the name of which was derived from "Vlach"), was known in Serbian as "Vlaška". Furthermore, in ethnographic studies of the 19th or early 20th century, the Vlachs of eastern Serbia were regarded as Romanians in an undisputed way. However, after 1859 and the formation of the first modern Romanian state, this practice was reversed, with the name of "Vlach" being imposed over on the community of eastern Serbia to break similarities with the Romanians; this was intensified after the creation of Yugoslavia. According to an article by Ivan Miladinović for Večernje novosti, at the end of 1946, Yugoslav Partisans leader Josip Broz Tito presented a proposal to allow Romania to annex the Vlach-populated areas in eastern Serbia since "Romanian comrades, Gheorghiu-Dej and Ana Pauker, think it is their people and their territory"; Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Serbia, Blagoje Nešković, would have expressed strong opposition to this proposal. ==Legal status of Vlach minority==

The Serbian state considers Vlachs a distinct ethnic minority rejecting any conflation with the Romanians, citing census results and their right of self-identification with the ethnicity of their choice. On the other hand, Romania's stance is that the Vlachs are Romanians, claiming the split between "Romanian" and "Vlach" identities as artificial and accusing Serbia of failing to protect the ethnic minority rights of the Romanians in eastern Serbia. By provisions of the 2002 Romania–FR Yugoslavia agreement, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to recognize the Romanian identity of the Vlach population in eastern Serbia, but the agreement was not implemented. In 2005, 23 deputies from the Council of Europe, representatives from Hungary, Georgia, Lithuania, Romania, Moldova, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Denmark, and Bulgaria protested against Serbia's treatment of this population. In 2011, the Senate of Romania postponed for several months the ratification of Serbia's candidature for membership in the European Union until the legal status and minority right of the Romanian (Vlach) population in Serbia was clarified. According to a 2012 agreement between Romania and Serbia, members of the Vlach community who self-declare as Romanians are provided access to education, media, and religion in the Romanian language. ==Controversy over ethnic identity==

The identity and ethnic classification of the Vlachs in Serbia is highly contested. These disputes also occur between Vlachs themselves: an "anti-Romanian" group and "pro-Romanian" group. The former regards Serbia as the homeland of the Vlachs and rejects any connection to Romania whatsoever, while the latter relates Vlachs and Romanians through elements such as language and often regards Romania as the homeland of the Vlachs, although both agree on the need for the Serbian state to do more to protect Vlachs. The situation within the is particularly convulsed. In 2009, during an interview for the Serbian newspaper Politika, Živoslav Lazić, the president of the Council and then mayor of Veliko Gradište (), called the efforts by "some in Serbia" to prove that the Romanians and Vlachs are a two distinct minorities as "xenophobic". He also argued that claims about Romanianization of Vlachs by Romania come from people whose real aim is the assimilation of Vlachs. In 2010, shortly before the first elections to choose the members of the Council, Vlach politician Miletić Mihajlović accused the council of being pro-Romanian and of having as its main objective "transfer" Vlachs into Romanians, adding that Serbia was the homeland of the Vlachs. The new convocation of the Council, elected in 2010, was led by members of major Serbian parties (Democrat Party and Socialist Party of Serbia), most of whom were ethnic Serbs with no relation to the Vlach minority. The new president, Radiša Dragojević, stated that "Nobody has the right to ask Vlachs to declare themselves as Romanians", that "Vlachs consider Serbia their motherland", and that "We have no objections, nor any basis to turn to Romania, nor does Romania have any basis to make any demands on our behalf". According to Dragojević, out of 23 members of the Council, only four were pro-Romanian. In 2018, a new convocation of the council was elected, and the coalition "Vlachs for Serbia" won 22 of the 23 seats. Dragojević, who was re-elected president of the Council, commented that their result was due to pro-Romanian Vlach political organizations having either boycotted the election or having run for the election for the National Council of the Romanian National Minority instead. Radiša Dragojević, the current president of the Council, has stated that no one has the right to ask the Vlach ethnic minority in Serbia to identify themselves as Romanian or veto anything. As a response to this statement, the cultural organizations Ariadnae Filum, Društvo za kulturu Vlaha - Rumuna Srbije, Društvo Rumuna - Vlaha „Trajan“, Društvo za kulturu, jezik i religiju Vlaha - Rumuna Pomoravlja, Udruženje za tradiciju i kulturu Vlaha „Dunav“, Centar za ruralni razvoj - Vlaška kulturna inicijativa Srbija and the Vlach National Party protested and accusing him of false narrative. The Vlach National Party accused the Serbian government of assimilation by using the National Council of the Vlach National Minority against the interests of this community. There is a movement among some members of the Vlachs to align themselves with Romania and identify themselves as part of the broader Romanian identity in Serbia. As of 2009, an estimated several thousand Vlachs were attending secondary schools and universities in Romania. It has been said that there is a fear among some of the Serbian political elite that some of these could return to Serbia with a Romanian ethnic identity and influence the rest of the Vlach community. The Association of the Vlachs of Serbia stands out for the claim that Romania is the motherland of the Vlachs, that they speak Romanian and that Serbia tries to assimilate Vlachs by referring to them as Vlachs to separate them from the Romanian ethnicity. The Vlach National Party claimed that the Serbian state manipulated the culture and history of the Vlachs and imposed a "historical cultural construct" on them. Timoc Press is another pro-Romanian organization in the Timok Valley, funded by the Department for Romanians Everywhere of the Romanian government, which considers Vlachs and Romanians a single ethnicity, the former of which would be being assimilated by the Serbs. Even so, there are anti-Romanian organizations, such as the Vlach Democratic Party, whose president, Siniša Celojević, declared in 2012 that "the Vlachs of Serbia are not, and will never be, members of the Romanian ethnic minority" and that "Romania claims groups outside its borders to reinforce their historical continuity and ethnic identity taking advantage of the lack of ethnic minority rights for Vlachs to 'infiltrate' among them". ==Politics==

The Vlach National Council is a representation body of the Vlach ethnic minority in Serbia, established for the protection of the rights and the minority self-government of Vlachs in Serbia. The Vlach National Party and the Vlach Democratic Party are ethnic minority parties representing the interests of the Vlachs in Serbia. ==Demographics==

The largest concentration of Vlachs in Serbia is in three easternmost administrative districts where over 90% of declared Vlachs live. According to data from the 2022 census, Vlachs constitute 8.1% of population in Bor District, 5.1% in Braničevo District, and 3.2% in Zaječar District. There are no municipalities with Vlach ethnic majority or plurality. However, there are 15 villages with either Vlach ethnic majority or plurality. The villages with Vlach ethnic majority are: • Manastirica (; Petrovac municipality) • Busur (; Petrovac municipality) • Kladurovo (; Petrovac municipality) • Brodica (Kučevo municipality) • Krivača (; Golubac municipality) • Osanica (; Žagubica municipality) • Gornjane (; city of Bor) • Luka (; city of Bor) The villages with Vlach ethnic plurality are: • Melnica (; Petrovac municipality) • Starčevo (; Petrovac municipality) • Dubočane (; city of Zaječar) • Vlaole (; Majdanpek municipality) • Debeli Lug (Majdanpek municipality) • Leskovo (; Majdanpek municipality) • Beljajka (; Despotovac municipality) ==Culture==

Language () in traditional dress The Vlachs speak a group of archaic Romanian varieties sometimes known as "Vlach" in Serbia. According to data from the 2022 census, 23,216 people declared Vlach as their mother tongue. Romanian is not in use by the local administration in municipalities where members of the Vlach minority represent more than 15% of the population, where it would be allowed according to Serbian law, such as Kučevo and Žagubica (with Vlachs constituting 16.4% and 15% of population of the municipality, respectively). Religion Most Vlachs are Orthodox Christians and have been part of the Serbian Orthodox Church since the 19th century. The 2006 Serbian Law on Churches and Religious Organizations did not recognize the Romanian Orthodox Church as a traditional church, as it had received permission from the Serbian Orthodox Church to have canonical authority only among Romanians in Banat, but not in eastern Serbia. In 2009, however, the Serbian state recognized the canonical authority of the Romanian Orthodox Church over the Vlach population in eastern Serbia. Vlach magic The relative isolation of the Vlachs has permitted the survival of various pre-Christian religious customs and beliefs that are frowned upon by the Orthodox Church. Vlach magic rituals are well-known across modern Serbia. The Vlachs celebrate the ospăț (hospitium, in Latin), called in Serbian praznik or slava. The customs of the Vlachs are very similar to those from Southern Romania (Wallachia). ==Notable people==

• Bojan Aleksandrović – priest • Predrag Balašević – politician • Paun Es Durlić – ethnologist • Slavoljub Gacović – ethnologist • Miletić Mihajlović – politician • – singer • Branko Olar – singer • Staniša Paunović – singer • Safet Pavlović – politician • Dușan Pârvulovici – activist • Atanasie Popovici – activist • – poet, translator, and writer ==See also==