1. Reimagining Malësia: From Albanian Highlands to the “Montenegrin Nation”
In an unusual statement about the region’s political reality, the Serbian intellectual and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vuk Drašković, declared: “There are no Serbs, there is no Serbian Church, but Montenegrins and the Montenegrin Church.” This statement, beyond its religious and institutional dimension, carries an important message about the processes of national identity formation in the ILLYRIAN Peninsula or the broader Balkan region.

The concept of a “Montenegrin nation” is a relatively recent construct in the modern history of the region. What is today known as Montenegro—Crna Gora in Slavic and Montenegro internationally—does not align with the historical and cultural understanding known among Albanians as Malësia e Shkodrës (The Highlands of Shkodra). Malësia has never been “black” as the Slavic name suggests, but rather has always been part of the Albanian ethno-cultural core, with a distinct identity that predates the formation of the Montenegrin state.

The creation of a new “nationality” through an external designation (Montenegro) and the shaping of an identity detached from its Albanian roots represents one of the clearest examples of directed ethnogenesis. This process was not neutral—it was guided against Albanian national interests and often accompanied by assimilationist policies, displacement, and the erasure of historical memory.

2. Albanians in Serbia: A Denied Reality
In an official 2025 statement, a representative of the Serbian government acknowledged that around 700,000 Albanians live in Serbia. This figure is consistent with a 1996 interview published in Denmark’s Politiken newspaper with the Albanian lawyer Hysni Bytyqi, who stated that more than 600,000 Albanians lived in Serbia, including approximately 150,000 in Belgrade alone. Nevertheless, despite this demographic weight, Albanians in Serbia remain deprived of fundamental rights to representation, organization, and education in their native language.

In the Serbian capital, there is not a single Albanian cultural association, nor any schools offering instruction in Albanian. This represents a blatant violation of international conventions on minority rights. In the Sandžak region—historically inhabited by Albanians—there has been a recent cultural revival. Committed individuals such as Armina Nura have begun opening schools in the Albanian language, despite facing continuous obstruction from state institutions.

Conclusion
Both cases—the construction of a Montenegrin identity at the expense of the Albanian Malësia and the denial of basic rights to Albanians in Serbia—demonstrate the persistence of a state policy aimed at controlling, assimilating, and dismantling the Albanian identity in its historical territories.

These realities call for greater attention from the Albanian academic community, as well as more structured engagement from Albanian political and diplomatic actors, in order to document, internationalize, and address these phenomena in accordance with international law and the principles of cultural equality.