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Suva Reka Сува Река/Suva Reka  (Serbian) Suhareka or Suharekë, Theranda or Therandë  (Albanian)
Town and municipality
Komuna e Gjilanit =
The street that runs through the city's center
Seal
Location of the municipality of Suva Reka within Kosovo
Coordinates: 42°22′48″N 20°49′19″E / 42.38000°N 20.82194°E / 42.38000; 20.82194Coordinates: 42°22′48″N 20°49′19″E / 42.38000°N 20.82194°E / 42.38000; 20.82194
Country	Kosovo[a]
District	District of Prizren
Government
• Mayor	Bali Muharremaj
• Municipal	361 km2 (139 sq mi)
Elevation	389 m (1,276 ft)
Population (2011)
• Urban	10,422
• Municipal	59,722
• Municipal density	170/km2 (430/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	23000
Area code(s)	+383 29
Car plates	04
Climate	Cfb
Website	kk.rks-gov.net/suhareke

Suva Reka (Serbian Cyrillic: Сува Река), or Suhareka or Theranda (Albanian: Suharekë or Therandë), is a town and municipality located in the Prizren district of central-southern Kosovo.^[a] According to the 2011 census, the town has 10,422 inhabitants, while the municipality has 59,722 inhabitants.

Suva Reka is located 18 km (11 mi) from the city of Prizren, and 57 km (35 mi) from Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

Name

Suva Reka means "dry river" in Serbian.^[1] The Albanian spellings are Suharekë^[2] or Suhareka (derived from Serbian), while an alternative^[3] name was recently created by the Albanological Institute,^[4]Therandë,^[5] adopted from an unlocated Roman site (possibly in Suva Reka or Ljubižda in the Miruša valley^[6]), as part of the Albanian nationalistic renaming of Serbian placenames (itself part of state-building Kosovo as Albanian).^[7]

History

Historical background

The municipality includes several medieval Serbian sites and old settlements, such as the villages of Banja, Dulje, Mušutište, Popovljane, Rečane, and churches of Virgin Hodegetria, St. George, Holy Trinity, St. Nicholas, among others. The settlement of Suva Reka itself was first mentioned in 1465.

Yugoslav period

From 1929 to 1941, Suva Reka was a village part of the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

On the night of 9–10 June 1984, ethnic Albanians desecrated 29 tombstones of the Church of the Holy Saviour.^[8][9]

Kosovo War and aftermath

During the Kosovo War (1998–99), the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) operated in the region and it was reported that it had killed and wounded several Serbian policemen and civilians. Among KLA attacks against police officers recorded in 1998 in the municipality were: on 16 August in Blace (one badly wounded), on 23 August in Dulje (three badly, four lightly wounded) and in Reštane (one badly wounded), on 25 August in Dulje (one badly wounded), on 28 September in Budakovo (three badly wounded) and in Vranić (one lightly wounded).^[10] KLA shot at an OSCE vehicle driving behind a FR Yugoslav military convoy between Suva Reka and Štimlje on 5 November 1998.^[11] In 10–16 January 1999, FR Yugoslav forces conducted counter-insurgency operations in Suva Reka.^[12]UNHCR estimated on 18 March 1999 that the Suva Reka municipality had 6,100 displaced and 5,600 returns.^[13] On 25 March, the town was surrounded by the Yugoslav army and police, and U.S. documents claim reports of at least 30 Albanians killed.^[14] There were reports that Serb forces extorted Albanians in Belanica on 27 March.^[15] In April and May 1999, Serb paramilitary repeatedly attacked the villages in the municipality, forcing the population to leave and gather in KLA territory.^[15] On 11–12 June 1999, a Serb family of four was kidnapped in Dvorane and never located.^[16][17] On 12 June 1999, KLA attacked Mušutište and kidnapped eighteen Serb civilians.^[18][19]

After the war, Serbian heritage was destroyed all over Kosovo; the churches (including cemeteries) of Virgin Hodegetria, St. George, Holy Trinity, St. Nicholas and others were completely destroyed in 1999 after the arrival of KFOR (and end of war).^[20]

NATO set up a military base in the municipality, Camp Casablanca.

Culture

Churches

• 
  Church of the Virgin Hodegetria, Mušutište, built 1315, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of St. George, Rečane, built in the 14th century, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of the Holy Trinity, Mušutište, built before 1465, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of the Holy Saviour, Mušutište, built in 1465, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of St. Nicholas, Popovljane, built in 1626, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of Archangel Michael, Dvorane, built in the 19th century, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of the Holy Saviour, Dvorane, built in the 19th century, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Suva Reka, built 1938, destroyed 1999


• 
  Church of St. Parascheva, Mušutište, built 1973, destroyed 1999

Demographics

According to the 2011 census done by the Government of Kosovo, the municipality of Suhareka had 59,722 inhabitants of which 98.9% were Kosovo Albanians.^[21] However, these results should be taken with caution, due to the partial boycott by Kosovo Serbs. According to OSCE, the whereabouts of the displaced Serb and Roma communities is unknown.^[22]

Twin towns – Sister cities

Suva Reka is twinned with:

• 
  Sarandë, Albania
  


• 
  Fellbach, Germany^[23]
  


• 
  Lilburn, United States^[24]
  

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suva Reka.

• Municipality of Suhareka


• OSCE municipal profile of Suva Reka


• SOK Kosovo and its population