The Gorani (, ) or Goranci (, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Gora region, the triangle between Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia. They number an estimated 20,000 people and speak a transitional South Slavic dialect called Goranski. The vast majority of the Gorani people adhere to Sunni Islam.
Name The ethnonym Goranci, meaning "highlanders", is derived from the Slavic toponym gora, which means "hill, mountain". Another autonym of this people is Našinci,Xhelal Ylli, Erlangen: "Sprache und Identität bei den Gorani in Albanien: 'Nie sme nasinci'." which literally means "our people, our ones".
In Macedonian sources, the Gorani are sometimes grouped together with Torbeši.
In the Albanian language, they are known as Goranët "Goranët jetojnë në krahinën e Gorës, që sot ndahet mes shteteve të Shqipërisë, të Kosovës etë Maqedonisë, krahinë nga ku e marrin edhe emrin." and sometimes by other exonyms, such as Bullgarët ("Bulgarians"), Torbesh ("bag carriers") and Poturë ("turkified", from po-tur, literally not Turk but, "turkified", used for Islamized Slavs).Dokle, Nazif. Reçnik Goransko (Nashinski) -albanski, Sofia 2007, Peçatnica Naukini akademiji "Prof. Marin Drinov", s. 5, 11
Origin of the Gorani
The ethnic origin of the Gorani is not clearly established and remains subject to differing interpretations. Serbian and Bulgarian authors often regard the Gorani as descendants of Islamized Serbs or Bulgarians, respectively. This view is based on the argument that the population of the region is believed to have belonged predominantly to Orthodox Christianity prior to the Ottoman conquest.
In contrast, Albanian authors argue that the Gorani were originally of Albanian origin and were gradually Slavicized over time, partly through the influence of the Orthodox Church. As evidence, they point to cultural similarities with Albanians, particularly with the inhabitants of the Luma region. They also refer to historical events in which the Gorani population acted together with Albanians, such as during the League of Prizren, the Balkan Wars, and the First World War.
Since the 1990s, some political actors, particularly the SDA, have also classified the Gorani as Bosniaks. This interpretation is justified by their shared Slavic language and Islamic faith, although critics regard it as the result of more recent political developments.
Due to these differing national and historical interpretations, the origin of the Gorani remains the subject of scholarly and political debate.
Wartime periods in Gora
The Gora region was repeatedly the scene of armed conflicts and resistance movements against various ruling powers and occupying forces. During the Russo–Ottoman War (1877–1878), inhabitants of Gora fought alongside Albanian forces against Serbian and Russian troops. Among the leading figures of this period were Mulla Arif Krusha and Mehmet Alia, both of whom were members of the League of Prizren.
During the First Balkan War (1912–1913), the region was occupied by the Serbian Army. The resistance culminated in an uprising in the Koritnik Mountains in 1913 under the leadership of Nail Hyseni Dana, Mulla Rasim Selman Zapodi, and other local leaders, with the Gorani fighting together with neighboring Albanian groups against Serbian forces. After the uprising was suppressed, reprisals and massacres against the civilian population followed. The largest massacre took place in Restelica.
During the First World War, Gora came under Austro-Hungarian occupation. The war years were marked by famine and emigration. Shortly afterward, the Gora region was divided: nine villages were assigned to Albania, while the remainder became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During the Second World War (1941–1944/45), Gora was once again temporarily incorporated into Albania under Italian occupation before being reintegrated into Yugoslavia after the war, with the previous partition restored.
Kosovo War (1998–1999) in Gora
During the Kosovo War (1998–1999), the Gora region was affected by military operations. In the preceding years, the Serbian authorities pursued policies in the region that were perceived by parts of the Gorani population as preferential treatment, with the aim of politically aligning the Gorani with Serbia and increasing tensions between the Gorani and Albanian communities.
In Gorani villages such as Krushevo and Restelica, some inhabitants formed armed units to defend themselves against Serbian paramilitary forces. There are reports that, following the expulsion of their Albanian neighbors from Opoja, Gorani residents took care of the property that had been left behind.
The General Staff of the KLA temporarily halted the advance of recruits from Albania through the Gora region. This was done explicitly to prevent the Serbian Army from using forcibly mobilized Gorani as “cannon fodder” against the KLA, which could have led to a bloody conflict between the two communities.
In March 1999, Gorani living near the Albanian border in the Kukës region opened their homes to Kosovar Albanians who had been forcibly expelled by the Serbian Army.
History
Contemporary period The Gora municipality and Opoja region remained separated during the Milošević period. After the war, the Gorani-majority Gora municipality was merged with the Albanian inhabited Opoja region to form the municipality of Dragash by the United Nations Mission (UNMIK) and the new administrative unit has an Albanian majority.
In 2007, the Kosovo provisional institutions opened a school in Gora to teach the Bosnian language, which sparked minor consternation amongst the Gorani population. Many Gorani refuse to send their children to school due to societal prejudices, and threats of assimilation to Bosniaks or Albanians. Consequently, Gorani organized education per Serbia's curriculum.
In 2013, Safet Kuši, a Gorani political leader of the Unique Gorani Party expressed a desire for Gora (the former municipality which still has a Gorani majority) to join the Association of Serb Municipalities.
In 2018, 423 Bulgarian Gorani activists from Kosovo filed a petition in the country's parliament demanding their official recognition as a separate minority.Bulgarian National Radio, Ethnic Bulgarians in Kosovo demand recognition of their community. Published on 5/30/18. In 2023, in a speech to the European Parliament, Bulgarian MEP Stanislav Stoyanov referred to the Parliament of Kosovo's the five-year delay in hearing the petition as "very concerning" and called on the institution to grant Kosovo Gorani Bulgarian minority rights as in Albania, condemning the practice to count them as a separate ethnic group or as Bosniaks.
Most Gorani state that the unstable situation and economic issues drive them to leave Kosovo. There is also some mention of threats and discrimination by ethnic Albanians.Update on the Kosovo Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptian, Serb, Bosniak, Gorani and Albanian communities in a minority situation, UNHCR Kosovo, June 2004
Apart from the multiethnic town of Dragash, the Gorani people of Kosovo continue to live in villages primarily inhabited by their community and relations with Albanians remain tense. Mixed marriage between both communities do not occur with the exception of a few Gorani families that have migrated to Prizren.
Demographics
According to data from the 2024 Kosovo census, the number of Gorani in Kosovo stands ar 9,140. In 1998, it was estimated that they numbered at least 50,000.
Some of the local Gorani people have over time also self declared themselves as Serbs, Albanians, Macedonians, Bosniaks, Muslim Bulgarians, Turks, or just as Muslims.
According to Macedonian sources the Goranis are considered Muslim Macedonians and there are around 84,000 Goranis worldwide and 15,000 Gorani in Gora, Kosovo with 13,000 of them having Macedonian citizenship. In turn, Bulgaria considers the Slavic-speaking Muslims in both Gora and the adjacent Sredačka župa to be Muslim Bulgarians.
According to data from the 2023 Albanian census, the first one where a Bulgarian minority was officially recognised by the Albanian government, a total of 2,174 people self-identified as Bulgarians in the Kukës County. At the same time, the population of the two Gorani-inhabited administrative units of Zapod and Shishtavec stood at 3,671, in nine Gorani and five Albanian villages. By comparison, 5 residents of the entire Kukës County self-identified as Macedonians, 8 as Montenegrins, 13 as Bosniaks, and 19 as Serbs.
Settlements In Albania, there are nine Gorani-inhabited villages: Zapod, Pakisht, Orçikël, Kosharisht, Cernalevë, Orgjost, Oreshkë, Borje and Shishtavec.
In Kosovo, there are 18 Gorani-inhabited villages: Baćka, Brod, Vranište, Globočice, Gornja Rapča, Gornji Krstac, Dikance, Donja Rapča, Donji Krstac, Zli Potok, Kruševo, Kukaljane, Lještane, Ljubošta, Mlike, Orčuša, Radeša, and Restelica, as well as the town of Dragash. Town of Dragash has a mixed population of Gorani, who live in the lower neighbourhood, and Albanians in the upper neighbourhood and constituting the majority of inhabitants.
In North Macedonia, there are two Gorani-inhabited villages located in the Polog region: Jelovjane and Urvič. "Данашњи становници Урвича и Јеловјана на супротној, полошкој страни Шар-Планине, пореклом су Горани. Много су више утицале на исељавање Горана политичке промене, настале после 1912 године. Тада се скоро четвртина становништва иселила у Турску, за коју су се преко вере и дуге управе били интимно везали. Још једна миграција јаче је захватила Горане, али не у нашој земљи, него оне који су остали у границама Арбаније."
Traditional Gorani costumes The traditional dress of the Gorani bears a close resemblance to that of the Albanians. The traditional male attire consists of a plis (white felt cap), Dzamadan/Xhamadan(vest), Benevrek/tirq (woolen trousers), and openke/opinge (traditional leather shoes).
In the Albanian part of Gora, women’s traditional dress is identical to that of the neighboring Luma region. In the Kosovo part of Gora, the traditional dress of Gorani women varies from village to village. Nevertheless, historical examples indicate that these costumes originally shared many similarities with the traditional attire of Luma, although they were subsequently modified and developed into distinct local variants over time.
Culture Religion
In the 18th century, a wave of Islamization began in Gora.Бурсаћ 2000, pp. 71-73 (Орхан Драгаш) The Ottoman abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid and Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in 1766/1767 is thought to have prompted the Islamization of Gora as was the trend of many Balkan communities.Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo The last Christian Gorani, Božana, died in the 19th century – she has received a cult, signifying the Gorani's Christian heritage, collected by Russian consuls Anastasiev and Yastrebov in the second half of the 19th century.
Traditions The Gorani are known for being "the best confectioners and bakers" in former Yugoslavia.
During the Ottoman period, the Gorani were also known as gunsmiths. The following villages were particularly recognized as centers of this craft, which continued there until the beginning of the 20th century and, in some cases, even until the Second World War: Borje, Oreshkë, Cërnelevë, Pakisht, Shishtavec, Krushevo, Zlipotok, Baçka, Orgjost, Vranishta, and Rapça, where the craft survived the longest, in some instances until the Second World War.
The Slavs of Gora were Christianized after 864 when Bulgaria adopted Christianity. The Ottomans conquered the region in the 14th century, which started the process of Islamization of the Gorani and neighbouring Albanians. However, the Gorani still tangentially observe some Orthodox Christian traditions, such as Slavas and Đurđevdan, and like Serbs they know their Onomastik or saint's days.