Podujevo

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Podujeva / Podujevë / Besiana
Подујево/ Podujevo




leader_name = Ilaz Pireva (LDK)
leader_title =Mayor
area_km2 = 63.25997
elevation_m = 608
population_total = ca. 35,000
population_as_of = 2006
population_density_km2 = 130
postal_code = 11000
area_code = +381 38
subdivision_type2 = District
subdivision_name2 = District of Priština
timezone = CET |utc_offset =+1
website = [http://www.podujeva-komuna.org/ Podujevo Municipality]
footnotes =

Podujevo or Podujeva (Albanian: "Podujevë", "Podujeva" or "Besiana"; Serbian: Подујево, "Podujevo") is a town and municipality located in the district of Priština of north-eastern Kosovo.

Podujevo is situated in a strategic position due to a regional motorway and railroad linking surrounding regions. Although there is no official data, the total population of the municipality is estimated at 130,000, including the estimated 35,000 inhabitants of the town. [OSCE PDFlink| [http://www.osce.org/documents/mik/2005/12/1198_en.pdf Podujevo municipal profile] |329 KiB , June 2006, page 2: "Introduction: Area and Population".]

Name

The Serbian name of the town, "Podujevo" derives from founder of city "Poduj" which is the older name in history of Serbia.Fact|date=November 2007

The Albanian name of the town, "Besiana", derives from the word "besa" , and "ana", meaning "region".Fact|date=February 2007 Historically, people from this region are know to resist foreign occupiers, and are known to keep their word, hence "Besiana".Fact|date=February 2007

Recent history

The founding member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Zahir Pajaziti, was from the Podujevo region.

During the 1999 Kosovo War the town was the site of the Podujevo massacre, on March 28, in which 14 Kosovo Albanian women and children were murdered by Serbian paramilitary forces.

This town is known for its cattle trade and for its battlefields during the last Kosovo war in 1999. It has over 70 villages. Podujevo is not one of the major cities of Kosovo but has a good potential to invite tourists from around Kosovo and other foreign places for its beautiful mountains and Lake Batlava.

The road coming into Podujevo from Central Serbia was the site of the 2001 Podujevo bus bombing, when 12 Serb pilgrims heading to the Gračanica monastery site were killed and dozens more were injured by a bomb placed by Albanian extremists.

During the violent unrest in 2004, the orthodox church in Podujevo was burned down and desecrated by Albanians. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OnRyjUwoDY]

Demographics

ee also

*Fadil Vokrri

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.llapi.com/ Llapi] (in Albanian)