A familiar sight for commuters entering North Mitrovica from Zvecan has vanished. The Cyrillic-language road sign reading “Welcome to Kosovska Mitrovica” was removed earlier today, marking the latest in a series of symbolic and practical changes reshaping the linguistic landscape of northern Kosovo.
KoSSev reporters who visited the site witnessed the removal firsthand. Workers were seen completing the task, with the dismantled sign loaded onto a truck. The operation was carried out under the watch of a patrol from the Kosovo Police.
While the workers declined to comment, Kosovo Police Deputy Commander for the North Region, Veton Elshani, told KoSSev that officers were there to assist a company contracted by the Municipality of North Mitrovica. Elshani did not provide further details about the operation.
Efforts to reach Visar Syla, Chief of Staff to the Mayor of North Mitrovica, were unsuccessful. After an initial call was disconnected following identification, subsequent calls went unanswered. A message sent to Syla also remained unanswered at the time of publication.
This removal follows a similar change last October on the same route, where older Cyrillic road signs were replaced with new ones using Latin script.
Those signs, indicating entry and exit from the municipality of Zvecan, read “Opština Zvečan. Dobrodošli” and “SreČan put” for drivers traveling in either direction. Notably, these signs display the name of the location first in Albanian, then in Serbian using Latin script—a departure from previous standards.
These changes come amid broader efforts by Kosovo authorities to strengthen institutional presence in the predominantly Serb north. As a result, linguistic inconsistencies in public signage, documents, and within institutions themselves have become increasingly visible—often involving improper or awkward use of Serbian.
Simultaneously, shifts in the ethnic composition of local leadership—particularly following changes in both municipal administrations in the north and the central government in Pristina—have brought a more assertive push to remove Cyrillic and prioritize Latin script in public spaces, including in municipal offices such as that of North Mitrovica.
Moreover, Albanian is now being listed first and highlighted with larger font sizes, even in majority-Serb areas. This stands in contrast to Kosovo’s constitution, which, under Article 5, guarantees equal status and use of both Serbian and Albanian as official languages.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
