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Centar Župa (Macedonian: ; Turkish: Merkez Jupa) is a municipality in the western part of North Macedonia. Centar Župa is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. Centar Župa Municipality is part of the Southwestern Statistical Region.
Centar Župa Municipality
Општина Центар Жупа Merkez Jupa Belediyesi | |
|---|---|
Rural municipality | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 | |
| Coordinates: 41.48°N 20.58°E | |
| Country |  North Macedonia |
| Region |  Southwestern |
| Municipal seat | Centar Župa |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Arijan Ibraim (DPT) |
| Population | |
• Total | 3,720 |
| Official Language(s) | |
| • primary | Macedonian |
| • secondary | Turkish |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
After the Ottoman conquest in 1448, Kodžadžik was settled by Ottoman soldiers and Turkish nomads (Yörüks). The local church was converted to a mosque, and Kodžadžik, as part of the sanjak (district) Debra-i Bala, became a center that connected the southeast with Albania and the Adriatic Sea.[1]
When North Macedonia proclaimed its independence in 1991, the Macedonian state implemented nationalist politics, which aimed to assimilate Macedonian Muslims into a broader category of "Macedonians". The government banned education in Turkish in all regions to "prevent Turkification". This, however, was met with resistance by Muslims who did not support the association and wanted to learn Turkish and continue their education in Turkish. The protests failed, although one person applied to the European Court of Human Rights. The case revolved around rights to education in the mother tongue.[1]
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The municipality borders Struga Municipality to the south, Debar Municipality to the east, north and west, and Albania to the west.
Mothers tongues in the municipality include (2021):[2]
- Turkish: 2,209 (59.4%)
- Macedonian: 962 (25.9%)
- Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources: 324 (9.5%)
- Albanian: 192 (5.2%)
- Others: 3 (0.1%)
Ethnic groups in the municipality according to the 2021 North Macedonia census:[3]
| 2002 | 2021 | |||
| Number | % | Number | % | |
| TOTAL | 6,519 | 100 | 3,720 | 100 |
| Turks | 5,226 | 80.17 | 2,899 | 77.93 |
| Macedonians | 814 | 12.49 | 236 | 6.34 |
| Albanians | 454 | 6.96 | 187 | 5.03 |
| Bosniaks | 1 | 0.03 | ||
| Other / Undeclared / Unknown | 25 | 0.38 | 43 | 1.15 |
| Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources | 354 | 9.52 | ||
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