Autonomous municipality of Gora as a guarantee of the ethnic autonomy, entity and identity of Goranies

Goranies have two important characteristics. The first of them is that they have always been devoted to their state Serbia and Yugoslavia, and have always been ready to defend it against any enemy, that they love their nation while not hating others, that they love all nations and ethnic minorities in the country, are loyal to the state, and that they cooperate with them. The second of them is that they have always sought employment outside their municipality in all quarters of the former and present Yugoslav states, throughout Europe and the world in order to support their families. In this choice, dictated by necessity, they have learned to behave internationally. They respect the laws and Constitution of the states in which they work, they respect the people in the environment in which they work. They are flexible in consultations, communicative and supportive. And the last, but not least, they love Gora above everything else, and all they earn they bring back to Gora. Gora, one of the župas (roughly: districts) in Šar Mountain, is inhabited by Goranies, the Slavic people Islamised in the second half of the 18th century, who retained their ethnic characteristics. They declare themselves as Serbian-speaking Goranies. In the final analysis of our origin, we have never subscribed to the notion that our people Goranies should be obliged to change their nation or creed, but only to the idea that we should know and remember our roots. It is a moral obligation of the present generations and the Gorany intelligentsia to genuinely recognize their origin once and for all. Gora today comprises 19 ethnically pure localities, populated solely by Goranies: Dragaš, Ljubovište, Leštane, Radeša, Kukuljane, Brod, Dikance, Baćka, Mlike, Vranište, Orćuša, Krstac Gornji, Krstac Donji, Rapča Gornja, Rapča Donja, Restelica, Zli Potok, Kruševo, Globočica.