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Ashkali minority (Serbia)

Presentation of the Ashkali minority
Ashkali flag used by the PDAK
Proposal of Ashkali flag

See also:

Presentation of the Ashkali minority

Ashkali (Roma who speak Albanian, but are not ethnical Albanians) make up 0.9% of the population of Kosovo, being grouped in some laws together with the Roma (0.5%) and Egyptian (0.7%) communities. The three communities are indeed represented together by one of the stars displayed on the flag of Kosovo. Four seats out of the 120 in the Kosovo Assembly are allocated to them in the Constitution of Kosovo.
The grouping of the three communities is deemed "unconstitutional" by Danush Ademi, representative at the Assembly for the Ashkali Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDAK).

Ivan Sache, 9 September 2017

Ashkali flag used by the PDAK

image by Ivan Sache, 9 September 2017

The PDAK appears to use an "Ashkali flag" horizontally divided green-white-red (1:2:1) with a yellow eagle in the center.

Ivan Sache, 9 September 2017

The flag might be used by Ashkali outside Kosovo, too: I saw several stickers displaying this design in Novi Sad in March 2009, placed on the objects such as the street-light poles. These stickers may have been related to the general elections in Serbia, which took place in previous year, with some Ashkali political parties participating as well. While the flag is obviously used by Ashkali in Kosovo, its use in the rest of Serbia is yet to be verified, still it is quite possible, for there seems to be no reasons against it.

Tomislav Todorović, 9 September 2017

The flag is indeed used by the Ashkali throughout Serbia: it is presented at the website of National Council of Ashkali Minority (Nacionalni savet aškaljske nacionalne manjine), which is seated at Novi Sad [1], as well as at their Facebook profile [2]. While the flag images, which are currently available at these two sources [1, 2], suggest that the white field might actually occupy only one-third of the flag width, just like the red and green fields, the Center for Ashkali Education and Affirmation (/Centar za edukaciju i afirmaciju Aškalija/), seated in Novi Pazar, presents the flag with wider white field [3], as well as a photo [4] which, although not all the details are visible, clearly reveals that the white field is twice as wide as the red and green ones. According to the presentation [3], the flag was adopted on 2003-02-15 by the Ashkali European Congress, which denotes it as an all-Ashkali flag.

Sources:
[1] National Council of Ashkali Minority website: https://savetaskalija.org.rs/
[2] National Council of Ashkali Minority at Facebook - Photos: https://www.facebook.com/people
[3] Center for Ashkali Education and Affirmation at Facebook - image uploaded on 2022-12-29:
https://www.facebook.com/photo
[4] Center for Ashkali Education and Affirmation at Facebook - photo uploaded on 2018-02-18: https://www.facebook.com/191419694953787/photos

Tomislav Todorović, 13 June 2023

Proposal of Ashkali flag

image by Ivan Sarajčić, 23 January 2006

Abedin Dino Toplica, chairman of the Ashkali Head Office, proposed an Ashkali flag, which he described it as follows:

We presented the flag in the Cultural Center in Novi Sad in 1998, during our national celebration, Ashure. All the Ashkali from Novi Sad, Belgrade and other towns were present, some 3,000 people [...]. The colors of the flag are red of the base, black of the two-headed eagle ready to fly and forming with the position of its body the capital letter "V", symbol of the word "victory", which is the name of the ancient Roman goddess of victory, and green in the middle of the flag representing the shadow.
The flag is the symbol of our people who have lived with Albanians for centuries, thus the flag's colors are the same as theirs. Red is the color of joy and love but also of blood shed for the protection of the flag and the Ashkali. The black color of the eagle is the symbol of us as we are of dark complexion. The two-headed eagle symbolizes us as a brave and great nation and the fact that we are present everywhere is shown by the moment of the eagle's readiness to fly up, this is why its wings are spread. The eagle is in the shape of letter "V" meaning victory [...]. The green circle behind the eagle is the symbol of Islam and our devotion to it and the circle symbolizes our desire to improve and reach perfection.

The text clearly says that the design is indeed a proposal "expected to be accepted by all the Ashkali all over the world and by the international community".
[Ashkali Horizonti, No. 2, 2003]

Ivan Sarajčić, Valentin Poposki, António Martins & Ivan Sache, 9 September 2017