Kukës District
The circle Kukes (Albanian: Rrethi i Kuksit ) is one of the 36 administrative districts of Albania. The circle with an area of 956 km ² belongs to Qark Kukes. It has about 48,030 inhabitants ( 2011). It was named after the main town of Kukes district.
Geography
The district is located in the northeast of the country in a mountainous region. The mountains east of Kukes reach heights of over 2400 meters. The Gjallica is the highest peak with 2,484 müa.
The northern boundary of the circle formed by the Drin River, which is dammed here to Liqeni i Fierzës. From the south, the Black Drin flows through the circuit, which joins in the reservoir with the coming of the White Drin East. The valley of the Drin is usually narrow and inaccessible as large parts of the area.
To the east of the circle lies Kosovo. In Morina, on the road 39 km east of Kukes in the valley of the White Drin, is the most important border crossing between Albania and Kosovo.
East of Kukes chromium was reduced.
Population
The population is rural. In addition to Kukes with around 17,000 inhabitants there are no other cities in the county.
In Kukes district there are hardly any minorities. Only in the far east on the border live the Gorani in some villages as Shishtavec. The inhabitants are almost all Sunni Muslims.
Traffic
Kukes has long been very isolated from the rest of the country. Narrow mountain roads that wind through numerous passports, were the only link to the centers of Albania. In the winter, numerous villages are no longer to achieve after snowfall. To give a little better to connect the northeast with the rest of the country, the Kukes airport has been created, which will hardly be served. A new highway from central Albania Kukes to Kosovo with the five -kilometer Kalimash tunnel has since been partially opened to traffic, what the journey shortened by hours.
Before the Second World War, the region around Kukes was strongly associated with Kosovo. After Prizren there are only around 60 kilometers. The closing of the border made it impossible as a result the traditional exchange between regions. Investigated only since the withdrawal of the Serbian army from the border to the end of the Kosovo war, when tens of thousands of Albanian refugees from Kosovo at Morina crossed the border and around Kukes refuge, the limit is normally passable again.