Kukës

42.08083333333320.42349Koordinaten: 42 ° 5 ' N, 20 ° 25' O

Kukes ( Albanian: Kukësi ) is a small town in northern Albania. The population is 16,765 people ( 2011 census ). It is the capital of the eponymous Qarks and the county of the same name, as well as the center of the northeast of the country.

Geography

The city is situated in the northern Albanian mountains above the confluence of the White and Black drins to around 350 müa. The Drin is jammed at this point: The reservoir Liqeni i Fierzës buried 1976, the old city below. The new city Kukësi i Ri - The groundbreaking ceremony took place in July 1968 - was built on a windy plateau on a hill range between the two arms of the lake. The cityscape is therefore mainly characterized by multi-storey prefabricated buildings and had originally intended to accommodate up to 30,000 people. In recent years, however, some new buildings and a large mosque arose. When former Albturist hotel has a good view of the river valley.

History

Historically, the area was mainly associated with Kosovo and the city of Prizren. Until the Kosovo border, which was no longer passable after 1945, there are only 15 kilometers in a straight line. During the Kosovo war in 1999 reached Kukes short worldwide notoriety when thousands of Albanian refugees from Kosovo at Morina crossed the border and found refuge in Kukes and hundreds of journalists covered the events. Around Kukes emerged at that time in refugee camps of tents, which were operated by international aid agencies and the armies of NATO countries.

The region around Kukes experienced during the communist regime a boost thanks to mining, timber industry and state agriculture. The old trading center where important roads through the northern Albanian mountains came together was long very small: in 1938, he had 1,191 inhabitants, in 1945 only 1,070 even. There were but settled more and more businesses and degraded in the environment of copper and chromium, so that the population gradually rose again 3,896 inhabitants in 1955, 4,275 in 1965, 11,000 in 1982 and 14,300 in 1990.

In the 1990s, many residents left the region, which is among the poorest in Albania and offers hardly any jobs.

Infrastructure

Kukes was long very isolated from the rest of Albania, as the journey took about bad roads through the mountains and took many hours. 2006 was then begun with construction of the A1 motorway from Durres to Kosovo, which was officially opened in June 2009 and at least temporarily opened to traffic on a roadway. This new link is 177 km long and now provides a fast, mostly four-lane connection between Kosovo and the Albanian coast.

The United Arab Emirates financed the construction of a new airport. The functional Kukes " Zayed " Airport but was not really put into operation. The operator of the airport Tirana have agreed with the Albanian state that all international flights have to go through their airport to Albania. A market for domestic flights is not at the latest since the highway opened. Military and police use the airfield occasionally.

Sports

The local football club KF Kukësi plays in the Albanian League, the Kategoria Superiore.

Personalities

• Sahit Prizreni (* 1982 ), Ringer
• Herciana Matmuja (* 1990), singer