The bajrak (pronounced /beɪrɑːk/ or /baɪrɑːk/, meaning "banner" or "flag") was an Ottoman territorial unit, consisting of villages in mountainous frontier regions of the Balkans, from which military recruitment was based.
The Albanians adopted the system into their clan structure, and bajraks endured during the Kingdom of Serbia (1882–1918) and People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1944–1992).
[2] The Ottomans entrusted the bajraktar with providing soldiers from his bajrak in exchange for privileges, and sometimes he performed important administrative and judicial duties.
[4] According to Enke (1955), the Dukagjin highlands was inhabited by the "six bajraks, Shala, Shoshi, Kir, Gjaj, Plan, and Toplan,"[5][6] while according to Prothero (1973), it then included "Pulati, Shala and Shoshi, Dushmani, Toplana, Nikaj, and Merturi.
"[7] In Kosovo, after the conquest by Kingdom of Serbia, the Albanians incorporated the bajrak into their clan system (known as fis).