Mrkojevići

Mrkojevići (alternatively Mrkovići, Montenegrin Cyrillic: Мркојевићи/Мрковићи, Albanian: Mërkot) is a historical tribe and region in southwestern Montenegro,[1] located between the towns of Bar and Ulcinj.

The Mrkojevići form a distinct ethno-geographical group with their own dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language, while also exhibiting a degree of bilingualism in Albanian.

There are nine settlements: Velje Selo, Dabezići, Dobra Voda, Gorana (Mala and Velja), Grdovići, Kunje, Ljeskovac, Pelinkovići and Pečurice.

The register of the household heads of pravi Mrkojevići shows that a majority of their names and patronyms were of Orthodox Slavic origin and a minority were Catholic Albanians.

Of these families: Ivanovići and Lakovići of Dobra Voda came from the Orthodox Slavic-speaking Kuči, Dapčevići came from Cetinje and Rackovići from Lješanska nahija after 1878 when it was annexed by Montenegro.

The biggest brotherhood in the village, the Kovačevići trace their origin from two distinct families who settled in Velja Gorana in the second half of the 19th century.

The first is that of Danila Kovačević, who escaped from a blood feud in the Montenegrin tribal region of Grahovo and settled in Mrkojevići where he became Muslim.

Johann Georg von Hahn recorded one of the first oral traditions about the Mrkojevići from a Catholic priest named Gabriel in Shkodër in 1850.

According to it the first direct male ancestor of the Mrkojevići was Merkota Keqi, son of a Catholic Albanian named Keq who, fleeing from the Ottoman conquest, settled in a Slavic-speaking area that would become the historical Piperi region.

In terms of census records, about half of the communal municipality identifies as ethnic Muslims, about 1/3 as Montenegrins and the rest as Bosniaks, Serbs, Albanians and Muslims-Montenegrins or Montenegrins-Muslims.

[16] The festival "Dani Mrkojevića" (Days of the Mrkojevići) is held annually in the last week of July, in Pečurice as a celebration of culture and traditions of the area.