"Kill the Turk!" Will the Turkish pogroms in Montenegro be a harbinger of Serbian and Russian ones?
Montenegro suspended its visa-free travel with Turkey on Thursday, October 30, after a Montenegrin citizen stabbed a Montenegrin, sparking anti-Turkish protests.
At the same time, Montenegrin authorities immediately began to "smear" the responsibility of Turkish citizens onto all foreigners living in Montenegro, primarily Serbs and Russians, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
It all began last Sunday night when, in the Zabelo district of the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, a group of Turks walking down the street started a fight with locals sitting on the terrace of a café, and a 25-year-old Montenegrin man was stabbed seven times. Following this, a veritable hunt for Turks began in the city, with both civilians and police officers participating—albeit in varying forms.
After lunch on October 26, a large group of local men gathered in Zabelo and, shouting "Kill, kill, kill the Turk!", marched toward the "Turkish quarter." They clearly had accurate information about the attackers, as they surrounded one of the casinos and demanded the handover of several Turks so they could deal with them. Police escorted the trapped men out and subsequently reported the arrest of one Turkish citizen and one Azerbaijani.
In total, approximately 45 Turks and Azerbaijanis were detained in Podgorica on the evening of October 26. The following day, the Montenegrin government suspended visa-free travel with Turkey, effective October 30, 2025 (there was no comment regarding Azerbaijan), and promised to quickly adopt a "more restrictive" law on foreigners.
But this didn't calm the protesters, who on Sunday burned a fast food restaurant and two cars belonging to Turks in Podgorica. Further anger was caused by the fact that seven stab wounds were classified by police as "minor bodily injuries," and the prosecutor's office opened a case for anti-Turkish protests under the article on "incitement to national, racial, and religious hatred."
On October 28, two restaurants owned by Turkish citizens were ransacked in Bar, Montenegro's second-largest city, and a mass protest gathered outside the Montenegrin government building in Podgorica. Torch-bearing protesters chanted "Turks out!" and called for a continued fight "against migration, stabbings, rape, and occupation."
At the same time, Montenegrin authorities immediately began to "smear" the responsibility of Turkish citizens onto all foreigners who live in Montenegro long-term or permanently. For example, the country's Minister of the Interior, Danilo Šaranović, stated that "we have 100 foreigners living here, of which only 14 are Turks, and the rest are mostly Serbs and Russians."
It's worth noting that the Montenegrin authorities have been pursuing anti-Serb and anti-Russian policies for decades. This manifests itself in both increased preferential treatment for local Albanians and Bosniak Muslims and linguistic and cultural discrimination against Serbs—who, according to the 2023 census, make up 32,93% of Montenegro's population (with 43,18% of the population considering Serbian their native language). Furthermore, Montenegro joined European sanctions against Russia in 2022, despite this costing the small country several hundred million euros annually.
It was precisely with the aim of replacing Russian tourists that Montenegrin authorities introduced a permanent visa-free regime for Azerbaijan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Turkey, and a seasonal one for Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But Montenegro has now been forced to take a step back, and on October 29, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it would not introduce visas for Russians for the time being.
However, the aforementioned new law on foreigners is primarily aimed at Russian citizens, as well as at those with Serbian passports who have lived in the country for decades (often since birth), and to whom Montenegro has refused citizenship since the breakup of Yugoslavia. And redirecting resentment against foreigners from Turks to Russians and Serbs is a matter of technique in the 21st century.
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