or exonym of the term Shqiptar by some Western European authors in use from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. Use in South Slavic languages The term Shiptar (Serbo-Croatian Latin and Slovene: ; Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic and Macedonian: ) used in Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian is an ethnic slur, and it is also considered derogatory by Albanians when used by South Slavic peoples, due to its negative connotations. After 1945, in pursuit of a policy of national equality, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia designated the Albanian community as Shiptars, however with increasing autonomy during the 1960s for Kosovo Albanians, their leadership requested, and attained in 1974, the term Albanians be officially used stressing a national over an only ethnic, self-identification. These developments resulted in the word in Serbian usage acquiring pejorative connotations that implied Albanian racial and cultural inferiority. It continued to be used by some Yugoslav and Serb politicians to relegate the status of Albanians to simply one of the minority ethnic groups. The official (and often neutral) term for Albanians in South Slavic languages is (in Serbo-Croatian Latin), (in Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic), and (in Slovene and Macedonian) or in Macedonian Cyrillic. Dušan Spasojević, a Serbian gangster, was nicknamed “Šiptar”. In 2018, the Supreme Court in Belgrade defined the word as racist and discriminatory against Albanians. In 2019, the Serbian Defense Minister, Aleksandar Vulin, sparked controversy by using the pejorative for Albanians. During a game between Austria and North Macedonia at the UEFA Euro 2020, immediately after scoring a goal, Austrian forward Marko Arnautović—who is of paternal Serb descent—shouted to Macedonian players Ezgjan Alioski and Egzon Bejtulai—both Macedonian Albanians—"" (). He was punished with suspension for the next game against Netherlands. See also Names of the Albanians and Albania Albania (placename) Sources Citations Bibliography Ethnonyms Albanian culture Albanian language