"This term humiliates Albanians and is used to make them second-class citizens,” Mustafa told RFE/RL.

“It's an offensive language of the '90s," Mustafa, who hails from Bujanovac, an Albanian enclave in southern Serbia, said in reference to a decade of ethnically fueled Balkan conflict that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more. "Albanians should not be labeled as such. Mr. Vulin's language tells us that we are not part of this society."

Ethnic Albanians once lived throughout the former Yugoslavia as part of Josip Broz Tito’s concept of "brotherhood and unity" weaving the different parts of the country together.

But the mood has changed since Yugoslavia broke up, perhaps especially since Kosovo seceded and declared independence in 2008 almost a decade after a bloody civil war that killed thousands and saw some Serb officials convicted of war crimes against ethnic Albanians.

Meanwhile in Serbia, the position of ethnic Albanians has eroded amid resentment over the loss of Kosovo and how the Serb minority there has been treated.

About 50,000 ethnic Albanians are estimated to live in Serbia, mainly in the municipalities of Bujanovic and Presovo, where they are a majority.

Vulin used the offending term while speaking about demarcating a formal border with Kosovo, which Belgrade does not recognize as an independent country, to bring peace and security to Serbia.

“I am in favor of creating a border with Siptari as soon as possible,” Vulin said on May 1.

He was also quick to point out that this was his own opinion and not necessarily the view of the government, nor of President Aleksandar Vucic.

His usage of the word was not immediately condemned by other Serb officials.

“Skiftar, Siptar, or Shiptar was a derogatory term used by Yugoslavians to insult Albanians. It's basically the equivalent of calling an African the N-word,” said Albanian commentator Butrim Gjonbalaj.

"The Serbian and Croatian term for Albanian is 'Albanac,’ but in order to offend Albanians, Serbs would pronounce it in Albanian, with their Slavic accents, and with an offending tone."