n of war stirred Muslim fanaticism among the ethnic Albanians,
thus invigorating identification with the interests of the Ottoman Empire.
It was due to them that Turkish troops penetrated deep into Thessaly, with
Albanian volunteers exceeding in sacking Greek villages. Greece was defeated
but Crete, with the aid of Great Powers, was on its way of achieving
autonomy with the Greek prince as governor.
Albanian volunteers from Kosovo and Metohia regarded the outcome of the
Crete crisis as an announcement of new divisions in the Turkish countries.
Like many times before, they blamed the Serbs as the guilty party,
suspecting their conniving with the authorities in Serbia. Following the
conclusion of the truce, the ethnic Albanians retained their arms, since the
Turks believed they would successfully defend the northern borders of the
empire in case of another war. Embittered by the failure of their rumoring
Serbia's preparation to war with Turkey, the ethnic Albanians then turned
upon the unprotected Serbian populace more severely than ever.4
The Turkish authorities and Muslim clergy stirred the apprehensions of
ethnic Albanians with news of imminent war with Serbia. In such an
atmosphere, mass murders, robbery and violence spread to broad dimensions.
The consulate in Pristina reported that following the victory over Greece,
ethnic Albanians "have literally become enraged, perpetrating atrocities
upon the Serbian rayah they never dared do before, even in their wildest
years."5
Already next year, in 1898, the terror grew to a general movement to
exterminate the Serbian rayah in Old Serbia. Reports from Serbian consulates
in Pristina and Skoplje indicate that, in its scope and cruelty, this one
exceeded all previous ones. The consul in Pristina, Svetislav St. Simic,
warned that the position "of our [Serbian] people in Kosovo is no better
than the position of the Armenians in Asia Minor in the years from 1894 to
1896".6 Lists of hundreds of severe crimes all pointed to the
fact that the Serbs would soon disappear from Old Serbia unless preventive
measures were undertaken. The consuls proposed for people in the Kosovo
vilayet to secretly arm for defense against the tyrants. Frequent border
conflicts effected a strain in Serbian-Turkish relations.
1 A large number of Albanians, especially those from Djakovica, took
part in the Armenian massacre; see V. Berard, Politique du sultan. Pans
1897; for Albanian agitation: B. Perunicic, Pisma srpskih konzula iz
Pristine 1890-1900, pp. 198.
2 D. Mikic, Drustvene i ekonomske prilike kosovskih Srba, pp. 44-45; D.
T. Batakovic, Osnove arbanaske prevlasti, p. 40.
3 S. Skendi, op. cit., pp. 242-244.
4 Ibid., pp. 199-202.
5 B. Perunicic, Pisma srpskih konzula iz Pristine 1890-1900, pp. 269;
Lists of violence, pp. 269-277, 293-299.
6 Ibid., pp. 311.
Serbia's Diplomatic Actions
Political conditions in Serbia did not allow for any broader actions to
protect the Serbs in Turkey. Having returned to the country, King Milan
undertook to govern the foreign policy. Requesting of the sultan religious
concessions in Macedonia, the government of Vladan Djordjevic waged a
Turkophilic policy. The foreign policy course pursued by King Milan, an old
Austrophilic, induced the Serbian government to lose Russian support in the
Porte, gained in 1895-96, during Stojan Novakovic's government. Becoming
again the envoy to Constantinople, Novakovic proposed for the Serbian people
in Kosovo and Metohia to be supplied with guns, and then the issue of their
protection may be raised. When the proposition was not adopted, he then
proposed, to the government, at least diplomatic action with the Porte. With
the assistance of consuls in Pristina (Todor P. Stankovic, then Svetislav
St. Simic) detailed lists of brutalities performed by ethnic Albanians upon
the Serbs in 1897-1898 were collected and submitted as a Serbian note to
Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Tefvik Pasha. Novakovic requested for the
Porte to undertake energetic measures to terminate the pogroms upon the
Serbs and to form an admixed Turkish-Serbian investigating
committee.1
The note dated May 26 contains the following statement: "During the
past four years the Royal [Serbian] government was compelled more than once
to draw the attention of the imperial government, to the disorder, and
incredible and innumerable violent deeds continuously performed by the
insubordinate and unruly Albanian populace on the Serbian-Turkish border, as
well as on the bordering sanjaks. These crimes and attacks are directed
solely toward the Christians of Serbian nationality, and it seems their
purpose is to exterminate the people from those regions."2
Novakovic underscored that "The ethnic Albanians are well-armed and certain
that no punishment awaits them, giving complete liberty to their cruel
instincts, since there is nothing to hinder their fanaticism and
unrestrained hatred. Crimes and robberies are daily occurrences, and not
only do the perpetrators remain unpunished, they are not even pursued by the
authorities. The number of fugitives fleeing across the border for their
lives is enormous, and increases everyday. According to data the royal
government disposes of, more than four hundred crimes were perpetrated in
the Pristina, Novi Pazar, Pec and Prizren sanjaks within only a few months,
last summer and winter. They were: murder, arson, banditry, desecration of
churches, rape, abduction, robbery, raiding of whole herds. This number
presents only several instances, one fifth at the most, of what really
happened, since most of the crimes are never discovered, since the victims
or their families dare not complain."3 The Porte delayed its
reply so Novakovic requested to be received by the Turkish minister. He drew
the minister's attention to the fact that the development of events
suggested "that everything is carried out under orders from Constantinople
and Yildiz, where a once extant notion was to hoop another Muslim iron ring
around Serbia, like the ones once made of the Cherkezes", underscoring
certain rumors "of an idea to organize a special corps named Hamid's
Albanian army, like the well-known Kurd cavalier regiments".4
At the request of Serbia's envoy, the Porte ordered an investigation
committee at the beginning of August, to check the assertions made in the
Serbian notes. The party, headed by the sultan's adjutant, General Saadedin
Pasha, visited certain areas in Kosovo and conducted a superficial
investigation: instead of seeking the perpetrators, it strove to deny the
complaints. The Serbian delegate Todor P. Stankovic was not permitted to
participate in the operation. The investigation conducted with prejudice
produced no results. Russian diplomatic officials, whose attendance was
requested by the Serbian populace, were not permitted to watch its
operation. Stankovic noted that only the British consul to Scutari checked
the assertions made of the oppression, and having been convinced in the
truth of the complaints lodged against the ethnic Albanians, submitted a
report to his government.5
The entire investigation was reduced to establishing inaccuracies in
citing the names of victims, perpetrators and places mentioned in the
Serbian notes. Appealing to information received from local authorities, the
Forte's committee maintained that "the attacks ascribed to the ethnic
Albanians are either unfounded or exaggerated", and finally totally
dismissed the Serbian assertions. Novakovic persistently collected
additional data and submitted new notes. He warned that the ethnic
Albanians, following Saadedin Pasha's mission, realizing they had no
punishment to fear, continued performing their vicious deeds upon the Serbs
with more enthusiasm.6
Without the support of the Great Powers, Serbia could accomplish
nothing. The attempt to request the intermediation of their ambassadors in
Constantinople was thwarted by Austria-Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister
Count Goluchowski, expounding that Russia would hinder any action benefiting
Serbia on account of King Milan. The Serbian premier proposed a military
demonstration on the Serbian-Turkish border, but the idea was abandoned at
Goluchowski request.7
The diplomatic action was an utter failure. The Porte closed the issue
with a protocolar apology. The Serbian premier, in his letter to Novakovic,
somberly concluded: "The treatment of the Ottoman authorities, and Muslims
in general, toward Christians in the Kosovo vilayet can be observed by the
fact that over 60,000 Serbs fled their fatherlands and left whatever
property they owned, to save their lives, from 1880 until today [June 1899].
This spring the ethnic Albanians killed many Serbs to arrogate their lands
and drive them off, in which they have succeeded considerably, incurring
thus the flight of several hundred souls to Serbia during the last few
months."8
Not having met with understanding in Constantinople, the Serbian
government was preparing to internationalize the issue of protecting its
compatriots in Old Serbia. Preparing for the Peace Conference in the Hague
(1899), a "blue book" titled Prepiska o Arbanaskim nasiljima u Staroj Srbiji
1898-1899 (Correspondence on Albanian violence in Old Serbia 1898-1899) was
being compiled, in which the most important acts from correspondence with
the Porte were published in Serbian and French, but were not submitted to
the European public.9 Serbian refugees in Old Serbia sent a
complaint of Albanian oppression to the Conference, in the form of a
memorandum, which had previously been published in the Belgrade papers, but
not discussed in the Hague.10
A French contemporary, while visiting Kosovo and Metohia, witnessed
Serbian sufferings and protection given to the tyrants: "[...] whatever the
complaints of local Slavs and charges brought by the Serbs, whatever
reproaches made by Russia, it is obvious that neither the sultan nor the
Porte would ever get involved against the ethnic Albanians nor would they
restore order in the Kosovo vilayet. The ethnic Albanians in this Slavic
country play and will continue to play the same role as the Kurds in
Armenia. The captives of Islam and the servants of the lord [sultan] would,
under these two bases, enjoy impunity whatever their crimes."11
Political commotion among the ethnic Albanians aggravated the position
of the Serbs and violence increased. At the end of 1898, the autonomist
movement was revived, incited by the sultan's order to collect whatever arms
remained from the previous war. Albanian chiefs feared new reforms and the
possibility of the Great Powers introducing Christian rule, like they did in
Crete. In Pec, at the end of January, 1899, a large assembly of feudal and
tribal notables was held to discuss opposition to reforms and expansion of
tribal self-governing. Through influential beys, the Forte's attitude on the
necessity of joint defense was underscored in case of incursions from Serbia
and Montenegro.12
The assembly was immediately with pogroms upon the Serbs in Mitrovica.
In Prizren due of boycott of Serbian goods and threats of massacre the
Serbian downtown was closed. In April 1899, the ethnic Albanians set fire to
Serbian houses in the Verici village of the Pec district. Every day the
consulate received black news sent from Podrimlje and villages near
Pristina. Consul Simic ended one of a series of lists on perpetrated crimes
with the following words: "With such anarchic, truely barbaric conditions
here, it is no wonder the emigration of our people, from these areas to
Serbia, is increasing."13
1 Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1, 322-323; M. Vojvodic, Srbija u
medjunarodnim odnosima krajem XIX veka i pocetkom XX veka, Beograd 1988, pp.
224-225.
2 Prepiska o arbanaskim nasiljima u Staroj Srbiji 1898-1899, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Beograd 1899, p. 15.
3 Ibid., 16; in the note supplementation the number of murders, church
raids, rapes and abductions, assaults, robberies and banditries (ibid., pp.
18-27).
4 Ibid., p. 28.
5 T. P. Stankovic, Putne beleske po Staroj Srbiji 1871-1898, pp.
103-104.
6 Prepiska o arbanaskim nasiljima u Staroj Srbiji 1898-1899, pp. 69-78,
87, 129 134-135; S. Jovanovic, Vlada Aleksandra Obrenovica, II, Beograd
1931, p. 76, cf. M. Vojvodic, op. cit., pp. 76-77.
7 S. Jovanovic, op. cit., pp. 76-77.
8 Prepiska o arbanaskim nasiljima u Staroj Srbiji 1898-1899, pp.
135-136.
9 Ibid., French title: Documents diplomatiques, Correspondance
concemant les actes de violence et de brigandage des Albanais dans la
Vieille Serbie (Vilayet de Kosovo) 1898-1899, Ministere des affaires
etrangeres, Belgrade MDCCCXCIX, pp. 1-145; M. Vojvodic, op. cit" pp.
237-238.
10 D. T. Batakovic, Memorandum Srba iz Stare Srbije i Makedonije
Medjunarodnoj konferenciji mira u Hagu 1899. godine, Prilozi za knjizevnost,
jezik, istoriju i folklor vol. LII-LIV (1987-1988, pp. 177-183.
11 V. Berard, La Macedoine, Paris 1900, pp. 138-139.
12 M. Vojvodic. op. cit., pp. 225-226; D. Mikic, Drustvene i ekonomske
prilike kosovskih Srba u XIX i pocetkom XX veka, pp. 46-47.
13 B. Perunicic, Pisma srpskih konzula iz Pristine 1890-1900, p. 407;
details on the violence: 387-489.
Austria-Hungary and the Expansion of Anarchy
During the final years of the 19th century, vital stimuli to the
expansion of Albanian arrogance was given through intelligence networks in
the Kosovo vilayet, by the Austro-Hungarian diplomacy. Following the
occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the military occupation of part of
the Novi Pazar sanjak, which could, under the decrees of the Berlin
Congress, be extended to just beyond Mitrovica", the Dual Monarchy
continually worked on deepening the chasm between Serbs and ethnic
Albanians. Having experienced the unification of Germany and Italy to its
detriment, it could not allow the unification of the Serbs, with the same
consequences. The Kosovo vilayet, which separated two independent Serbian
states, became the key to solve the Balkan issue. With support from Germany,
Austria-Hungary made preparations to take its decisive step over Old Serbia
in Germanic penetration to the East.
Austria-Hungarian influence in the Kosovo vilayet gradually grew
through Catholic missions in north Albania, Metohia and consulates in
Prizren. Skoplje and Scutari. Following the exodus of Serbs in 1878-1881,
the abandoned Serbian estates in Metohia were settled, with the assistance
of Albanian beys, by Albanian Catholics, the so-called Fandas, who were to
become the main bearers of Austria-Hungarian propaganda among their
compatriots of Muslim faith. A certain increase of Catholic inhabitants in
Metohia made room for the opening of new ecclesiastical and educational
institutions which became centers of the aggressive propaganda. Greater
pressure emanating from Jesuit propaganda was also felt by the Serbian
clergy. Phanariote Bishop Melentije freely allowed Catholic agitation to
spread among the Serbs of the Pec and Prizren sanjaks.1 At the
same time, the European public was presented with publications interpreting
the historical evolution, the ethnic composition and political importance of
Kosovo with seemingly expert argumentation. In a study of the Novi Pazar
sanjak in Kosovo, Theodor Ippen endeavored to support his thesis on the
ethnic unity of all territories with Bosnia, and thus indirectly with
Austria-Hungary, on the basis of historical evidence, therefore denying the
Serbs their character, emphasizing the importance of national individuality
of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.2
The Balkan policy of the highest political and military circles of the
Dual Monarchy regarded the Albanian populace as an element of outstanding
importance. Anticipating the approaching disintegration of the Ottoman
Empire in the Peninsula, Austria-Hungary was preparing to establish order
and impose its rule as mandator in Europe, as it had already done in Bosnia
and Herzegovina in 1878. Penetration toward the Vardar valley and the
Salonika Bay imposed the formation of autonomous Albania under its
protectorate. An Albanian state like this would render impossible the
unification of Serbia and Montenegro, and would curb influence coming from
Italy.
The Foreign Minister of the Dual Monarchy, Count Goluchowski,
considered it of immense importance to Austro-Hungarian interest for the
ethnic Albanians not to come under foreign influence, and proposed, in case
the Ottoman Empire should collapse, that Austria-Hungary should support a
separate autonomy for Albania, ruled by a foreign prince and under its
protectorate; Serbia would then have to satisfy its aspirations by
concessions made in the Pristina and Skoplje sanjaks. The joint
Austro-Hungarian Minister of Finance Benjamin Kallay, demanded to win over
the Muslim ethnic Albanians of the Kosovo vilayet. He particularly stressed
the importance of propaganda to encompass the Pristina and Skoplje sanjaks,
believing that if conflicts with Turkey should arise, all territories in
which ethnic Albanians were a minority would belong to either Serbia or
Bulgaria.3
In the 1897 negotiations, Russian diplomats were informed that if
status quo on the Balkan Peninsula were to prove untenable, the Dual
Monarchy would demand the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
division of Turkish lands in Europe, including the formation of an
independent Albanian state between Janina and Scutari Lake under its
protectorate. Aspiring toward their goal, Austro-Hungarian diplomacy
considered the possibility of establishing a religious protectorate over
Catholic ethnic Albanians which would then acquire political dimensions.
Since the close of the 19th century, Franciscans infiltrated by
Austria-Hungary had been checking the Italian and local Catholic clergy even
in Albania.4
Wherever there were bribable and ambitious beys in Metohia,
Austria-Hungary built strong bastions by lavishly bestowing money. At the
assembly in Pec, at the beginning of 1899, aside to notables of Turkophilic
and autonomous disposition, those of pro-Austrian inclination appeared as
well. A group of tribal and feudal leaders, headed by the until recently
sultan's favorite Haxhi Mulla Zeka, and Riza Bey Krieziu of Djakovica,
openly recommended closer relations with the Dual Monarchy, as a potential
protector of the ethnic Albanians and against neighboring Serbian states and
possible reforms. The number of Austro-Hungarian followers grew in
accordance with purchases made by Austro-Hungarian agents of Albanian
notables. According to a Russian paper Novoe Vremja, about five to six
million crowns of the Dual Monarchy's annual budget were set aside for
Albanian propaganda and the payment of corrupt Albanian
magnates.5
Agitation among the ethnic Albanians was lead through several
directions. In Metohia, where clan chiefs quarreled over domains, agents
were infiltrated, while Austro-Hungarian propaganda was observed to have
spread owing to Bosnian Muslim religious heads. Catholic friars expounded to
Muslim ethnic Albanians that Serbia and Montenegro were outposts on the
Peninsula and that the neighboring Monarchy was their sole protector. Vienna
papers, reporting on events taking place in Old Serbia (particularly the
Politische Korrespondenz), regularly titled their news as coming from
Albania, thus creating the impression that ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo
vilayet comprised the majority of the population and that it was practically
devoid of Serbs.6
The dimension of Austro-Hungarian political agitation could not pass by
the Turkish authorities unnoticed. The district chief in Pristina noticed
that Albanian assails upon the Serbs were encouraged by agitators of the
Dual Monarchy. The vali of Kosovo, Hafis Pasha, attributed all Albanian
unrest in Metohia (especially in Prizren 1899, subsequently in Skoplje), to
operations carried out by Austro-Hungarian intelligence services. Their
purpose, he believed, was to cause widespread unrest to provide
Austria-Hungary with an excuse to occupy the Kosovo vilayet.7
Even the sultan, when confronted with a warning from the Russian ambassador
that Albanian anarchy was planned, since only Orthodox Serbs suffered, "did
not deny the presence of a foreign party operating through its
agents".8 Suspicion as to the motives of the Albanian movement
was also spread by Young Turk followers of Albanian origin, who gave
statements abroad that ethnic Albanians were disloyal to the sultan and were
waiting for the opportunity to secede from Turkey. Telegrams were
immediately sent from Pristina, Prizren and other towns in Kosovo and
Metohia, to the padishah with expressions of unequivocal faithfulness and
loyalty.9
Foreign witnesses also observed the fatal influence of Austro-Hungarian
propaganda in Old Serbia. A French scholar, Victor Berard, an expert on
political trends in the Ottoman Empire, emphasized "that the mystery
concealing the operation of Austrian agents and their entire propaganda
network raised, in the eyes of blinded ethnic Albanians, this major power to
even greater heights, skillfully interweaving them in the dexterously
devised and woven network of their foreign policy".10 Bulgarian
historian N. Marenin observed that aside to all the skill of its agents,
Austro-Hungarian propaganda had succeeded with the ethnic Albanians owing to
large amounts of money paid annually to those most prominent and influential
among them. Marenin underscored that a favorable condition for bringing
together the ethnic Albanians and the Dual Monarchy was their mutual
interest to exterminate the Serbian populace in the area between the Drim
river and Mount Kopaonik, i.e. between Serbia and Albania.11
Owing to the instigations of the Austro-Hungarian intelligence service,
total anarchy reigned in Kosovo. Enboldened by protection promised by the
Dual Monarchy and the sultan's confidence, the ethnic Albanians, filled with
renewed energy, dashed to settle accounts with the Serbs. During 1900 and
1902 the crimes attained apocalyptic dimensions. The Pec nahi suffered the
most since Catholic ethnic Albanians exceeded in oppression. Blackmail,
robbery and murder extremely affected the Gnjilane and Pristina region. In
Prizren, the Serbs dared not appear downtown. Schools and churches also bore
the brunt of oppression. The pursuit of Serbian priests became frequent,
ethnic Albanians regarded all distinguished national notables as Serbian
spies and komitadjis. This anti-Serb disposition reached the point when even
certain Turkish officials, in the army, administration, especially within
the circle of religious heads, openly appealed to the ethnic Albanians to
clash with the Serbs, arrogate their lands and force them to flee to
Serbia.12
Anarchy attained such dimensions that the Porte was compelled to send
new military contingents. Brigadier General Shemsi Pasha was sent to Kosovo
to consolidate government authority, collect arms and capture the major
violators. He frequently left Pristina to visit the vilayet, calm the ethnic
Albanians, reconcile their quarreling chiefs and, though rarely, intervened
to protect the Serbs. In Vucitrn he was compelled to protect the Serbs
threatened by oppression in the Raznjane village. Raska-Prizren Metropolitan
Dionisije escaped assassination twice, and so moved his seat to
Gnjilane.13
A direct consequence of Austro-Hungarian influence was oppression
executed upon the Serbs of the Ibarski Kolasin, in summer 1901. The Ibarski
Kolasin was a woody area with over forty villages to the northwest of Old
Serbia, inhabited almost entirely by Serbs who had preserved a certain kind
of self-government, choosing their own local knez (leader).14
The extent of oppression compelled the Serbs from all parts of Kosovo
and Metohia to appeal to the consulate in Pristina in 1897, demanding a
secret delivery of arms for protection against the tyrants. Stojan Novakovic
had proposed to arm the Serbian inhabitants gradually and organize them for
defense back in 1896: "ethnic Albanians were evildoers, but they treated
with respect those houses in Old Serbia which they knew had weapons and male
heads."15 The consul in Pristina supported Novakovic's proposal,
adding that Albanian assails upon the Serbs were encouraged on account of
the latter having no arms, while these deeds left the Serbs
faithearted.16
After the failure of the diplomatic mission with the Porte to protect
Serbian inhabitants, the government of Vladan Djordjevic began, in spring
1899, the secret delivery of trophy guns remaining from the previous war
with Turkey, to Serbs inhabiting the northern regions of the Kosovo vilayet.
Since the beginning of 1901, exaggerated news of thousands of guns being
smuggled to arm entire Serbian villages caused great alarm among the ethnic
Albanians. The Turkish authorities conducted searches in the north regions
of Old Serbia, and only at the beginning of July, owing to information
procured by Albanian notable Isa Boljetinac, did they discover that most of
the weapons were delivered to the Ibarski Kolasin.17
Under the leadership of Isa Boljetinac, the ethnic Albanians and Turks
searched the Kolasin villages and forced the people to surrender their arms
under brutalities unheard-of. Many were abused, beaten and wounded; one
Serbian was beaten up and succumbed to wounds inflicted. Several hundred
Serbs were shackled and taken to prisons in Mitrovica and Pristina. The arms
investigation incited ethnic Albanians from other regions to set off toward
Kolasin and seek guns in the villages. From January to August alone, around
six hundred persons fled to Serbia. The disturbed public demanded energetic
action from the government. The arms investigation ended only when Serbia's
demands to the Porte were supported by Russia. Following the energetic
intervention of the Russian ambassador to Constantinople, violence in
Kolasin ceased, the arrested Serbs were set free, and Isa Boljetinac was
moved out of Mitrovica. However, Austro-Hungarian delegates to the Porte
claimed the pogroms in Kolasin were multiply exaggerated.18
Austro-Hungarian consular officials in Kosovo saw the affair at Kolasin
as a sign of "great Serbian propaganda" in Old Serbia. All political moves
made by the Serbian government in the Kosovo vilayet, including the
inauguration of new schools, and financial help given to teachers and
monastic fraternities, were considered a serious injury to the political
interests of the Dual Monarchy. When Adem Zaim killed Hadji Mulla Zeka in
Pec for tribal dissentions, at the beginning of 1902, Austro-Hungarian
consuls announced that it was a Serbian conspiracy.19
1 Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1, p.302; V. Bovan, op. cit.; H.
Schwanda, Das Protektorat stereich-Ungarans uber die Katholiken Albanians,
Wien 1965; passim S. Skendi, op. cit., pp. 238-286.
2 Theodor Ippen, Novi Pazar und Kosovo (Das Alte Rascien), Wien 1892;
ibid, Das Religiose Protektorat Osterreich-Ungarns in der Turkei, Die
Kultur, 3 (1901-1902), pp. 298-310;
3 F. Hauptmann, Uloga zajednickog ministarstva finansija u formiranju
Austro-Ugarske politike prema Albaniji uoci kretske krize, Radovi
Filozofskog fakulteta u Sarajevu, IV (1968), pp. 35-45; H. Kapidzic,
Pripreme za austrougarsko prodiranje u albansko etnicko podrucje iz
Novopazarskog sandzaka, Radovi Filozofskog fakulteta u Sarajevu, VI (1971),
pp. 415-430; cf. N.D. Schnadel, op. cit., pp. 54-74.
4 B. Hrabak, Kultni protektorat Austro-Ugarske nad Arbanasima (1897),
Godisnjak Arhiva Kosova, XXIII (1987), p. 33-54; J. Sliskovic, Albanija i
Macedonia, Sarajevo 1904, p. 80; V. Stojancevic, Diplomatska trvenja konzula
velikih sila u Skoplju no. tamosnje Arbanase katolike pocetkom XX veka,
Istorijski casopis, XVIII (1971), pp. 329-339.
5 V. Stojancevic, Austrougarsko-srpski sukob u kosovskom vilajetu na
pocetku XX veka, in: Jugoslovenski narodi pred Prvi svetski rat, Beograd
1967 pp. 847-876.
6 D. T. Batakovic, Pokusaj otvaranja srpskog konzulata u Prizrenu
1898-1900, pp. 256-257.
7 V. Stojancevic, Prilike u zapadnoj polovini kosovskog vilajeta prema
izvestajima austrougarskog konzula u Skoplju 1900. i 1901. godine,
Istorijski casopis, (XII-XIII) (1961-1962), p. 290-291.
8 V. Corovic, Odnosi izmedju Srbije i Austro-Ugarske u XX veku, Beograd
1936, p. 15.
9 B. Perunicic, Zulumi ago. i begova u kosovskom vilajetu, pp. 169-170.
10 V. Berard, La Turquie et I'Hellenisme contemporain, Paris 1900, pp.
291-292.
11 N. Marenin, Albanija i Albanci, pp. 91-92; cited from P. Orlovic (S.
St. Simic), Stara Srbija i Arbanasi, Beograd 1904, pp. 21-22.
12 Regarding the conference of the Serbian and Bulgarian rulers at Nis,
Austro-Hungarian agitators reported it was secretly being held at Pristina.
Among the Albanians a widespread conviction existed that a joint military
intervention of the two countries was being prepared. The bessa was hastily
given and conference on Joint defense began. (M. Vojvodic, op. cit., pp.
332-333).
13 V. Stojancevic, Prilike u zapadnoj polovini kosovskog vilajeta prema
izvestajima austrougarskog konzula u Skoplju 1900. i 1901. godine, pp.
311-312.
14 M. Lutovac, Ibarski Kolasin, Antropogeografska istrazivanja, pp.
57-188.
15 Spomenica Stojana Novakovica, p. 196.
16 B. Perunicic, Pisma srpskih konzula iz Pristine 1890-1900, pp.
345-346.
17 M. Vojvodic, op. cit., 334; D. T. Batakovic, Istraga oruzja u
Ibarskom Kolasinu 1901, Kosovsko-Metohijski zbornik SANU 1 (1990), pp.
269-284
18 Ibid., cf. S. Skendi, op. cit., pp. 201-202.
19 V. Stojanovic, Austrougarsko-srpski sukob u kosovskom vilajetu, p.
865.
Failure of Reforms
Pogroms in the Ibarski Kolasin sobered the public and ruling circles of
Serbia. In Belgrade, public meetings were organized where demands were made
for the government to initiate the issue of Serbian nationality in Old
Serbia and Macedonia. In disputes announced on the issue of the survival of
Serbs in Old Serbia, Svetislav Simic was the most outstanding.
In his discussion Pitanje o Staroj Srbiji (The Question of Old Serbia)
Simic underscored the danger of Austro-Hungarian agitation among the ethnic
Albanians and emphasized that the destiny of the Serbs and the Slav cause in
the Balkans would unfold in Kosovo.1
The balance of forces, particularly Austro-Hungarian influence in
Serbia and Russia's failure to confront its agitation in Old Serbia with
more energy, tied the hands of the Serbian diplomacy in its attempts for a
more efficient protection of its compatriots. Following the death of King
Milutin, Vienna's most trusted friend in Serbia, King Aleksandar Obrenovic
took the Russophil course in foreign policy, to calm tempers in the country.
At the same time, at the invitation of the Serbian government, a group of
Albanian notables arrived in Belgrade from Fed and Djakovica, among whom was
the Pec leader Mehmed Zaim. They were lavished with rich gifts in money and
arms and promised assistance if they helped to bring an end to violence upon
the Serbs.2
The Serbian government initiated the issue of protecting Serbs in
Turkey in 1902, and in August, bolteresred by the Montenegrin diplomacy,
authorized its envoy in Constantinople to make the following demands to the
Porte: 1) regular and for all equal application of law; 2) an end to the
policy of encouraging ethnic Albanians. Propositions along this line were
for either disarmament of the ethnic Albanians or allowance for the Serbs to
carry guns; for reinforcement of Turkish garrisons wherever there were
Serbian-Albanian inhabitants admixed; removal of corrupt Turkish officials
and assignment of conscientious ones; inauguration of administrative and
judicial reforms with larger Serbian participation in the administration and
judiciary; implementation of agrary reform. Russia supported Serbia since
none of the bases were touched regarding the status quo established with
Austria-Hungary in 1897.3
To forestall the reform plan of the Great Powers, especially
Austria-Hungary and Russia, which had the right to protect Christians in the
Ottoman Empire under article 23 of the Berlin Congress, the sultan announced
reforms in November 1902. The reform action of Turkey, headed by Hussein
Hilmi Pasha as general inspector, anticipated a more rigorous application of
the law, regulation of agrary duties, dismission of unconscientious
officials and the enlisting of Serbs in the Turkish gendarme. Military
authorities undertook to capture the most wanted criminals.4
The dimension of lawlessness and Serbian plight shocked foreign
Journalists. Victor Berard wrote that life in places between Pec, Prizren
and Pristina was marked with violence under the ethnic Albanians, arsons,
rapes, vengeance, and real tribal warfare. Georges Gaulis noticed that due
to the extent of oppression upon the Serbs, Old Serbia was, along with
Armenia, the most wretched country in the world. Bearing witness to Albanian
recalcitrance and their motives, he particularly stressed: "Those of Debar
kill to rob, those of Djakovica kill from shear fanaticism, those of Prizren
kill for their evil instincts, and those of Tetovo kill to try out their
carbines."5
Following the Kolasin affair, Russia opened a consulate in Mitrovica to
follow more closely Austria-Hungary's influence over Albanian moves and to
protect the Serbs from violence. The Vienna legation exerted influence upon
the Porte to prolong its inauguration. The ethnic Albanians received the
news of the opening of the Russian consulate with open discontent and acute
opposition. Isa Boljetinac threatened to punish anyone who dared rent his
house to the Russian consul and openly spoke of forcibly routing him from
Kosovo. Following the threats made to its staff, the Russian diplomacy
demanded of the Ottoman authorities to arrest and rout the leaders of
"Anti-Russian demonstrations". Isa Boljetinac agreed, after a lengthy
persuasion from the authorities, to leave for Constantinople, "to visit" the
padishah. The St. Petersburg press underscored the importance of the
consulate opening in Mitrovica, where "at the central point between Old
Serbia and Albania, [Russian] control emerges over ethnic
Albanians".6
The announcement of the reform plan, more rigorous application of law,
acceptance of Serbs in the gendarme service and news of the Russian
consulate finally opening in Mitrovica, instigated the ethnic Albanians to
rise. At the beginning of 1903, a large assembly of tribal chiefs was held
at the Lucki Most near Djakovica. The ethnic Albanians blamed solely the
Serbs for all the reforms. It was thus decided "to gradually kill the more
prominent Serbs of the Pec nahi one after another, and compel the others to
flee to Serbia or to be Turkized."7
The plans of the participants were to rout the Turkish authorities from
Pec, kill the notable Serbs and then move to Mitrovica to confront the
Russian consul. Severe persecution of the Serbs began immediately. In the
Pec nahi alone ten people were killed within a few weeks. Following the
meeting in Drenica, the ethnic Albanians decided to take to arms. Armed
rebels raided Vucitrn on March 29, ravaged the local Serbian church,
disarmed the Serbs accepted in the gendarme and set off to Mitrovica to rout
by force Russian Consul Grigorie Stepanovich Shtcherbin.8
The Russian consul remained in town to supervise Turkish preparations
for defense. Around 2,000 ethnic Albanians attacked Mitrovica on March 30.
Following a decisive resistance of Turkish forces, driven away by artillery
fire, the ethnic Albanians abandoned their plan to take the town. The next
day a Turkish corporal, an Albanian, shot the Russian consul while the
latter was visiting the outskirts of town. The assassin claimed he shot the
consul in vengeance, denying affiliation to any movement, while the severely
wounded consul succumbed to his wounds ten days hence.
The death of the Russian consul demonstrated the extent of Albanian
anarchy, whereas the relation of the sultan and of the high ranking
officials of the Porte toward their bearers was displayed in the stand to
which they adhered. Diplomatic circles in Constantinople expected decisive
measures to be undertaken against the ethnic Albanians. Abdulhamid II
promised he would send military reinforcements to restore order in Old
Serbia and to capture the rebels, but "fearing court revolution from his
Albanian guards", he decided against the announced measures.9
Simultaneously, the sultan advised the Albanian leaders, who feared
international conflicts for wounding and killing a Russian consul, to calm
down. Agents of the Dual Monarchy and Catholic friars encouraged the ethnic
Albanians of Mitrovica not to fear Russian retribution and to persevere in
their opposition. The death of the Russian consul was a national tragedy to
the Serbs, who saw in him a protector and a representative of a power they
expected would end this anarchy and violence. The train, bearing the coffin
of the deceased consul, was accompanied by several thousand Serbs, while
funeral services were held in churches throughout Kosovo and
Metohia.10
Anarchy in Old Serbia and disorder in Macedonia, where Bulgaria
introduced companies to urge a rise and solve the problem of Macedonia to
its benefit, compelled Austria-Hungary and Russia, being the two most
interested major parties, to demand the implementation of reforms. They
announced their reform project in February 1903, while a detailed plan
of the whole operation was designed at a meeting of the two tzars, Nikola II
and Franz Joseph I in Murzsteg, at the beginning of October. Expecting war
in the Far East, Russia strove to retain for a time, the status quo on the
Balkans. Austria-Hungary intended to consolidate its positions with a reform
action. Shortly before the meeting in Murzsteg, Count Goluchowski
elaborated, to the tzar, the plan to divide Turkish lands in Europe:
make Romania as large as possible, a large Bulgaria, a weak Montenegro,
a small Serbia and a free Albania. The Dual Monarchy would, as Golochowski
believed, sooner engage into war than allow for the creation of a great
Serbia or a great Montenegro.11
Succeeding to the throne following the killing of King Aleksandar
Obrenovic (1903), was Petar I Karadjordjevic (1903-1921). The personal
regimes of the last Obrenovices were replaced by the parliamentary monarchy.
The democracy activated a huge political, national and intellectual
potential that was unable to take full swing during the previous regimes.
The termination of dependence upon Austria-Hungary marked an acute turnover
in Serbia's foreign policy, which, relying upon Russia, set off to struggle
for national liberation and the unification of the Serbian people. Conflict
with Austria-Hungary began immediately with the reform issues in Turkey.
The reform action that was to have been implemented in the European
provinces of the Ottoman Empire with the supervision of the Great Powers,
was considered by the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohia a benefical solution
against Albanian terror. Russia intended to secure supervision for itself on
the reforms in Kosovo and Metohia, but the plan was soon thwarted. At
Austria-Hungary's demand, at the beginning of 1904, the Northwest parts of
the Kosovo vilayet, i.e. Kosovo and Metohia, were excluded from the reform
action, explained as being one of an admixed population.12
The ethnic Albanians won a great victory with the exclusion of Kosovo
and Metohia from the reform action; there was nothing to intercede their
supremacy and unhamper their dealings with the Serbs. Left to fate, the
Serbs remained the victims of a privileged ethnic populace. The years 1904
and 1905 are remembered by the unheard-of oppression upon the Serbian
population. Turkish authorities undertook no measures whatsoever, the Porte
would not heed the notes of protest sent by the Serbian government. Occupied
with internal unrest and conflicts in the Far East, Russia was unable to
support Serbian protests more decisively. Serbia tried in vain to establish
contact with the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo. In Belgrade, the paper Albania
was inaugurated to propagate Serbian-Albanian amicability, while Nikola
Pasic strove to find adversaries of Austro-Hungarian propaganda among
notables in Metohia. Finding no way to come to any agreement with tribal and
feudal notables, the Serbian government paid some Albanian outlaws to
protect Serbian villages in Metohia; since 1903 Montenegro also requited
ethnic Albanians to protect the Serbs.13
The consul to Pristina, Miroslav Spalajkovic, reported at the end of
June 1905, "there was not a day that one or two murders of Serbs were
committed" in Kosovo and Metohia, adding that "nothing was done to stop
Albanian banditry". He was particularly worried since "the reform forces pay
absolutely no attention to these regions". Russian consul to Mitrovica, A.
A. Orlov, assured him he was sending daily reports to the embassy on the
situation in Kosovo and Metohia, but it showed no interest. Believing the
Albanian misdeeds had gone too far, Spalajkovic proposed to the government
to find a way "to interest the public of Russia, England and France in the
wretched situation of Serbs in Old Serbia" and proposed to jar, through the
press, "the passiveness and gross negligence of the official delegates of
Great Powers, whose attention has now been solely diverted to
Macedonia".14
Stretching from the Pec nahi to the plains of Kosovo and the gorge of
Kacanik, the ethnic Albanians, fearing no sanctions, robbed, blackmailed,
routed and killed the Serbian populace mostly in villages and on roads.
During 1904, from Kosovo alone 108 persons fled to Serbia.15 The
Serbian consulate in Pristina composed a detailed list of crimes committed
upon the Serbs in 1906 - with names of the perpetrators, victims and types
of oppression. In 1904, of 136 different crimes noted, 46 ended with murder.
Many houses, crops and barns were burned, many people beaten and robbed,
without sparing the children. A group of ethnic Albanians raped a
seven-year-old girl. In 1905, from 281 cases of oppression, 65 Serbs were
killed (at a wedding alone, recalcitrant outlaws killed nine of
them).16 Reports from Serbian agents and consuls display that
Fandas and Catholic ethnic Albanians, standing under the direct control of
Austro-Hungarian propaganda, exceeded in the crimes.17
Pec and its neighboring regions suffered the most since there was no
Serbian consulate nor foreign power which would, at least just by being
there, somewhat lessen the crimes committed in the town and its immediate
vicinity. In a complaint lodged to the consul, the Serbs of Pec reported
that Albanian chiefs forbade their compatriots to protect the Serbs, "and to
place komitadjis of 2-12 men in every village, so whenever they come across
a Serb they do away with him".18 Rector of the Seminary in
Prizren sent a list to the consulate in Pristina in 1906, containing the
victims of violence under the ethnic Albanians of Pec and the vicinity - 38
murdered and five wounded in 1905; within the first three months of 1906,
three murdered and one wounded. The perpetrators "of the committed crimes
suffered no punishment whatsoever from the Turkish state
authorities".19
The Serbs of Mitrovica appealed to King Petar I in 1905, entreating for
a Serbian consulate to be opened in the town for their protection, adding
that if the present situation were to continue, the Serbs would disappear
from these areas. Emphasis was put on the short-lived joy for the expected
introduction of reforms, which incurred "intensified Albanian hostility
toward the Serbs", and, "there is not a single day when a Serb is not swept
from the face of this earth, often many are; we cannot count the number of
robberies and ordinary fights, there are too many of them".20
In summer 1905, Spalajkovic decided to visit Pec and its vicinity with
two officials from the consulate, to convince himself of the horrid news
arriving from there. Turkish authorities attempted to intimidate them with
stories of Albanian ambushes on the roads. Milan Rakic penned in a private
letter: "! should not forget my entering Pec for quite some time. First the
passage through the Turkish quarter and downtown full of somber ethnic
Albanians, a shuddering and ominous silence, then through the Serbian
quarter, full of people, especially children and women yelling "welcome",
throwing flowers at us and crying."21 The Turkish authorities
forbade the Serbs and ethnic Albanians to visit the consul and talk to him,
thus the Serbian diplomats returned to Pristina without accomplishing their
task.22
The external political situation did not allow for Serbia to undertake
greater national action in Old Serbia. Demands for the inclusion of Kosovo
and Metohia in the reform actions were constantly sent to the Great powers.
The aggravated position of the Serbs evinced the necessity to undertake
measures for protecting the inhabitants, beside the educational-political
action, which had achieved good results with its activities at schools and
the restoration of churches. When it had become clear that due to
Austro-Hungarian influence, endeavors to inaugurate reforms in the
northwestern parts of the regions would not succeed, the alternative was to
secretly arm those villages inflicted the most.
Under the private initiative of several notable and wealthy citizens of
Belgrade who organized the first company, comprised of patriot volunteers
and refugees from Old Serbia and Macedonia, to fight Bulgarian komitadjis in
Macedonia in 1902, chetnik action came under the wing of the state gained
further swing in 1904. Kosovo and Metohia were not encompassed by the
chetnik action, although it did instigate organized arms delivery to the
most imperilled Serbian villages. When a chetnik detachment was passing
through Metohia on its way to Macedonia, in 1905, it was discovered and
killed in the village Velika Hoca, the home-town of its leader Lazar
Kujundzic. Fear of mass Albanian vengeance encroached upon the Serbs, thus
compelling Kujundzic's mother to deny the murder of her son before the
authorities. At the demand of Albanian tribes, the houses assisting the
komitadjis were burned in retribution; frightened by the emergence of the
Serbian company, ethnic Albanians were ready to search Serbian villages,
those that resisted would be burnt and their chiefs killed.23
In summer 1907, another Serbian company passed through Kosovo and was
received by the locals of the Pasjane village. It was soon discovered, and
was destroyed following a pitched battle with the ethnic Albanians and
Turks. The discovery of komitadjis vexed the ethnic Albanians who feared the
expansion of chetnik action and the inclusion of Kosovo and Metohia in the
reform action. Feuding Albanian tribes immediately expressed solidarity.
After confirming their besa, together they set off to search Serbian
villages; many innocent people died in the pursuit for komitadjis and hidden
arms.24 An assembly was held in the large mosque of Prizren; the
ethnic Albanians of Ljuma demanded the extermination of Serbs. Milan Rakic
discovered the demands of the people in Ljuma: "[...] for the assembly to
determine the day when all ethnic Albanians would rise in arms and carry out
a general massacre of Serbs. The reason stated by the people of Ljuma for
the extermination of Serbs was that peace among the ethnic Albanians was
impossible as long as there were Serbs in these regions, since the Serbs
were always complaining to foreigners, bringing about bidats - reforms -
with their complaints, and recently, they had started to infiltrate
companies from Serbia."25 The assembly decided that the Serbs
were to be killed secretly, one by one; Albanian companies were to be formed
to rout the chetniks from Serbia, and attacks upon Serbian state territory
would be repeated in retribution. New persecutions ensued
immediately.26
Complaints from Pec, Vucitrn, Gnjilane and other regions in Kosovo
showered the Serbian government and its consulates in Pristina and Skoplje.
The ecclesiastical-educational community and fraternity of the Pec monastery
sent an elaborate petition to the Montenegrin government in 1907, demanding
Montenegro and Serbia to open a consulate for the protection of the people:
"In the town of Pec there are 500 houses at most and around 4,000
Orthodox souls; the Pec nahi numbers around 1,200 homes plus, amounting to
about 16,000 souls of Serbian nationality. Together with Djakovica and its
vicinity, the number totals around 20,000 souls plus. It is known - and
people still remember, that during the past 25 years the same number of
families and souls were moved out, mostly to Serbia, and many died, all due
to oppression under the fanatical savage ethnic Albanians - Muslims and the
rotten savage Fandas, who are of Catholic faith [...] They are the most
dangerous evildoers, haiduks and oppressors, who are systematically
eradicating the Serbs from these regions; forcing them to move; killing them
like wild animals; burning their houses, barns, villages and mercilessly
stealing their food, seizing, plundering, fleecing - blackmails of 2,5,10,
20 and 50 Turkish liras; abducting men, women, children and girls to
slavery. Well, those are the means through which they operate. In this
manner alone, the Fandas came from that savage Malissia and settled more
than 300 houses during the past 20 years, arriving naked and barefoot, while
today most of them are wealthy men; on account of settling on the
foundations of Serbian houses, occupying Serbian homes, fields and pastures,
while still robbing and taking by force. There is also oppression upon the
Serbs under Fandas and ethnic Albanians, most of which were Turkized
60,100-200 years ago on account of the oppression, to keep their
lands."27
Montenegro failed to open its consulate in Pec. Serbia strove for at
least one of the Great Powers (Russia, Great Britain or France), to open a
consulate in Pec, but this initiative bore no fruit either.28 The
Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs made several proposals to establish
contact with the ethnic Albanians, but none were adopted, since all attempts
performed on terrains soon failed. Even the plan of vice-consul Milan Rakic
had no visible effect; in 1907, he believed the best solution was to place
Albanian guards over Serbian villages.29
Violence ceased intermittently, particularly in 1907 when
Austria-Hungary aimed to expand the reform action to the Presevo and
Gnjilane districts, ethnic Albanians began to abhor the expansion of
Austro-Hungarian influence which seriously threatened to imperil their
supremacy in Old Serbia. News of the Austro-Hungarian army arriving in
Kosovo brought several thousand ethnic Albanians together in Ferizovic
simultaneous to the breaking out of the Young Turk Revolution. Tribal chiefs
arrived from all regions of Kosovo and Metohia. The conference lasted two
weeks, and due to the agitation of the Young Turks, a telegram was sent from
the conference to the sultan, demanding the restoration of the
constitution.30
1 P.O. (S. St. Simic), Pitanje o Staroj Srbiji, Beograd 1901.
2 V. Stojancevic, Prilike u zapadnoj polovini kosovskog vilajeta, pp.
314-315.
3 V. Corovic, op. cit., 18-19; Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1, pp.
323-324.
4 V. Stojancevic, Prilike u zapadnoj polovini kosovskog vilajeta, pp.
31, 317-325.
5 G. Gaulis, La mine d'une Empire, Abdul-Hamid ses amis et ses peuples,
Paris 1913, 325-326; details 325-356; V. Berard, La Macedoine, 101-125;
ibid., Pro Macedonia, Paris 1904; ibid, La mart du Stamboul, Paris 1913. Cf.
D. T. Batakovic, Les Francois et la Vielle Serbie, in: Rapports
franco-yougoslave, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, vol. 10, Belgrade
J1989, pp. 138-150
6 D. T. Batakovic, Pogibija ruskog konzula G. S. Scerbine u Mitrovici
1903. godine, Istorijski casopis, XXXIV (1987), pp. 311-312 (with older
bibliography); S. Martinovic, Decembarski i Becki program reformi u Turskoj
1902/1903. godine i stav Rusije prema Albancima, Obelezja, 3 (1985), 63.
7 V. Corovic, Diplomatska prepiska Kraljevine Srbije, I, Beograd 1933,
597-599, cf. British documentation in: Further correspondence Respecting The
Affairs Of South-Eastern Europe, Turkey, 3 (1903), London 1903.
8 D. T. Batakovic, Pogibija ruskog konzula G. S. Scerbine, pp. 312-313.
9 Ibid., p. 318-319.
10 Ibid., p. 320-323.
11 V. Corovic, Borba za nezavisnost Balkana, Beograd 1937, pp. 123-125.
12 B. Perunicic, Zulumi ago i begova, pp. 306-312.
13 Conflicts among clans in Metohia did not abate. At one moment Bairam
and Murtez Cur sent a message to King Petar I that he and 10,000 fellow
tribesmen from the Krasnici clan were enemies of Austria-Hungary. The offer
to cooperate was not accepted. See: Dj. Mikic, Albansko pitanje i
srpsko-albanske veze u XIX veku (do 1912), pp. 150-151.
14 B. Perunicic, Svedocanstvo o Kosovu 1901-1913, pp. 267-269.
15 Ibid., pp. 227-228.
16 Zaduzbine Kosova, pp. 672-690.
17 Ibid., pp. 696-197; B. Perunicic, Zulumi ago. i begova, pp. 350-355.
18 Zaduzbine Kosova, p 672-690.
19 Ibid, p. 697; settlements were one of the reasons for emigration
from the Kosovo vilayet to the USA: J. Pejin, Iseljavanje iz kosovskog
vilajeta i drugih krajeva pod Turcima u SAD 1906-1907 godine, Istorijski
glasnik, 1-2 (1985), pp. 49-54.
20 B. Perunicic, Svedocanstvo o Kosovu 1901-1913, pp. 255.
21 M. Rakic, Konzulska pisma, pp. 55-56, cf. B. Perunicic, Svedocanstvo
o Kosovu 1901-1913, 252-253; Savremenici o Kosovu i Metohiji, pp. 374-375.
22 M. Rakic, op. cit., pp. 57-60, 315-317; Savremenici o Kosovu i
Metohiji, pp. 374-376.
23 M. Rakic, op. cit., pp. 41-46, 304-313, a considerable number of
literary works wrote about the killing of the company and the heroic act of
Lazar Kujundzic's mother. The most reknown is a drama called Lazarevo
vaskrsenje, by Serbian literary Ivo Vojnovic from Dubrovnik.
24 M. Rakic, op. cit., pp. 131-136,138.
25 Ibid., p. 135.
26 Ibid., pp. 135-136.
27 B. Perunicic, Svedocanstvo o Kosovu 1901-1913, p. 289.
28 D. Mikic, Nastojanje Srba na otvaranju ruskog ill engleskog
konzulata u Fed 1908. godine, pp. 161-165.
29 M. Rakic, Konzulska pisma, pp. 94-106.
30 Z. Avramovski, Izvestaji austrougarskih konzula u Kosovskoj
Mitrovici, Prizrenu i Skoplju o odrzanoj skupstini u Ferizovicu, Godisnjak
Arhiva Kosova, II-III (1970), pp. 310-330; B. Hrabak, Kosovo prema
mladoturskoj revoluciji 1908, Obelezja, 5 (1974), pp. 108-126.
Young Turk Regime
The Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the annexation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and the proclamation of Bulgaria's independence, essentially
altered the balance of forces in the Balkans. The reform action of the Great
Powers had ceased. The Young Turks restored the Constitution of 1876,
proclaimed equality of all subjects of the empire, regardless of religion
and nationality, and announced radical political and social reforms. The
promises of the Young Turks were greeted by the Serbs as an opportunity for
national affirmation and free political organization. In Skoplje, seat of
the Kosovo vilayet, the Serbian Democratic League was formed on August 10,
with a temporary central committee presided over by Bogdan Radenkovic. The
formation of district committees ensued immediately at meetings in Pristina,
Vucitrn, Mitrovica, Gnjilane and Urosevac, of which the most distinguished
national representatives, teachers, priests, craftsmen and merchants were a
part. The paper Vardar was founded in Skoplje to propagate the principles of
the League, writing on the position of Serbs. Vardar devoted special
attention to oppression, because after the expiration of the besa confirmed
in Ferizovic, the ethnic Albanians again began to assail the Serbs. The
League and the paper pledged for the decrees of the constitution to be
applied upon ethnic Albanians as well, who recognized the new regime but
displayed no readiness to support the law.1
Having reached an agreement with the Young Turks, the Serbs stated
their candidates in several districts to the election campaign for the
Turkish Parliament. In Kosovo and Metohia they aimed to become candidates
for envoys in the Pec, Prizren and Pristina sanjaks, but the mandate was
received only in Pristina where Sava Stojanovic was elected. At the assembly
in Constantinople (272 seats), two more Serbian envoys entered, from Skoplje
(Aleksandar Parlic) and Bitolj (Dr. Janicije Dimitrijevic), while Temko
Popovic of Ohrid was elected senator.2 A large assembly of
Ottoman Serbs was held in Skoplje on the Visitation of the Virgin in 1909,
with 78 delegates present, 44 from Old Serbia and 34 from Macedonia; the
Organization of the Serbian People in the Ottoman Empire was established,
which was to grow into a representative body of all the Serbs in the Ottoman
Empire.3
The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, by which the decrees
of the Berlin Congress were partially violated, and the project to build a
railway through the Novi Pazar sanjak, announced the unconcealed purpose of
Austria-Hungary to rule the Balkan Peninsula. The meetings held against the
annexation were attended also by ethnic Albanians. Frightened by
Austro-Hungarian aspirations, many Albanian notables made attempts to
approach the Serbs.4 Bairam Cur of Djakovica proposed to Bogdan
Radenkovic a joint confrontation to the annexation, while the
Mahmudbegovices of Pec negotiated with Serbian diplomats. Simultaneously
though, Austro-Hungarian followers among the ethnic Albanians severely
opposed this approach toward the Serbs. While comparative peace reigned in
Gnjilane and Pristina, oppression upon the Serbs in the Pec nahi continued.
The ethnic Albanians spoke in a threatening voice that the proclamation of
the constitution was only temporary and that they would never allow the
infidels (djaurs) to enjoy the same rights as the Muslims.5
Notwithstanding individual crimes, the situation in Kosovo and Metohia
was tolerable until the unsuccessful coup d'etat in Constantinople, in April
1909. Abdulhamid II attempted to depose the Young Turks, and, having been
defeated, was compelled to renounce the throne. His brother Mahmud V Reshad
was proclaimed sultan. Within the Young Turk leadership, a pan-Ottoman
inclination prevailed, which considered all subjects of the empire an
inseparable Ottoman whole. The Serbian organization was renamed the
Educational-Charitable Organization of Ottoman Serbs, but its operation was
soon limited. Under various decrees and laws, the activities of many Serbian
societies were forbidden, lands were confiscated from churches and
monasteries, the work of schools and religious committees was hindered. The
law on the exchange of deeds and the inheritance of estates greatly upset
the Serbs, since many of the real owners fled to Serbia in the preceding
period. Many of the estates were divided among the muhadjirs (Muslims who
settled in Kosovo after the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The new
laws also upset chiflik farmers, whom the agas could drive off the land and
settle Muslims instead, or exact double taxes.6
At the beginning of the Young Turk reign, ethnic Albanians, like other
peoples in Turkey, founded national clubs and educational societies that
became seats of national congregation and political agitation. Autonomist
inclinations revived. The pan-Ottoman ideology of the Young Turk leadership,
centralization of administration, introduction of regular military service
and a new tax policy ruffled the ethnic Albanians. Instead of protection
from Abdulhamid II who tolerated anarchy, they were confronted with the
resolute Young Turks who had no understanding for their special rights. The
first conflicts in Kosovo and Metohia arose in 1909 when the Turkish
authorities attempted to execute a list of the population for conscription
and the collection of taxes. At the anniversary of the Revolution in 1909,
the ethnic Albanians held a congress in Debar, where the demand for
introducing military obligation was rejected, the issue of creating a
separate autonomous region encircling all territories on which ethnic
Albanians lived was brought up, and intolerance toward the neighboring
Serbian countries was expressed with acute emphasis.7
Despite gulfs in religious differences, political disagreements,
unequal economic interests, owing to the centralist measures of the Young
Turks, a high degree of national solidarity was soon attained within the
leadership of the Albanian movement. Persistent strivings of the Young Turks
to introduce military service and new taxes exacerbated ethnic Albanians of
all confessions, having been exempt of them during the reign of Abdul-hamid
II. Skirmishes between regular armies and the rebellious ethnic Albanians
soon proved the power of invincible clans, and the Young Turks were soon
compelled to concessions. The punitive expedition of Djavid Pasha in fall
1909, and the too rigorous measures in north Albania did not bring the
desired results.8
Another Albanian insurrection broke out in spring 1910, after the
repeated attempt of the authorities to collect taxes. Opposition in Kosovo
and Metohia was particularly strong in the Djakovica and Lab region. Turkish
troops, commanded by Torgut Shefket Pasha, mercilessly crushed the
insurrection and undertook to seize arms, but pacification was only a
temporary solution. Albanian committees increased agitation to create an
autonomous Albania and fomented discontent among ethnic Albanians in all
regions of the empire. Insurrections in Yemen and Lebanon, disorder in Crete
and the Italian incursion on Tripoli put the Young Turks in a difficult
position. The Malissors used the new clashes to rise in north Albania.
Montenegrin King Nikola I, in line with the Malissors, supplied the rebels
with arms and provided shelter for refugees, expecting the Albanian
insurrections to weaken Turkey. Among the 3,000 ethnic Albanians hiding in
Montenegro were leaders form Old Serbia, Isa Boljetinac and Suleyman Batusa.
A memorandum (Red Book) was sent from Cetinje to the Great Powers and the
Young Turks demanding recognition of the Albanian nation and autonomous
Albania.9
In fall 1911, Boljetinac requested arms from Serbia, and the
Montenegrin government proposed to Belgrade to aid the insurrection before
another power benefited from it. Serbian Premier Milovan Milovanovic
regarded the Albanian insurrection and its ties with Montenegro
suspiciously. Fearing that Austria-Hungary would introduce the army to
restore order in the Kosovo vilayet, Milovanovic believed that flaring the
insurrection was not in the interest to Serbs.10
The Serbs soon found themselves cleaved between the Young Turks and
ethnic Albanians. The Young Turk authorities oppressed the Serbs more
severely than the preceding ones. After the proclamation of extraordinary
conditions and drumhead court-martial (urfia) in May 1910, an action to
seize arms was executed, with many people beaten, while several Serbs died
as a result of the hits inflicted. Local tyrants made avail of the disorders
and uprisings to sack Serbian homes.11 When Sultan Mahmud V
Reshad arrived in Kosovo in summer 1911 to offer amnesty, another wave of
violence was tossed upon the Serbs. The settling of accounts was accompanied
by murders, abduction, robberies, arson and oppression. Since July to
November 1911,128 robberies, 35 arsons, 41 banditries, 53 abductions, 30
blackmails, 19 examples of frightening, 35 murders, 37 attempts to murder,
58 armed assails upon property, 27 examples of fights and abuse, 13 attempts
to Turkize and 18 examples of serious injuries inflicted were recorded in
Old Serbia.12 The disastrous extent of violence urged Serbian
consuls to make energetic demands from the government to arm the Serbs in
Kosovo again.
Yet, events rapidly followed one another. The Young Turk regime was in
a state of crisis, new elections were announced. Belgrade expected the Young
Turks would win the elections, so instructions were sent to Kosovo upon that
line. After a large conference of Serbs in Skoplje, in March 1912, a new
electoral agreement was concluded with the Young Turks. The ethnic
Albanians, exacerbated opposers of the Young Turk regime, began anew their
attacks upon the Serbs. Their chiefs urged the masses on; the frightening of
Serbs, blackmail and murders were resumed.13
The general Albanian insurrection had begun preparations in January
1912. Hasan Pristina and Ismail Kemal of south Albania supervised the
preparations. Pristina's task was to gather the people and collect the arms,
while Kemal was to contact Albanian committees and propagate Albanian
interests in European centers. It was settled that the insurrection in the
Kosovo vilayet was to begin in spring, and then it was to spread to other
regions inhabited by ethnic Albanians. In July 1912, the insurrection spread
over all of Kosovo; refusing to shoot Muslims, the rebels were joined by
officers, soldiers and gendarmes. The vali of Kosovo personally returned to
the ethnic Albanians arms seized two years before. War with Italy, uprisings
and unrest all over the empire and danger of international involvement
compelled the sultan to replace the Young Turks, dissolve the Parliament and
yield to the demands of the ethnic Albanians.
Yet, they would not surrender. Around 15,000 rebels, dissatisfied with
the pacifying promises of the sultan, moved south and took Skoplje. The
committee sent from Constantinople to enter into negotiations, was given
requests by Hasan Pristina, in the name of the insurrection, comprising 14
articles: special laws for Albania based on the common law; the right to
carry arms, amnesty for all rebels; assignment of officials who speak the
Albanian language and are familiar with their customs in four vilayets
(Kosovo, Scutari, Bitolj and Janjevo); recognition of the Albanian language
as official; curriculum and religious schools in the native tongue;
ethnic Albanians to serve in the army only on this territory; building
of roads and railtracks, additional administrative divisions; trial for the
Young Turk government. After a week of negotiating with the authorities,
which accepted most of the conditions, the rebels dispersed.14
The leadership of the insurrection was comprised of people of different
political affiliation and social status. On the one hand there were the
military commanders of the insurrection, prominent tribal chiefs and former
outlaws (Bairam Cur, Isa Boljetinac, Idriz Sefer, Riza Bey Krieziu), among
whom there were followers of the old system and Austrophils. On the other
hand, there were former diplomats and unhappy politicians (Hasan Pristina,
Jahia Aga, Hadji Rifat Aga and Nexhib Draga), who held differed views on the
future of ethnic Albanians both as compared to the first group and among
themselves. Their official petitions did not contain demands for the
territorial autonomy of ethnic Albanians, nor was the Porte ready to comply
to such a demand. Abhorring intervention of the Balkan states, Hasan
Pristina and Nexhib Draga, the major negotiators, were satisfied with the
resolution of the Albanian issue within the framework of Ottoman
legitimitism.15
The attitude of the rebels toward the political status of the Serbs in
Old Serbia was, despite individual cooperation, basically one of
intolerance. The Skoplje paper Vardar warned that the Serbs in Old Serbia
did not mind that Turkey had met with the national demands of the ethnic
Albanians: "We only think it unfair that we Serbs are excluded, whose
desires and interests, like in this case, as always, remain
heedless".16
The Serbian government strove to use the Albanian insurrection to
further weaken the Turkish system and its leadership and to drive out
Austro-Hungarian influence in its leadership. The consul of Pristina
negotiated with influential leaders - Bairam Cur, Isa Boljetinac and Riza
Bey, while sons of Boljetinac were guests of the Belgrade government. Many
leaders were paid large sums out of funds of the Serbian government or they
were given arms. Owing to this, in a draft of demands, an article was
inserted which anticipated the recognition of rights demanded by the ethnic
Albanians to apply to Serbs as well. Due to the insistence of several of the
leaders, particularly of the pro-Austrian affiliated Hasan Pristina, this
article did not enter the official Albanian requests.
The Albanian national movement felt, despite periodical aid from
Montenegro and Serbia and constant negotiations and political reliance upon
them, in the bases of its seemingly contradictory aspirations, profound
intolerance for Serbs in the Kosovo vilayet, as the most permanent
component. The fact that no one even thought of recognizing the right of the
Serbs to national institutions and independent political activity, was
displayed by the escalation of Albanian violence in 1912. Periodical
attempts of individual tribal chiefs to approach distinguished Serbian
representatives in Turkey were merely tactical acts of conformation without
permanent political importance. Intolerance toward the people which, though
thinned out, were still the majority, was exhibit in all plans and programs
of Albanian leaders. Ever since the reign of the Albanian League, until the
beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, the Serbs in Kosovo,
Metohia and the neighboring regions, were deprived of the most fundamental
rights to human freedom and even minimal civil rights. Albanian and Young
Turk confrontation, fear of the involvement of the Balkan states and
Austria-Hungary only temporarily suppressed their voluminous intentions with
the Serbs.
1 Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1, pp. 330-333.
2 Elaboration: D. Mikic, Mladoturski parlamentarni izbori 1908. i Srbi
u Turskoj, Zbornik Filozofskog fakulteta u Pristini, XII (1975), pp.
154-209.
3 Rod narodne skupstine otomanskih Srba, Skoplje 1910; Istorija srpskog
naroda, VI/1, pp. 335-338.
4 Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1, pp. 335-336.
5 Zaduzbine Kosova, p. 704.
6 Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1, 340-342; see elaborate documentation:
B. Perunicic, Zulumi aga i begova, pp. 460-529.
7 I. G. Senkevic, Osvoboditelnoe dvizenie albanskogo naroda v 1905-1912
gg, Moskva 1959, pp.. 140-145; S. Skendi, op. cit., pp. 391-394.
8 Ibid.
9 D. Bogdanovic, Knjiga o Kosovu, pp. 159-160.
10 V. Corovic, Odnosi izmedju Srbije i Austro-Ugarske u XX veku, pp.
350-351;
more elaborate: B. Hrabak, Arbanaski prvak Isa Boljetinac i Crna Gora
1910-1912, Istorijski zapisi, XXXIX (1977).
11 M. Rakic, Konzulska pisma, 201-214; Zaduzbine Kosova, pp. 707-708.
12 Zaduzbine Kosova, 716; additional documentation, pp. 717-728.
13 Istorija srpskog naroda, VI/1,345-347, cf. Dokumenti o spoljnoj
politici Kraljevine Srbije, V/2, Beograd 1985.
14 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski ustanci 1912, Vranjski glasnik, XI (1975), pp.
339 passim.
15 Ibid., pp. 323-324.
16 Ibid., p. 325, Serbian agent in Kosovo, renowned writer Grigorije
Bozovic, observing the Albanian movement in summer 1912, noted the
following: "The negative aspect of this movement as far as the Serbs are
concerned, is that the Arnauts are on the verge of becoming a nation, and
they wish to settle their issue in Kosovo, and that they are neither the
conquerors nor the conquered. We fall between them and the Young Turks, and
both will throw their rage at us. A positive move is that the Albanians are
beginning to unfetter themselves from Turkish fanaticism; Muslim solidarity
and hypnosis are slackening; they are very aware that they are at enmity
with the Turks and, most important, they speak of Serbia with sympathy and
regard it an amicable country." (Ibid, pp. 320.)
PART TWO: THEOCRACY, NATIONALISM, IMPERIALISM
LIBERATION OF KOSOVO AND METOHIA
The development of events in Turkey, particularly war with Italy and
disorder in Old Serbia and Macedonia, had created a peculiar disposition in
the Balkan states. Albanian insurrections accelerated the conclusion of the
Balkan alliance. Since February until August, the alliance between Serbia,
Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece was definitely confirmed. Realizing the
impossibility of a peaceful solution to the Christian issue in Turkey, the
allies decided to war. Owing to Russia's diplomatic moves, Central Powers
consented to the Balkan states handling the destiny of the Balkan Peninsula.
Estimating a certain victory for the Turkish army, Austria-Hungary calmly
awaited war. The road leading to the realization of a historical mission -
the liberation of compatriots under Turkish rule, opened in autumn, 1912.
Beginning with October, the allies declared war to Turkey, the official
reason being Turkey's denial to pronounce new reforms (with concessions
equal to those given to the ethnic Albanians), the supervision of which
would have been entrusted to the Balkan states.1
Shortly before the war, Serbia endeavored to win over the ethnic
Albanians and isolate them from military operations. In a secret mission in
Kosovo, two most distinguished intelligence officers Dragutin Dimitrijevic
Apis and Bozin Simic aimed to come to an agreement with Isa Boljetinac and
Idriz Sefer for ethnic Albanians not to take part in the upcoming
war.2 Serbian Premier Nikola Pasic offered the Albanian leaders a
"contract on the association of Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo
vilayet", whereby within the framework of the Serbian state organization,
they were warranted freedom of religion, Albanian language in schools and
society, administration of Albanian communities and administrative
districts, preservation of the common law and finally, a special Albanian
assembly to enact laws on religious, judicial and educational matters. At an
assembly held in Skoplje on October 10, (and subsequently in Pristina and
Debar), the ethnic Albanians decided to defend their Ottoman fatherland in
arms and use weapons obtained from Serbia against its army.3
Commanding the third Serbian army for action in Kosovo was General
Bozidar Jankovic, who had previous contact with the ethnic Albanians, which
might have influenced their decision. A military announcement mentioned
amiable disposition toward the ethnic Albanians providing they deserved it
through proper conduct. Yet Austro-Hungarian agitators encouraged both
Muslim and Catholic ethnic Albanians to move against the Serbian army,
promising that troops of the Dual Monarchy are on their way from Bosnia to
assist them.4
Isa Boljetinac received 63,000 guns from the Turkish authorities to
organize resistance toward the Serbian army. Despite Boljetinac's strong
agitation that "Islamism is in jeopardy", and the need to defend "Turkish
soil", only 16,000 ethnic Albanians appeared at the frontier. They were
committed with the defense of Kosovo together with a Turkish corps. Well
armed and equipped, the Serbian army advanced toward Kosovo in exaltation.
The feeling that the "Serbian covenant thought" was coming to life with the
liberation of Kosovo, bleeding five centuries under Turkish reign, had
created a remarkably high morale for combat. Identical feelings were born by
Montenegrin units advancing towards Pec and Djakovica.5
Combats with the ethnic Albanians were severe only in the first
skirmishes. The Serbian artillery easily scattered Albanian bashibazouk
companies without encountering serious resistance. Following their defeat,
Bairam Cur, Riza Bey and Isa Boljetinac fled to Albanian Malissia. After the
liberation of Pristina (October 22), and victory in Kumanovo (October
23-24), war was resolved for Old Serbia and Macedonia. In Kosovo and
Metohia, Serbs greeted the Serbian and Montenegrin armies with exhilaration.
The entire third army attended a formal liturgy at Gracanica to mark the
liberation of Kosovo. Military authorities issued proclamations in Pristina
and other towns for ethnic Albanians to quiet down and surrender arms;
however, anti-Serbian agitation from tribal leaders drove many to flee
and shelter in the mountains. Realizing they would not be persecuted after
surrendering their arms, ethnic Albanians in Drenica and the Pec region
finally laid down their guns. Serbian officers kept repeating that the Serbs
were warring Turkey and not the ethnic Albanians. In the newly liberated
areas Serbia established civil rule and administration. Kosovo and Metohia
became part of the Lab, Pristina and Prizren district. Montenegro divided
liberated Metohia into the Pec and Djakovica district.6
The liberation of Old Serbia was not, however, the final goal of the
Serbian armies. The political and economical hoop encircled around Serbia,
held tight by Austria-Hungary since the .Kg War (1906-1911), and the
annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina induced Serbian diplomacy to resolve
the issue of its political and economic independence by gaining free exit to
the Adriatic Sea, a plan similar to one made by Ilija Garasanin. The
determination of the Serbian government to advance toward the Adriatic
coast, to an ethnically Albanian area, was based on the evaluation that
ethnic Albanians were "not a people, but tribes split up and mutually
estranged, without a common language, alphabet and religion". The government
was supported by the court, by civil parties, the army and the widest
public.7
While Montenegrin troops besieged Scutari, Serbian regiments from Old
Serbia entered Albania and occupied its northern ports. In the land of the
Mirdits, Serbian troops were greeted cordially, whereas they were forced to
penetrate Dukadjin toward the Adriatic Sea with arms.8
Reports of Serbia's glorious victories were received with anxiety in
Vienna. Austro-Hungarian diplomacy warned Serbia not to advance its army
further from Prizren. To prevent Serbia's exit to the sea, the Viennese
government sent special emissaries to Albania to spread the idea of
autonomy, and even called one of the most important Albanian leaders from
Constantinople, Ismail Kemal. Through the Viennese press, he demanded an
independent "Great Albania", encompassing the towns Bitolj, Janina, Skoplje,
Pristina and Prizren. Embarking an Austrian ship, Kemal set off to Valona to
proclaim independence of Albania. Gathering feudal and tribal leaders from
the southern regions to his side, on November 28, 1912, Kemal proclaimed the
formation of an independent Albanian state. The provisional government in
Valona was a toy in Vienna's hands devoid of any influence with the people.
All documents, including the proclamation of independence, were written in
the Turkish language; not one member of his cabinet knew how to write in the
Albanian tongue. Ismail Kemal consigned the military formation to refugee
leaders from Old Serbia, Riza Bey Krieziu and Isa Boljetinac.9
Kemal's government sent messages to Serbian troops to withdraw from the
territory of the new state. The Serbian army established civil rule north of
the Durazzo-Elbasan-Struga line. The situation in Albania was on the verge
of anarchy. The temporary government proclaimed an energetic severing of all
ties with Turkey. Subsequent to the Young Turk coup d'etat, the mid-Albanian
Muslim populace was disposed to Albania remaining within the framework of
the Ottoman Empire. Rumors spread among the people that the Young Turks were
advancing with large armies to reoccupy Albania. To the north, the Catholic
Mirdits negotiated with Montenegro and Serbia on the creation of an
autonomous state. The Mirdit mbret Bib Doda requested permission from the
Serbian army for his fellow tribesmen to loot the Muslims. Within the Mata
region, malcontents took down the Albanian flag and threatened to call the
Serbian army;
in some places there was agitation to resist the Serbs. Ismail Kemal's
government soon disintegrated. Disorder and mutual conflicts began within
the first months following the proclamation of the independent Albanian
state.10
Austria-Hungary considered the emergence of the Serbian army on the
Adriatic Sea a serious injury to its interests. Belligerent military circles
in Vienna proposed to attack Serbia whose northern borders remained
unguarded. During December all tokens pointed to an upcoming
Austro-Hungarian - Serbian war. After conferring with the Russian and
Italian diplomacy, the Serbian government pronounced the following
statement:
"We do not desire to raise the issue of our emergence at sea ourselves,
but rather to let the matter remain within the hands of the Great Powers
when war ends and peace is concluded. We should not disapprove of the
creation of autonomous Albania if Europe should agree to it. We only believe
that Albania will not abide by peace necessary to both the Balkan allies and
the whole of Europe. Our desire is to have a port on our territory - yet we
leave this issue for the Great Powers to resolve, when they solve other
matters that will unfold from peace."11
The Austro-Hungarian incursion on Serbia was prevented by a conference
of ambassadors of the Great Powers convoked in London toward the close of
1912, at the initiative of the French and British diplomacy.
Representatives of the Balkan states began peace negotiations with the
Ottoman Empire. The conference of ambassadors argued the issue of Serbia's
emergence at sea and the status of Albania, which would then enter into
regulations of peace with Turkey. While Russia supported Serbian demands for
Adriatic ports, Austria-Hungary's intention at the conference was to
struggle for a larger Albania. France and Great Britain accepted the
formation of Albania but feared Austro-Hungarian and Italian superiority in
it. Thus the very first day the conference opened, the ambassadors reached
the following agreement: "Autonomous Albania guaranteed and controlled
exclusively by six powers under the sovereignty or suzerainty of the sultan.
The exclusion of every Turkish element from the administration is
understood." Ensuring the frontiers of Albania and Montenegro were
"neighbored all the way", Serbia was denied emergence to the Adriatic Sea.
As compensation, it was given a free and neutral trade port on the Albanian
coast, to which Serbian goods would arrive by railway secured by
international gendarmes under European control. Peace in Europe was saved,
but, as Poincares pointed out: "Serbia paid the highest bill".12
The border issue presented a more serious problem. Since December
1912. several plans were in diplomatic emulation. Serbia demanded the
borders to be drawn west of the Ohrid Lake and the Crni Drim river, so that
Decani, Djakovica, Prizren, Debar and Ohrid would remain in its composition.
Montenegro demanded north Albania until the Maca river, with Scutari, Medua
and Alessio. Greece demanded north Epirus where the Albanian populace lived
admixed with the Greek one. Autonomous Albania was to have been constituted
from the remaining areas. The Austro-Hungarian proposition, contrary to the
Serbian one, suggested the creation of Great Albania. The Monarchy demanded
that Djakovica, Debar, Korcca, Janina and Struga belong to Albania, and "in
the first round" both Pec and Prizren, as "compensational objects". It left
Struga, Ohrid and Debar to Bulgaria if it were to make any claims. Italy
supported Montenegrin claims but acutely opposed Greek ones. Russia and
France maintained a medial solution by which Albania's frontier toward
Serbia should stretch along the watershed of the Beli and the Crni Drim
rivers to Ohrid. The Albanian delegation demanded the formation of
"ethnical" Albania, inclusive of the towns Pec, Mitrovica, Pristina, Skoplje
and Bitolj.13
The standpoint of the Serbian delegation was most wholly revealed by
the aide-memoir submitted to the ambassador conference on January 8,
1913. It explicitly stated that Serbia was not opposed to the formation
of autonomous Albania, but that its whole centuries-long struggle for
national survival under Turkish rule, and subsequently for state
independence from 1804 until 1912, would prove to have been senseless if
those regions with admixed Serbian-Albanian populaces, where forceful
Islamization, Albanization and the routing of Serbian inhabitants had been
urged on for centuries, were to belong to Albania. Supporting its attitudes
with historical, ethnographic, cultural and ethical rights, the Serbian
delegation underscored that Kosovo and Metohia, where the towns Pec, Decani
and Djakovica lay, were since time immemorial the sacred land of the Serbs,
and that under no condition would any Montenegrin nor Serbian government
consent to their belonging to someone else.14
The Serbian government was adamant in its defense of Kosovo, Metohia
and west Macedonia. The entrance of either of these regions into autonomous
Albania would create a new seedbed of conflicts through which
Austria-Hungary would exert pressure upon Serbia. Stojan Novakovic, the
first delegate at the conference of ambassadors, believed that by "demanding
Prizren, Djakovica, Pec for Albania, Austria-Hungary desired to renew the
barrier between Serbia and Montenegro, between Serbia and the
sea".15 Pasic kept underscoring that he would never abandon Debar
and Djakovica whatever the decision of the Great Powers, and that "only a
stronger military force could rout the Serbian army from these regions". In
a subsequent letter addressed to the Great Powers/Pasic underlined bitterly:
"The lands and sanctity of Old Serbia are being taken away and given to one
who has been devastating them until today."16
Serbia was forced to withdraw its troops from the Adriatic coast.
Austria-Hungary gave in to Russia's demands, so Debar and Djakovica remained
part of Serbia, while its demand to include Scutari in the new Albanian
state was accepted, though the town was still besieged by Montenegrin and
Serbian troops. The final agreement was reached on April 10, 1913, while the
structure of Albania continued to be discussed in the months to follow. At
the end of July, the Austro-Hungarian - Italian proposition was accepted by
which Albania was to become a sovereign state with a hereditary prince. An
International Control Committee was formed whose duty was to organize life
in the country with the aid of Dutch officers. As the hereditary Albanian
prince, among numerous candidates, an Austro-Hungarian was chosen, German
Prince Wilhelm von Wied, cousin of the Romanian queen, interpreted in
Belgrade as another attempt of Austria-Hungary to close the hoop around
Serbia by way of Albania, Bulgaria and Romania.17
1 Prvi balkanski rat, Beograd 1959,147-176; cf. D. Bogdanovic, Knjiga o
Kosovu, Ep. 165-176.
2 C. Popovic, Rod organizacije "Ujedinjenje ili smrt" - Pripreme za
Balkanski rat, Nova Evropa, 1 (1927), pp. 313-315; M. Z. Jovanovic, Pukovnik
Apis, Beograd 1957, pp. 649-651; Savremenici o Kosovu i Metohiji 1852-1912,
pp. 351-353, 381-383.
3 Dj. Mikic, Albanci i Srbija u balkanskim ratovima 1912-1913,
Istorijski glasnik, 1-2 (1986), p. 60; more elaborate in: D. D. Stankovic,
Nikola Pasic i stvaranje balkanske drzave, M. misao, 3 (1985), pp. 157-169.
4 D. Mikic, Albanci i Srbija u balkanskim ratovima, p. 61.
5 J. Tomic, Rat no. Kosovu i Staroj Srbiji 1912. godine, Novi Sad 1913.
6 Prvi balkanski rat, pp. 46-417, 464-469-496; D. Mikic, Albanci i
Srbija u balkanskim ratovima, p. 63.
7 The only opposition came from the leadership of the Socialdemocratic
party headed by Dimitrije Tucovic. Concerned only for their narrow party and
political interests, they used the entrance of the Serbian army into Albania
to settle their accounts with the government policy and civil parties (cf.
D. Tucovic, Srbija i Albanija, Beograd 1914).
8 I. Balugdzic, Kad se stvarala Albanija, Srpski knjizevni glasnik, 52
(1937), pp. 518-523; D. Djordjevic, Izlazak Srbije na Jadransko more i
Konferencija ambasadora u Londonu 1912, Beograd 1956, pp. 11-12, 83-85.
9 V. Corovic, Odnosi izmedju Srbije i Austro-Ugarske u XX veku, pp.
396-401; D. Djordjevic, op. cit., p. 86.
10 Dj. Mikic, Albanci i Srbija u balkanskim ratovima, pp. 68-70.
11 V. Corovic, Odnosi izmedju Srbije i Austro-Ugarske u XX veku, pp.
410.
12 D. Djordjevic, op. cit., pp. 133-134.
13 Ibid., see M. Vojvodic, Skadarska kriza 1913, Beograd 1970.
14 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VT/1, 136-142; D.
Bogdanovic, op. cit., pp. 172-173.
15 Ibid., V/3, doc. 500.
16 Ibid., VI/1, 260, 379, 380; D. Bogdanovic, op. cit., p. 173.
17 D. Djordjevic, op. cit., pp. 141-143.
Albanian Incursions into Serbia
The situation in Albania and the border area toward Serbia was marked
by anarchy, disorders and conflicts during 1913 and the first half of 1914.
The commander of Scutari, Essad Pasha Toptani, surrendered the town to the
Montenegrins on April 23,1913; in return, he was enabled to advance south
with his army and military equipment and take part in the struggle for
power. Already three mutually conflicting governments existed in Albania. As
one of the most powerful landholders, Essad Pasha relied on the Muslim heads
of mid-Albania. By wielding his influence between Durazzo and Tirana, he saw
an opportunity to candidate himself for the still vacant Albanian throne,
taking into consideration requests of the Albanian majority that did not
want a Christian ruler. Already on May 5, 1913, he informed the Montenegrin
prince of his intention to pronounce himself prince of Albania, expressing
his wish to cooperate with the Balkan allies. He told the Serbian diplomat
in Durazzo, Zivojin Balugdzic, that he wanted an agreement with Serbia.
Hesitant at first, the Serbian government consented to cooperate with Essad
Pasha, evaluating that "his overall behavior displayed an earnest wish for
an agreement with Serbia, which he regarded as the focus for mustering
Balkan forces".1
The second Balkan war was triggered off by Bulgaria in July, 1913.
Dissatisfied with its territorial gains, it prepared to war its former
allies. It sought support with Albania: ethnic Albanians gathered around
Ismail Kemal were promised considerable territorial expansion if they
advanced onto Serbia. Thus Sofia counted on the Albanian insurrection
leading to the proclamation of autonomous Macedonia and its annexation to
Bulgaria. Thus, somewhere in Macedonia, an Albanian-Bulgarian border would
have been established. Conditions for armed incursions were favorable:
around 20,000 ethnic Albanians who fled Old Serbia and Macedonia found
themselves on Albanian soil, while their leaders Hasan Pristina and Isa
Boljetinac sat in the government at Valona. Austro-Hungarian and Italian
emissaries and agents, mostly the clergy and teachers, suppressed Essad
Pasha's influence and appealed to the ethnic Albanians to rise against the
Serbs.2
Individual surprise attacks on the most forward Serbian units and
border stations began already during the second Balkan war. In the meantime,
detailed preparations for a large incursion into Serbia were underway.
Shipments of arms sent by the Viennese government kept arriving to Albania.
Bulgarian komitadjis trained ethnic Albanians for guerrilla warfare. Small
renegade groups were infiltrated into Serbian territory during May and June
1913 to check their guerrilla skills. Informed of the preparations for
attack, the Serbian government sent Bogdan Radenkovic to try to influence
his former friends among the Albanian leadership, but he returned without
accomplishing his task.3
When the Serbian army was forced to withdraw to the restriction line
behind the Crni Drim, a signal was given for a full force attack. At the end
of September 1913, around 10,000 ethnic Albanians invaded Serbian territory
from two directions - west Macedonia and toward Djakovica and Prizren. The
initiator of the attack was Austria-Hungary. Ismail Kemal ordered the
refugee Albanian leaders, Bairam Cur, Isa Boljetinac, Riza Bey and Elez
Jusuf to attack Serbia with their parties, promising that with the aid of
the Dual Monarchy and Italy, all conquered territories would belong to
Albania. Essad Pasha refused to join them and warned Serbia not to approve
of their action.4
The infiltrated companies were headed by Albanian leaders and Bulgarian
officers in coaction with the Bulgarian komitadjis. Weak Serbian border
troops and several gendarmes units were unable to withstand the attack. On
the southern stretch, commanded by Bulgarian komitadjis, the companies
managed to take Debar, Ohrid and Struga and advance toward Gostivar. To the
north, Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Kiasim Lika took Ljuma, besieged
Prizren and shortly occupied Djakovica. At the beginning of October, two
divisions, the Troops of new regions, advanced from Skoplje and, having
routed the ethnic Albanians from Serbian territory, crossed to Albania to
continue their pursuit.5
The Vienna press published elaborate articles on great victories gained
by the ethnic Albanians and demanded a revision of the borders. Ismail Kemal
demanded an exclusion of those regions encircled by the insurrection from
the Serbian state and proposed a plebiscite that would be implemented by the
infiltrated companies. When the incursion was checked, the Vienna press
spread rumors of alleged reprisals committed by Serbian troops upon the
innocent Albanian people. Austro-Hungarian diplomacy endeavored to prove
that an insurrection had broken out within Serbian territory, subsequently
joined by ethnic Albanians from the other side of the frontier.6
To emphasize his pro-Serbian orientation, Essad Pasha took advantage of
the commotion resulting from the incursion, and in Durazzo, on September 23,
proclaimed himself Governor of Albania. Before the European public, which
blamed the external activities of the Serbian army for the incursion, Serbia
intended to compromise the government in Valona by proving that two of its
ministers, Isa Boljetinac and Hasan Pristina, were the organizers and
leaders of the incursion. Again the issue was brought up that the borders
determined by the London conference of ambassadors were unfavorable for
Serbia, since the outlaw seedbeds around Debar and Ljuma demanded by the
Serbian delegation were seriously imperiling Serbian territory.7
Wilhelm von Wied arrived in Albania in March 1914. Pressured by the
International Control Committee, Essad Pasha was compelled to enter a united
government, but did receive two of its most important spheres of activity,
the Ministry of War and Internal Affairs. Discontent of the Muslim Albanian
populace with the government of the infidel prince culminated in a
pro-Turkish uprising lead by Hadji-Qamil Feiza, a Young Turk officer
originally from Elbasan. Incited by Muslim fanaticism and the unsettled
agrarian issue, the uprising caused general anarchy. Austro-Hungarian and
Young Turk agents inflamed discontent among the Muslim masses. Essad Pasha
first supported the uprising, but was forced to emigrate to Italy in May,
1914, having been checked by the prince's followers.8
Simultaneously, with the aid of Austro-Hungarian secret se