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.
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.)
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.
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
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.
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.)
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.
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