In 1918-1919, the Serbo-Montenegrin troops committed numerous atrocities against the Albanian civil population of the former Kosovo Vilayet. Hoxhe Kadri Prishtina wrote to Aqif Pasha Elbasan that “unfortunate Kosovo with one million Albanians is suffering all kinds of miseries under the barbaric rule of the Slavs”.

In addition to uncontrolled killings, looting of property and livestock, rapes of Albanian women, girls and mothers, the invading Serbo-Montenegrin army threatened the Albanian population, especially those of the provinces of Rugova, Plavë, Gucia and Rozhaje, that if “they do not were to convert to Orthodoxy”, then they would all be killed. Regarding this event, the Kosovo Committee, on March 6, 1919, addressed the Great Powers through a protest, in which, among other things, it was said:

“After all, we had heard that the Serbs and Montenegrins, spread across Kosovo after the defeat suffered by the German-Austrian-Hungarian armies before the occupying powers of the Great Allied Powers, had begun to repeat the same barbaric acts of the first invasion of Peja, Akova, Tergovishte and the other villages of the Kosovo Vilayet, we did not believe that civilized Europe would close its eyes to these works of primitive times.

The events that unfolded are unfortunately being confirmed and the accuracy of the acts in question and the repetition … of the aggressive forms of the Serbo-Montenegros. The barbaric administration rose among those places with the intention of exterminating the Albanian race, is shedding the blood of innocents in Akovë, Tërgovishte and Pejë and is violating the honor of women and girls. The Serbo-Montenegrin soldiers destroyed the human principles of freedom of conscience, principles which Europe took as the civic and social basis for three centuries, forced the people to convert to the Orthodox religion and left them to choose one or the other; change my religion or accept my death….”

The Parish of Peja, Plava and Gucia, led by Hasan Agë Ferri, Shaqir Halil and Adem Agë, wrote to the Kosovo Committee on January 2, 1919 about “barbaric acts” of the Montenegrins against the Albanian population in Tergovishte, Novi Pazar and Sjenica, where there were also murders, robberies and rapes. As an example, they shot the mayor of Akova, Hilmi bey Kajabegolli and the son of Mustafa bey along with five others”, then the mass murder of 70 Albanian women in Akova, as well as the robbery the loss of the entire property, which means that “people, especially the Kalamazoos, are being left naked and without bread”. At the end of the letter it is said that the “bloodthirsty acts of the Montenegrins” are increasing day by day, therefore they ask the Kosovo Committee that in the name of “the nationality, the Motherland and the religion, do what you can to save us from this situation heavy”.

“… We have informed you of the various reports that we have presented to you over the last two months about the goal pursued by the Serbo-Montenegrins to eradicate the Albanian race and we have asked you to put Kosovo under our international administration. The events developed one after the other, reinforce and prove the justice of our claims. The looting of the market in Peja, the bloody event in Podgor, the attack against Plavë and Gucia, against Has, Luma and Peshkopia, the plundered movable property among the cities and towns of Kosovo, the violent sending of a delegate to the Congress of Podgorica against the will of the people other events follow one another, because the Serbs are sure that they will not be punished for all these barbaric crimes. The barbaric goals and desires of the Slavs are clearly visible from the letters that came to us from Plave and Guci, which we are presenting to you in the attachment…”.

In order to take a closer look at the murders, robberies, as well as the atrocities and barbaric crimes of the occupying Serb-Montenegro army in the provinces of Rugova, Plava and Gucia, we are presenting some of them below: in the village of Koshotan in the province of Rugova, there were robberies 200 sheep of Jashar Murti, 280 of Hys Hamza, 100 of Sadri Hariz and 200 of Met Zyber. In addition, they also killed Abdyl Hariz’s three shepherds, Zymer Smajli and Salih Ali, along with his friend Temo Ramon. In the village of Drellas, they killed Bajram Rustem and robbed him of 280 sheep. In this village they also killed Rexh Haxhina when he tried to close the door when the Serbs had started looting his house. In the village of Kosishte, they killed Xixh Sokol and forcibly took 60 sheep, 3 cows and a horse and all the grain he had. In the village of Bukel, they robbed Mursel Salih of 140 sheep, 60 of Abedin Baxhuji and 70 of Halil Zeqës, who then killed all three of them. In the village of Bisirnica they killed Mehmet Ismajli, Ibish Bajram and three shepherds along with a hundred sheep and many other crimes and atrocities.

References

“When Serbs would killed every Albania they found – Serbian war crimes in Rugova, Plava and Guci in 1918, according to the Committee of Kosova”. https://koha.mk/kur-serbet-vrisnin-cdo-gje-shqiptare-krimet-dhe-mizorite-serbe-e-malazeze-ne-rugove-plave-e-guci-ne-burimet-e-komitetit-te-kosoves-1/