Written by Petrit Latifi

Massacres of Belgrade Turks (1807) were a series of massacres and killing committed by Serb revolters and civilians against Turks and Muslims in Belgrade during the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 and 1807^[1]. These events were considered to be part of an ethnic cleansing^[2]. Serb historian Stojan Novakovic described the event as “thorough cleansing of the Turks”^[3]. On March, 1807, after a long siege, the Serbian revolters stormed Belgrade, and according to Archbishop Leontii Leontievic, all Muslim men were killed while women forcibly converted^[4].

Author G’eni Lebel writes:

“The Serbian bachelors and volunteers, accompanied by many Serbian soldiers, all of a sudden rushed through the streets of Belgrade like wild animals, slaughtering and killing all that worshipped Mohammed and were suitable for carrying arms. When the streets had emptied, Turkish houses and shops, baths and places of worship were broken into and destroyed and Turks were searched for in all corners and underground passages to be slaughtered and killed“^[5].

References

1. Washburn, Dennis; Reinhart, Kevin (2007). Converting Cultures: Religion, Ideology and Transformations of Modernity. BRILL. p. 88. ISBN9789047420330.
2. Anzulovic, Branimir (1999). Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide. Hurst. p. 85. ISBN9781850653424. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
3. Sudanow. Ministry of Culture and Information. 1994. p. 20.
4. Vovchenko, Denis (2016). Containing Balkan Nationalism: Imperial Russia and Ottoman Christians, 1856-1914. Oxford University Press. p. 299. ISBN9780190276676. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
5. Lebel, G’eni (2007). Until “the Final Solution”: The Jews in Belgrade 1521 – 1942. Avotaynu. p. 70. ISBN9781886223332. Retrieved 4 November 2019.