Written by Petrit Latifi
In 1880, the German publication “Neue Tiroler Stimmen“ published an article of an Albanian league held in Sjenica in 1880. During Montenegros imperialist expansion on Albanian territories, Albanian nobles and officials held a meeting in order to counter the Montenegrin troops. Albanian civilians in Novi Pazar were told to go to Bjelopolje and Albanian troops from Niksic traveled from Plevlje.
“As the same newspaper from Plevlje writes, a kind of meeting took place in nearby Sjenica, attended by a large number of Albanian chieftains living in the districts mentioned above. The decision was made to give the tribes fighting on the southern border of Montenegro a way out, by undertaking a diversion against the eastern border of the principality. The result of this It was decided that all Albanian refugees currently residing in the sanjak of Novi Pazar should go to Bijelopolje, the place designated as a gathering point.
From Plevlja alone, 550 armed Albanians of Niksiq, who had caused so much trouble to the Montenegrins in the defense of their homeland, went to Bijelopolje under the leadership of Turchan Bey. From this city, Montenegrin territory is easily reached in a forced day’s march, and the terrain in this area, sloping from east to west, greatly favors the plans of an urgent attack by the Pashalik against the Montenegrins.
In Plevlje, people who are perhaps initiated into the activities of the complacent Albanians estimate that the number of fighters who could act against the Kolasin district is almost 6,000 men. They are equipped with pickup trucks and small arms ammunition and intend to compensate for the lack of weapons by borrowing forcefully from the regular Turkish troops stationed in Sjenica and Bjelopolje.”
Reference
Balkan Academia 