Petrit Latifi

Despite the Montenegrin massacres between 1912 to 1919 where hundreds of Albanians from Rugova were murdered in cold blood, the Rugova highlanders never harmed any Montenegrin colonists who were settled in the Albanian mountains during World War II.

“In the war with Montenegro, in addition to battles, which also began with duels, such as the famous triple duel of Adem Isufi of the Rexhajs of Shkreli in the Battle of Nokshiqi, in December 1879, there was also manliness, along with bravery. Manliness was the mutual respect for the moral code of war: that the enemy’s goods are plundered, that the house is burned, but the life and honor of the family are not touched, there, as on this side of the border.

This was the case before and after the Albanian League of Prizren, but only until 1912, when Montenegro broke this code of manliness in Rugova. Montenegro, together with Serbia, also in 1919, on February 16, violated this code of manliness when it massacred 432 children, women and the elderly, and burned many of them alive in the Hani i Isufi in Shtupeq i Math. (Z. U. Neziri, Political Exile in the Historical Epic of Rugova, in: Studies on Folklore, I, IAP, Pr., 2006, p. 261-273).

But Rugova did not break the code of manhood, because he had a good opportunity for revenge when about 30 thousand people, women and children, mainly Montenegrins, fled through Rugova in the LDB, whom the Yugoslav government brought and settled in the lands and homes of Albanians. (Evidence: Kosovo Archives, Minutes of the investigation against Zhukë Haxhië Pejë, on 5.II.1947).

And Rugova said: we will not disarm them! So, she did not break the code of manhood, because she did not stop them and did not take revenge on those 30 thousand people, women and children, mainly Montenegrins. She nobly opened the way for them, and even humanely offered help to mothers with small children, to those with lame feet, and even to a midwife who gave birth to her child in the village of Drelaj.

In the history of the two peoples, she is a testimony of European proportions to the noble and generous spirit of the Albanians, to their great manhood.

This was the decision of the Rugova elite, so that the rifle would not be discharged, when the First Yugoslavia capitulated, in April 1941:

Osman Rrustemi, Drelaj, mayor of the Municipality of Rugova, and the elders: Isuf Mehmeti from Shupeqi i Vogël, Haxhi Zeka from Shtupeqi i Madh, Din Zeka from Rieka e Allagës, Rrustem Veseli from Pepajt (Pepiq), Rexhep Mustafa from Malajt, Hysen Syla from Bogët, Sokol Çela, from Stakajt, Agan Seku from Haxhajt, Fasli Zymeri from Kuqishta, Tahir Abazi from Drelajt, as well as Zhukë Haxhia, Stakajt.

Source: (See: Azem Azemi, Minutes of the interrogation of Zhukë Haxhi Çela, written in the District Directorate of the State Security Directorate (UDB) in Peja, on 5.II.47, in: Institute of History, rev. Kosovo, no. 25, Prishtina, 2003, p. 221-222. P.S. Missing: Dugaiva, Shkreli, Koshutani? I corrected some names, because they were written incorrectly, Z.U.N).

Of course, we should not forget the permission given to our displaced persons to cross into Montenegro, during the years of the Kosovo Liberation Army war, 1998-99, and the permission given to their settlement there, in Albanian families, from Rozaje to Ulcinj.

Rugova after World War II

The Çakorr-Mokna-Smilevicë line, therefore, was the border line of Rugova with Montenegro in the LBD and after it. (Evidence: Introductory speech of the Rugova Covenant Commission: Guri i Vajzit, Qafa e Diellit, Moknat, Livadi i Turkut, on 20.11.1970). It should be borne in mind that when Montenegro attacked the Vilayet of Kosovo in October 1912, the Çakorr-Mokna-Smilevicë points were not the border line of Albania with Montenegro.

General Janko Vukotić of King Nikola of Montenegro had to take Berane first and occupied it after the bloody war in mid-October 1912, where the Rugova people also participated in its defense. And, before Berane, Vukotiq had to conquer Mojkovci and Bjello Polen, two border centers of the Vilayet of Kosovo with Montenegro, and after conquering them, he attacked Berane.

The Rugovas fought against Vukotiq, in addition to Berane, also in Çakorr, in Mokna and in Shtupeq, until October 30, 1912, when he entered Peja and conquered the northern part of the Dukagjini Plain, committing serious crimes against the Albanian population, from looting and murders to the forced conversion of religion in Rugova and Peja and as far as Gjakova. (See the book by Zef Mark Harapi (1891-1946), writer from Shkodra, teacher in Peja, Ditt e trishtimit n’Pejë e nder rrehte: 1912-1913, p. 81, 83, 86, Dukagjini, 2004).

Even after World War II, when Kosovo was reoccupied by Yugoslavia, the Rugovas acted politically against Yugoslav slavery, especially in the Albanian National Democratic Organization, with Sylë Mehmeti and his generation, and in 1968, the generation of Isa Demaj, and in 1981, the generation of Ali Lajçi. Many Rugovas, during half a century, as in all Albanian regions, were politically persecuted, expelled from work and imprisoned.

Some died in prison and some were killed at the border.
Even fifty years later, in the war with Montenegro and Serbia, during the years of the Kosovo Liberation Army, 1997-1999, the 136th Brigade “Rugova” of the Dukagjin Operational Zone considered the line Çakorr-Mokna-Smilevicë-Hajlë, the border line with Montenegro, where the martyrs of freedom fell: Selman B. Lajçi, Besnik M. Lajçi, Ramush M. Lajçi, Xhavit S. Lajçi, Ramë A. Lajçi, Tone Lajçi-Husaj, Sokol Z. Nikçi. It is still considered that way today.

However, it should be known precisely that Montenegro was in a state union with Serbia and this last Yugoslav bi-state union lost the war with Kosovo in June 1999. So, Montenegro plundered, burned and massacred Rugova in 1999, as well as Peja and the northern side of the Dukagjini Plain, but it lost along with Serbia, and the victor, Kosovo, received the protected border line Çakorr-Mokna-Smilevicë-Hajlë, as well as the rest of the mountains up to Kulla.

Conclusion

This is the situation of Rugova with Montenegro, that is, the Çakorr-Mokna-Smilevicë line, in the Second World War, although neither historically nor ethnically is this right, because this was also a violent border of Montenegro, at least the third in a row (1912, 1878, 1859, etc.), established through invasions of Albanian territories in the last two centuries, of course, with the permission and help of Europe, especially on the eve of the Berlin Congress and after it, in Tivar and Ulcinj, and then in the Sandzak of Pazar, as well as in 1912, in Plavë and Guci, Berane and Rozhajë and in the part of Malësia e Madhe, where there was no Montenegrin population at all.

In these Albanian territories occupied by Montenegro for about a century, the majority of the Albanian population was assimilated, that is, it has been linguistically alienated, especially in the cities, except for Ulcinj, in the other cities it now mainly speaks Bosnian or Croatian. This issue remains open, while the problem of the Çakorr-Mokna-Smilevicë-Hajlë line, up to Kulla, where the Republic of Kosovo is damaged for about 12 thousand hectares of land, must be closed as an urgent matter between the governments, that of Montenegro in Podgorica and ours in Prishtina, and if necessary, with the help of the international community, as well as leaving the door open for discussion on other very important issues and to find solutions to the problems of our fragmented and forgiven regions in Berlin (1878) and London (1913), taking into account the standards of good neighborliness and the universal principles for the freedom of peoples.

Bibliography
ARAPI Mark, Zef, Days of Sorrow in Peja and Other Districts: 1912-1913, Dukagjini, Peja, 2004.
AZEMI, Hysen, LNDSH and the Serbian State Security, volume II, 1945-1957, State Archives Agency of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2014.
AZEMI, Hysen, Minutes of the interrogation of Zhukë Haxhi Çela, written at the District Directorate of the State Security Directorate (UDB) in Peja, on 5.II.1947, in: Institute of History, rev. Kosovo, no. 25, Prishtina, 2003, p. 221-222.
ARCHIVE of Kosovo, Minutes of the investigation against Zhukë Haxhië Peja, on 5.II.1947-27.III.1947.
CULAJ, Lush, Sadri Bardhi’s Keri – life and patriotic activity, Institute of Albanology of Prishtina, Prishtina, 2007.
KOJÇINI-UKAJ, Sulltane, The role of Zhukë Haxhië in the national resistance of Rugova, in: rev. Kosovo, no. 28, Institute of History, Prishtina, 2006.
COMMISSION of the Rugova Covenant, Introductory speech, Drelaj, Rugova, on 20.11.1970.
NEZIRI Ujkan, Zymer, Political exile in the historical epic of Rugova, in: Studies on folklore, I, Institute of Albanology of Prishtina, Prishtina, 2006, p. 261-273.
NEZIRI, Zymer, Ethnocultural and epigraphic features of the Rugova region, in: Issues of Albanian folklore, 9, Albanian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Popular Culture, Tirana, 2006, pp. 139-200.