Author: Dem Ahmeti. Translation Petrit Latifi. Taken from Feri Arifis publication.

Read carefully the story of Dem Ahmeti, which happened in 1806 in Belgrade, not in Kosovo, not in Mavriq, because there was no war here. We mourned listening to this song. All notes are by foreign authors because there was no war in Kosovo in 1806.

Borrowed writing

“On the 202nd anniversary of the massacre of Albanians in Belgrade, New Facts for the People’s Tribune, Dem Ahmeti, of Reqica and Podujeva.
“The massacre took place against Albanians in Belgrade, not in Reqica and not in the Deme Family.

This is how the author of this family, Mr. Vesel Jaha, a professor of sociology from Podujeva, expresses himself, after having browsed hundreds of Serbian, Ottoman (Turkish), Greek, French, Russian, etc. sources.

Considering that at least few people knew about the 202nd anniversary of the Serbian massacre of Albanians in Belgrade, which is mistakenly known among the people as the Serbian massacre of the family of Dem Ahmeti, of Reqica of Podujeva, we are bringing a new approach to this event, as curious for the public as it is provocative for historians, by one of the descendants of this family, Mr. Vesel Jaha, professor of sociology from Podujeva.

Convinced that within a journalistic article like this, a complete truth cannot be told, this time a new truth about the popular tribune from Llapi, Dem Ahmeti, we are bringing below only some interesting data from the 10-year effort to shed light on this figure, by Mr. Vesel Jaha, who, after researching hundreds of written sources, Serbian, Ottoman (Turkish), Greek, French, Russian, etc., has come to the conclusion that the truth so far about Dem Ahmeti is only a Serbian construct, which has nothing in common with the written and documented truth, in the documents that Mr. Jaha now has.

The massacre took place in Belgrade, in October 1806, and not in the village of Reqice in Podujeva

First of all, we remind you that the history of the Serbian massacre of Albanians in Belgrade, known among the people as the massacre of the family of Dem Ahmeti, of the Reqice village in Podujeva, which took place on the Day of Eid al-Adha in 1806, is built more according to a historical song about this event, than from any more serious approach of historians.

This song, which was sung in several variants from generation to generation by the Albanians of Kosovo, according to Mr. Jaha, is a Serbian construct, made with the aim of minimizing the activity of Dem Ahmeti, which according to the written documents that I have, is much more important and multifaceted.

According to Mr. Jaha, the above-mentioned massacre actually took place in Belgrade, in October 1806, but not in the village of Mavriq and not on the family of Dem Ahmet, as the song says and as some of our superficial historians later say The truth that I have found from Serbian, Ottoman (Turkish) French, Greek and Russian written sources, Hungarian etc.

The documents I have and based on which I am preparing a book about Dem Ahmeti, prove that this massacre took place on the Albanians of Belgrade, at the time when Dem Ahmeti, from 1804 to December 1806, was one of the sudus of Belgrade. Then in French documents, I came across that Dem Ahmeti also had the nickname “Plisi” after he had ordered that the Albanians wear the plis and not the Turkish religion.

He was closely associated with Osman Pasha of Vidin in Bulgaria, with whom he had fought against Mustafa Pasha, according to Turkish documents called “Shinik Zade” in 1797, when the latter was the vizier of Belgrade, while his soldier was Karadjorgje himself, later leading the first Serbian uprising.

The massacre of the Albanians of Belgrade on Eid al-Adha in 1806 marks the beginning of the forced expulsion of the Albanian population from Belgrade and Serbia, a process that ended in 1912, said Mr. Jaha.
According to the documents available to Mr. Jaha, Dem Ahmet, together with Osman Pasha of Vidin, were among the rebels of the Ottoman Empire, while the attempts to liquidate him, and thus the Albanian element in Belgrade, were made with the permission of the great powers of Europe and the Ottoman Empire, which were implicated in the First Serbian Uprising and had secret connections with the leaders of this uprising.

This is best evidenced by the French documents written in Belgrade and the writings of Vuke Karadjiqi about these events, which we have at our disposal, said Mr. Jaha.

40 Albanian civilians were massacred

Karadjorgje was himself Novica i Zi (Gjergji i Zi) of the Kuqi clan
These documents then prove that the leader of the first Serbian uprising, Karadjorgje Petroviqi, was also known in the then-current opinion by the names Gjurica, Grujica, Novica, Karageorge and Karadjorgje. I have come to the conclusion that this Karadjorgje was himself Novica i Zi, who had attacked Albanians that day in Belgrade and had committed the well-known massacre in which more than 40 Albanian civilians were massacred, most of whom were women and children.

This Novica i Zi alias Karadjorgje had done this, not to take Ajeta e bukur as a bride, as the folk song says, but to gain fame and glory at the expense of Albanians, also encouraged by the Upper Porte.

According to the documents that I have, said Mr. Jaha, Karadjorgje alias “Novica i Zi” was not a servant of Dem Ahmeti as the Serbian construction of the song about Dem Ahmeti says, but was a servant of an Albanian named Fazli Basha, from the village of Banqine in the district of Smederevska Palanka, Black Novica alias Karagjorgje, had gained his closeness to the highest as a warrior when he had obeyed Dem Ahmeti and had accepted him as his superior or ruler.

This had happened with the mediation of Austria, when Dem Ahmeti (1804-1806) was one of the rulers of Belgrade, with Ali Gushanin as his deputy, who was the son of his sister, and who came from the Poradeci and Pogradeci family. The Serbian writings about Ali Gushanin are all lies with the aim of distorting and minimizing his adhetar activity, said Mr. Jaha.

According to written documents, said Mr. Jaha, the above-mentioned massacre took place in Belgrade on Eid al-Adha in 1806, while the perpetrators of this massacre were Karadjorgje alias Novica the Black and his friend Vukadin the Black, previously known as Konda Bajraktari, from Epirus in Macedonia, who is said to have been of the Orthodox faith and in Dema’s army had the title of Bajraktar.

This one, like Karadjorgje, was misled by the great Serbian promises and made a plan to attack the Albanians on Eid al-Adha, taking them by surprise, when they were sure that Dema was near them. In Serbian writings we have found that Dema had eight sons and one grandson and that in the Belgrade massacre, only Suljemani, who had the title of Age, was killed.

Serbian documents clearly state that two other sons of Dema were killed a few years earlier, in 1805. According to Serbian writings, they were killed by Serbian soldiers, supposedly out of ignorance, thinking that they were soldiers of Hafiz Pasha of Nish. But, the truth was that the Serbs had promises from Hafiza Pasha to fight the army of Dema Ahmeti, since she was not legitimate for Istanbul.”

Reference

Vesel Jaha “Demë Ahmeti – Perpjeket e Shqipateve për formimin e shtetit tyre, para dhe gjatë luftërave Austrohungareze-ruse-Osmane”.