Petrit Latifi
In 1913, the Serbian press in Belgrade wanted to spread a narrative that Albanian revoluters refused to accept the border agreement by the London Peace Treaty. The truth was, of course, that these revolts were caused by Serbian troops illegally entering Albanian territories, and not allow Albanian merchants in the markets, which the Treaty had approved. The Serbian troopers would also pillage Albanian villages and shoot down peaceful Albanians who visited the markets.
Cited from an article in the “Tiroler Stimmen” from 1913:
“On the Serbian-Albanian struggles. It has often been pointed out that the breeding ground for the Albanian uprising against the Serbs was not so much in the newly created, autonomous Albania, but rather in the areas almost entirely inhabited by Albanians, which, according to the London Peace Treaty, fell to Serbia. A recent note in the “Albanian Correspondence” from Balona emphasizes this fact very emphatically. It states:
“A decisive protest must be made against the tendency in the Serbian press to blame autonomous Albania for the revolt in Serbia. In contrast to this tendency, it must be stated that these are battles being waged by the Albanians ceded to Serbia in the ceded territories. However, clashes have also occurred between individual Albanian tribes and Serbian detachments.
But complaining about this is very unattractive for the Serbian government, because these clashes were brought about by Serbian troop detachments that illegally entered the territory, obstructing the market freedom guaranteed by the powers, and simply shooting down peaceful market visitors in the streets.
Because of these clashes, Serbia truly does not need, as it seems, to mobilize an entire army. Rather, the situation is evidently such that almost half of the new Serbia is in revolt, and the Serbian government is mobilizing large bodies of troops to quickly put an end to the revolt. The new Albanian state is with these internal turmoils in Serbia.”
Reference
Balkan Academia 