Summary: This text compiles historical and scholarly references—many from Serbian, Yugoslav, and international sources—to outline the long history of Albanian presence in southern Serbia and Kosovo, and the territorial expansion of Serbia between 1804 and 1878. Drawing on books, encyclopedias, and archival studies, it highlights how regions such as Niš, Pirot, Vranje, and Toplica—once inhabited by significant Albanian populations—were annexed to Serbia following the Berlin Congress of 1878. Several sources, including Feliks Kanić’s Serbia: State and Population, note that before 1878 these areas contained numerous Albanian villages which were later emptied through forced displacement.

Other cited works, such as History of Yugoslav States and Rights of Peoples and Istorija Srba, trace the gradual Slavic migration into the Balkans beginning in the 6th century, while encyclopedic sources confirm that Kosovo was the historical center of ancient Dardania and that Christianity existed there as early as the 3rd century. Publications like Kosovo nekad i danas and M. Krasniqi’s Our Ethnic Roots argue that major Orthodox sites in Kosovo—Graçanica, the Patriarchate of Peja, and Ljeviška—were originally Byzantine and pre-Serbian constructions.

The concluding section presents a political appeal grounded in these historical claims. It argues that Kosovo has historically functioned as a distinct entity despite multiple Serbian occupations (1912, 1918, 1945, 1989, 1999) and that its independence should be fully recognized. It condemns the role of Serbia and Russia in suppressing Albanian rights, calls for the end of Serbian-only municipalities and parallel structures, and insists that Kosovo’s cultural heritage be recognized as originally Albanian. The text frames Kosovo’s struggle as a long-standing injustice resulting from 19th- and 20th-century territorial divisions, advocating for full sovereignty, restoration of displaced communities, and the correction of historical wrongs.

Serbia owes Kosovo territory of about two Kosovos (1804–1878)

The map is taken from the book Expulsions of Albanians and the Colonization of Kosovo (1877–1995), Institute of History, Prishtina, QIK, 1997.

The book History of Yugoslav States and Rights of Peoples, published in Belgrade and translated in Prishtina in 1979, by a Serbian author group, p. 7, writes:

In the second half of the 6th century, Slavic tribes gradually populated the region of the Eastern Alps; in the last decade of the 6th century, they had reached the line from the source of the Drava to the Danube.

Page 329: At the proposal of the Austrian authority, the borders of Serbia were expanded; four more counties were annexed to Serbia: Niš, Pirot, Vranje, and Toplica, so that, among others, Pirot and Vranje also entered the framework of the Serbian state.

Page 403: With the decisions of the Berlin Peace Treaty (1878) the territory of Montenegro was significantly expanded. It almost doubled. Montenegro also gained several cities (Nikšić, Podgorica, Spuž, Kolašin, Ulcinj). The same is confirmed in the book Crna Gora i Boka Kotorska by Vuk St. Karadžić, published by Nolit, Belgrade 1977, p. 9.

The book Srbija: Zemlja i Stanovništvo (Serbia: State and Population) by Feliks Kanić, published in Belgrade, 1986, p. 5, notes:
In 1878, with the decision of the Berlin Congress, the counties of Niš, Pirot, Vranje, and Toplica were annexed to Serbia and were mainly terra incognita in every respect, and for foreign researchers in a way remain so until now.

Page 126: Aleksinac fell into Serbian hands in 1833. The Turkish-Albanian government from Aleksinac was removed in 1833.

Page 238: In the early 19th century, Leskovac was the center of a large pashalik, whose borders also included the upper counties: Kruševac, Ćuprija, and Aleksinac (since 1833 they belong to Serbia).
Page 251: In the entire Veternica valley before 1878 there were many Albanian villages; no Albanians remained—they all moved to Turkish territories.

Page 293: In 1858 the right bank of the Morava also had 11 pure Albanian villages.

Page 294: In 1858, Prokuplje had 500 Muslim (Albanian) families, 300 Christians, 10 Jews, and 20 Roma. In 1877 there were 620 Albanian–Circassian families, 36 Roma, 325 Serbian houses, and 3 Jewish.
Page 298: Until 1878 the Toplica valley was covered almost entirely with Albanian villages.

Page 311: In 1877, when the Serbs came to Kuršumlija, they found only 2 Christians. Kuršumlija was taken by the Serbs on January 19, 1878.
Page 317: The Serbian government tried by all means to populate the Toplica district, which in 1878 it found almost deserted. In its 2,839 km², in 1905 there were registered 37 municipalities with 341 settlements and 102,954 inhabitants (36 inhabitants per km²); Kosanica (19 inhabitants per km²).

The book Istorija Srba – Kulturna Istorija by K. Jireček and J. Radonić, published in Belgrade 1978, p. 7, writes:
The city of Niš is not mentioned at all in the Serbian episcopate in the 13th–14th centuries, but in 1336 it is mentioned as part of the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

In the Encyclopedia of Yugoslavia, Vol. 1, A–Bib, published in Zagreb 1984 in Albanian, p. 206, it writes:
Kosovo was the central part of Dardania since 297. Christianity was present here early. The church hierarchy existed since the 3rd century (with a bishop in Ulpiana).

Page 638 writes: The keys to the city of Belgrade were handed over to Prince Miloš by the Turks on 6 April 1867.

The Nova Enciklopedija I, A–K, published in Belgrade 1977, p. 34, in Serbian, writes:
Albanians are the oldest people of the Balkans; nearly 3 million live in Albania, in Yugoslavia there are over 1,300,000, and others in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, USSR, Italy, the Near East, and in North and South America.

Page 689: Illyrians (Illyricum), ancient name in the Balkans from the Adriatic Sea to the Morava and from Epirus to the Danube.
Page 929: Kosovo inhabited since the Neolithic era. Albanians migrated to Kosovo during the first and second Serbian wars. In 1918 Kosovo joined the SHS (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes). Fifty thousand fighters from Kosovo participated in the People’s Liberation War (LDB). Kosovo joined Serbia in 1945.

Page 459: Greek territory expanded towards Epirus and Thessaly.

The Jugoslovenski Leksikografski Zavod A–Z, Zagreb 1974, in Serbian, p. 500, states:
In 1912 Kosovo was annexed to Serbia by the decision of the London Peace Agreement of 1913, as well as in 1918. Kosovo in the LDB provided 50,000 fighters.

Page 922: Serbs in the 9th century were Christianized. At the end of the 18th century, most Serbs in the Turkish state were gathered in the Belgrade pashalik. In 1876 Serbia was defeated, but with Russian help in the war it liberated the areas of Niš, Pirot, Leskovac, and Vranje. At the Congress of Berlin (1878) Serbia gained full independence.

Page 335: In the Peace of Edirne (1829) Turkey recognized the independence of Greece. Greece in 1864 gained the Ionian Islands from Great Britain, and in 1878 gained Thessaly from Turkey. During the Balkan Wars (1912–13) Greece gained Crete, Epirus, part of Macedonia, and Thrace.

The book Kosovo nekad i danas (Kosovo Once and Now), a group of Serbian and Albanian authors, published in Belgrade 1973, p. 416, written in both Serbian and Albanian, states:

Graçanica today stands on the foundations of an older church, in which was the seat of the bishopric of Lipjan. The Church of Graçanica, the oldest identified object, is the foundation of a three-part basilica from the early Byzantine period. On the ruins of this basilica, the Serbian king Uroš I (1243–1276) and perhaps his father Stefan Prvovenčani and uncle Sava Nemanjić also built a church.

Page 399 discusses the Patriarchate of Peja, and p. 404 the Church of Ljeviška, as the author notes.

M. Krasniqi in Our Ethnic Roots, Prishtina 2002, pp. 219–220, writes:
Graçanica, the Patriarchate of Peja, and Ljeviška in Prizren were built during Byzantine rule, before the arrival of the Serbs.

Page 250: The Empire of Tsar Dušan in the 14th century included Albania, a large part of Greece, and a small part of Bulgaria. But this empire did not last even ten years and soon fell apart. In the same and objective way this is written in other Serbo-Croatian and foreign books. From these injustices today there are more Albanians in the world than in the Balkans (around Albania).

Conclusions and Appeals

1. The great powers should, without hesitation, recognize the independence of Kosovo, since they are responsible for the division of the Albanian people as mentioned above, even by Serbian authors.
2. After World War II there were 50 states; now there are about 200, almost half as small as or smaller than Kosovo.
3. Despite Serbian occupations in 1912, 1918, 1945, 1989, and 1999, Kosovo has maintained its borders as a separate entity. With the 1974 Constitution it had ministries of foreign affairs, defense, and other state functions. This is why Milošević, through force, tanks, and a state of emergency, suspended the 1974 Constitution.
4. Serbia has expanded enough into Albanian lands for more than 200 years.
5. Russia has no right to interfere in the Albanian issue of Kosovo, since it has always supported Serbia in the contraction, displacement, and genocide of the Albanian people.
6. The Albanian issue, namely Kosovo, in the Balkans and Europe, is the most discredited and damaged.
7. Decentralization (Serbian municipalities with one ethnicity) should be canceled, since Kosovo, despite Serbian colonization and displacement of Albanians, has been and remains multi-ethnic, as shown in the book by Dr. Milovan Obradović, Agrarian Reform and Colonization in Kosovo (1918–1941), Prishtina 1981 (Serbian and Albanian, 2005). Over 60,000 Serbs came to Kosovo from 1918–1941, the same number from 1945–1966, and again in the 1990s. Before 1918 Kosovo had only about 3% Serbs.
8. The so-called Serbian cultural and church heritage should be reconsidered, since this heritage is originally Albanian, as stated by several authors. Serbs were Christianized in the 9th century, Albanians in the 1st–3rd century.
9. The term “Kosovo multi-ethnic,” the concept of “standards,” and Resolution 1244 should be revised.
10. Albanians should return to northern Mitrovica, and parallel Serbian structures (police, military) should be dismantled. Villages such as Dëbellde and Mahalla e Zahirajve should return under Kosovo’s control.

If these points are not examined and resolved, it is difficult to believe in a genuine and complete independence for Kosovo.