By: Armend Zaplluzha. Translation Petrit Latifi

One of the most interesting aspects of the Declaration of Independence of Albania is the fact that most people believe that Albania on November 28, 1912 declared Independence from the Ottoman Empire. In fact, Independence was declared by Serbia, Greece and Montenegro, because they were the invaders on the ground on November 28, 1912. Not the Ottomans.

The facts are that on November 28, 1912, the Ottoman Empire had been totally defeated in the Western Balkans and was fighting for life and death in the Eastern Balkans, more precisely in Thrace. In Albania, the Ottoman army was trapped in Shkodra and remained there without daring to leave Shkodra until it surrendered to the Montenegrins.

Albania was occupied by Serbia, Greece and Montenegro, and the Ottoman Empire had no theoretical chance of returning to power.
Most of Albania from Elbasan and upper Durrës was under Serbian occupation and was considered by them as part of “Old Serbia”.
And this situation continued until October 1913 when Austria sent a military ultimatum to Serbia and threatened it with frontal war if it did not withdraw behind the borders defined in the Conference of Ambassadors.

Albania was under Serbian occupation for a whole year and if Austria had not threatened war, Serbia would probably still have barracks and tanks in Tirana today, because there was no other force that could have prevented it. Below is a translation of an article from the Serbian newspaper “Politika”, from November 16, 1912, which describes the situation in Durrës under Serbian rule.

“The Durrës District.”
The representation of Durrës is, after so much joy, again in Serbian hands. The army of General Živojinović entered the city without encountering any serious resistance.

The population went before it with so much confidence that almost no one, except for a few kidnapped adventurers, took refuge in the ship “Greq Virginiska”, which the Austrian Lloyd had placed at the disposal of the wealthy Arnauts and which is in the port.

The army immediately began to maintain order. The streets of Durrës, except for some cases of those hiding from their panic, were quiet.
Since they (the Serbs) were coming well from the clashes in Albania, where instead of the power of the Sultan now almost everything is under the direction of the elders of the tribes and even of the people of the islands, the Arnauts came out immediately, as everywhere. But here in Durrës, as in a place where a larger number of Muslim and Christian Albanians live, the whole issue took on greater importance.

This is the first clearly visible sign that the Serbian army has come to Albania as a friend and humane; in real Albania (I believe that we are talking about rural areas here – translator’s note -) the Albanian population did not let the Serbian army enter, although the population, according to the instigation of the Viennese newspapers themselves, had been disarmed in time.

As our detachments advance, many Albanians come out of the forests and mountains to surrender. Thus, in Durrës, 40 Albanians with good weapons have already surrendered.

From the whole picture of the situation, the Albanians are convinced that the Serbs will remain in Durrës forever, and this gives them security.
On the contrary, unrest is recurring in the city itself due to double propaganda. Austria-Hungary is propagandizing that the Arnauts will have to return to Turkey, if not to Italy; while Italy, for its own interests, is propagandizing that the Arnauts should in no way accept Serbian rule and should support Turkey.

heir ships and officers are working very actively in this direction. Because of this, the Arnauts tried yesterday again to cause a riot and attack the Serbian reconnaissance patrols. But ours were on the alert and everything ended quickly.

Some Arnauts from the city are crossing to the mountains, but when they see that the Serbian government is not doing injustice to anyone, they return and ask for peace. All this unrest is caused only because of some false hope instilled in them by foreign agents. But when they calm down a little, the situation changes.

The Muslim population of Durrës and the surrounding area will be very useful to our army in regulating the country. These are rich and honest people, especially those involved in trade, and they willingly accept the new power that guarantees them wealth and peace.”

Commentary: It is abundantly clear that the Serbian newspapers of the time had this imperialist rationale for the Serbian invasion of Albania, despite the Serbs massacring over 150,000 Albanians within one year, somehow, that was ignored and the independence of Albania was rejected by the Serbian papers and authorities.

Newspaper source

“Politika”, November 16, 1912.