Babaj i Bokës is a settlement in the municipality of Gjakova. Through out the centuries, the village was never spared during the centuries of wars, during the Ottoman Empire, they initially changed their religion, and the young men of the village were forcibly conscripted into the Nizan (King’s soldiers). The middle of the 19th century found the village in rebellion against the Ottomans. The villagers did not obey the Turkish orders. The village suffered the burning of houses and the murder of several villagers.

The beginning of the 20th century found the village tired and poor but strong enough to defend itself from the next enemies, now from Serbia and Montenegro. The villagers refused to submit to the Serbian and Montenegrin invaders. In 1912, the Serbs demanded a property tax from the villagers, that is, to forcefully collect the tax (Atkupi). All the villagers were against this decision, among them Jahë Salihu stands out, who kills 4 members of the Serbian Chetnik army.

The Serbo-Montenegrin forces, out of anger, began to kill the residents and burn the village. That day, Bajram Musa and his son Hysen Bajram, from the Musa Tahiri family, were shot in front of the villagers, while Hysen’s mother later died out of anger and grief. That same day, on the way to Gjakova, fellow villagers Adem Tahiri and Zenun Sadiku were killed.

The village was a disgrace in the eyes of the Serbian government. In 1918, large Serbian forces attacked the village, burning many houses. The villagers were ready to surrender to the Serbian government. Thus, in 1922, in the Bjshket e Nemuna, in the war against the occupying forces of Montenegro, several villagers were killed: Misin Muzlia, Hasan Zumberi, Sadri Zenuni, Zenun Balia, Kamber Dema and his wife Haten (Hate Ukë Dina).

During the time of Bajram Curri, there was no shortage of help from the villagers, both with food, ammunition and soldiers. During the years of the Yugoslav King Alexander I 1928-1941, the village was forcibly taken from the land, settling Serbian and Montenegrin settlers. The village during this time numbered about 60 houses.

During the Second World War, the villagers, although they knew where this war would lead, joined the fight against the Nazis-fascists. The war had great consequences. In the village before and during the war, Januz Malë Miftari was killed in 1937 and Sejdë Avdyl Delia by Serbian partisan forces. Immediately after the war, the genocide began that did not stop for 50 years. The partisans began to impose collectivization, which the villagers did not accept (Collectivization), which ended the spread of collectivization in Kosovo.

The year 1956-1966, the great winter for the Albanians, hit the village hard (Rankovic’s Time), did an unprecedented thing to the innocent Albanian inhabitants, asking for weapons. During the tortures of the Babarics and Rankovic, the villager Sheh Hasan Mehmeti dies, and dozens of others are tortured in the most brutal ways.

Years pass, the horror and violence do not stop, on November 28, 1968, the youth of the village, led by the teacher Zenel Sadiku, raise the flag in the middle of the village and write on the walls of the mosque “Long live the Flag Day”.

November-December 1981, Serbian forces again attacked the village, this time arresting fellow villagers Zenel Sadiku, a teacher at the Fahri Hoxha elementary school, Hasan Sadriu, a teacher, Idriz Hajdari, Ali Uka, Xhevdet Pajaziti, Miftar Mete and Ibrahim Sadriu. The group of prisoners was sentenced to 21 years in prison. In January 1982, the village headman Dervish Avdyli was imprisoned on the pretext of demanding unification Albania.

A special contribution was also given by Rexhe Miftari, who helped the Resistance Comrades directly and indirectly, where he was imprisoned for a short time with his brother: Januz and Gjagja’s son Sokol. From time to time he brought propaganda materials to deepen the hatred towards the Republic of Serbia, finally he was forced to leave illegally through Albania to Switzerland and stayed 10 years without returning to his homeland. Even in exile, he joined the Marxist-Leninist Group for the Republic of Kosovo.

The young Miftar Tali is killed in the Yugoslav army while returning home, he is killed by the then military security, just because he did not obey orders to cooperate with the UDB. Since then, his family has been tortured by the UDB from time to time.

In the spring of 1994, in the mountains above the village (Bokë) the Serbian army killed the brothers Zenu and Musë Bukolla. In November 1994, the Serbian police again arrested Zenel Sadiku along with his friends Mentor Kaqin and Naim Krasniqi. Zenel was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison.

During the last war of 1997-1999, the village was surrounded by an iron fence by Serbian military forces, but the villagers helped the surrounding villages in various ways, and it served as a bridge to Albania, and some young people took up the arms of Freedom.

After the bombing by NATO air forces, on March 26, 1999, the villagers were forcibly expelled from the village, and on the morning of March 27, 1999, the village was completely burned down and reduced to rubble.

After this war, the village was missing the following residents: Gani Sadriu, killed on March 17, 1999, Ali Rrustemi, killed on July 17, 1998, Muhamet Ali Miftari (70) on March 27, 1999, who refused to leave his home, Shkurte Rexhepi, in his 80s, Ali Hajdar Kameri, in his 60s, Zenun Zenun Miftari, killed in the yard of his house, Danë Sylë Miftari, wounded . Missing and found murdered: Sheh Ramë Mehmeti around (50) with his son Mehmet Sheh Rama (25), Ismet Zenun Syla (55), Ahmet Mustafa Ahmeti (60), teacher Shaban Bajram Shabani (25) and Hamez Hasani around 45 years old still not found.

Today the village breathes freely and is built, but with serious historical and centuries-old wounds.

Spoken about the history of the good place, Babaj i Bokës
In Gjakova, in Babaj t’Bokës, 400 years ago there was a dervish that no one knew and did not recognize. This dervish was also a shepherd. One day he sets off without telling anyone to a place called ‘’Qaje’’. Only dervishes went to this place. He is honored there as ‘’Dervish’’. Returning to his home in Gjakova, he is met by three of his peers who ask him: “Where are you going?”

One of these three peers grabs his qelesha and throws it to the ground. Dervish Neziri sits down to catch the qelesha and at that moment one of the three (not the first one) steps on the qelesha that had fallen to the ground so that it cannot catch it. At that moment Dervish Neziri says to them: “You, today 1 week, the other one, today 2 weeks and I today 3 weeks we will die.”

And when the week was up, the one who threw the qelesha to the ground died. When the second one saw that the Dervish’s word had come true, he went to ask for forgiveness. And the Dervish, in order to forgive him, asked him in return to take a bullet, put it in his rifle, shoot it in the air and bring the bullet back to the dervish. He saw that he could not do this and told him that it was impossible, that such a thing could not be done.

Dervish Neziri said to him: ”Since you cannot do this, then this work is finished.” And the Dervish told his sons to bury him there on the hill, in a place where there are gëlinja (a tree like a bush that does not grow much) and said to them: “You have grown from three and are left with two.” Then he said: “After my death, you will make me a ‘‘celle’’ (a memorial dinner that is given to the deceased every year), since he liked lamb meat and halva. And they accepted as long as he was concerned about these two things. But Dervish Neziri’s concern was not about lamb meat and halva, but about children with different abilities, disabilities, children without support and the sick.

He said: “Take lambs, cut them up and give them to people to eat, first try it with lambs.”

And so they built a tekke for him approximately 150-200 years ago. May 6 was designated as a holy date for the Tekke e Pulajve (Tyrba e Pulajve), in Babaj t’Bokës, and every year the number of visitors from every country increases, who come and pray about their problems and say that they have found solutions.

Sources 

Material gathered from local testimonies in Babaj i Bokës.