by Nehat Hyseni. Translation Petrit Latifi
The Christian Albanian population of Preshevo has been an essential component of the social and ethnic structure of this region, from the early Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century. Historical, linguistic and documentary evidence points to an Arbër continuity in the Preshevo–Bujanovac–Vranje–Pçinje area, where Christianity was the dominant religion until the 16th century.
The migrations of this population took place in several large waves, intertwined with the processes of Islamization, assimilation into the Slavic population, or with direct expulsions organized by neighboring states.
- The first migrations: 14th–15th centuries
Medieval Serbian and Ottoman sources, such as the Decani diplomats, the Hilandar documents, and the Ottoman defteri of 1455, testify to a considerable number of Christian Albanian villages in the region of Preshevo and Moravica.
The terms “Arbanas”, “Arbanasi hrišćani”, “Albanenses” appear frequently in this area, testifying to a clear Albanian ethnic identity.
In the period 1380–1455, due to the wars between the Serbian and Arbër principalities, a part of the Albanian Christian population moved southwards: to Skopje, Kumanovo, and in some cases even further. These were limited migrations and were mainly related to political and military conflicts.
- The Ottoman period and demographic transformations (16th–18th centuries)
With the Ottoman stabilization in the Balkans, the Albanian population of Preševo experienced two parallel processes:
a) Gradual Islamization
Many Christian Albanian families, especially in urban centers and border areas, converted to Islam.
This process did not change their ethnic identity: they remained Albanian and preserved their toponymy, language, and tribal structure.
b) Internal displacements
A significant number of Christian Albanian families moved to the villages of Bujanovac, Vranje, Masurica, etc., whose descendants, after the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, returned to the Serbified Preševo as Serbian colonists.
Although this period does not mark large-scale migrations outside the region, it marks the beginning of the reduction in the percentage of the Christian population in Preševo.
- The two major waves of migration (during the 17th–18th centuries)
The first major migration (1690)
The event known in Serbian historiography as the “Great Migration of Serbs” (Velika seoba Srba) in 1690, according to Austrian and Ottoman documents, also included a very large number of Christian Albanians from Presheva, Vranje, Pçinja and Moravica.
Many of them are registered as “Albanesi catholici” and “Arbanasi orthodoxi”, i.e. Catholic Albanians and Orthodox Albanians.
The second major migration (1737)
In 1737, after the failed Austrian campaign, hundreds of Christian Albanian families were displaced from Preševo, Moravica and Pçinja.
They settled mainly in Kosovo, especially in Gjilan, Ferizaj, as well as in Kumanovo.
These two waves constitute the beginning of the loss of the large demographic dimensions of the Christian Albanian community in Preševo.
- Assimilation and Serbization after 1804
After the establishment of the modern Serbian state, a systematic process of Serbization of Christian Albanians began in the Preševo area, documented by Jovan Haxhi-Vasiljević, Aleksandar Urošević, Vladimir Petrović, Sima Ćirković and by Ottoman defters from the years 1830–1860.
Assimilation took place on several levels:
- In the church: services were held only in the Serbian language and there was also the replacement of Albanian priests with Serbian ones.
- In the administration: the Slavicization of surnames.
- In toponymy: the replacement of the names of Albanian settlements with Slavic ones.
This period marks the “administrative disappearance” of a large part of the Christian Albanians, who in documents are presented as Serbs, but in reality were “Arnautash” – Slavicized Christian Albanians.
- The tragedy of the years 1876–1878
During the Serbo-Ottoman Wars, there was a massive expulsion of Albanians from Toplica, Nish, Kurshumlija and Vranje.
Along with the Muslim Albanians, Christian Albanians were also expelled from over 700 villages in Serbia.
A large number of Christian Albanian families appear in the lists of Sabit Uka and in the Ottoman archives.
Most of them settled in Preshevo, Ternovec and other villages of Bujanovc, as well as in Gjilan, Lipjan, Kachanik, etc., while some of them were later moved again from Preševo.
- The Final Displacement (1912–1918)
After the Serbian occupation of the Preševo Valley in the Balkan Wars (1912), the remnants of the Christian Albanian population were displaced due to state violence, the banning of the Albanian language, the burning of villages, the confiscation of lands, etc. Some were displaced, while the rest were assimilated into the Serbs.
Conclusion
The displacement of the Christian Albanians of Preševo was not a single act, but a long historical process:
- Pre-Ottoman phase: 1300–1455
- Two major migrations: 1690 and 1737
- State assimilation: 1804–1877
- Decisive expulsion: 1877–1878
- Final phase: 1912–1918
After 1920, there were almost no Christian Albanian families left in Preševo, as a result of their migration, Slavization and assimilation into Serbs and religious conversions by the Serbian Orthodox Church, being strongly encouraged and supported by the Serbian state administration.
Original article
https://dardaniapress.net/histori/shqiptaret-krishtere-te-presheves-shek-xiv-xx/
Balkan Academia 