Summary
In October 1903, Austria-Hungary and Russia presented the Mürzsteg Reform Program to the Ottoman Empire to stabilize the “Macedonian Question” and protect Christian populations. The program aimed to reorganize administration, gendarmerie, and justice in the vilayets of Kosovo, Monastir, and Salonika while preventing Balkan state interventions. Albanians strongly opposed the reforms, fearing they threatened territorial integrity. This led to widespread uprisings in 1904, especially in Gjakova, Peja, Luma, and Mitrovica. Led by figures such as Sulejman Batusha and Ramadan Zaskoci, rebels demanded autonomy and resisted disarmament. Although suppressed, the uprisings forced the Great Powers to exclude most Albanian-majority areas from the reforms, marking a partial victory for the Albanian National Movement.
The Ilinden Uprising and its suppression by Ottoman forces prompted the Great Powers to intervene once again in the so-called Macedonian Question.
On 22 October 1903, Austria-Hungary and Russia — recognized by the other Great Powers as the states most interested in the region — presented the Sublime Porte with a new reform program for the three so-called “Macedonian vilayets.” This was the result of an agreement between the Austrian and Russian emperors at Mürzsteg (Austria). Since the “European Concert” was seen as too complicated to activate, the Great Powers preferred to give the mandate for the reforms to Russia and Austria-Hungary.
The new program was undertaken “to protect the Christian populations” from Ottoman violence, while the main goal of the Great Powers was to prevent any disturbances or unrest (meaning the liberation movements in European Turkey) and to block any intervention by Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, or Greece that could disrupt the established balance and general peace in Europe. Under the conditions prevailing in European Turkey in 1903, the possibility of direct Russian or Austrian (or joint) military intervention in the region was not ruled out.
The Mürzsteg Agreement was described by the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, Goluchowski, as “a cordial alliance” between the two countries aimed at preserving the status quo in the Balkans and ensuring a peaceful solution to the region’s problems. He declared that these two powers did not seek to establish dominant influence there, but at the same time would not allow any other state to do so.
Goluchowski also admitted that the Mürzsteg Program constituted direct intervention by Austria-Hungary and Russia in European Turkey. If the Sublime Porte did not cooperate, the intervention would continue and could have serious consequences for the Ottoman Empire. By appointing two civil officials — one Russian and one Austrian — to assist the General Inspector, Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha, in supervising the implementation of reforms and the situation in Macedonia, Vienna and St. Petersburg placed the so-called “Macedonian” vilayets of Kosovo, Monastir, and Salonika under their control.
The project also provided for the reorganization of the gendarmerie, with an Italian general as commander along with foreign officers, and the creation of commissions to examine political issues. These commissions would consist of consular representatives of the two powers and representatives of the Christian and Muslim populations of the three vilayets.
To avoid further sharpening contradictions among the Great Powers, the territory where the reforms would be applied was divided into five zones (Serres, Drama, Salonika, Skopje, and Monastir). In each zone, foreign officers were assigned respectively: French, British, Russian, Austrian, and Italian.
The Austro-Russian reform project and foreign interventions in Albanian territories gave new impetus to the revolutionary movement in Albania. The Albanians rose again against the reforms, which threatened the territorial integrity of their homeland. Popular discontent increased because the Sublime Porte, in the name of reforms, imposed new taxes and sent large numbers of troops to Albania to collect them and enforce the reforms.
Although not organized on a national scale and taking the form of local uprisings without a single central leadership, the Albanian movement of 1904 — known at the time as the Albanian Uprising — had a common objective: it was directed against Ottoman rule and the new foreign interventions undertaken by the Great Powers in Albania at the end of 1903 and beginning of 1904. The demands presented by the rebels in different centers were identical and generally had a national character, aiming to secure autonomy for Albania.
Faik Konica’s magazine “Albania” (London, 1904) published the program of the uprising in its second issue. In addition to opposing the implementation of reforms, the withdrawal of Ottoman troops from Kosovo, and the release of political prisoners, it included the demand for autonomy or “self-governance” of Albania under the Sultan’s sovereignty.
The Serbian author Pavle Orlović also attributed to the 1904 Albanian Uprising the demand for an autonomous Albania formed by uniting the vilayets of Kosovo, Shkodra, Monastir, and Janina in his work “Old Serbia and the Albanians” (Belgrade, 1904).
In February 1904, the uprising spread to Gjakova, Peja, Luma, Reka, the districts of Mitrovica, and other centers. The main center became Gjakova, where 5,000–6,000 rebels gathered in early February under the leadership of Sulejman Batusha. They attacked the garrison and attempted to enter the city. The population of Peja quickly joined the Gjakova rebels and swore an oath with them. The Mirdita people also declared themselves ready to march to Gjakova and Peja to assist their Kosovar compatriots.
To suppress the movement, the Turkish government sent large military forces commanded by Shemsi Pasha, notorious for his brutality against Albanians. In Gjakova alone, 10 battalions with field and mountain artillery were deployed. On 12 February, they clashed northwest of the city, in the village of Batusha, with 2,000 rebels who inflicted losses on Shemsi Pasha’s Ottoman army and pinned it down. The military operations were accompanied by forced tax collection and the destruction of entire villages in the region.
On 21 February, the population of Peja rose up, seized weapons, and resisted the Ottoman army. Attempts by the bajraktars of Rugova to unite the local population with the Peja rebels were temporarily blocked by the Ottoman military command. Meanwhile, the Sublime Porte sent additional troops — a total of 25 battalions — commanded by the Vali of Kosovo, Shaqir Pasha.
In early March, the uprising spread to the Sanjak of Prizren, especially to the kaza of Luma, where Ramadan Zaskoci (a former gendarmerie captain) took leadership. With some interruptions, the uprising continued until the autumn of 1904.
During March–April, Mitrovica and its surroundings also joined the movement and became a center for secret meetings to organize resistance against the reforms and the disarmament of Albanians. Representatives from Mitrovica contacted Albanians in Prishtina, Vushtrri, Gjilan, and Novi Pazar to establish a common position on the reforms.
On 30 June, the Vali of Kosovo, Shaqir Pasha, was sent to Peja. During negotiations with representatives of 2,000 rebels gathered in the city, Albanian leaders demanded, in addition to tax relief, the release of all political prisoners arrested for participating in the anti-Ottoman uprising. The Vali promised to meet their demands.
In August–September 1904, after a temporary lull, armed resistance revived in the regions between Peja, Gjakova, and Prizren. In August, the people of Luma attacked and captured Prizren. In September, the rebels took Peja. New Ottoman forces (about 5 battalions) were sent to the Prizren region to suppress the uprising, but they were insufficient to restore order.
On 8 September, Vali Shaqir Pasha arrived in Prizren and promised the Albanians the release of arrested rebels and ranks and pensions for their leaders, but he refused to cancel the reforms in the courts, gendarmerie, and police. Afterwards, at the end of September, the rebels withdrew from Prizren and Peja and dispersed.
Although suppressed, the Albanian uprisings of 1903–1904 forced the Great Powers to make changes in the designation of reform zones. As early as January 1904, the International Military Commission, tasked with determining the territories for reforms, discussed the creation of an Albanian sanjak within the Vilayet of Kosovo.
This sanjak would be excluded from the reform zones and would consist of districts where Albanians formed the overwhelming majority. It would stretch from Kaçanik in the south to Kolashin in the north, including Novi Pazar and Pljevlja. The formation of such an Albanian sanjak would have meant official recognition by the Great Powers of the Albanian ethnic character of most of the Kosovo Vilayet — something that contradicted Belgrade’s claims that “Kosovo is Serbian land.”
Following protests by Serbia, especially by N. Pašić in St. Petersburg, the Russian representative (supported by the Italian one) managed to prevent the creation of the Albanian sanjak of Kosovo.
Afterwards, Austria-Hungary demanded the exclusion from reforms not only of the Vilayets of Shkodra and Janina, but also Albanian lands in the Vilayets of Kosovo and Monastir. This proposal resulted from Albanian resistance and Vienna’s desire to prevent intervention by its partners (especially Italy) in these Albanian territories. Consequently, in February 1904, the International Military Commission decided to temporarily exclude from the reforms the western districts of the Vilayets of Monastir and Kosovo where Albanians formed the majority of the population.
These included the Sanjak of Korça (except the kaza of Kastoria), the Sanjak of Elbasan, the western part of the Ohrid kaza, the entire Sanjak of Dibra, the Sanjak of Prizren, the southern and western parts of the Peja Sanjak, and the kazas of Pljevlja and Senica in the Novi Pazar Sanjak. During implementation, the Sanjak of Prishtina — one of the largest in the Kosovo Vilayet, where the overwhelming majority was also Albanian — was also left outside the reform zones. This was in fact (though indirect) recognition by the Great Powers of the Albanian ethnic character of all these territories (the Vilayet of Kosovo and the western parts of the Vilayet of Monastir), marking a victory for the Albanian National Movement.
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