Abstract
This study discusses the Serbian persecution, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against Albanians from the early 19th century up to 1913. Sources show that between 1800 and 1875, around 150,000 Albanians were expelled from Serbian territories. 600,000 Albanians were expelled or killed between 1804 to 1913.
During the Eastern Crisis (1875–1878), Serbian forces killed approximately 35,000–70,000 Albanians and expelled 300,000–350,000 from the Sanjak of Nish and surrounding regions (Toplica, Vranje, etc.), destroying hundreds of villages in the process.
These actions were part of a deliberate policy to create an ethnically pure Serbian state, supported by Russia and parts of Europe, following plans such as Ilija Garašanin’s Načertanije. The text also describes the Albanian uprising of autumn 1913, during which Serbian troops suppressed the rebellion with heavy force, burning villages and committing massacres against civilians in areas such as Dibra, Luma, and the Gjakova Highlands.
Overall, the Serbs showed a pattern of violence, mass expulsion, and colonization aimed at removing the Albanian population from lands that later became part of Serbia, with major events peaking in 1877–1878 and 1913.
Total amount of Albanians killed
A total of roughly 550,000 to 600,000 Albanians affected (killed or expelled) between 1800 and 1913.
Shaban Braha writes:
“The tragedy of the Morava and Pirot regions, where Serbian and Bulgarian terrorist forces from 1804 to 1875 had forced 150 thousand Albanians to flee their ancestral lands.”
Ethnic Cleansing and Serbian Genocide of Albanians in the Sanjak of Nish
by Ejup Krasniqi. 18 August 2005.
From Raška, the Serbs began to penetrate in the 11th–12th centuries toward the Kosovo Plain, the upper reaches of the Morava and Vardar rivers.
The Great Župan burned Lipljan and devastated other areas in 1091. The son of Stefan Nemanja, named Stefan and called the First-Crowned, wrote in 1190 that Nemanja had occupied, in addition to the Struma Valley, also Prizren, Skopje, and Leshak in Polog.
These cities were completely destroyed.
Based on historical and archival sources, the Albanian population existed continuously in the territories of the Sanjak of Nish from Antiquity until the middle of the 19th century.
The process of colonization of Albanian lands with Slavic settlers, the depopulation of Albanians, and Serbization was carried out by Belgrade especially during the “Eastern Crisis” of 1875.
In the Nish Valley during this period, 35,000 Albanians were killed and massacred. In one Albanian neighborhood of Nish, 300 houses were looted and burned.
Some Albanian families fled through the great cold, through the Gerdelica gorge, toward Vranje and Kumanovo.
Serbian writer Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević, while explaining the Serbian extermination policy toward Albanians, writes that the expulsion of Albanians was done to make Serbia a purely national state and to create the possibility for further action toward Kosovo.
Based on various plans such as “Načertanije” (1844) by Ilija Garašanin, Serbian colonization in Albanian lands continued.
Between the Two World Wars, the government nationalized 129,212.94 hectares of land in Kosovo. During this time, 13,482 families with about 67,410 members were settled in 594 settlements in Kosovo.
The invaders carried out genocide and ethnocide with scorched-earth strategies for the ethnic cleansing of Albanians. They had moral, political, diplomatic, and military support from Russia and Europe.
The Prince of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, ordered Chetnik soldiers and paramilitaries: “The greatest merit toward the Serbian state and nation will be the one who manages to exterminate and deport the most Albanians!”
In conditions of a snowy winter that cannot be remembered, he drove out about 300,000 Albanians from Toplica, Kosanica, Pustarek, etc. They lived in about 700 localities, of which about 640 were completely Albanian. Most were Muslim Albanians.
About 350,000 Albanians, mainly Muslims, were driven from their ancestral lands by Greek and Montenegrin armies. Sources speak of about 70,000 Albanians slaughtered, killed, and roasted in the fires of their homes in about 600 Albanian villages razed to the ground in 1877/8 alone.
THE SITUATION OF ALBANIANS FROM THE SANJAK OF NISH IN 1878–1912
The well-known Serbian writer Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević emphasizes in his book that Albanians remained in Serbia (in the Sanjak of Nish) until August 1878. After the Berlin Congress, the Serbian government deported them across the border to Kosovo.
The main motive for the deportation was to create a purely national Serbian state. Serbia also wanted to prepare future actions toward Kosovo and to ensure peace and order.
With the displacement of Albanians, many places in the Sanjak of Nish remained deserted. Some villages even lost their names because no one was left.
The government then sent requests for Serbs from the other side of the border to come and settle. They were given land.
Later, after the Berlin Congress, 620 Albanian villages remained deserted. English and Turkish documents confirm that 350,000 inhabitants were displaced from the Sanjak of Nish and other areas.
According to Serbian and Turkish documents, all Albanians from the Sanjak of Nish settled in the territory of Kosovo. At that time the Sanjak of Nish was part of the Kosovo Vilayet and was largely considered Albania.
The displaced Albanians answered: “I am Albanian. I was expelled from Albania, the Sanjak of Nish.”
After 1912, Serbian historiography falsified these facts and spread false claims in Europe.
HISTORICAL LOSS: SERBIAN EXPULSION AND GENOCIDE AGAINST ALBANIANS IN THE SANJAK OF NISH AND OTHER AREAS
The liberation of the territories of the Pashalik of Belgrade and 6 other districts between 1800 and 1875 was a legitimate Serbian right. However, it also removed the non-Serb population. About 150,000 Albanians were removed from the Morava Valley.
The Obrenović dynasty continued the state terrorist policy against Albanians and Bosniaks for ethnic cleansing.
In 1832 the government ordered that every Albanian and Bosniak caught be beaten with sticks. In 1834 it ordered the army to burn their villages.
In 1856, after the Paris Peace Treaty, Serbia gained rights to remove Albanians from cities in Šumadija and Herzegovina. In 1865 Prince Mihailo issued a law on colonization of foreigners.
Until the end of the 19th century, Albanians lived in most cities, towns, and villages of the Sanjak of Nish. They were concentrated especially in the Toplica, Vranje, and Nish regions.
Main Albanian Settlements
There were Albanian residents in places such as Prokuplje, Kuršumlija, Vranje, Leskovac, Nish, Pirot, and many others.
The full list of settlements includes: Alikinci, Arbanashka, Bajshtica, Bellanica, Borovci, Breznica, Buqinca, and hundreds more.
Total: 551 named settlements. With others, the number reaches around 700 Albanian settlements.
The process of colonization with Slavs and forced displacement of Albanians continued after the Eastern Crisis of 1875 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Serbia occupied the Sanjak of Nish, which included ethnic Albanian areas.
Serbia carried out massive genocide against the Albanian population, supported by Russian forces. Over 35,000 Albanians of all ages died from gunfire, bayonets, burning, or freezing.
Many mothers froze to death with babies in their arms. Albanian villages were looted and burned. In one neighborhood of Nish alone, 300 houses were reduced to ashes.
Even Residents of Novi Pazar Did Not Escape the Massacres
Although World War II could have allowed the unification of Ethnic Albania, the Nazi-fascist allies divided it. Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbo-Montenegrin Chetniks carried out murders.
The Bihor Massacre on the night of 5/6 January 1943 was the largest in the Balkans during WWII. Chetniks burned 82 Albanian and Bosniak villages, killed about 4,600 people, and took 251 young girls. The total massacred exceeded 6,000.
The Albanian Uprising of Autumn 1913
by Sheradin Berisha
The second decade of the 20th century was one of the most difficult periods for the Albanian people.
The First Balkan War in 1912 brought great changes. Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece occupied more than half of ethnic Albanian territories.
Serbia occupied 19,000 km² including Kosovo and Macedonia with nearly one million Albanians. Montenegro occupied large areas with 190,000 Albanians. Greece and Bulgaria also took Albanian lands.
Albanians did not accept this. They continued the war for the liberation of Kosovo and other territories.
Leaders such as Bajram Curri, Isa Boletini, Elez Isufi, and others prepared a new uprising in February–March 1913.
The Serbian government followed their movements closely and strengthened its forces.
On 16 August 1913, Isa Boletini wrote to Ismail Qemali about the misery and hunger in the Gjakova Highlands.
The Albanian uprising of September 1913 began in Dibra. Albanian forces liberated several towns and defeated Serbian units.
The uprising spread to Luma, Gora, Opoja, Vërrini, the Gjakova Highlands, and other regions.
Serbia mobilized large forces and launched a counter-offensive in October 1913.
During this offensive, the Serbian army committed terrible massacres against the civilian population. Hundreds of villages were burned. Thousands of Albanians were killed, including women and children. Many were burned alive.
In the Dibra region, 180 villages were destroyed. In Luma, 27 villages with over 700 houses were burned and more than 1,800 people were slaughtered.
Foreign diplomats reported on the great panic and the flow of refugees toward Elbasan, Tirana, and Durrës.
After heavy fighting, the Serbian army reoccupied the areas. The uprising was suppressed with blood, but Albanian resistance continued.
Sources
Shtëpia Botuese “8 Nëntori”, 1981. Shaban Braha. Idriz Seferi në Lëvizjet Kombëtare Shqiptare.
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Mjeda, Lazër (Archbishop). “Report on the Serb Invasion of Kosova and Macedonia, 24 January 1913.” In Texts and Documents of Albanian History, edited by Robert Elsie.
Şimşir, Bilal N. Rumeli’den Türk Göçleri [Turkish Migrations from Rumelia]. 2 vols. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1979–1980. (Turkish archival collection frequently cited for higher estimates of Muslim/Albanian displacements from the Sanjak of Niš and surrounding areas in 1877–1878.)
Braha, Shaban. The Great Serbian Genocide and the Albanian Resistance (1844–1990). Gjakovë, 1991. (Albanian historical work citing figures in the range of tens to hundreds of thousands for expulsions and killings across the 19th and early 20th centuries.)
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