by Avdi Ibrahimi

On March 13, 1913, the mountain village of Kabash experienced the most terrible night in its existing history. Why did this grave human crime happen, a horrific event experienced by the Albanian people in its history, why did the Serbs commit this massacre in Kabash? What pushed the Serbian butchers to commit the massacre in the church of the village of Kabash?

The Serbian army of the Šumadija division had created the conditions for this inhuman and anti-Albanian act, while the massacre was carried out by local Albanians such as: Vuksan Jovanović, the brothers Angjellko and Mksim Ristić, Spirr Kola, Jova of Lubizhda, Matush Gapiđ, Mark Gavazi of Novaka, the voivode of Vërbiqan, but the chief executioners were Captain Spirrë and File Delloci.

The massacre of the Kabashes was assisted by the Gapiđ and Puhići of Prizren, the abbot Serafim and the daskall Petri. This macabre event took place sometime after mid-March 1913 during the Balkan War. Why did this massacre happen precisely in the Church by Serbo-Slavic bloodsuckers?

This is a place where people pray to the Almighty God. This leads to the logic that the Serbian Orthodox Church is the inspirer of all the bloodsuckers that have been committed against the Illyrian-Albanians throughout the centuries. This massacre created deep indignation throughout the Albanian territories, but from Kabashi there were several displaced families who lived in the village of Mushtisht in Suhareka. These Kabash families were blood relatives of Sali Shaban-Kabashi and all those massacred in Kabash were of the same tribe and brotherhood with the Abazi, Ibrahimi and Mustafa families of Mushtisht.

Thus began the organization of the Kabash tribe in Kabash and Mushtisht and the fellow villagers of this village, for revenge against Spirro and Fila of Delloc, where the village of Delloc is above the village of Mushtisht as a close neighbor. In the fall of 1919, the mountain kaçak Sali Shabani creates the organizational link in the village of Mushtisht for the execution of Spirr Dobrosavleviç and Fila of Sahija, even though the family of Bacë Sali had not suffered any damage in the years 1913 and 1919.

The mountain kaçak Sali Shabani in Mushtisht He established connections with Jemin Nuredin Abazin-Kabashi, Gjel Esat Mala, Jetë Sali Ibrahimin-Kabashi, Islam Sherifin Mustafan-Kabashi, Nezir Behluli and Bilall Osman with his brother Rrustemi, where the latter was later killed by Serbian gendarmes, the entire organization of the murder of Serbian criminals Spirr and File Dellocin took place in the chamber of Bacë Jemin, since he was one of the richest in the village of Mushtish. After much discussion, it was decided that one day in December 1919, Sali Shabani would undertake the execution of these two Serbian bloodsuckers, that day was set to be one of the days of Mercury because on this day there was a bazaar in Prizren.

But about the day of the murder and the way from the village of Kabash, Bacë Bakiu, the son of Bacë Jemin, had told me, that no one knew, for this we also have evidence in the book of Prof. Dr. Liman Rushiti: “MEMOIRS OF “THE KACAK MOVEMENT”.The leader of the Albanian National Movement, Sali Shabani-KabashiWhen Gjela Esati heard this, he informed Sali Shaban that it would be easy for him to recognize Spira because three days ago he took my horse, Gjog, and my brand new kilt, which I had only worn for two days, and I was wearing that kilt when I met you at Jemini’s house.

Thus, two young men told Salihu who Spira was. Salihu climbed the mountains of the village of Mushtisht and the stream in the Baqevci Gorge near the village of Grejkoc and ambushed Spira, where he was returning from the Prizren bazaar, together with the messenger (courier) of the municipality of Delloc, where the villagers say he was brave and for this reason the mayor of Delloc, Spirr Dobrosavleviqi or Spirr Kapetani as he was known among the people, kept him with him.

As they approached Salihu’s ambush, Spira began to boast to Fila about how, six years ago, the two of us together had killed ninety men with n axe in Kabash, for this Serbian president Pashiq sent me the ranks of captain from Belgrade. After every organized crime of extermination of the Albanian people, the executors of these massacres were promoted by their leaders in Belgrade.

Bacë Saliu had heard many times from his fellow villagers about this massacre where Captain Spirr had rolled up his shirt sleeves and worn women’s clothes when he had slaughtered Kabash’s men with a sabre. Here’s how the popular rhapsody sang the massacre in the Kabash:

“Spirra is coming on a white horse, together with Fila, as a bandit! Spirra is coming, you are welcome,For Albanians, how many have they shortened? You stole, you are a captain of men,The degrees are burning, it has taken me! Flames, the degrees of the sky, have arrived, because I have killed ninety Albanians! You are lying with your own mouth,I have cut off ninety of Kabash, Where are the real Albanians? “

At these moments, Saliu calls them to stop, from which he immediately kills Spira, while Fila jumps off his horse and takes a well with a ditch, which starts shooting at Baca Sali with a rifle, and as Baca Bakiu had told me, if Saliu had not used a master, he would have almost killed him, because he was a good, evil bloodsucker, but Saliu takes a stick and puts the white plis on it and moves it a little away from him and thus manages to deceive Fila, thinking that where the white plis is, there is Saliu, after hitting the plis with a bullet, Fila raises his head from the ditch to see if he killed Saliu, the latter takes advantage of this opportunity and kills the Serbian bloodsucker.

From this moment, he immediately climbs the mountains of Greikoc and as he leaves the village, he shoots three times with his rifle and loudly calls the men of the village, saying, “Don’t take anyone into your hands.” Tell the Krajil government that Sali Shabani killed Spirrë and Filë and thus I have avenged the cousins ​​of Kabash. From this moment on, the Kaçak Sali Shabani lived in both Albania and Kosovo and with his group he operated up to the village of Kabash in Viti, where there were several Kaçaks with close tribal blood who collaborated on the path of national freedom.

The Serbs of the villages of Mushtisht, Delloc and Dvoran that same night took revenge on the Albanians in Mushtisht for the murder of Spirrë, on this occasion Rrustem Osmani was killed, after two or three days in Prizren they took Salihu’s family and interned them in Serbia, his father and uncle died in the prison of Niš, also in 1951 Saliu’s brother Hyseni died in the infamous prison of Niš, while later he managed to take his wife and brother Ali with him to Albania.In 1920, Saliu and his group left Albania for Kosovo, after several battles with the Gjandar, arriving in Gjilan, where they entered into an agreement with the Kachak groups of Karadak, and at the same time met with some Kachak from Kabashi in Viti.

In the spring of 1921, Saliu again went to Kosovo, operating with the Kaçaka Movement in Podgur, in the Istog district, in the Suhareka district, up to Drenica, where he made contact with the commander of the Kaçaka Movement, Azem Bejta.In 1922-123 Sali and his comrades waged a war in the village of Grançar in Prizren, where they happened to be at the house of Sali’s friend, Ymer Devetakun, with his cousin Bali Ibrahimi (Kuçi)-Kabashi from Suhareka, Hasan Sali Kabashi from Kaçanik, Sabit Kabashi and Sali’s brother, Aliu.

There they were surrounded by several gendarmes who, without warning, threw bombs into the house, killing Sali’s brother Aliu and Sabiti, while Saliu and Bali Kabashi from Suhareka were wounded. After they were able to use them, although wounded, they broke the siege, leaving several gendarmes killed and wounded.

Saliu arrived with his remaining comrades to recover in the village of Bukosh in Suhareka. So Sali Shabani’s Kaçak group operated throughout Kosovo because the Kaçak group from Kabshi in Viti had a connection with Bajram Curri, in 1924 when Bajram Curri waged wars against the Serbs and King Zog, where this year they managed to remove Ahmet Zog from Albania, who had fled to Serbia, to Belgrade, Pashiqi.

In this revolutionary path of Bajram Curri that led to the overthrow of Ahmet Zog, Sali Shabani with 20 men from Kabashi actively participated in these revolutionary wars.Sali Shabani lived the life of a kaçak until his death! In 1935, he was separated from his glorious life as a brave warrior who had dedicated everything for the good of the Albanian homeland, so he passed away in the village of Kolsh in Luma in Albania.