Expulsion Of The Albanians, 1877–1878

The Expulsion of Albanians 1877–1878 refers to events of forced migration of Albanian populations from areas that became incorporated into the Principality of Serbia and Principality of Montenegro in 1878. These wars, alongside the larger Russo-Ottoman War (1877–78) ended in defeat and substantial territorial losses for the Ottoman Empire which was formalised at the Congress of Berlin. This expulsion was part of the wider persecution of Muslims in the Balkans during the geopolitical and territorial decline of the Ottoman Empire.

On the eve of conflict between Montenegro and the Ottomans (1876–1878), a substantial Albanian population resided in the Sanjak of İşkodra. In the Montenegrin-Ottoman war that ensued, strong resistance in the towns of Podgorica and Spuž toward Montenegrin forces was followed by the expulsion of their Albanian and Slavic Muslim populations who resettled in Shkodër.

On the eve of conflict between Serbia and the Ottomans (1876–1878), a substantial, at times compact and mainly rural Albanian population alongside some urban Turks (some of Albanian heritage) lived with Serbs within the Sanjak of Niş. Throughout the course of the war, the Albanian population depending on the area reacted differently to incoming Serbian forces by either offering resistance or fleeing toward nearby mountains and Ottoman Kosovo. Although most of these Albanians were expelled by Serbian forces, a small number were allowed to remain in the Jablanica valley where their descendants live today. Serbs from Lab moved to Serbia during and after the first round of hostilities in 1876, while incoming Albanian refugees thereafter 1878 repopulated their villages. Albanian refugees also settled alongside the north-eastern Ottoman-Serbian border, in urban areas and in over 30 settlements located in central and south-eastern Kosovo.

Ottoman authorities had difficulties accommodating to the needs of the refugees and they were hostile to the local Serbian population committing revenge attacks. The expulsion of the Albanian population from these regions was done in a manner that today could be classed as ethnic cleansing as the victims included civilians. These Albanian refugees and their descendants became known in Albanian as '' Muhaxhir''; plural: ''Muhaxhirë'', a generic word for Muslim refugees (borrowed from Ottoman Turkish: ''Muhacir'' and derived from Arabic: ''Muhajir''). The events of this period led to tense relations and conflict between the Serbian and Albanian peoples.

Sanjak of İşkodra

On the eve of conflict between Montenegro and the Ottomans (1876–1878), a substantial Albanian population resided in the Sanjak of İşkodra. In the Montenegrin-Ottoman war, the Montenegrin army managed to capture certain areas and settlements along the border, while encountering strong resistance from Albanians in Ulcinj, and a combined Albanian-Ottoman force in the Podgorica-Spuž and Gusinje- Plav regions.. "Meanwhile Austria-Hungary's occupation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, which had been conceded at the congress, acted as a block to Montenegrins territorial ambitions in Hercegovina, whose Orthodox Slav inhabitants were culturally close to the Montenegrins. Instead Montenegro was able to expand only to the south and east into lands populated largely by Albanians – both Muslims and Catholics – and Slav Muslims. Along the coast in the vicinity of Ulcinj the almost exclusively Albanian population was largely Muslim. The areas to the south and east of Podgorica were inhabited by Albanians from the predominantly Catholic tribes, while further to the east there were also concentrations of Slav Muslims. Podgorica itself had long been an Ottoman trading centre with a partly Turkish, but largely Slav Muslim and Albanian population. To incorporate such a population was to dilute the number of Montenegrins, whose first loyalties lay with the Montenegrin state and Petrović dynasty, not that this was seen as sufficient reason for the Montenegrins to desist from seeking to obtain further territory."; p.23 "It was only in 1880 after further fighting with local Albanians that the Montenegrins gained an additional 45 km, stretch of seaboard extending from just north of Bar- down to Ulcinj. But even after the Congress of Berlin and these later adjustments, certain parts of the Montenegrin frontier continued to be disputed by Albanian tribes which were strongly opposed to rule by Montenegro. Raiding and feuding took place along the whole length of the porous Montenegrin-Albanian border." As such, Montenegro's territorial gains were much smaller. Some Slavic Muslims and the Albanian population who lived near the then southern border were expelled from the towns of Podgorica and Spuž.. "What one sees over the course of the first ten years after Berlin was a gradual process of Montenegrin (Slav) expansion into areas that were still exclusively populated by Albanian-speakers. In many ways, some of these affected communities represented extensions of those in the Malisorë as they traded with one another throughout the year and even inter-married. Cetinje, eager to sustain some sense of territorial and cultural continuity, began to monitor these territories more closely, impose customs officials in the villages, and garrison troops along the frontiers. This was possible because, by the late 1880s, Cetinje had received large numbers of migrant Slavs from Austrian-occupied Herzegovina, helping to shift the balance of local power in Cetinje's favor. As more migrants arrived, what had been a quiet boundary region for the first few years, became the center of colonization and forced expulsion." ; p.254. footnote 38. "It must be noted that, throughout the second half of 1878 and the first two months of 1879, the majority of Albanian-speaking residents of Shpuza and Podgoritza, also ceded to Montenegro by Berlin, were resisting en masse. The result of the transfer of Podgoritza (and Antivari on the coast) was a flood of refugees. See, for instance, AQSH E143.D.1054.f.1 for a letter (dated 12 May 1879) to Dervish Pasha, military commander in Işkodra, detailing the flight of Muslims and Catholics from Podgoritza." These populations resettled in Shkodër city and its environs. A smaller Albanian population formed of the wealthy elite voluntarily left and resettled in Shkodër after Ulcinj's incorporation into Montenegro in 1880.. "As noted above, the vernacular mobility term 'Podgoriçani' (literally meaning 'people that came from Podgoriça', the present-day capital of Montenegro) refers to the progeny of Balkan Muslims, who migrated to Shkodra in four historical periods and in highest numbers after the Congress of Berlin 1878. Like the Ulqinak, the Podgoriçani thus personify the mass forced displacement of the Muslim population from the Balkans and the 'unmixing of peoples' (see e.g. Brubaker 1996, 153) at the time of the retreat of the Ottoman Empire, which has only recently sparked renewed scholarly interest (e.g. Blumi 2013; Chatty 2013)." ; p. 406.. "Migration to Shkodra was mostly from the villages to the south-east of the city and from the cities of Podgorica and Ulcinj in Montenegro. This was connected to the independence of Montenegro from the Ottoman Empire in the year 1878 and the acquisition of additional territories, e.g. Ulcinj in 1881 (Ippen, 1907, p. 3)."

Sanjak of Niş

Background

Toponyms such as ''Arbanaška'' and ''Đjake'' shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) since the Late Middle Ages.. "Eshtë, po ashtu, me peshë historike një shënim i M. Gj Miliçeviqit, i cili bën fjalë përkitazi me Ivan Begun. ''Ivan Begu'', sipas tij ishte pjesëmarrës në Luftën e Kosovës 1389. Në mbështetje të vendbanimit të tij, ''Ivan'' Kullës, fshati emërtohet ''Ivan Kulla'' (Kulla e Ivanit), që gjendet në mes të Kurshumlisë dhe Prokuplës. M. Gj. Miliçeviqi thotë: "Shqiptarët e ruajten fshatin Ivan Kullë (1877–1878) dhe nuk lejuan që të shkatërrohet ajo". Ata, shqiptaret e Ivan Kullës (1877–1878) i thanë M. Gj. Miliçeviqit se janë aty që nga para Luftës se Kosovës (1389). 2Dhe treguan që trupat e arrave, që ndodhen aty, ata i pat mbjellë Ivan beu. Atypari, në malin Gjakë, nodhet kështjella që i shërbeu Ivanit (Gjonit) dhe shqiptarëve për t'u mbrojtur. Aty ka pasur gjurma jo vetëm nga shekulli XIII dhe XIV, por edhe të shekullit XV ku vërehen gjurmat mjaft të shumta toponimike si fshati ''Arbanashka'', lumi ''Arbanashka'', mali ''Arbanashka'', fshati ''Gjakë'', mali ''Gjakë'' e tjerë. 3Në shekullin XVI përmendet lagja shqiptare Pllanë jo larg Prokuplës. 4Ne këtë shekull përmenden edhe shqiptarët katolike në qytetin Prokuplë, në Nish, në Prishtinë dhe në Bulgari. 5... 2M. Đj. Miličević. ''Kralevina Srbije, Novi Krajevi''. Beograd, 1884: 354. "Kur flet mbi fshatin Ivankullë cekë se banorët shqiptarë ndodheshin aty prej Betejës së Kosovës 1389. Banorët e Ivankullës në krye me Ivan Begun jetojnë aty prej shek. XIV dhe janë me origjinë shqiptare. Shqiptarët u takojnë të tri konfesioneve, por shumica e tyre i takojnë atij musliman, mandej ortodoks dhe një pakicë i përket konfesionit katolik." 3''Oblast Brankovića, Opširni katastarski popis iz 1455 godine'', përgatitur nga M. Handžic, H. Hadžibegić i E. Kovačević, Sarajevo, 1972: 216. 4Skënder Rizaj, T,K "Perparimi" i vitit XIX, Prishtinë 1973: 57. 5Jovan M. Tomić, ''O Arnautima u Srbiji, Beograd'', 1913: 13. [It is, as such, of historic weight in a footnote of M. Đj. Miličević, who says a few words regarding Ivan Beg. Ivan Beg, according to him participated in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. In support of his residence, Ivan Kula, the village was named Ivan Kula (Tower of Ivan), located in the middle of Kuršumlija and Prokuple. M. Đj. Miličević says: "Albanians safeguarded the village Ivan Kula (1877–1878) and did not permit its destruction." Those Albanians of Ivan Kulla (1877–1878) told M.Đj. Miličević that they have been there since before the Kosovo War (1389). And they showed where the bodies of the walnut trees were, that Ivan Bey had planted. Then there to Mount Đjake, is the castle that served Ivan (John) and Albanians used to defend themselves. There were traces not only from the 13th and 14th centuries, but the 15th century where we see fairly multiple toponymic traces like the village Arbanaška, river Arbanaška, mountain Arbanaška, village Đjake, mountain Đjake and others. In the sixteenth century mentioned is the Albanian neighborhood Plana not far from Prokuple. 4In this century is mentioned also Catholic Albanians in the town of Prokuplje, Niš, Priština and in Bulgaria. 5... 2M. Đj. Miličević. Kralevina Srbije, Novi Krajevi. Beograd, 1884: 354. When speaking about the village Ivankula, its residents state that Albanians were there from the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Residents of Ivankula headed by Ivan Beg are living there since the 14th century and they are of Albanian origin. Albanians belong to three religions, but most of them belong to the Muslim one, after Orthodoxy and then a minority belongs to the Catholic confession. 3Oblast Brankovića, Opširni katastarski popis iz 1455 godine, përgatitur nga M. Handžic, H. Hadžibegić i E. Kovačević, Sarajevo, 1972: 216. 4Skënder Rizaj, T,K "Perparimi" i vitit XIX, Prishtinë 1973: 57. 5Jovan M. Tomić, O Arnautima u Srbiji, Beograd, 1913: 13.]" Albanians in the Niš region converted to Islam after the area became part of the Ottoman Empire. Due to the Ottoman-Habsburg wars and their aftermath, Albanians from contemporary northern Albania and Western Kosovo settled in wider Kosovo and the Toplica and Morava regions in the second half of the 18th century, at times instigated by Ottoman authorities. On the eve of the outbreak of a second round of hostilities between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire in 1877, a notable Muslim population existed in the districts of Niš, Pirot, Vranje, Leskovac, Prokuplje and Kuršumlija. The rural parts of Toplica, Kosanica, Pusta Reka and Jablanica valleys and adjoining semi-mountainous interior was inhabited by compact Muslim Albanian population while Serbs in those areas lived near the river mouths and mountain slopes and both peoples inhabited other regions of the South Morava river basin.. "During the second war (December 1877 - January 1878) the Muslim population fled towns (Vranya (Vranje), Leskovac, Ürgüp (Prokuplje), Niş (Niš), Şehirköy (Pirot), etc.) as well as rural settlements where they comprised ethnically compact communities (certain parts of Toplica, Jablanica, Pusta Reka, Masurica and other regions in the South Morava River basin). At the end of the war these Muslim refugees ended up in the region of Kosovo and Metohija, in the territory of the Ottoman Empire, following the demarcation of the new border with the Principality of Serbia. 8 8On Muslim refugees (''muhaciri'') from the regions of southeast Serbia, who relocated in Macedonia and Kosovo, see Trifunovski 1978, Radovanovič 2000." The Muslim population of most of the area was composed out of ethnic Gheg Albanians and with Turks located in urban centres. Part of the Turks were of Albanian origin. The Muslims in the cities of Niš and Pirot were Turkish-speaking; Vranje and Leskovac were Turkish- and Albanian-speaking; Prokuplje and Kuršumlija were Albanian-speaking. Muslim Romani were also present within the wider area. There was also a minority of Circassian refugees settled by the Ottomans during the 1860s, near the then border around the environs of Niš..

File:Toplica-Morava-Ravensteinmap.jpg, Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions with pre-1878 borders by the English-German cartographer E.G. Ravenstein (1880)
File:Ethnographische Übersicht des europäischen Orients (Ethnographic overview of the European Orient) - Kiepert.jpg, Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions from 1876 with post-1878 borders by Heinrich Kiepert (published 1882)
File:Toplica-Morava Andreemap.jpg, Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions with post-1878 borders by the ''Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas'' (1881)
File:Toplica-Morava- Shepherdmap.jpg, Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions with post-1878 borders by William R. Shepherd (1923)

Population figures

Estimates vary on the size of the Muslim population within these areas. In his extensive studies of Ottoman population movements, American historian Justin McCarthy regarding the Muslim population of the Sanjak of Niş gives the figure of 131,000 Muslims in 1876, with only 12,000 remaining in 1882... "Justin McCarthy has, along with other historians, provided a necessary corrective to much of the history produced by scholars of the Armenian genocide in the United States. McCarthy demonstrates that not all of the ethnic cleansing and ethnic killing in the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries followed the model often posited in the West, whereby all the victims were Christian and all the perpetrators were Muslim. McCarthy has shown that there were mass killings of Muslims and deportations of millions of Muslims from the Balkans and the Caucasus over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. McCarthy, who is labeled (correctly in this author's estimation) as being pro- Turkish by some writers and is a denier of the Armenian genocide, has estimated that about 5.5 million Muslims were killed in the hundred years from 1821–1922. Several million more refugees poured out of the Balkans and Russian conquered areas, forming a large refugee (muhajir) community in Istanbul and Anatolia.". "In the Balkans all statistics of death remain contested. Most of the following figures derive from McCarthy (1995: 1, 91, 161–4, 339), who is often viewed as a scholar on the Turkish side of the debate. Yet even if we reduced his figures by as much as 50 percent, they would still horrify. He estimates that between 1811 and 1912, somewhere around 5 1/2 million Muslims were driven out of Europe and million more were killed or died of disease or starvation while fleeing. Cleansing resulted from Serbian and Greek independence in the 1820s and 1830s, from Bulgarian independence in 1877, and from the Balkan wars culminating in 1912." Whereas historian Noel Malcolm gives the figure for the Albanian population of the area as numbering around 110,000. Albanian historians such as the late Sabit Uka postulate that 110,000 is a conservative estimate based on Austro-Hungarian statistics and gives a higher figure of 200,000 for the total Albanian population of the area.. Other Albanian researchers like Emin Pllana, Skënder Rizaj and Turkish historian Bilal Şimşir place the number of Albanian refugees from the region as numbering between 60–70,000 people..... "The Serbian-Ottoman wars 1877/1878, followed mass and forceful movements of Albanians from their native territories. By the end of 1878 there were 60,000 Albanian refugees in Macedonia and 60,000-70,000 in the villayet of Kosova. At the 1878 Congress of Berlin, the Albanian territories of Niš, Prokuple, Kuršumlia, Vranje and Leskovac were given to Serbia." Albanologist Robert Elsie estimates the number of Albanian refugees at some 50,000.. Jovan Cvijić estimated that the number of Albanian refugees from Serbia was about 30,000 a figure which current day Serbian historians such as Dušan Bataković also maintain... "In the 1980s and 1990s, overtly nationalist Serbian scholars such as Dušan Bataković received the most generous support for the publication of their work. The focus of much of such nationalist history was Kosovo. ... Bataković wrote a series of nationalist works on Kosovo, of which several (''The Kosovo Chronicles'' elgrade, 1992and ''Kosovo, la spirale de la haine'' aris, 1993 have been translated into other languages. Many similar works have not been translated: e.g., ''Kosovo i Metohija u srpskoj istoriji'', ed. R. Samardžić (Belgrade, 1989); D. Bogdanović, ''Knjiga o Kosovu'' (Belgrade, 1985); and A. Urošević, ''Etnički procesi na Kosovu tokom turske vludavine'' (Belgrade, 1987)." That number was accepted by Serbian historiography and remained unquestioned for almost a century. Drawing upon Serbian archive and travelers documents historian Miloš Jagodić believes that the number of Albanians and Muslims that left Serbia was "much larger", agreeing with Đorđe Stefanović that the number was 49,000 Albanian refugees out of at least 71,000 Muslims that left.

Prelude

There were multiple reasons held by the Serbian government for the expulsions. Serbian authorities intended to expel the Muslim
population, as they were deemed unreliable and undesirable that needed to be substituted with other inhabitants. Retaliation for attitudes held toward Christians within the Ottoman state was also used as a motive. Prime Minister Jovan Ristić wanted a homogeneous country, without Muslims and with a reliable population in the area. Ristić viewed Albanian populated territories as strategically important and representing a future base to expand into Ottoman Kosovo and Macedonia. General Kosta Protić, who led the Serbian army during the war, did not want Serbia to have "its Caucasus", as an Albanian minority was viewed as a possible security concern. Supporting Protić's views for expulsion of the Muslim population, including Albanians, were most of the senior Serbian army officers and Prince Milan.. "Кнез Милан се у то време налазио у Нишу, окружен својим официрима. Посебно је био близак са генералом Костом Протићем и у конзулским круговима у Београду се сматрало да је владар под његовим утицајем. Генерал Протић је током рата, а и после њега, био главни заговорник политике исељавања муслимана, па и Албанаца, из Србије. Његове ставове делио је и већи део виших официра српске војске. Кнез Милан је током рата био сагласан са протеривањем Албанаца. [Prince Milan at that time was located in Niš, surrounded by his officers. He was especially close with General Kosta Protić and the consulate circles in Belgrade was thought to be the ruler under his influence. General Protić during the war, and after him, was the chief proponent of the policy of the eviction of Muslims, including Albanians, from Serbia. His attitude was shared by most of the senior officers of the Serbian army. Prince Milan during the war, was in conformity with the expulsion of Albanians.]"

Expulsion

Hostilities broke out on 15 December 1877, after a Russian request for Serbia to enter the conflict. The Serbian military crossed the border in two directions. The first objective was to capture Niš and the second to break the Niš-Sofia lines of communication for Ottoman forces. After besieging Niš, Serbian forces headed south-west into the Toplica valley to prevent a counterattack by Ottoman forces. Prokuplje was taken on the third day of the war and local Albanians fled their homes toward the Pasjača mountain range, leaving cattle and other property behind. Some Albanians returned and submitted to Serbian authorities, while others fled to Kuršumlija. Advancing Serbian forces heading to Kuršumlija also came across resisting Albanian refugees spread out in the surrounding mountain ranges and refusing to surrender. Many personal belongings such as wagons were strewn and left behind in the woods. Kuršumlija was taken soon after Prokuplje, while Albanian refugees had reached the southern slopes of the Kopaonik mountain range.. "But when General Josef Freiherr von Philipovich led the Austro-Hungarian troops into Bosnia in the summer of 1878, the time for mosque burning and religious cleansing was over. Balkan developments always lagged behind Europe. Muslim Albanians were obliged to flee Kursumlije in 1878 after Serbia expanded into the four southern districts of Niš, Pirot, Toplica and Vranje. But when the Serbians moved into Kosovo in 1912, they were no longer pursuing the goal of a pure Orthodox Christian state." Ottoman forces attempted to counterattack through the Toplica valley and relieve the siege at Niš, which turned the area into a battlefield and stranded Albanian refugees in nearby mountains. With Niš eventually taken, the refugees of the Toplica valley were unable to return to their villages. Other Serbian forces then headed south into the Morava valley and toward Leskovac. The majority of urban Muslims fled, taking most of their belongings before the Serbian army arrived. The Serbian army also took Pirot and the Turks fled to Kosovo, Macedonia and some went toward Thrace.

Ottoman forces surrendered Niš on 10 January 1878 and most Muslims departed for Pristina, Prizren, Skopje and Thessalonika. The Albanian neighbourhood in Niš was burned.."This was the year that saw Serbia expanding southward and taking Nis. The Albanian quarter was burned and Albanians from the surrounding villages forced to flee." Serbian forces continued their southwest advance entering the valleys of Kosanica, Pusta Reka and Jablanica. Serbian forces in the Morava valley continued to head for Vranje, with the intention of then turning west and entering Kosovo proper. The Serbian advance in the southwest was slow, due to the hilly terrain and much resistance by local Albanians who were defending their villages and also sheltering in the nearby Radan and Majdan mountain ranges. Serbian forces took these villages one by one and most remained vacant. Albanian refugees continued to retreat toward Kosovo and their march was halted at the Goljak Mountains when an armistice was declared. The Serbian army operating in the Morava valley continued south toward two canyons: Grdelica (between Vranje and Leskovac) and Veternica (southwest of Grdelica). After Grdelica was taken, Serbian forces took Vranje. Local Muslims had left with their belongings prior to Serbian forces reaching the town, and other Muslims of the countryside experienced tensions with Serbian neighbours who fought against and eventually evicted them from the area. Albanian refugees defended the Veternica canyon, before retreating toward the Goljak mountains. Albanians who lived nearby in the Masurica region did not resist Serbian forces, and General Jovan Belimarković refused to carry out orders from Belgrade to deport these Albanians by offering his resignation. Ottoman sources state that Serbian forces during the war destroyed mosques in Vranje, Leskovac and Prokuplje.

Aftermath

In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Congress of Berlin acknowledged those territorial gains and the area became part of the Kingdom of Serbia, known as ''Novi Krajevi/Novi Oblasti'' or new areas.. "The so-called ''New Areas'' (Nove oblasti) were given their final legal shape under a special law, in the form of the counties of: Niš, Vranje, Pirot and Toplica.". "The most readily available example of this balancing the domestic political needs of radical nationalists with larger economic demands is the management of the so- called ''Novi Krajevi'' (new areas) of Niš recently transferred to Serbia." Due to depopulation and economic considerations some small numbers of Albanians were allowed to stay and return though not to their previous settlements and instead were designated concentrated village clusters in the Toplica, Masurica and Jablanica areas. Of those only in the Jablanica valley centered around the town of Medveđa have small numbers of Albanians and their descendants remained.."Në kohët e sotme fshatra të Jabllanicës, të banuara kryesisht me shqiptare, janë këto: Tupalla, Kapiti, Gërbavci, Sfirca, Llapashtica e Epërrne. Ndërkaq, fshatra me popullsi te përzier me shqiptar, malazezë dhe serbë, jane këto: Stara Banja, Ramabanja, Banja e Sjarinës, Gjylekreshta (Gjylekari), Sijarina dhe qendra komunale Medvegja. Dy familje shqiptare ndeshen edhe në Iagjen e Marovicës, e quajtur Sinanovë, si dhe disa familje në vetë qendrën e Leskovcit. Vllasa është zyrtarisht lagje e fshatit Gërbavc, Dediqi, është lagje e Medvegjes dhe Dukati, lagje e Sijarinës. Në popull konsiderohen edhe si vendbanime të veçanta. Kështu qendron gjendja demografike e trevës në fjalë, përndryshe para Luftës se Dytë Botërore Sijarina dhe Gjylekari ishin fshatra me populisi të perzier, bile në këtë te fundit ishin shumë familje serbe, kurse tani shumicën e përbëjnë shqiptarët. [In contemporary times, villages in the Jablanica area, inhabited mainly by Albanians, are these: Tupale, Kapiti, Grbavce, Svirca, Gornje Lapaštica. Meanwhile, the mixed villages populated by Albanians, Montenegrins and Serbs, are these: Stara Banja, Ravna Banja, Sjarinska Banja, Đulekrešta (Đulekari) Sijarina and the municipal center Medveđa. Two Albanian families are also encountered in the neighborhood of Marovica called Sinanovo, and some families in the center of Leskovac. Vllasa is formally a neighborhood of the village Grbavce, Dedići is a neighborhood of Medveđa and Dukati, a neighborhood of Sijarina. So this is the demographic situation in question that remains, somewhat different before World War II as Sijarina and Đulekari were villages with mixed populations, even in this latter settlement were many Serb families, and now the majority is made up of Albanians.]" This was due to a local Ottoman Albanian commander Shahid Pasha from the Jablanica area negotiating on good terms with Prince Milan and thereby guaranteeing their presence.. Some other Albanians such as merchants attempted to remain in Niš, but they left after murders occurred and their property was sold off at low values. In 1879, some Albanian refugees from the Leskovac region complained in a petition that their properties and Muslim buildings had been demolished and could no longer return. The only other Muslim population permitted to remain were the Muslim Romani who in 1910 numbered 14,335 in all of Serbia with 6,089 located in Vranje.. "Vranje itself became a major Gypsy centre, with a large population of Serbian-speaking Muslim Gypsies. After the nineteenth- century expulsions of Muslim Slavs and Muslim Albanians from the Serbian state, these Gypsies were virtually the only Muslims permitted to remain on Serbian soil: in 1910 there were 14,335 Muslims in the whole kingdom of Serbia (6,089 of them in Vranje), and roughly 90 per cent of the urban Muslims were Gypsies. A campaign by the Orthodox Church did succeed in converting more than 2,000 of them in the 1890s; but in general Serbian attitudes to the Gypsies have combined social contempt (of the sort expressed by all Balkan peoples towards them) with an element of tolerance or even indulgence." Most remaining Albanians were forced to leave in subsequent years for the Ottoman Empire and Kosovo in particular.. Serbs from the Lab river region moved to Serbia during and after the war of 1876 and incoming Albanian refugees (''muhaxhirë'') repopulated their villages. Apart from the Lab river region, sizeable numbers of Albanian refugees were resettled in other parts of northern Kosovo alongside the new Ottoman-Serbian border.. Most Albanian refugees were resettled in over 30 large rural settlements in central and southeastern Kosovo... Many refugees were also spread out and resettled in urban centers that increased their populations substantially..

Western diplomats reporting in 1878 placed the number of refugee families at 60,000 families in Macedonia, with 60-70,000 refugees from Serbia spread out within the vilayet of Kosovo. The Ottoman governor of the Vilayet of Kosovo estimated in 1881 the refugees number to be around 65,000 with some resettled in the Sanjaks of Üsküp and Yeni Pazar. Some of these Albanian refugees were also resettled in other parts of the Ottoman Empire such as the Samsun region of the Black Sea.."Using secondary sources, we establish that there have been Albanians living in the area of Nish for at least 500 years, that the Ottoman Empire controlled the area from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries which led to many Albanians converting to Islam, that the Muslim Albanians of Nish were forced to leave in 1878, and that at that time most of these Nishan Albanians migrated south into Kosovo, although some went to Skopje in Macedonia. ; p. 557. It is generally believed that the Albanians in Samsun Province are the descendants of the migrants and refugees from Kosovo who arrived in Turkey during the wars of 1912–13. Based on our research in Samsun Province, we argue that this information is partial and misleading. The interviews we conducted with the Albanian families and community leaders in the region and the review of Ottoman history show that part of the Albanian community in Samsun was founded through three stages of successive migrations. The first migration involved the forced removal of Muslim Albanians from the Sancak of Nish in 1878; the second migration occurred when these migrants' children fled from the massacres in Kosovo in 1912–13 to Anatolia; and the third migration took place between 1913 and 1924 from the scattered villages in Central Anatolia where they were originally placed to the Samsun area in the Black Sea Region. Thus, the Albanian community founded in the 1920s in Samsun was in many ways a reassembling of the demolished Muslim Albanian community of Nish... Our interviews indicate that Samsun Albanians descend from Albanians who had been living in the villages around the city of Nish… pp. 557–558. In 1690 much of the population of the city and surrounding area was killed or fled, and there was an emigration of Albanians from the Malësia e Madhe (North Central Albania/Eastern Montenegro) and Dukagjin Plateau (Western Kosovo) into Nish. Tensions within the Kosovo vilayet between Albanian refugees and local Albanians arose over resources, as the Ottoman Empire found it difficult to accommodate to their needs and meager conditions. These refugees also became a strong opposition group to governance by the Sultan.. "As these Niš refugees waited for acknowledgment from locals, they took measures to ensure that they were properly accommodated by often confiscating food stored in towns. They also simply appropriated lands and began to build shelter on them. A number of cases also point to banditry in the form of livestock raiding and "illegal" hunting in communal forests, all parts of refugees' repertoire... At this early stage of the crisis, such actions overwhelmed the Ottoman state, with the institution least capable of addressing these issues being the newly created Muhacirin Müdüriyeti... Ignored in the scholarship, these acts of survival by desperate refugees constituted a serious threat to the established Kosovar communities. The leaders of these communities thus spent considerable efforts lobbying the Sultan to do something about the refugees. While these Niš muhacirs would in some ways integrate into the larger regional context, as evidenced later, they, and a number of other Albanian-speaking refugees streaming in for the next 20 years from Montenegro and Serbia, constituted a strong opposition block to the Sultan's rule."; p.53. "One can observe that in strategically important areas, the new Serbian state purposefully left the old Ottoman laws intact. More important, when the state wished to enforce its authority, officials felt it necessary to seek the assistance of those with some experience, using the old Ottoman administrative codes to assist judges make rulings. There still remained, however, the problem of the region being largely depopulated as a consequence of the wars... Belgrade needed these people, mostly the landowners of the productive farmlands surrounding these towns, back. In subsequent attempts to lure these economically vital people back, while paying lip-service to the nationalist calls for "purification," Belgrade officials adopted a compromise position that satisfied both economic rationalists who argued that Serbia needed these people and those who wanted to separate "Albanians" from "Serbs." Instead of returning to their "mixed" villages and towns of the previous Ottoman era, these "Albanians," "Pomaks," and "Turks" were encouraged to move into concentrated clusters of villages in Masurica, and Gornja Jablanica that the Serbian state set up for them. For this "repatriation" to work, however, authorities needed the cooperation of local leaders to help persuade members of their community who were refugees in Ottoman territories to "return." In this regard, the collaboration between Shahid Pasha and the Serbian regime stands out. An Albanian who commanded the Sofia barracks during the war, Shahid Pasha negotiated directly with the future king of Serbia, Prince Milan Obrenović, to secure the safety of those returnees who would settle in the many villages of Gornja Jablanica. To help facilitate such collaborative ventures, laws were needed that would guarantee the safety of these communities likely to be targeted by the rising nationalist elements infiltrating the Serbian army at the time. Indeed, throughout the 1880s, efforts were made to regulate the interaction between exiled Muslim landowners and those local and newly immigrant farmers working their lands. Furthermore, laws passed in early 1880 began a process of managing the resettlement of the region that accommodated those refugees who came from Austrian-controlled Herzegovina and from Bulgaria. Cooperation, in other words, was the preferred form of exchange within the borderland, not violent confrontation."

Tensions in the form of revenge attacks also arose by incoming Albanian refugees on local Kosovo Serbs that contributed to the beginnings of the ongoing Serbian-Albanian conflict in coming decades.. "For Serbia the war of 1878, where the Serbians fought side by side with Russian and Romanian troops against the Ottoman Empire, and the Berlin Congress were of central importance, as in the Romanian case. The beginning of a new quality of the Serbian-Albanian history of conflict was marked by the expulsion of Albanian Muslims from Niš Sandžak which was part and parcel of the fighting (Clewing 2000 : 45ff.; Jagodić 1998 ; Pllana 1985). Driving out the Albanians from the annexed territory, now called "New Serbia," was a result of collaboration between regular troops and guerrilla forces, and it was done in a manner which can be characterized as ethnic cleansing, since the victims were not only the combatants, but also virtually any civilian regardless of their attitude towards the Serbians (Müller 2005b). The majority of the refugees settled in neighboring Kosovo where they shed their bitter feelings on the local Serbs and ousted some of them from merchant positions, thereby enlarging the area of Serbian-Albanian conflict and intensifying it." The expulsions also triggered the emergence of the League of Prizren (1878–1881) as a reaction to prevent further territories with Albanian populations from being awarded to Serbia and Montenegro.. "In consequence of the Russian-Ottoman war, a violent expulsion of nearly the entire Muslim, predominantly Albanian-speaking, population was carried out in the sanjak of Niš and Toplica during the winter of 1877-1878 by the Serbian troops. This was one major factor encouraging further violence, but also contributing greatly to the formation of the League of Prizren. The league was created in an opposing reaction to the Treaty of San Stefano and the Congress of Berlin and is generally regarded as the beginning of the Albanian national movement. The displaced persons (Alb. ''muhaxhirë'', Turk. ''muhacir'', Serb. ''muhadžir'') took refuge predominantly in the eastern parts of Kosovo. The Austro-Hungarian consul Jelinek reported in April of 1878.... The account shows that these displaced persons (''muhaxhirë'') were highly hostile to the local Slav population. But also the Albanian peasant population did not welcome the refugees, since they constituted a factor of economic rivalry. As a consequence of these expulsions, the interreligious and interethnic relations worsened. Violent acts of Muslims against Christians, in the first place against Orthodox but also against Catholics, accelerated. This can he explained by the fears of the Muslim population in Kosovo that were stimulated by expulsions of large Muslim population groups in other parts of the Balkans in consequence of the wars in the nineteenth century in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated and new Balkan states were founded. The latter pursued a policy of ethnic homogenisation expelling large Muslim population groups."; p. 467. "See K. Clewing, "Der Kosovokonflikt als Territorial- und Herrschaftskonflikt", op. cit. , pp. 185 – 186; Konrad Clewing, "Mythen und Fakten zur Ethnostruktur in Kosovo-Ein geschichtlicher Über- blick" (Myths and facts about the ethnic structure of Kosovo-a historical overview), in Der Kosovo-Konflikt. Ursachen-Akteure-Verlauf , eds K. Clewing and J. Reuter, op. cit. , pp. 17 – 63, 45 – 48; Dietmar Müller, Staatsbürger auf Widerruf. Juden und Muslime als Alteritätspartner im rumänischen und serbischen Nationscode. Ethnonationale Staatsbürgerschaftskonzepte (Citizens until revoked. Jews and Muslims as partners of alterity in the Rumanian and Serb nation code. Ethnonational concepts of citizenship), 1878–1941 , Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005, p. 122, pp. 128 – 138. Clewing (as well as Müller) sees the expulsions of 1877 – 1878 as a crucial reason for the culmination of the interethnic relations in Kosovo and 1878 as the epoch year in the Albanian-Serbian conflict history." Amidst these events, during spring/summer 1879, multiple violent and predatory raids were conducted into Serbia by groups of Albanian refugees into former areas of residence, at times with the acquiescence of Ottoman authorities.. "Одлуке Берлинског конгреса о увећању Србије, поразна искуства из недавно завршеног рата и прилив великог броја муслиманских избеглица утицали су на Албанце да у Кнежевини Србији препознају државу која, скупа са Црном Гором и Грчком, наводно угрожава њихове интересе формулисане програмом Призренске лиге. Немири и врења које је албански покрет изазивао у Косовском и другим вилајетима током четири године деловања Лиге (1878–1881), одражавали су и на Србију и то најчешће кроз изазивање инцидената на њеној новој јужној граници. Упади Албанаца из пограничних делова Османског царства у Србију, прецизније у Топлички и Врањски округ, почели су одмах након разграничења 1878. године. Порозна, недовољно насељена и са српске стране неутврђена граница, као и недостатак јаке османске власти у Косовском вилајету омогућавали су инциденте ове врсте. У току пролећа и лета 1879. године упади Албанаца били су најучесталији, готово свакодневни. Њихова непосредна последица биле су немале људске жртве и извесна материјална штета. Ипак, њихов историјски значај није у томе; он лежи у дипломатским последицама чије су импликације далеко превазилазиле важност обичних пограничних чарки и које су задирале дубоко у саму суштину државне и националне политике Кнежевине Србије. [The decisions of the Berlin Congress on maximizing Serbia, devastating experience of the recent war and the influx of a large number of Muslim refugees had affected the Albanians to the Principality of Serbia recognize the country that, along with Montenegro and Greece, supposedly threatens their interests formulated program of the League of Prizren. The unrest and turmoil, which caused the Albanian movement in Kosovo and other vilayets during the four years of operation of the League (1878–1881), reflected on Serbia, mostly through provoking incidents in her new southern border. Raids Albanians from the bordering parts of the Ottoman Empire in Serbia, more precisely in Toplica and Vranje District, began immediately after the 1878 demarcation. The porous, sufficiently populated with Serbian foreign undetermined borders, and a lack of strong Ottoman rule in Kosovo Vilayet allowed the incidents of this kind. During the spring and summer of 1879 raids by Albanians were the most frequent, almost daily. Their immediate result was no small casualties and some damage. However, their historical significance is not that; here lies in diplomatic consequences whose implications far beyond the importance of common border skirmishes and which encroach deeply into the very essence of the state and national policy of the Principality of Serbia.]" In the aftermath of the war and expulsions, British diplomatic pressure for some time was applied to Serbia to allow the Albanian refugees to go and return to their homes, though it later subsided. The Ottoman Empire was lukewarm about returning refugees to Serbia as the refugees were seen as integral in demographically strengthening the Muslim element in its remaining territories such as Kosovo vilayet still under its sovereignty.

International and local observations/reactions to events

Great Powers

In April 1878, Jelinek, the Austro-Hungarian consul reported Muslim refugees arriving into Ottoman Kosovo with occurrences of typhoid outbreaks and some refugees being abysmally resettled within Prizren and Gjakova districts that overall contributed to their miserable state. Jelinek also noted the refugees hostility to Kosovo Serbs, as they committed acts of violence against them.. "The displaced persons (Alb. ''muhaxhirë'', Turk. ''muhacir'', Serb. ''muhadžir'') took refuge predominantly in the eastern parts of Kosovo. The Austro-Hungarian consul Jelinek reported in April of 1878 as follows: The continuous arrivals of Muslim refugees from the Serbian and Russian occupied Turkish territories have indisputably contributed not a little to the general discontent among the Muslim population, and still more to misery among the refugees, aggravated by the typhoid epidemic that has broken out among them in many places. In the Prizren district, 5000 refugees, and in Djakova, 2000, have been accommodated, of course in the most appalling manner. An immediate and highly regrettable consequence of the present precarious political situation, particularly for the Christians, is the general insecurity of life and property, which has been steadily worsening in Prizren and its suburbs for some time, in the most alarming ways. At least eight Greek- orthodox Slavs were treacherously murdered on the road between the railway stations at Lipljan and Veressovitz, ..including Prizren's; and the panic among the Christians concerning the Muslims goes so far that all the traffic in the city ceases as soon as the sun goes down, and no one dares, even during the day, to venture alone into the neighbourhood, even for a few minutes. 7 p. 467. 7Jelinek to Andrássy, Prizren, 30th April 1878. Printed in: ''Actenstücke aus den Correspondenzen des kais. und kön. gemeinsamen Ministeriums des Äussern über orientalische Angelegenheiten''. (Vom 7. April 1877 bis 3. November 1878.) (Files from the correspondence of the imperial and royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs about oriental issues), Wien: K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1878, Nr. 148, pp. 95 – 96, 96. Parts of the citation first quoted by K. Clewing, "Religion und Nation bei den Albanern", op. cit. , p. 162. Another account which refers to about 40,000 refugees in Kosovo is Jelinek to Andrássy, Prizren, 6th August 1878, Nr. 16. HHStA PA XXXVIII / 225." In the latter part of 1878 and complaining to Lord Salisbury regarding the expulsions, the British Resident in Belgrade Gerald Francis Gould reported that the "peaceful and industrious inhabitants" of the " Toplitza and Vranja Valley were ruthlessly driven forth from their homesteads by the Servians". Gould also noted that the refugees were "wandering about in a starving condition" and was instrumental for a time in applying British diplomatic pressure on Serbia to allow the refugees to return home.. "The other powers behaved as if the Albanians did not exist. At the Congress of Berlin, Disraeli and Bismarck had parcelled out Albanian lands both to Serbia and to Montenegro. Serbia received the Toplica region while Montenegro obtained the town of Podgorica and the port of Bar, to which a second port, Ulcinj, was added in 1880. When the Serbs expelled thousands of Albanians from the Toplica and Vranje area in 1878 to make way for colonists, the British Resident in Serbia, Gerald Francis Gould, complained to Lord Salisbury of Serbian brutality. 'The peaceful and industrious inhabitants of over 100 Albanian villages in the Toplitza and Vranja Valley were ruthlessly driven forth from their homesteads by the Servians icin the early part of this year. These wretched people have ever since been wandering about in a starving condition,' he wrote. Nothing happened to Serbia as a result of these complaints, and the Serbs quickly and efficiently resettled the area.". "Она је, међутим, утицала на Гулда да још више интензивира своја настојања да се питање албанских упада реши репатријацијом мухаџира. Добивши за то одобрење своје владе, Гулд је почетком јуна почео да врши јак притисак на Ристића да српска влада дозволи повратак Албанцима. Истовремено се трудио и да убеди посланике осталих сила у исправност свог гледишта. Српски министар иностраних дела је избегавао да Гулду пружи било какав конкретан одговор, изговарајући се важношћу питања, у чијем решавању коначан одговор припада кнезу. Британски посланик је потом на своју руку, без упутстава од претпостављених, сачинио један званичан меморандум којим се од Србије захтева да дозволи повратак Албанцима. Он је дискретно наговестио Ристићу да ће му исти бити уручен, уколико кнежев одговор не буде био повољан. Сматрајући Гулдов корак превише исхитреним, Солсбери му је наложио да се уздржи од предаје меморандума, но Ристић није имао начина да буде упознат са тим. Дакле, Ристићевом нотом и британским инсистирањем на репатријацији, проблем албанских упада је изашао ван оквира билатералних српско-турских односа. У његово решавање су се умешале силе, или боље речено Велика Британија, чији став није био благонаклон према Србији. Свакако да је српској дипломатији било много лакше да се носи у овом питању само са Портом, него и са Великом Британијом. Да ситуација буде гора, британски став, па и лични став њеног посланика Гулда, морали су да буду утолико пре уважавани, што је Србија била у процесу преговора са овом силом око закључења сталног трговинског уговора, а у контексту сукоба са Аустро-Угарском око истог питања. [It is, however, affected Gould to further intensify their efforts to resolve the issue of the Albanian incursions and repatriation of the muhajirs. Having obtained the approval of their governments, Gould in early June began to exert strong pressure on Ristić to Serbian government allow the return of Albanians. At the same time trying to convince deputies and other forces to share that point of view. Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs to Gould avoided to provide any concrete response, saying the importance of questions, whose resolution definitive answer belongs to the prince. British envoy was then on his own, without instructions from superiors, made an official memorandum from the Serbian request to allow the return of Albanians. He discreetly hinted Ristić that he would be given the same if the prince's response was not favorable. Considering Gould's step too hasty, Salisbury ordered him to refrain from handing the memorandum, but Ristić had no way to be familiar with it. So Ristić noted the British insistence on repatriation, problem of the Albanian incursions goes beyond the Serbian-Turkish bilateral relations. In its resolution had interfered forces, or rather Great Britain, whose attitude was not disposed toward Serbia. Be sure that the Serbian diplomacy was much easier to deal in this matter only with the Porte, than with Great Britain. To make things worse, the British attitude, and even personal attitude of its deputies Gould, they had to be all the more respected, as Serbia was in the process of negotiations with force around the conclusion of a permanent trade agreement, and in the context of the conflict with Austria-Hungary, about the same questions.]"; p. 97; p. 101. On the other hand, Russian Empire, Russia's vice-consul in the Kosovo vilayet Ivan Yastrebov advised the local Ottoman governor Nazif Pasha to prevent the return of refugees to Serbia as their presence within the Kosovo area would strengthen the local Muslim element..'"Косовски валија, Назиф-паша, под утицајем руског вицеконзула у Призрену, Ивана Јастребова, стекао је уверење да ће Османско царство моћи да задржи у будућности своје преостале балканске територије само ако у њима буде што више концентрисало верски подобно, те стога лојално, муслиманско становништво. Јастребовљева аргументација је само ојачала већ постојеће валијино убеђење да муслимани не би требало да живе у хришћанским државама и да се покоравају неверничким властима, јер је то у супротности са Кураном. Како је репатријација Албанаца била у директној супротности са овом својеврсном "теоријом концентрације", он их је активно одвраћао од повратка. Важно је истаћи да је ове информације прибавио један француски дипломата у директној комуникацији са Назиф-пашом и то крајем септембра 1879. [Kosovo governor, Nazif Pasha, influenced by the Russian vice consul in Prizren, Ivan Yastrebov, gained confidence that the Ottoman Empire will be able in the future to keep its remaining Balkan territories only if in them is more like a religious is concentrated, and therefore loyal Muslim population. Jastrebov's argument is only strengthened the governor's already existing conviction that Muslims should not live in Christian countries and to obey infidel government, because it is contrary to the Quran. As the repatriation of Albanians was in direct opposition to this kind of "theory of the concentration", they were actively discouraged them from returning. It is important to note that this information is obtained by a French diplomat in direct communication with Nazif Pasha and to the end of September 1879.]"

Serbian

Josif H. Kostić, a local school headmaster from Leskovac witnessing the flight of refugees during winter 1877 noted that many of them had fled their homes with meagre clothing and that from the "Gudelica gorge and as far as Vranje and Kumanovo, you could see the abandoned corpses of children, and old men frozen to death".. "This period also saw a deterioration in relations between the Muslims and Christians of Kosovo. The prime cause of this was the mass expulsion of Muslims from the lands taken over by Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro in 1877-8. Almost all the Muslims (except, as we have seen, some Gypsies) were expelled from the Morava valley region: there had been hundreds of Albanian villages there, and significant Albanian populations in towns such as Prokuplje, Leskovac and Vranje. A Serbian schoolmaster in Leskovac later recalled that the Muslims had been driven out in December 1877 at a time of intense cold: 'By the roadside, in the Gudelica gorge and as far as Vranje and Kumanovo, you could see the abandoned corpses of children, and old men frozen to death.' Precise figures are lacking, but one modern study concludes that the whole region contained more than 110,000 Albanians. By the end of 1878 Western officials were reporting that there were 60,000 families of Muslim refugees in Macedonia, 'in a state of extreme destitution', and 60-70,000 Albanian refugees from Serbia 'scattered' over the vilayet of Kosovo. Albanian merchants who tried to stay on in Niš were subjected to a campaign of murders, and the property of those who left was sold off at one per cent of its value. In a petition of 1879 a group of Albanian refugees from the Leskovac area complained that their houses, mills, mosques and tekkes had all been demolished, and that 'The material arising from these demolitions, such as masonry and wood, has been sold, so that if we go back to our hearths we shall find no shelter.'

This was not, it should be said, a matter of spontaneous hostility by local Serbs. Even one of the Serbian Army commanders had been reluctant to expel the Albanians from Vranje, on the grounds that they were a quiet and peaceful people. But the orders came from the highest levels in Belgrade: it was Serbian state policy to create an ethnically 'clean' territory. And in an act of breath-taking cynicism, Ivan Yastrebov, the vice-consul in Kosovo of Serbia's protector-power, Russia, advised the governor of the vilayet not to allow the refugees to return to Serbia, on the grounds that their presence on Ottoman soil would usefully strengthen the Muslim population.

All these new arrivals were known as muhaxhirs (Trk.: muhacir Srb.: muhadžir), a general word for Muslim refugees. The total number of those who settled in Kosovo is not known with certainty: estimates ranged from 20,000 to 50,000 for Eastern Kosovo, while the governor of the vilayet gave a total of 65,000 in 1881, some of whom were in the sancaks of Skopje and Novi Pazar. At a rough estimate, 50,000 would seem a reasonable figure for those muhaxhirs of 1877-8 who settled in the territory of Kosovo itself. Apart from the Albanians, smaller numbers of Muslim Slavs came from Montenegro and Bosnia.". "nuk po zëmë në gojë, me përjashtim të atyre pak të dhënave që i kishte parë me sy të vet mësuesi i Leskovcit, Josif Kostiq, i cili, ndër të tjerash flet per disa pamje trishtuese e të llahtarshme, që i kishte parë personalisht me rastin e ikjes së shqiptarëve, gjatë dimrit të ftohtë të vitit 1877–1878, ai thotë: «Pashë fëmijë, gra, pleq dhe plaka, të cilët u detyruan t'i lënë dhomat e tyre të ngrohta dhe të marrin ikjen në sy, dhe shumë prej tyre i vërejta se ishin të zbathur dhe të zdeshur». 68.. 68Josif H. Kostić, Oslobodjenje grada Leskovac, Leskovac, 1907, fq. 1–15. [it won't go without mention, with the exception of few sources that who had seen with their own eyes the teacher from Leskovac, Josif Kostić, who, among other things discusses some very sad sights of the horrible events, he had seen personally the occasion of the flight of the Albanians during the cold winter of 1877–1878, he says: «I saw children, women, old men and old women, who were forced to leave their warm dwellings and take flight in the bosom of their eye, and i saw many of them were barefoot and undressed».[168]… 68Josif H. Kostić, Oslobodjenje grada Leskovac, Leskovac, 1907, fq. 1–15.]" The journalist Manojlo Đorđević argued for peaceful reconciliation with the Albanians and condemned the policies undertaken by the Serbian state. In later years there were retrospective views regarding these events. Prior to the Balkan wars, Kosovo Serb community leader Janjićije Popović stated that the wars of 1876–1878 "tripled" the hatred of Turks and Albanians, especially that of the refugee population toward the Serbs by committing acts of violence against them. Belgrade Professor of Law Živojin Perić stated in 1900 that conciliatory treatment toward the Albanians by Serbia in allowing them to remain could have prevented such hostility and possibly gained Albanian sympathies. Scholar Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević noted in 1909 that the overall motivation for the expulsion was to "create a pure Serbian nation" through "cleansing" the area of non-Christians.. "In 1878, following a series of Christian uprisings against the Ottoman Empire, the Russo-Turkish War, and the Berlin Congress, Serbia gained complete independence, as well as new territories in the Toplica and Kosanica regions adjacent to Kosovo. These two regions had a sizable Albanian population which the Serbian government decided to deport. The Serbian Army Commander insisted that Serbia 'should not have its Caucasus' and the Prime Minister argued that the Albanian minority might represent a security concern. In 1909, Serbian intellectual Jovan Hadži-Vasiljević explained that the major motivation for the 1878 deportation was also to 'create a pure Serbian nation state' by 'cleansing' the land of the non-Christians, as 'the great Serbian poet Njegoš argued'. Hadži-Vasiljević was here interpreting Njegoš rather loosely, as Njegoš work focused on the Slavonic Muslims and not on Albanian Muslims. The ominous implication was that Albanians, as non-Slavs, were not even capable of assimilation. While the Serbian state authorities repeatedly attempted to assimilate the Slavonic Muslims, they refrained from attempting to 'Serbianize' the Albanians.

While both security concerns and the exclusive nationalist ideology influenced the government's policies, there was also some Serbian resistance to the 'cleansing' of the Albanians. General Jovan Belimarkovic opposed the deportation and offered his resignation to the government over this issue and journalist Manojlo Đjorđjević also condemned these policies and argued that Serbia should have pursued a policy of peaceful reconciliation towards the Albanians. In Toplica the Albanians were encountered, and we had nothing more important to do but to expel these warlike, but hard-working people from their homes. Instead of making a peace with them as the defeated side – they were without any good reason pushed across the border – so that they'll settle on the other side as the enemies of everything Serbian, to become the avengers towards those who pushed them from their homes. Despite some voices of dissent, the Serbian regime 'encouraged' about 71,000 Muslims, including 49,000 Albanians, 'to leave'. The regime then gradually settled Serbs and Montenegrins in these territories. Prior to 1878, the Serbs comprised not more than one half of the population of Nis, the largest city in the region; by 1884 the Serbian share rose to 80 per cent. According to Ottoman sources, Serbian forces also destroyed mosques in Leskovac, Prokuplje, and Vranje." ; p.470. "The 'cleansing' of Toplica and Kosanica would have long-term negative effects on Serbian-Albanian relations. The Albanians expelled from these regions moved over the new border to Kosovo, where the Ottoman authorities forced the Serb population out of the border region and settled the refugees there. Janjićije Popović, a Kosovo Serb community leader in the period prior to the Balkan Wars, noted that after the 1876–8 wars, the hatred of the Turks and Albanians towards the Serbs 'tripled'. A number of Albanian refugees from Toplica region, radicalized by their experience, engaged in retaliatory violence against the Serbian minority in Kosovo. In 1900 Živojin Perić, a Belgrade Professor of Law, noted that in retrospect, 'this unbearable situation probably would not have occurred had the Serbian government allowed Albanians to stay in Serbia'. He also argued that conciliatory treatment towards Albanians in Serbia could have helped the Serbian government to gain the sympathies of Albanians of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, while both humanitarian concerns and Serbian political interests would have dictated conciliation and moderation, the Serbian government, motivated by exclusive nationalist and anti-Muslim sentiments, chose expulsion. The 1878 cleansing was a turning point because it was the first gross and large-scale injustice committed by Serbian forces against the Albanians. From that point onward, both ethnic groups had recent experiences of massive victimization that could be used to justify 'revenge' attacks. Furthermore, Muslim Albanians had every reason to resist the incorporation into the Serbian state."

Legacy

These events in later years would also serve as a possible Serbian solution to the Albanian question in Kosovo and Macedonia for individuals such as Vaso Čubrilović, who advocated similar measures due to their success.. "In 1937, an official memorandum titled 'Iseljavanje Arnauta" (The Expulsion of the Albanians) emerged from the mainstream Serbian political establishment. It was written by Vasa Cubrilović, a political adviser to the royal Yugoslav government and conspirator in the 1914 assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the event which helped spark the First World War. "The Expulsion of the Albanians" argued that Hitler's and Stalin's success in expelling Jews and others presaged the success of a plan to render the lives of Albanians so intolerable and terror-filled that they would leave for Albania and Turkey:"; p. 6. "There is one more method which Serbia very effectively used after 1878, the secret burning of Albanian villages and town quarters.".. The regions vacated by Albanians were soon repopulated by Serbs from central and eastern Serbia and some Montenegrins who settled along the border with Kosovo.."Српска влада је одмах по склопљеном миру почела да ради на насељавању опсутелог земљишта српским становништвом, а исељени Албанци су остали као избеглице – мухаџири – с друге стране границе, чекајући да им османске власти обезбеде одговарајућа места за насељавање. [Serbian government immediately after the conclusion of peace started to work on settling deserted land with a Serbian population, and displaced Albanians had remained as refugees – muhajirs – on the other side of the border, waiting for their Ottoman authorities to provide appropriate places for settlement.]" Today, the descendants of these Albanian refugees (''Muhaxhirë'') make up part of Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo's Albanian population and they are an active and powerful subgroup in Kosovo's political and economic spheres.. "Refugees from the Niš region that became Serbia after 1878, for instance, settled in large numbers in the regions of Drenica and Gjakova in Kosova since the late 1870s. They are known today as muhaxhir (derived from Arabic, via Ottoman, meaning exile or sometimes a more neutral, immigrant). Like similar groups throughout the world who have informed the nationalist lexicon-Heimatvertriebene, Galut/Tefutzot, al-Laj'iyn, Prosfyges, Pengungsi, Wakimbizi, P'akhstakanner-the "Nish muhaxhir" constitute a powerful sub-group in present-day Kosova's domestic politics and economy."; p. 209. "These natives of Niš's primary historian is Sabit Uka, ''Dëbimi i Shqiptarëve nga Sanxhaku i Nishit dhe vendosja e tyre në Kosovë'', 1878–1912, 4 vols. (Prishtine: Verana, 2004)". They have also established local associations that document and aim to preserve their regional Albanian culture of origin.. Many can also be identified by their surname which following Albanian custom is often the place of origin. For example: ''Shulemaja'' from the village of Šiljomana, ''Gjikolli'' from Džigolj, ''Pllana'' from Velika and Mala Plana, ''Retkoceri'' from Retkocer, ''Huruglica'' from Oruglica, ''Hergaja'' from Rgaje, ''Byçmeti'' from Donji, Gornji and Srednji Bučumet, '' Nishliu'' from the city of Niš and so on.. "Pra, këtu në vazhdim, pas dëbimit të tyre me 1877–1878 do të shënohen vetëm disa patronime (mbiemra) të shqiptarëve të Toplicës dhe viseve tjera shqiptare të Sanxhakut të Nishit. Kjo do të thotë se, shqiptaret e dëbuar pas shpërnguljes, marrin atributin muhaxhirë (refugjatë), në vend që për mbiemër familjar të marrin emrin e gjyshit, fisit, ose ndonjë tjetër, ato për mbiemër familjar marrin emrin e fshatit të Sanxhakut të Nishit, nga janë dëbuar. [So here next, after their expulsion 1877–1878 will be noted with only some patronymic (surnames) of the Albanians of Toplica and other Albanian areas of Sanjak of Nis. This means that the Albanians expelled after moving, attained the appellation muhaxhirë (refugees), which instead for the family surname to take the name of his grandfather, clan, or any other, they for their family surname take the name of the village of the Sanjak of Nis from where they were expelled from.]" ; pp. 53–54. Within Serbia today though the Serbian-Ottoman wars of 1876–1878 are mentioned within school books, the Albanian population's expulsion by the Serbian army is omitted. This has limited Serbian students' knowledge of the events that led to bad relations amongst both peoples.. para. 11. "A similar topic could be found in textbooks when it comes to their coverage of the anti-Turkish wars of 1876–1878 which also triggered off migrations on a large scale. The Muslim (predominantly Albanian) population fled or was expelled from the territories liberated by Serbian and Montenegrin armies. However, although these wars are regularly mentioned in all schoolbooks dealing with the period, absolutely none of them makes mention of the expulsion of the Albanians. The case was similar to the one of the First Serbian Uprising, only expulsions of 1878 had more far-reaching consequences: the embittered Albanians were usually settled down in Kosovo, terrorizing the local Serbs, instigating them to flee to free Serbia and upsetting thus the ethnic balance still further. Without knowing these facts, students cannot understand the subsequent bad relations between the two peoples. In this way Serbian students are lulled into believing that their people always fought not only for the just cause, but also always with just means."; para.12 "Closely connected with the wars of 1876–1878 is the beginning of the Albanian national awakening embodied in the League of Prizren which was set up by Albanian leaders in 1878 in order to prevent carving up of the Albanian-inhabited territories by victorious Serbia and Montenegro."

See also

* Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1876–78)
* Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78)
* League of Prizren
* Albanian National Awakening
* Ottoman Kosovo
* Kosovo Albanians
* Albanians in Montenegro
* The Expulsion of the Albanians
* Circassian genocide
* Yugoslav colonisation of Kosovo

References

Citations

Sources

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Further reading

*Clewing, Konrad (2000), "Mythen und Fakten zur Ethnostruktur in Kosovo-Ein geschichtlicher Über- blick yths and facts about the ethnic structure of Kosovo-a historical overview. In Clewing, Konrad & Jens Reuter (eds).
Der Kosovo-Konflikt. Ursachen-Akteure-Verlauf [The Kosovo conflict. Causes-Players-History]
'. Bayerische Landeszentrale für politische Bildungsarbeit. pp. 17–64. .
*Jagodić, Miloš (1998).
The Emigration of Muslims from the New Serbian Regions 1877/1878
. ''Balkanologie''. 2 (2).
*Jagodić, Miloš (2004).
Upadi Albanaca u Srbiju 1879. godine [Albanian incursions into Serbia 1879]
. ''Historical Review''. 51.
*Geniş, Şerife, and Kelly Lynne Maynard (2009).
Formation of a diasporic community: The history of migration and resettlement of Muslim Albanians in the Black Sea Region of Turkey.
''Middle Eastern Studies''. 45. (4).
*Müller, Dietmar (2005).
Staatsbürger aus Widerruf: Juden und Muslime als Alteritätspartner im rumänischen und serbischen Nationscode: ethnonationale Staatsbürgerschaftskonzepte 1878–1941 [Citizens until revoked. Jews and Muslims as partners of alterity in the Rumanian and Serb nation code. Ethnonational concepts of citizenship]
'. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 128 – 138. .
*Stefanović, Djordje (2005).
Seeing the Albanians through Serbian eyes: The Inventors of the Tradition of Intolerance and their Critics, 1804–1939
" ''European History Quarterly''. 35. (3).
*Svirčević, Miroslav (2006).
The establishment of Serbian local government in the counties of Niš, Vranje, Toplica and Pirot subsequent to the Serbo-Turkish wars of 1876–1878.
''Balcanica''. 37.
*Uka, Sabit (Prishtina 1995; reprinted 2004).
Dëbimi i Shqiptarëve nga Sanxhaku i Nishit dhe vendosja e tyre në Kosovë:(1877/1878-1912)[The expulsion of the Albanians from Sanjak of Nish and their resettlement in Kosovo: (1877/1878-1912)]
'. Verana.
*Uka, Sabit (Prishtina 1995; reprinted 2004)
Jeta dhe veprimtaria e shqiptarëve të Sanxhakut të Nishit deri më 1912 [Life and activity of Albanians in the Sanjak of Nish up to 1912]
'. Verana.
*Uka, Sabit (2004).
Gjurmë mbi shqiptarët e Sanxhakut të Nishit deri më 1912 [Traces on Albanians of the Sanjak of Nish up to 1912]
'. Verana.
*Uka, Sabit (2004).
E drejta mbi vatrat dhe pasuritë reale dhe autoktone nuk vjetërohet: të dhëna në formë rezimeje [The rights of homes and assets, real and autochthonous that does not disappear with time: Data given in the form of estate portions regarding inheritance]
'. Shoqata e Muhaxhirëvë të Kosovës.

External links

*"Molla e Kuqe he red apple. ''You tube'' (video). (documentary). Google. About expulsions of Albanians during 1877–1878, its aftermath and legacy. (in Albanian)
Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6

{{DEFAULTSORT:The Expulsion of Albanians 1877-1878
Serbian–Turkish Wars (1876–1878)
Persecution of Ottoman Muslims
Anti-Albanian sentiment
Serbian–Albanian conflict
Serbian irredentism
Ethnic cleansing in Europe
Kosovo vilayet
1870s in Serbia
Military history of Serbia
Historical migrations