Page 619 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

those whom they knew had first changed their religion by embracing islam and then their nationality by enetring into albanian clans. if historical data could be transferred into figures, at least thirty percent of Kosovo albanian are of Slavic, i.e. Serbian origin (in Drenica area, the Arnautaši have even “albanized” the famous serbian hero, Miloš Obi- lić. along with this, data gained from anthropogeographic and historical research arrived at a figure of around 150 refugees that came to Serbia between 1878 and 1912, after abandoning the wider region of Kosovo and Metohija, thus leaving room for the settlement or internal multiplication of Muslims of different ethnic origin, but mainly Ottoman and albanians.
The interest of the major powers, beginning at the end of the 19th century, in the destiny of part of the Balkans com- prised of areas inhabited by the albanians or were des- tined with the Ottoman regime, to accept their spreading, contained, in its core, the several centuries old idea of the Roman Curia: destroying the seat of Serbian Orthodoxy which had most strongly resisted Catholic penetration to heretic areas. This notion, born in minds prepared for long- -term memory, carried out gradually and patiently, came to ill-tempered harmony with the intention of Ottoman em- pire to resume the conquest of Serbia even after her fall in 1459, and complete the subjugation, growing close to ex- termination, of the untamable Serbian nation particularly through Kosovo, being the life knot and promised land of the Serbs. Habsburg empire publicly accepted these plans, incomplete, but partly realized already, in moments when Serbia revealed herself as the bearer of revolutionary prin- ciples of nationality in South east europe. in solving the eastern question, the major powers were all the more close to deciding that the Ottoman empire, if it cannot be saved, should then be replaced by half-colonial pacification of the Balkans whereby its peoples should not be given the right to make decisions for themselves neither independently nor mutually concerning their future fate. The principle of nationality could be put into practice only on condition of establishing a compulsory balance that would be controlled. information regarding the internal affairs of the Balkans came by default from hostile sources in austria-Hungary and its religious patron, the Vatican. Thus a particular view- point on the Balkan problem was created; curbing it into their political sub-conscience, it was accepted by those who, at that moment, held different opinions and even upheld international decisions founded on opposite principles. The idea of a Balkan confederation, at first of doubtful mer- it, became a foundation approached by the major powers and social programs of austro-Hungarian type. There was no place for Serbia, especially after the ascension of King Petar i Karadjordjević (1903–1914, officially until 1921), who considered himself a republican of revolutionary lineage. in the 1912–1918 wars, it destroyed two empires, the Otto- man and austro-Hungarian ones; the joint Yugoslav state was created in compliance with principles dating from the
Kosovo and Metohija: The Rise and Fall of the Serbian People
19th century according to which the political map of mo- dem europe was finally drawn. Yet, Serbia was still marked as a public threat, a barrel-keg of gunpowder, from which the fuse ought to be pulled, a country which should first be given bearable dimensions and then be taken under strict supervision. The spirit of buried austria-Hungary, and mostly its own notions on the solution to internal relations on the Balkans came to life on different sides and in several aspects. History also stepped backward when those na- tions were introduced into the Communist international.
Decisions to separate Kosovo and Metohija from Ser- bia, and all the political measures undertaken in Vienna and Berlin in 1912-1918, was the violation of the ethnic and religious balance to the advantage of the albanians, could be considered oas a forced change of demographic bal- ance: the creation of the albanian domination by violence was operated at the expence of Serb-inhabited areas in Kosovo, Metohija and neighbouring areas.
Royal doors of the Metropolitan Antonije, 1570, repainted at the beginning of 19th century by aleksije Lazović, Treasury of the Patriarchate of Peć
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