Page 655 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

of Gilan (Gnjilane), that Muchtar Pasha left this place and that redifs (army reservists) are leaving too, as well as that albanians in Scutari (Skodra) were opposing Montenegro and the Sultan just like people here. That letter was kept by Ramadan Zaskok, prompted by a Christian rascal, because it was addressed to Serbia.
No investigation has been initiated. Kostić most proba- bly cannot be convicted for a letter of innocent contents; Ra- madan Zaskok, it goes without saying, will not be arrested; the authorities, in their weakness, are not even hiding the fear of touching upon an offender such as Ramadan, of whom i have once informed your excellency. My english counter- part voiced his dissatisfaction with the albanian attack against the Russian Consulate to the Mutesarif, and demanded that Ramadan Zaskok be arrested, just like i did, for he makes an authority sui generis here.
2.
I.S. Jastrebov—to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
No 80 Constantinople, april 15th/27th, 1880
Having taken Professor Kostić under my auspices against the Muslim lynch mob, which i informed you of on 8 april No 72, thus saving him of imminent death, i forced the Mute- sarif to send a letter to representative of the secondary au- thorities here, a type of commune that terrorizes the peace- ful citizens, and that he be tried under the law. While ques- tioning Kostić, the authorities saw for themselves the banal- ity of the cause and meant to release him, but under the pres- sure of the local commune, who threatened to kill Kostić sooner or later, the Mutesarif then decided to move him to Bitola and avoid further inconvenience. Nobody dared even think to bring to justice the one who was impertinent enough to detain and unseal letters without the authorities knowing it (which is strictly prohibited by law), let alone to arrest the notorious Ramadan Zaskok, who wrought such havoc here.
The authorities reassured me that Kostić could go any- where after arriving to Bitola, except for Prizren here, i ad- vised him not to waste time and to go to Belgrade via Con- stantinople. i harbor high hopes that your excellency will help him and that the Serbian Minister Mr. Grujić will not leave him unsupported, but will arrange an adequate passport for his journey to Belgrade.
Radoslav M. Grujić, “Two Reports of Consul jastrebov on the ac- tion of the albanian League in Prizren in 1880”, A Collection for the History of South Serbia I, Skoplje, 1936, pp. 403–406.
SeRBS DiSaPPeaRiNG FROM KOSOVO
Vice-Consul Branislav Nušić to Dr. Vladan Djordjević, Serbia’s Minister to Constantinople Confidential, No 31 Priština, March 26th/April 19th,1895
i am honored to send you the list of all terror (zulum) and violence that have taken place in the past two years in the area of this Consulate, kindly requesting that you do all in your powers to hinder any further violence in this area. i am honored to also mention that, with spring coming, there are outlooks of even fiercer terror and the people are panicking and starting massive depopulation of the area. Unless swift and necessary steps are taken, we will be left without any
Sources and Testimonies
Serbs in this whole territory within a shortest period of time. Why, there are no more than 1,100 Serb homes in the vil- lages of Kosovo!
and when the Serbian population disappears, all educa- tional propaganda will be futile, because schools and church- es will be empty.
especially gross violence takes place in the Gnjilane dis- trict and i believe that should Constantinople issue a strict order via Skoplje to the Gnjilane kajmekam (administrator) to catch the outlaws, who i mentioned in the report, the num- ber of zulum cases would be at least halved.
Besides, orders to the Peć Mutesarif should be tightened, so he pay more attention to public security and terror, be- cause the situation in Peć has become so horrific that unless there is a volte-face, our population will absolutely vanish from there.
in Kolašin, the situation is dire and people are fleeing, and it will stop only when, and if, Kolašin is annexed to the Vu- čitrn administration, because that is the only means to pre- vent further depopulation of that area.
The inhabitants of Kolašin have already submitted a plea to the Mutesarif of Priština and i am kindly asking you, Mr. Minister, to underpin their cause. i believe that terror will not cease even if orders from Constantinople are stricter, as long as the Mufti of Priština and Suleiman-aga are here, as two greatest protectors of outlaws and terrorists, people whose influence upon the local Mutesarif and the adminis- trators is so strong that they cannot break out of it. The Mu- tesarif here, Rauf-Pasha, though i could not complain about him in other aspects, is too lenient and there is nothing he dares do to stop the terror, because that would be against the will of the Mufti and Suleiman-aga.
at the time when the Sublime Porte is struggling with the armenian issue (though in armenia not even half the things that take place here have happened) with Bulgarians report- ing on the terror in Macedonia and Serbian press denying it, i think it would only be fair on the Serbian people to have energetic action (not only written orders) to eventually cur- tail this terror as it would be by far more inconvenient for the Porte to have foreign press learn and deal with the won- ders that happen here.
archives of Serbia, Belgrade, Legation at Constantinople, 1895 fold- er 51
a LiST OF ViOLeNCe (1894–1895)
Consulate in Priština—to Dr. Vladan Djordjević, Serbia’s Minister in Constantinople Confidential, No 37 Priština, april 22th/May 4th,1895
Mr. Minister,
What is being done this spring in the area of Peć is a new
and stand-alone example in the history of terror (zulum) in that area, where Serbian population is almost all displaced from by force. Now the terror is stepped up, so albanians are forcing all village population to either embrace Turkish faith or to move away. However, they cannot even move, be- cause albanians are watching every step they take, so even emigration is prevented. as a secondary means of salvation for our population it is even impossible to enumerate all mur- ders and violence done in the area of Peć now, but it can be
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