Page 658 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

From the 13th to the 20th century
The entire village of Gogolevce was forced to flee to the mountain; the villagers, together with weak infants, spent up to eight days in the woods in the snow, deprived of any fire or food. The terrors [zulums]perpetrated by Mula Durak are all enumerated below.
February 6th and March, 1895
Five families from Bušinci fled to Serbia due to the terror [zulum] and depredations committed by the imperial tax- collector Mula Durak, as follows herein: The households of Denča Djokić, Mita Stojković, jovan N, Trajko Stolić and Sima N.—as they had complained of his misdeeds, he threat- ened to kill them all and that it should be better for them to buy poison for 10 paras [coins] and poison themselves. He had beaten up Denša Djokić, torturing him by putting a thick stake into his mouth and not taking it out for the next two hours. He tortured Denča, Mita, Sima, jovan and Trajko forc- ing them to stand in the snow for 24 hours, thereafter they fled to Serbia.
Mula Durak, a tasildar [tax collector], tortured Pera ar- sić, jovan Petković from Gogolevac making them forcefully stand in the snow; subsequently, they fled to Serbia. in Mig- aonovci, he tortured Živko, Djordje and arsa in the snow and they also fled to Serbia. all of them who fled to Serbia left behind their homes, their land, cattle and food. For the time being, only the males managed to flee while women and chil- dren have been hiding in the woods waiting for a suitable opportunity to cross the border as well.
There are 10 Serbian families in Bušince, 4 families in Gogolevac, 2 from Gogolevačka Reka, two from Robovac be- ing ready to flee. Maksim antić from Gogolevac has already fled.
The amount of fear which has reigned due to Mula Du- rak’s terror is best illustrated by the fact that the entire vil- lage of Bušince wants to move out, thus, out of 47 Serb fam- ilies only three of them are doing agricultural works in the field (plowing and sowing) while the rest of the families must not leave their homes and go to the field in fear of Mula Du- rak and albanians.
Tajir-aha, a spahi [sipahi—Ottoman feudalist] from Go- golevac beat up an old woman andja (Baba-andja) pushing her so hard against the gate that he smashed her head and she lost consciousness. The old woman was beaten up to death and she is now on her deathbed.
The selfsame Tajir-aga is displeased that so many of his chivcijas [chivchija—serf in the lands of the Ottoman em- pire] have fled to Serbia. Now he is interrogating those who stayed in order to find out who helped the former cross the border and flee to Serbia. During the investigation, he beat up Mitko Simić from Gogolevac in the kula [tower]. He force- fully imprisoned Kosta Mitrović from Gogolevac in the tow- er, tied him up beating him all night and, several times, even attempted to stab him with a knife. When he managed to free himself, Kosta escaped to the wood with the intention of fleeing to Serbia.
Zekin Sulja from Makreš blackmailed Stajko Bojković from Gogolevac to give him one revolver and two ducats. The latter was not able to give him that, so Sulja fired at him but the shot missed him. Stajko escaped to Serbia.
Sulja Zekin from Makreš tied three fisheks to the tail of Stanko Filić’s mare (Stanko Filić from Gogolevac) which means he is blackmailing him to either pay three liras or to receive three bullets in the chest. Stajko is now selling his livestock to pay the blackmail.
etem Vrabca, a kaçak, blackmailed jevta Stankov, kadz- abasha [village headman] from Bušinci into paying five liras of fine. jevta entreated him to accept two white mecidiyes [Turkih money] which he offered instead excusing himself for not having to pay that sum of money.
Mitar Paunić from Miganovci has a beautiful daughter. On March 3rd, Nua, a field-guard, from Busovat wanted to take her away by force. The parents of the girl fled to the wood, while females and children stayed driving Nua away with bludgeons.
in the district of Gilane, the terror [zulum] is the most intense and the most severe. There exists an entire albanian Company which provokes, prepares and executes forced dis- placement of Serbs. One group of the albanians have set as their task to scare, beat, blackmail and kill Serbs, the other group of the albanians follow the Serbs to the border while the third group ambushes them and robs them on the bor-
der.The worst zulumćars [perpetrators] of violence and op- pression in the District of Gilane are as follows:
Mula Durak, imperial tax-collector in Gilan; Sali-Bislah Chaush, (an outlaw) in the mountains simultaneously work- ing and being paid as a zaptiah [police officer, sentry]; Sulja Zekin, a kaçak from Makreš; etem Vrabca, a kaçak from Ma- kreš; Shaban-bey from Zajčevac; isko from Kačanik; Sulja ašković from Krmenti; Tajir-aga from Gogolevac; Ferat aš- ković from Krmenti; jashar from Robovac; amet Okshin (Ukshin) from Makreš; Kokić Feta and Mamut from Gilan; alit-aga, the son of Sajit-aga from Gilan (ali-aga Saitović); Sulejman Kokić and his son from Gilan; Dzema Selimović from Bušovat; Nua, a field-guard from Busovat.
Some of the above mentioned are mere executors of or- ders issued by instigators of these acts of terror [zulum], black- mails and murders. Both groups share the common loot. They are a well-organized gang of thugs and looters. Until all of them are caught and sentenced, there will be no peace in the District of Gilan (Morava) while the Serb population there will be exterminated in two or three years.
656
ii. In Kosovo
September 1st, 1894
The albanians Bajram jakub and Muftar adem abducted Staka, a thirteen year old son of Krsta janković from the vil- lage of Gornje Nerodimlje taking him to Priština to the Muf- ti. When Krsta, the father of the child, came to the hucumat [District Government and Court] to ask for his son, he was arrested and beaten for two nights by zaptiahs [guards]. Then, they let him home thus viciously battered. This is how they resolved his complaint.
Nevertheless, the albanian abductors found out about his lawsuit and consequently shot him dead with a rifle in the center of the village on October 9th. The murder was com- mitted in broad daylight but the authorities did not even sum- mon the murderer for interrogation.