Page 663 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

with their accomplices, began to overtly snatch the merchan- dise from Serbian shops and in one of those robberies beat up Risa Vasić (jevrić) who thereupon fled to Serbia this very morning.
7. ajradin Stojković from the village of Loćani apropri- ated by force Mladen Krstic’s field on april 25th. and on the 15th of this month [November], Kolj Biba, a Latin [Catholic albanian], from the village of Kruševo, forcefully expelled servants of the Monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć from the territory of the Monastery wood proclaim it his property.
8. The son of ajdar-aga Mulla isić, who is a neighbor of our school, took out from the ground several crosses and gravestones in our ancient cemetery Cenaca, situated in front of the school, doing that with an intention of appropriating that place as we are not allowed to mark the boundary be- tween our property and his. That happened on November 4th.
9. in addition to our numerous and endless tribulations which are impossible to describe herein, moreover, this very morning jashar Mulla Dauti has beaten up jevrem Zanfiro- vić, with a Martin-type rifle breaking jevrem’s arm and all this happened in the center of charshija, overtly and in pub- lic.
as regards the above-mentioned as well as many other facts, the Court pretends to be deaf and blind.
November 19th, 1895, in Peć abbot Sofronije, Peć
archives of Serbia, Belgrade, Legation at Constantinople, 1895 fold- er 52
a NOTe OF THe SeRBiaN GOVeRNMeNT TO THe OTTOMaN PORTe
Stojan Novaković, Serbia’s Minister to Constantinople, to Tefik-Pasha, Ottoman Minister of Foreign Affairs
Constantinople, May 14th/26th,1898
Mr. Minister,
in the past four years the Royal [Serbian] Government
has been forced several times to draw the attention to the empire’s Government to disorders and incredible and num- berless cases of violence incessantly perpetrated by the un- ruly and undisciplined albanian population, both at the bor- der between Serbia and Ottoman empire and in borderline sancaks (districts). These crimes and attacks are targeting solely Christian population of Serbian ethnicity, and they ap- pear to have the purpose of exterminating the population from these areas. [...]
However, especially since the albanian volunteers re- turned home after the war on Greece, unrest, murders, ar- sonry and all sorts of violence are on the rise so much that they cause concern and agitation in all the area, spilling over to our side of the border where—to remind your excellency well—an array of bloody conflicts happens day in, day out, getting ever more serious and bringing many casualties to both sides.
The investigation committee, assigned by both govern- ments, noted that the conflicts were caused by attacks of albanians who were passing our border and killing our gen- darmes insidiously, as written in the protocol drafted in Vra- nje 10th/22th august last year.
Correspondence concerning the acts of violence and robbery by ethnic Albanians in Old Serbia (Vilayet de Kossovo): 1898–1899; Ministry of Foreign affairs Belgrade, 1899
The Royal authorities punished adequately the protago- nists of these attacks and repelled them from the Kingdom’s borders.
However, the fear of the Royal Government is not allevi- ated. Credible reports keep coming, on Serbian population in borderline areas exposed to attacks and unheard of atroc- ities. albanians, well armed and, in particular, sure that they will not be punished, have unleashed their brutal instincts, as nothing is in the way to their fanaticism and uncontrol- lable hatred. Crimes and theft happen on a daily basis, and not only do the culprits remain unpunished, but the author- ities do not even prosecute them.
The number of expellees passing the border to save their lives is enormous and incremental.
according to the data the Royal Government has, in a short period of a few months, last summer and winter, in the sancaks of Priština, Novi Pazar, Peć and Prizren more than four hundred criminal acts were committed, such as: mur- ders, arsonry, felony, desecration of places of worship, rape, abductions, robberies, raids of complete herds of cattle.
Sources and Testimonies
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