Page 672 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

From the 13th to the 20th century
Church of Saint Lazar, Donja Gušterica, 1906, Historical archives, Belgrade
ViOLeNCe iN KOSOVO, SUMMeR 1900
An attaché of the Serbian consulate Nastas Dj. Nastasijević to Aleksa S. Jovanović, President of the Ministerial Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Confidential No 184 Priština, august 16th/29th, 1900
Mister Minister, President,
i am honoured to kindly inform you that for this short
period of time, in the province of this Royal Consulate, be- sides other individually accounted terrors, the following have taken place:
i. In the District (Nahi) of Peć
On the june 19th of the current year, the infamous villain Colj- -Sokol, a Malesian (albanian) from the village of Borje, cap- tured a 65-year-old man Radojko N. from Kos and ransomed him for 50 lires. The dismal Radojko, tortured by all kinds of hardship, is whining in slavery, and poor villagers cannot help him. On the same day, the albanians over there drove away two bulls and five goats from Nedeljko N. from Stropac, this being all his assets.
They burned down the silage to Mitar Tijanić from Cr- kolez and took 8 lires from ivko ašanin.
On july 23th, on his way through the woods the self-same Colj-Sokol met Panta H. Šantrić, a varnisher from Peć, who was heading to the neighbouring villages with his appren- tice ilija to do the work there. Colj was accompanied with four armed albanians, so they seized his revolver and drove him into their tower, asking for 100 lires as ransom money and for the rank of sergeant that he wanted Panta to arrange for him with the Ottoman’s governor.
Panta and his apprentice boy spent 15 days in captivity, tormented in various ways. The following night, they un- tied their arms and Colj went after new prey with two friends, leaving another two to watch them. So, when the guards fell asleep, they opened the door and escaped from the tower into the woods, roaming for three days and three nights, without food, to finally reach Peć. The horse carrying all the
things remained with them in the tower of Colj Sokol. Pan- ta complained against this both in spoken and in writing form to the Peć Mutesarif (administrator), and, instead of getting the justice administered and himself protected, he got the following reply from the Mutesarif: „Return the four “Martin” rifles to Colj Sokol or else you are destroyed“. Pan- ta swears not to know anything about this and it is very like- ly that he only wanted salvation, so it could not possibly oc- cur to him to look for Colj’s guns and steal them. Turkish stuff, it’s always Serbian fault. He begged the Consulate to transfer him to Serbia, but Panta is a bright, energetic and reputable man and he paid what he had to so they told him to find refuge in Mitrovica until the ominous situation is defused.
On july 26th of the current year, some albanians stole from Živan Simić, from the village of Banja, a mare, a cow and a steer from the pasture near the village, in day time. He says he has not even complained to the Mutesarif, having heard that he is also pressurised by albanians, so he cannot move from Ucumat (court council). Rumour has it that he will be replaced soon.
On july 28th, Rista Rakić from the village of Kijevo came to the Consulate premises saying that the albanians: cate- gorically ordered that all Serbs from Kijevo (and there are about 20 Serbian houses with more than 300 family mem- bers) should either embrace the Turkish faith or move away, otherwise they would take all their property and exterminate them. He complained about this to the famous Zeynel-Bey Mahmudović, who said „There is nothing i can do to help you for our bandits and terror-mongers; you should com- plain to Consuls, or Vali or the Sultan Himself, for small au- thorities cannot help you (...). He said he would fight the vil- lains until they are all dead, but he woulnd’t leave his prop- erty.
The abbot of Visoki Dečani monastery submitted that in Peć and Djakovica districts more than 100 people were left without any food for the terror of the bandits; he was im- ploring for help, not knowing what to do as he used to, as they cannot move their homes and go earn a living some- how.
On the 2nd of this month, albanians broke into the house of Živko Popadić, merchant from Peć, taking all his belong- ings.
ii. In the District (Kaza) of Gnjilane
Some albanians from the village of Vele Glave captured a girl, daughter of Kojica Crnogorac (Montenegrin) from the village of Grgovac, at the borderline near „Kitka“ watch-tow- er, and made her go with them.
Vasa Djordjević, worker from Domorovac village, in- formed us that on last year’s St. elyah’s Day, people got to- gether in front of St. elyah’s Church in Domorovac, and when the feast was in the full swing, 300 albanians from the set- tlements of adamovac and Blato, armed with rifles, ran into the crowd firing, so the people ran for their lives and the church was left without its only annual income.
in the same way, albanians drove people away in the vil- lage of Šipašnica, on St. Paraskeve’s Day last year, in front of St. Paraskeve’s church.
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