Page 681 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

čitrn, the murderer of Nikolče Djordjević, isa Boletini and the son of Rustem Kabash in Prizren. You shall inform him that we cannot take seriuosly the implementation of mea- sures ordered to him from Constantinople, as long as these criminals are not punished accordingly. You shall also tell him that the Royal Government finds it difficult to watch Serbian families flee the terror across the border with Ser- bia on a daily basis, and doing nothing to countervail the evil, which can only be detrimental to Turkey. Detrimental to Turkey because it will only solidify the already entrenched belief that it is only with separation of Old Serbia and Mace- donia from Turkey that the position of Christians in those areas can be improved.
By the way, you can also emphasise to Hilmi-Pasha that in the province of Kosovo, the terror is mainly perpetrated by the most distinguished Turks and albanians. The Mufti of Priština, Zeynel-aga Šišković from Vučitrn, Ramiz-aga and Sherif-effendi from Prizren, Zeynel-aga from Peć, Ri- za-Bey from Djakovica, Sait-aga from Gnjilane, the spiritual champions of many evils against Serbs, have made the rep- resentatives of Ottoman authorities blind executors of their malefactors’ desires and caprice. There has not been an in- stance of terror in the last two years without the involvement of these champions. Removing their influence on the author- ities would mean nipping in the bud the actual anarchy that has overcome Old Serbia, meaning order, peaceful develop- ment and perpetuation of Old Serbia within the Ottoman boundaries, and, ultimately, the possibility to maintain prop- er relations between Serbia and Turkey.
THe DiPLOMaTiC CORReSPONDeNCe OF THe KiNGDOM OF SeRBia i, pp. 451–452
THe DeSCRiPTiON OF THe aTTaCK ON THe PaTRiaRCHaTe OF PeĆ
Hieromonk Sava Popović—to the Metropolitan Nićifor of Raška and Prizren
Peć, February 15th/28th,1904
Your eminence,
Kindly receive my report that a large group of albanians
from the Rugova Gorge surrounded the Monastery of the Holy Patriarchate of Peć and forcefully and without any fear invaded the Monastery jumping over the monastery walls. Their attack was horrible and dangerous both for the mon- astery and for the brethren for there were no armed men in the monastery except for two guards (zaptiahs). it was im- possible to shoot at the albanians, especially because they could have torched the monastery and slain and robbed ev- eryone inside the monastery walls for they came in large number—between 500–600 men.
When they completed their operation having occupied the old hospices, the brethren consulted among themselves on the next step and we all agreed to leave the monastery in a peaceful manner and that is exactly what we did. it was impossible for us to meet their demands. They demanded even the things which the monastery did not possess utter- ing death threats to the brethren and to everyone in the mon- astery so that i, together with the brethren, had to leave the
Sources and Testimonies
monastery during the night—around 5 a.m. and to inform the police about the attack, but, as there were no soldiers in Peć, the police was powerless and unable to take any action until the army from Djakovica arrived—which happened only after the Rugova albanians inflicted enormous damage on the monastery in the course of two or three nights. They did not touch the church for it had been locked.
at the request of the local Mutesarif, i submitted a re- port to the Court wherein i focused on the attack perpetrat- ed and the damage inflicted on the monastery by the Rugova albanians. in the report, i stated that the value of the dam- age amounted to 2,500 groschen.
Nevertheless, it still remains to be seen whether this in- demnity will be paid to the monastery. For the time being, it is peaceful in and around the monastery. The army has set up 8 military camps and it is believed that the monastery is safe and that there are no reasons for fear.
Kissing Your right hand, Your eminence’s humblest spiritual child Temporary head of the Monastery of the Holy Patriarchate of Peć Hieromonk Sava Popović (with his own hand) in the Monastery of the Holy Patriarchate of Peć on February 15th/28th 1904 archive of Serbia, Ministry of Foreign affairs, Department of Pol-
itics and education, 1904, row 104
Fr. Stevan Dimitrijević, the rector of the Seminary in Prizren, the first dean of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of
the University of Belgrade, and a member of the institute
for history of Serbian academy of Sciences and arts
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