Dusan T.Batakovic. The Kosovo Chronicles
сторінка №11
...rvices,Albanian leaders Bairam Cur and Isa Boljetinac were preparing for another
incursion into Serbia. At the end of March, 1914, several hundred ethnic
Albanians crossed the border, having received news that an uprising against
the Serbs broke out in some villages near Orahovac. The uprising spread to
four villages. Cur and Boljetinac planned to bring members of the
International Control Committee to the rebelling areas, where the local
ethnic Albanians would express their wish for Djakovica, Pec, Prizren and
regions until the railway Urosevac (Ferizovic) - Mitrovica, to be annexed to
Albania, as promised by Austria-Hungary. Tension at the borderline did not
cease.9
1 I. Balugdzic, op. cit., 521-522; D. Mikic, Albanci i Srbija u
balkanskim ratovima, pp. 75; more elaborate documentation: Dokumenti o
spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/2, Doc. No 75, 77, 80, 86, 93, 100,
105, 124, 130, 135.
2 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/3, Doc. No 194,
239, 253,
3 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji od kraja
1912. do kraja 1915. godine (Nacionalno nerazvijeni i nejedinstveni Arbanasi
kao orudje u rukama zainteresovanih sila), Vranje 1988, pp. 33-38.
4 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VT/3, Doc. No 406,
cf. Doc. No 347, 351, 359, 378, 379, 418.
5 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, pp.
52-64.
6 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/3, Doc. No 407,
408, 409.
7 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, pp. 57.
60-61.
8 B. Hrabak, Muslimani severne Albanije uoci izbijanja rata 1914,
Zbornik za istoriju Matice srpske, 22 (1980), pp. 52-53.
9 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, p. 93.
In World War One
The direct cause leading to World War One was the assassination of
Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo, by
Serbian students (on St. Vitus' Day, June 28th, 1914), thus symbolically
marking the commencement in the outcome of Austro-Hungarian and Serbian
confrontation. Serbia's victories in the Balkan wars proved its military,
political and economical strength; in the Yugoslav provinces of the Dual
Monarchy, national movement grew, turning to Belgrade as the pillar of
national and South-Slavic assemblage. War with Serbia turned over from a
considerable delay of punitive expedition to a war to destroy the Serbian
state. The Viennese diplomacy found reliable allies first with Albania and
then with Bulgaria.1
The opening of the war found the borderline between Serbia and Albania
unrestful and unconsolidated. Essad Pasha, follower of Balkan cooperation,
was in emigration, while civil war raged in Albania. The insurgents, called
"Ottomans", demanded a Muslim for a ruler, and for the flag, and the
character of state administration to be Ottoman. Refugee Albanian leaders
from Kosovo, organizers of the previous incursion into Serbia, did not take
part in the uprising; they awaited the opportunity to incite a rebellion and
seize Kosovo, Metohia and west Macedonia from Serbia.
Two days before war was declared to Serbia, consular officials in
Albania received orders from Vienna to assist the Albanian insurrection on
Serbian territory. Bairam Cur, Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac obtained
money, arms and ammunition from Austro-Hungarian consuls to prepare for the
insurrection. In Constantinople, a contract was concluded for
Austria-Hungary to finance and urge the insurrection, while the Young Turks
would handle the propaganda, military organization and operations of the
insurrection. Incursions onto Serbian territory and the Albanian
insurrection in Kosovo, Metohia and Macedonia were to have been the basis
for opening another front against Serbia, which had, after the
Austro-Hungarian attack, distributed its troops along the border with the
Dual Monarchy. The at first small-scale attacks were recorded already at the
beginning of August, 1914. Turkish and Austro-Hungarian association was
growing closer, thus sealing the destiny of Prince Wilhelm von Wied. After
several unsuccessful attempts to crush the insurrection, abandoned by his
volunteers, the prince left Albania for good at the beginning of September,
1914.2
Shortly before the war, Serbia strove to win over some of the chiefs of
mid and north Albania for cooperation. The agents cruised Albania
endeavoring to make contact with dissatisfied chiefs. It was soon disclosed
that Albanian tribal and feudal chiefs were inconstant, bribable and
unreliable, that they easily changed sides for money and, being without a
clear political conception and strong national awareness, cared most of all
about their personal and tribal interests. Internal political polarization
between them was determined by religious affiliation which ascended over
national feelings.3
Incursions into Serbia, though mostly skirmishes with bordering
stations and gendarmes never ceased since the war began. Even though small
in number and always rapidly checked, they increasingly disturbed competent
circles in Serbia. Informed of preparations for new incursions of broader
dimensions, on the delivery of arms to Albania and the arrival of Young Turk
and Austro-Hungarian officers to join Albanian companies at the
Serbian-Albanian borderline, the government sought a way to neutralize the
preparations for the insurrection. Military circles proposed a preventive
military intervention.4
With the departure of Prince von Wied, no one held power in Albania. At
an assembly, a senate of rebelling towns in mid and north Albania chose
Essad Pasha for their leader, while the Serbian government immediately
appealed to him to take over rule. Nikola Pasic contracted with him an
agreement of friendship, aid and customs union, in Nis, mid-September, 1914.
Aided by Pasic's government, supplying him with money and arms, Essad Pasha
mustered around 5,000 Albanian volunteers, crossed over to Albania and
entered Durazzo at the beginning of October without strife. He immediately
formed a government and proclaimed himself Premier of Albania and Supreme
Army Commander.5
At the beginning of November, Turkey engaged at war on the side of the
Central Powers and declared Holy War (jihad) to the Entante and its allies.
Essad Pasha was considered an enemy to Islam, being a friend to Serbia, and
therefore, an ally of the Entante. The declaration of jihad caused a new
pro-Turkish insurrection of Muslim-fundamentalist forces, this time against
Essad Pasha. The rapidly spreading insurgent masses were lead by Young Turk
officers. The entire movement was of anti-Serbian orientation; the
insurgents demanded the restoration of Albania under the sovereignty of the
Ottoman Empire, with Kosovo, Metohia and west Macedonia included in its
composition. Greece and Italy benefited from the new opportunities. The
Greeks took north Epirus, while Italian troops first occupied the island
Sasseno and then Valona.6
Essad Pasha's position in Durazzo was becoming increasingly uncertain.
Thus the Premier appealed to the Serbian government more than once for
military intervention in Albania. In December, 1914, Serbia successfully
withstood an Austro-Hungarian offensive. The Serbian government feared that
following their defeat north, the Austro-Hungarian state and military
circles would urge the ethnic Albanians to war Serbia, which imposed
preventive military action as a solution.
Incursions of broader dimension announced Hasan Pristina's attempt to
organize an insurrection in Serbia in February, 1915, with a company
numbering around 200 men. Three bordering villages on Serbian territory
joined the insurgents, but in the first clash with a stronger Serbian unit,
Hasan Pristina's company was crushed and banished to Albania.7
Pro-Turkish insurgents besieged Essad Pasha in Durazzo and demanded of him
to recognize the sultan's power and declare war to Serbia. Pasic thus
believed it was best to intervene immediately rather than wait for
Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk officers to muster an Albanian army against
which a whole Serbian army would be forced to fight. When a Serbian diplomat
reported at the end of May that Essad Pasha's position was desperate, and
since Albanian companies had then attacked the Serbian border at two places,
the Serbian government decided to move its army and take strategic positions
in Albania. Around 20,000 Serbian soldiers invaded Albania from three
directions. In only ten days the Serbian troops crushed the rebellious
movement, took Elbasan and Tirana and liberated the besieged Essad Pasha in
Durazzo. A special Albanian regiment was formed from Serbian troops in
Albania to implement thorough pacification in Albania and consolidate Essad
Pasha's position.8 Essad Pasha did not succeed in establishing
power in all the northern and middle regions of Albania. In the Mirdit
region, Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Hasan Pristina were hiding, while in
the Mat region, pasha's relative Ahmed Bey Zogu strove to come to an
agreement with the Serbian military authorities; at his personal request he
went to Nis for negotiations with Pasic.9
Serbia's military intervention met with general complaints in allied
circles, especially with Italy, whose claims to the Albanian coast,
warranted by a secret London Treaty (1915), were thus jeopardized by the
entrance of Serbian troops. Pasic replied to protests sent by ally
diplomacies that it was only a matter of temporary action and the troops
would withdraw after consolidating Essad Pasha's regime. To secure Serbian
positions in Albania after the war was over, the Serbian government
contracted a secret agreement in June, 1914, in Tirana, anticipating an
actual union between the two countries. Essad Pasha consented to rectify the
border to Serbia's advantage, and in return received warranty of Serbia's
support for his choice of ruler to Albania.10
The beginning of the German - Austro-Hungarian offensive against Serbia
in autumn, 1915, Bulgaria's engagement in war on the side of the Central
Powers and its attack on Serbia, forced the Serbian army to war on two
fronts and withdraw to the interior of the country. Bulgaria's incursion
into Macedonia threatened to cut off the retreat of the Serbian army to
Greece. Its retreat and Bulgaria's penetration into the depths of Macedonia
emboldened ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Metohia and Macedonia. Masses of
ethnic Albanians recruited into the Serbian army became deserters, and many
joined the Bulgarians who gave them arms. With Austro-Hungarian
advance-guards, they attacked Serbian soldiers whom they awaited in the Ibar
valley.
When the Serbian army reached Kosovo, followed by many refugees,
various diversions and surprise attacks on field trains were effected. In
many villages ethnic Albanians refused to provide food for the refugees and
soldiers. In Istok, on November 29, 1915, a company of Serbian soldiers
lagging behind was massacred. Near the St. Marko monastery in the vicinity
of Prizren, ethnic Albanians of the Kabash clan deceitfully disarmed and
then killed 60 Serbian soldiers. After the Serbian army retreated from Pec,
ethnic Albanians pillaged many Serbian homes and sacked shops.
Austro-Hungarian guards prevented them from entering the hospital in Pec, in
front of which they gathered to massacre the wounded soldiers. They set
ambushes near Mitrovica, killed soldiers and looted refugees. Serious crimes
were committed in Suva Reka and other regions of Kosovo.11
At the end of November, after the Bulgarians cut off all connections
with Salonika, the Serbian Supreme Command decided to withdraw the army to
Albania and make the necessary reorganizations there. The withdrawal of the
Serbian army through Albania, in winter 1915-1916, has been retained as the
"Albanian Golgotha". With the entrance of the Serbian army into Albania,
Essad Pasha issued an announcement appealing to the Albanian people to help
the amicable army and sell their food. In regions under his immediate
control, Albanian gendarmes considerably helped to ease the withdrawal of
the starving army, inflicted by disease, through impassable mountains
covered with snow. Essad Pasha's gendarmes took care of overnight stays,
food supplies and guarded the roads.
The regions to which Essad Pasha's authority did not stretch,
particularly Ljuma, Mirdits, Drims and partly in Mati, the Serbian army was
forced to clear with guns, on its way toward the Adriatic Sea. In Mirdits,
Mat and other regions, Catholic friars called to the ethnic Albanians to
confront the Serbian army in arms. Rumors spread that Prince Wilhelm von
Wied was arriving from Prizren with Austro-Hungarian troops, ethnic
Albanians avoided confrontation with large military formations; they
preferred to wait in ambush in high gorges for lagging soldiers and
refugees, and then and murder them. The heaviest battles were waged in the
Mirdits by a Combined Regiment of the Serbian army that fell into ambush at
the gorge of the Fani river. Around 800 ethnic Albanians commanded by a
Catholic friar let the army pass through only after they were given large
quantities of supplies from the field train. In places where there were no
armed assaults, the ethnic Albanians refused to rent rooms for overnight
stay and sell food.12
General chaos encircled the withdrawal of the Serbian army, with Essad
Pasha endeavoring to restore order with his gendarmes; but chaos and fear
caught hold of his people and disobedience ensued. Still, most of his troops
protected the Serbian army during its retreat and, whenever necessary,
fought together with it against Albanian companies that joined
Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian troops. After much turmoil and long marches
toward the south, the Serbian army was transferred by allied ships from
Albania to Corfu. Squeezed in between Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian troops,
Essad Pasha was forced to submit to the Italians; escorted by a Serbian
emissary, with a thousand most devoted followers, he crossed over to Italy
by boat.13
Kosovo and Metohia were divided into two Austro-Hungarian occupational
zones: Metohia entered the General Government "Montenegro", while a smaller
part of Kosovo with Kosovska Mitrovica and Vucitrn became part of the
General Government "Serbia". The largest part of Kosovo (Pristina, Prizren,
Gnjilane, Urosevac, Orahovac) was included in the composition of the
Bulgarian Military-Inspectional region "Macedonia".14
In Metohia and Kosovo, Austro-Hungarian authorities aimed to win over
the Albanian and Muslim populace: schools and the local administration were
conducted in the Albanian language. Albanian inhabitants were obviously
privileged. The occupational authorities of the Dual Monarchy immediately
established contact with the leaders. Many refugee chiefs returned from
Albania, while beys from Kosovo and former Turkish officers from Sandzak
cooperated most closely with the new authorities. Hasan Pristina and Dervish
Bey handled the conscription of volunteers who were assigned either to the
Bosnia-Herzegovinian gendarmes or the Turkish corps fighting at the front in
Galicia. A bulk of Albanian volunteers entered the service of
Austro-Hungarian military command in Kosovska Mitrovica and served in small
posse regiments. At the beginning of 1917, Dervish Bey was nominated as
commander of a distinct volunteer battalion (a force of 400 men), comprised
mainly of ethnic Albanians.15
The Bulgarian occupation of Kosovo has been retained by its great
oppression, internment of civilians, forced Bulgarization, and the
persecution and murder of priests. The former Raska-Prizren Metropolitan
Nicifor, was interned in Bulgaria and killed. Serbian priests suffered the
most, being persecuted and murdered on both occupational zones by ethnic
Albanians and Bulgarians. Bulgarian authorities assigned ethnic Albanians
and Turks to all village communities as chiefs, officials and gendarmes, who
helped their compatriots to raid and plunder without disturbance, to win
trials against Serbs in courts, and murders were often hushed up. In certain
villages, Turks and ethnic Albanians oppressed the Serbs of Kosovo in
conjunction.16
In the area between Juzna Morava and Kopaonik, a komitadji movement had
been growing since 1916, under the leadership of Kosta Vojinovic-Kosovac of
Mitrovica, which at the beginning of 1917 turned into a large national
insurrection with its seat at Toplica. ethnic Albanians took part in
persecuting Serbian komitadjis in the Mitrovica district. The armed
resistance was aided by many Serbs from Kosovo. Attempts made by insurgent
leaders to win over ethnic Albanians through negotiations failed. Albanian
companies attacked the insurgents, and in October, 1917, special Albanian
and Turkish units were formed to fight them.17
After being transferred to Corfu, the Serbian army, reorganized and
supplemented by volunteers, was disposed along the Salonika front along with
allied troops. Crossing over from Italy to Paris, with the aid of the French
diplomacy, Essad Pasha arrived at Salonika and formed a new Albanian
government which acquired the status of an emigrant ally cabinet, owing to
Serbian and French intermediation. A special army unit was formed from
around 1,000 gendarmes (Essad Pasha's camp and Albanian archers), and
disposed in juxtaposition to the Serbian Ohrid regiment as part of the
French East Army. Premier Nikola Pasic's idea was to admix the forces with
Serbian ones and direct operations toward Kosovo and north
Albania.18
In autumn, 1918, subsequent to the penetration of the Salonika Front, a
widespread national insurrection developed in Serbia. When the
Austro-Hungarian troops abandoned the line Skoplje-Pristina, the
insurrection spread to Kosovo and Metohia. French and Serbian troops
commanded by General Tranier emerged in Kosovo at the beginning of October,
liberating Pristina, Prizren, Gnjilane and Mitrovica. Serbian komitadji
companies, lead by Kosta Milovanovic Pecanac, met with French troops in
Mitrovica and immediately set off to Pec. Serbian komitadjis surrounded the
town, compelling the considerably stronger Austro-Hungarian troops to
surrender; then the French cavalry trotted into town. Divisions of the
second Serbian army also arrived in Kosovo and established civil and
temporary martial law.19
After the arrival of Serbian and French units, the Albanian people bore
themselves coldly and with reserve. When the bodies of troops continued to
advance toward Montenegro, ethnic Albanians began to assail solitary
soldiers at the end of October. The reason was the injunction given by
Serbian military authorities to collect all state property left from the
Bulgarian administration. Obtaining supplies from communities with arms left
behind, the ethnic Albanians began to assail Serbian civil and military
authorities, while the injunction to surrender arms met with heavy
resistance. Community seats, villages and small military garrisons were
attacked, while during November entire villages in Drenica and around Pec
deserted the Serbian authorities. Until mid-December, Serbian forces crushed
Albanian resistance and carried out the action of disarmament with great
difficulty.20
The Austro-Hungarian monarchy was disintegrating. In Belgrade, on
December 1, 1918, the union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed
into one kingdom under the Karadjordjevic dynasty. In Kosovo, the military
and civil authorities had no time to celebrate. The Albanian resistance,
helped by agitation from Albania, with Italy behind it, announced a new,
kacak (outlaw) movement.
World War One forestalled the formation of a clear policy for ethnic
Albanians within Serbian borders, even though all those that had not taken
part in rebellions against the Serbian authorities were warranted civil
rights. Two Balkan and one world armed clashes, which deepened the old and
created new hatreds between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, had direct political
aims, being supported by the warring sides, above all Austria-Hungary and
Turkey, and in Albania by allied Italy. Yet Serbia had, on the contrary,
persistently striven to create a counterbalance to the anti-Serbian movement
helped by Vienna and Constantinople, through cooperation with Essad Pasha
and a series of tribal chiefs in mid-Albania, and to build a foundation that
would bring ethnic Albanians and Serbs closer. Contracts signed with Essad
Pasha in 1914 and 1915 were, first, a draft of possible ways of contact (a
real union with small territorial concessions), second, security in case the
destiny of Albania would again be resolved without Serbia's participation
when the war was over.
Essad Pasha Toptani's fate, whose political plans for the future of
Albania were based on support and cooperation with Serbia, displayed a
prevailing strong anti-Serbian disposition among ethnic Albanians, who would
benefit from the aims of the Serbian army to capture and include within the
composition of the new state Scutari with the neighboring Serbian villages.
Due to widespread Italian influence, under whose wing a temporary Albanian
government was formed, Essad Pasha's repeated attempts to regain power in
Albania, where he still had many followers, produced no positive results.
Despite delegates supported by Italy in the name of Albania, with Serbia's
assistance Essad Pasha brought another unofficial delegation to the Peace
Conference in Paris, April 1919, and, appealing to the legitimacy of his
government and the declaration of war to the Central Powers, requested
permission to return to his country. His struggle ended with shots fired by
assassin Avni Rustemi on June 13,1920 in Paris.
1 .More elaborate: A. Mitrovic, Srbija u prvom svetskom ratu, Beograd
1985. passim
2 Ibid., 218-224; B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u
Makedoniji, pp. 124-145.
3 B. Hrabak, Muslimani severne Albanije uoci izbijanja rata 1914, pp.
49-80; D. T. Batakovic, Podaci srpskih vojnih vlasti o arbanaskim prvacima
1914, Mesovita gradja, XVII-XVIII (1988), pp. 185-206.
4 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, pp.
147-151.
5 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, in: Srbija
1915, Beograd 1986, 300-306; for details see: B. Hrabak, Elaborat srpskog
ministarstva inostranih dela o pripremama srpske okupacije severne Albanije,
Godisnjak Arhiva Kosova, II-III (1966-1967), pp. 7-35.
6 M. Ekmecic, Ratni ciljevi Srbije 1914, Beograd 1973, 377, pp.
383-385; cf. J. Swire, Albania, The Rise of A Kingdom, London 1930. passim
7 A. Mitrovic, op. cit., pp. 225-226.
8 M. Ekmecic, op. cit. p. 344; for more details see: D. T. Batakovic,
Secanje generala D. Milutinovica na komandovanje albanskim trupama 1915.
godine, Mesovita grada, XIV (1985), pp. 115-143
9 Ahmed Zogu attempted to impose himself upon Serbian competitive
authorities as Esad-pasha's rival. He promised, given the necessary
warrants, he would turn to Serbia's side. An agent of the Serbian government
accompanied him always; more elaborate: D. T. Batakovic, Ahmed-beg Zogu i
Srbija, in: Srbija 1917, pp. 165-177.
10 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa i Srbija 1915. godine, 308-310; cf. Sh.
Rahimi, Mareveshjet e qeverise serbe me Esat pashe Toptanit gjate viteve
1914-1915, Gjurmime albanologjike, VI (1976), pp. 117-143. "
11 P. Kostic, Crkveni zivot pravoslavnih Srba u Prizrenu i okolini u
XIX veku, pp. 141-143; B. Hrabak, Stanje na srpsko-albanskoj granici i
pobuna Arbanasa na Kosovu i Makedoniji, in: Srbija 1915, pp. 80-85; idem.,
Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, pp. 186-195.
12 O. Boppe, Za srpskom vojskom od Nisa do Krfa, Zeneva 1918; P. de
Mondesir, Albanska golgota, memories and war pictures, Beograd 1936; Kroz
Albaniju 1915-1916, Beograd 1968.
13 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, pp.
315-124.
14 A serious crisis broke out in 1916 over the issue on dividing
occupational zones between Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary (Istorija srpskog
naroda, VI/2, Beograd 1983, pp. 146-148).
15 A. Mitrovic, op. cit., pp. 329-393.
16 J. Popovic, Kosovo u ropstvu pod Bugarima, Leskovac 1921; on the
persecution of the clergy: Zaduzbine Kosova, pp. 745-750.
17 More elaborate in: M. Perovic, Toplicki ustanak 1917, Beograd 1973;
A. Mitrovic, Ustanicke borbe u Srbiji 1916-1918, Beograd 1987.
18 Petar Opacic, Solunska ofanziva 1918, Beograd 1980, pp. 358-375.
19 B. Hrabak, Ucesce stanovnistva Srbije u proterivanju okupatora 1918,
Istorijski glasnik, 3-4 (1958), 25-50; ibid., Reokupacija oblasti srpske i
cmogorske drzave arbanaskom vecinom stanovnistva u jesen 1918. godine i
drzanja Arbanasa prema uspostavljenoj vlasti, Gjurmime albanologjike,
191969), pp. 255-260; A. Mitrovic, Ustanicke borbe u Srbiji 1916-1918, pp.
520-522.
20 B. Hrabak, Reokupacija oblasti srpske i cmogorske drzave, pp.
270-279.
PART TWO: THEOCRACY, NATIONALISM, IMPERIALISM
SERBIAN GOVERNMENT AND ESSAD PASHA TOPTANI
I
The study of Serbo-Albanian relations in the first decades of the 20th
century is merely one chapter in a history long marked with conflicts which
in their strongest current bore traits of lasting political confrontation
and religious intolerance which had deepened over the centuries. Thus the
need for precisely defining in perspective the processes under study,
imposes itself as the primary obligation. Favoring a national and
ideologically neutral reflection is not simply an implicit inclusion of
historiographical principle, but an aspiration enabling a stratified account
of never unambiguous historical content, instead of a reduced image of the
past. Viewed from that angle, the figure of Essad Pasha Toptani, whom entire
Albanian historiography condemned as the biggest traitor of his own people
(for cooperating with Serbia), emerges in a different light, ideologically
impartial, alien to every industrious work on history.1
The era delimited with the beginning of the Balkan Wars and the end of
the Paris Peace Conference was marked by a fresh surge of old conflicts
between the Serbs and Albanians. The centuries-long commitment of most
Albanians in the Ottoman Empire to an Islamic structure of society (where
the Muslim belonged to a privileged status to which the Christian was
necessarily subordinate), was a major obstacle to any attempt at creating
more permanent political cooperation, and achieving national and religious
tolerance. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Albanian national
question began to undermine the very foundations of Ottoman rule in the
Balkans; subsequent to the great uprisings against the Young Turk
pan-Ottoman policy, it was supposed to end with the creation of an
autonomous Albanian unit within the frame of the Empire - in the spirit of
the decisions reached by the Albanian League in Prizren in 1878. Demands
were made to the Porte that an autonomous Albania be formed from the Kosovo,
Scutari, Bitolj (Monastir) and Janina vilayets - ethnically mixed areas to
which all the surrounding Balkan states (for many a good reason) lay claim.
Rejecting cooperation offered by the Balkan allies, primarily Serbia and
Montenegro, the leadership of the Albanian national movement decided, by
defending Turkey, to stand by the idea of an ethnic, Great
Albania.2
The proclamation of the independent state of Albania in Valona on
November 28, 1912, showed that despite the tremendous success of the Balkan
Allies at war against Turkey, the balance of forces in the Balkans depended
on the will of the most influential big power in the peninsula -
Austria-Hungary. Created primarily with support from the Dual Monarchy,
Albania was to serve as a dam to Serbia's major war objectives in the First
Balkan War - obtaining a territorial access to the Adriatic Sea at the
coastal belt between Durazzo and St Giovanni di Medua.
Serbia's diplomacy watched with strong suspicion the development of the
situation in Albania. Territorial access to the Albanian coast was jointly
assessed by all relevant political factors (the court, the government, the
army, the civil parties and public opinion) as the only possible way to
avoid the fatal embrace of the Dual Monarchy. By encroaching upon ethnically
different land, in Northern Albania, Serbia violated a principle to which it
appealed there until - the principle of nationality. State reason tipped the
balance which was justified by strategic needs and a historical right as
well as by the struggle for survival imposed by Austria-Hungary.
In fall, 1912, the Serbian troops took Allesio, Elbasan, Tirana and
Durazzo with quick actions and little resistance; the men ecstatically
jumped into the Adriatic, rejoicing over Serbia's sea. The ultimatum
presented by Austria-Hungary, threatening to attack the northern borders of
Serbia, compelled the Serbian government to renounce the access. The Great
Powers acknowledged the creation of the autonomous state of Albania at the
Conference of Ambassadors in London (1912-1913), initially under the
sovereignty and suzerainty of the sultan, and subsequently under their
control. Serbia was given trade access to the sea via a neutral and free
port in the north Albanian coast. The Montenegrin army, bolstered by Serbian
troops, managed to take Scutari after exhausting battles and many victims,
but was forced under a decision reached by the Conference to abandon it and
surrender it to the international forces.3
The new state was a cat's-paw in the hands of Vienna. The ministers of
Ismail Kemal's (Qemalli) provisional government were forced to draw up the
declaration on independence in Turkish, and write the provisions in Turkish
letters, since none of the government members were literate in the Albanian
Latin alphabet. The markedly pro-Austrian orientation of Kemal's government
did not meet with support from the wider population, which was through
centuries-long traditions attached to the Ottoman state and its ideology.
Muslims were in the majority in Albania (around 70% of the population), and
to them the only acceptable solution to the national question was to set up
a state under the rule of the Turkish prince, a demand which the government
in Constantinople was quick to point out. In northern Albania, the Catholic
Mirdits strove to create an independent state under the wing of the Catholic
powers: King Nikola I of Montenegro merely nurtured their demand for
independence. To the south, northern Epirus had little in common with the
tribes of central and northern Albania, being under Greek influence and of
Orthodox majority.4
Religious and tribal differences, an insufficiently formed national
awareness, a completely underdeveloped economy, illiterate masses and their
ignorance in politics held meager promises for a future stable state
community. Albanian tribal and feudal chiefs, who were accustomed to
reversing their positions and allies under the Turks for a handsome
gratuity, demonstrated neither enough political maturity nor national
solidarity. Clashes of different conceptions on the future of the country,
the involvement of the Great Powers and strife over power between regional
chiefs drew Albania into a whirlpool of civil war, even before its status
was defined and its borders fixed. Austria-Hungary benefited mostly from the
anarchy, with its consular and intelligence agencies encouraging a vengeful
policy of Albanian officials, flaring up old hatred between the Serbs and
Albanians, and building outposts for undermining and then destroying the
Serbian administration in the newly-liberated territories - Old Serbia and
Macedonia.5
The strengthening of influence by the Dual Monarchy in Albania, which
was threatening to become a tangible means of political and military
jeopardy to Serbia, disputes over demarcations and the status of individual
adjacent regions instructed the Serbian government to seek among prominent
Albanian tribal chiefs those who would be ready to resolve the issues within
the Balkan framework. The figure most suitable for that purpose emerged -
Essad Pasha Toptani, a Turkish general who gave Scutari over to the
Montenegrins in April 1913, and was allowed in return to leave the town with
his army and all their weaponry to become involved in the struggle over
power in central Albania.
1 K. Frasheri, The History of Albania, Tirana 1964, pp. 183-212; A.
Buda (ed.), Historia e popullit shqiptar, II, Prishtine 1969, pp. 371-516;
S. Polio - A. Puto, {ed.),Histoire de I'Albanie, Roanne 1974, pp. 181-212;
M. Qami, Shqiperia ne mareredheniet nderkombetare (1914-1918), Tirane 1987,
pp. 43-45, 107-112, 240-243,280-281, 313-315.
2 S. Skendi, Albanian National Awakening (1878-1912), pp. 438-463; P.
Barti, op. cit, pp. 173-184; B. Hrabak, Arbanaski ustanci 1912 godine, pp.
323-350; B. Mikic, The Albanians and Serbia during the Balkan Wars, in: East
Central European Society and the Balkan Wars (ed. B. K. Kiraly - D.
Djordjevic), New York 1987, pp. 165-196; Kosovo und Metochien in der
serbischen Geschichte, Lausanne 1989, pp. 311
3 Z. Balugdzic, op. cit, pp. 518-523; D. Djordjevic, Izlazak Srbije na
Jadransko more i Konferencija ambasadora u Londonu 1912, pp. 83-86; M.
Vojvodic, Skadarska kriza 1913. godine, pp. 125-137; 145-151. Cf Ismail
Qemalli. Permbledhje dokumentesh 1889-1919, Tirane 1982. An elaborate
insight in the documents is also provided by the Dokumenti o spoljnoj
politici Kraljevine Srbije 1903-1914, VI/1, Doc. Nos. 135, 389-393, 395,
411, 415, 460, 495-496, 506, 521, 527; VI/2, Doc. Nos. 23, 43, 80,
87-89,108,124.
4 M. Ekmecic, Ratni ciljevi Srbije 1914, pp. 372-377; J. Swire,
Albania, The Rise of a Kingdom, pp. 183-240, D. Mikic, op. cit. pp. 185-191;
M. Schmidt-Necke, Entstehung und Ausbau der Konigsdiktatur in Albanien
(1912-1939), Munchen 1987, pp. 25-40.
5 V. Corovic, Odnosi Srbije i Austro-Ugarske u XX veku, pp. 396-410; M.
Gutic, Oruzani sukobi na srpsko-albanskoj granici u jesen l913. godine,
Vojnoistorijski glasnik, 1 (1985), pp. 225-275; B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i
pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji od kraja 1912. do kraja 1915, pp. 185-206.
II
The career of Essad Pasha Toptani (born in Tirana, 1863) was similar to
the careers of the biggest Albanian feudal lords. As the owner of vast
chifliks in central Albania, Essad Pasha quickly climbed up the Turkish
administrative hierarchy. At the opening of the century he was a gendarmery
commander in the Janina vilayet. He supported the Young Turk movement in
1908, and represented Durazzo as deputy to Turkey's Parliament; in 1909 he
was entrusted with the ungrateful duty of handing Sultan Abdulhamid II the
decree on his deposition. Prior to the Balkan wars, he held the post of
gendarmery commander in the Scutari vilayet where he successfully engaged in
trade with the Italians, giving them concessions for the exploitation of
forests. He took over command of Scutari in early 1913, demonstrating all
the qualities of a great military leader. He decided to surrender the city
only when the garrison, broken by famine and disease, decided, together with
the city chiefs, to stop resisting. The London Ambassadorial Conference of
the Great Powers had already decided that Scutari remain within the Albanian
composition. In those circumstances, surrendering Scutari in late April 1913
on honorable conditions was a wise political decision.1
Essad Pasha evaluated that to rely chiefly on Austria- Hungary when
Italy and Greece were laying open claims to the territory of the Albanian
state, would be fatal to his country's survival. By cooperating with the
center of the Balkan alliance - Serbia - and through it with Montenegro, he
was seeking foundations to build a stable Albanian state with a Muslim
majority, in which he would rely on the large beylics in the central and
northern parts of the country. Essad Pasha possessed the characteristically
Muslim trait of distrusting fellow-countrymen of another religion. The
bearing of the northern Albanian Catholic tribes, which aspired to separate
from Albania, and the pro-Hellenic orientation of the Orthodox Albanian
population in northern Epirus, were the reasons why he consented to adjust
the border to the benefit of Serbia, Montenegro and Greece: he believed that
an Albania smaller than the one stipulated in 1913 would, once homogeneous
in religion, be a much more stable country. The development of international
circumstances urged a closer cooperation with Serbia: Albanian territories
were an object of aspiration and, when World War I broke out, compensation
in the cabinets of big European powers.3
Already in early May, 1913, Essad Pasha informed the Montenegrin king
of his intentions to proclaim himself King of Albania, and of his readiness
to cooperate with the Balkan alliance. He said the Albanians owed their
freedom to the Balkan peoples and that he would establish with them the
borders of Albania without the mediation of other powers. Essad Pasha told
Serbian diplomat Zivojin Balugdzic at a meeting in Durazzo, that he wanted
an agreement with Serbia. Hesitant at first, the Serbian government
consented, assessing that the Pasha had showed by his bearing that he really
wanted an agreement with Serbia, which he regarded, Balugdzic quoted, as the
nucleus for mustering Balkan forces.4
It was crucial to the Serbian government shortly before the Bulgarian
attack to neutralize preparations in Albania against raids into Serbian
territory - especially in Kosovo, Metohia and western Macedonia. Around
20,000 men were in arms in the Albanian territory, mostly refugees from Old
Serbia and Macedonia whose leaders, Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac, were
close associates of Ismail Kemal. They strove to fight the influence of
Essad Pasha, agitating an attack on Serbia and stirring up an uprising of
the Albanian people there.
The Bulgarian komitadjis trained Albanians for guerrilla actions, with
money and arms coming from Austria-Hungary. Essad Pasha refused to join them
and warned the Serbian government not to approve of their
action.5 At the end of September, 1913, a forceful raid was
carried out into Serbian territory. The around 10,000 Albanians, who charged
into the territory from three directions, were lead by Isa Boljetinac,
Bairam Cur and Kiasim Lika. Aside to them, Bulgarian officers also commanded
troops. Their troops took Ljuma and Djakovica, and besieged Prizren. They
were crushed only after two Serbian divisions were sent to the border.6
Essad Pasha used the crushing of the pro-Austrian forces to proclaim
himself (with the support of Muslim tribal chiefs and the big beylics in the
central parts of the country) governor of Albania in Durazzo, in late
September, 1913. Vienna assessed the act as positive proof of his
pro-Serbian orientation. Official Serbia simultaneously helped a number of
other small tribal chiefs who resisted Kemal's government, directing them
towards cooperation with Essad Pasha. The alliance between the Serbian
government and Essad Pasha was not stipulated in a special treaty: Pasic
nevertheless ordered that his followers be aided in money and arms. To the
Serbian prime minister, Essad Pasha served as a counterbalance to the
great-Albanian circles around Ismail Kemal. The new prince of Albania,
Wilhelm von Wied, backed the revanchist aspirations of Albanian leaders from
Kosovo and Metohia. As the most influential man in his government, Essad
Pasha held two important portfolios - the army and interior ministries. When
the unresolved agrarian question, urged by Young Turk officers, grew into a
massive pro-Turk insurrection against the Christian prince, Essad Pasha
supported the insurgents and in a clash with the Prince sought backing at
the Italian mission. After the arrest in Durazzo, Essad Pasha left for
Brindisi under protection of the Italian legate in Durazzo at the end of May
1914. After his departure, border raids into Serbia assumed greater
dimension and intensity.5
The threat Albania posed for Serbia abruptly increased at the beginning
of the world war. The relationship between different political trends within
the Albanian society towards the Central powers and the Entente powers was
to a large extent determined by their commitment towards Serbia. The
pronounced tendency towards pro-Austrian political circles grew with the
continuous influx of Albanian refugees from Serbia. Their revanchist policy
was the prime mover of a strong anti-Serbian movement in the war years, and
became after its end a basis for national forgather.
1 For details see: D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915,
pp. 299-303 (with earlier literature).
2 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), in: Srbija 1918, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, 7, Beograd
1989, p. 346
3 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/2, Doc. No 135,
Z. Balugdzic, op. cit., 521-522.
4 0 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu, pp. 52-64.
5 Ibid, pp. 33-38, 60-61.
6 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 305.
III
The beginning of the "Great War" left open the question about a precise
demarcation between Serbia and Albania. The International Demarcation
Commission discontinued work in mid-1914, thus state borders in areas of
dispute remained to be fixed. War caught unguarded the Serbo-Albanian
border. Austria-Hungary, not heeding for money, prepared fresh raids into
Serbian territory. Paši rightly anticipated the intention
ofVien-na's diplomacy to open, aided by the Young Turks, another front and
flank Serbian lands: he feared that the Albanian leaders financed by Vienna
-Hasan Pristina, Isa Boljetinac (Bollletini), Bairam Cur (Curri) and Riza
Bey Krieziu - would "attack Serbia when they receive orders from Turkey or
Bulgaria and weaken Serbian military action on the other side".1
Concerned with reportings about incessant unrest in the border belt and
endeavors to fomcnt an Albanian uprising in Serbia, military circles in the
New Region Troops in Skoplje proposed preventive military action.
Essad Pasha strove to preserve an independent position, crossing thus
from Italy to France. He planned to confront, with the help of the Entente,
Austria-Hungary's efforts to completely subjugate his country. He made
inquiries from Paris on the conditions upon which the Serbian government
would aid his return to Albania. In 1914, Paši imposed the following
conditions: that he sign a political-customs treaty with Serbia on a joint
defense, that Albania acknowledge the customs union at the chiefs' assembly,
and that a solution be reached at the following stage on forming a personal
or real union with Serbia. Essad Pasha confirmed by cable his acceptance in
principle of Paši 's conditions and immediately set off to
Serbia.2
The Serbian government policy towards Albania was aimed at pre-venting
subversive actions from Albania and creating preconditions to exert
influence at the end of the war on the demarcation of its borders,
particularly in the strip towards Serbia. Shortly before Essad Pasha's
arrival to Serbia, Pasic was interested in learning the stand of the Entante
Powers towards Albania: would they oppose "if Albania as a Turkish-
Bulgarian-Austrian instrument now attacked the Serbian border - could we now
not only fend them off, but incapacitate them for attacks in connection with
Turkey, occupy certain Strategie points and bring them under our influence
until the time comes when Europe would again resolve that issue, and
probably reach a better solution, which would ensure peace in Europe and the
Balkans".3
Essad Pasha obtained permission in Athens from the Greek diplomacy to
work in agreement with the Serbian government. At the same time he secured
backing from Italy, which hoped to have an open road to permanently
occupying Valona (Viore) once his regime was established in Albania. The
government in Rome saw Essad Pasha as the most appropriate figure to oppose
growing Austro-Hungarian and Turkish influence on conditions in
Albania.4
Essad Pasha did not give up his claim to the Albanian throne. He warned
the Serbian consul in Salonika that it would be perilous to Albania if its
prince came from the sultan's family, as that would, through detrimental
influence from Constantinople, open new hostilities towards Serbia and other
Balkan states. He thus pointed out himself as the most appropriate figure to
rule Albania. He sent messages to Pasic on the need for them to conclude a
special treaty before his departure for Albania.5
Upon arriving in Nis, Essad Pasha signed a secret alliance treaty with
Pasic on September 17. The 15 points envisaged the setting up of joint
political and military institutions, but the most important provisions
focused on a military alliance, the construction of an Adriatic railroad to
Durazzo and guarantees that Serbia would support Essad Pasha's election as
the Albanian ruler. The treaty left open the possibility that Serbia, at the
invitation of Essad Pasha, carry out a military intervention to protect his
regime. The demarcation between the two countries was to be drawn by a
special Serbo-Albanian commission. Essad Pasha was to confirm the treaty
only upon being elected ruler, with consent from the National Assembly: this
left maneuvering space for revising individual provisions. Serbia was
obligated to finance Pasha's gendarmery and supply the necessary military
equipment by paying off 50,000 dinars per month.6
After the defeat of Prince Wilhelm von Wied in clashes with pro-Turk
insurgents and his escape from Albania, anarchy broke out in the country.
The insurgents hoisted the Turkish flag, demanding that the country preserve
its Muslim quality. The senate of free towns in central Albania invited
Essad Pasha to take over power. With over 4,000 volunteers mustered in the
vicinity of Debar, Essad Pasha marched peacefully into Durazzo at the
beginning of October 1914, set up his government and proclaimed himself
supreme commander of the Albanian army. He did not question the ties with
Constantinople, and the consent in principle to the sovereignty of the
sultan over Albania. As the lord of central, particularly Muslim parts of
the country, Essad Pasha was compelled to approve of the pro-Turkish beylics
who had invited him to take over power. His first measures were directed at
protecting the Serbian border from raids of troops lead by Young Turk and
Austro-Hungarian officers in the northern parts of the country. He informed
the Serbian government of his move on the Catholic tribes to subdue Scutari
and capture Albanian leaders Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Hasan Pristina
who were in hiding in the northern parts of Has region.7
Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria believed that under the rule of
Essad Pasha Albania would come closer to the Powers of the Entante on a
European war. Germany and Austria-Hungary immediately recalled their legates
in Durazzo, and Bulgaria withdrew its diplomatic agent. At the same time
Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk officers stepped up joint work on a
preparation to raid Serbia. In keeping with the provisions of the Nis
agreement, Essad Pasha undertook action to prevent the troops from crossing
over to Serbian territory, but he was soon thwarted by a new pro-Turk
insurrection.8
In early November 1914, Turkey engaged in a war with the Central
powers, and included among the enemies of Islam Essad Pasha Toptani, as an
ally to Serbia and therefore the Entente. The declaration of jihad stirred
up a new pro-Turk insurrection of the Muslim population. The "Board for
Uniting Islam" from Constantinople called for another conquest of Kosovo:
"Hey Muslims! The until recently part of our fatherland - Kosovo - ...