THE UNTOLD STORY UNKNOWN TO THE WEST (2)

The Origins of Ethnic Cleansing

in the Balkans

by 

Zhivko B. Damyanovich

Serbian Resistance to Turkish Rule

Apparently the Albanians were content to submit to the Turks and Islam after the defeat at Kosovo; the Serbs, on the other hand, although Turkish vassals as well, nevertheless continued to exist as a state for another seventy years (1389-1459). They were able to keep their cultural identity, helped by their traditions, their nationalist Serbian Orthodox Church, and their past embodied in their uniquely epic poetry which surprised Europe and enchanted Goethe. 

At first, Ottoman rule was relatively tolerable, providing religious freedom to the inhabitants on condition that they pay taxes in tribute as well as through forced labour (analogous to the French "corvée"), in addition to cooperating with the local rulers. As long as the central authority was strong and efficient, keeping local overlords in check, all was fine; however, these middlemen didn't hesitate to take advantage of any weakness at the top to impose additional burdens as well as enforcing laws with excessive strictness (when it suited them), particularly in cases involving dispossession of property. In time, as these extra demands became too much for the people to bear, widespread protests and rebellions arose, resulting in exceptionally brutal reprisals. [Starting after the death of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566, the Turkish Empire began its decline into corruption and decadence, interrupted only between 1656 -1683 when three strong Grand Viziers of the Kuprili family (Mehmet Kuprili {1656-61}, Ahmed Kuprili {1661 -76}, and Kara Mustapha {1676-83}) governed in the Sultans' names.]

The heaviest of all the burdens imposed on the "giaours" was the "blood tribute" aimed at the gradual but total subjugation of the conquered states: this consisted of taking young Christian boys between seven (7) and ten (10) years of age from their families and then subjecting them to rigorous training designed to purge all memories of their parents, siblings, neighbours and initial upbringing, and inculcate a fanatical loyalty to the Sultan and the Islamic religion. The vast majority of these children ended up in the Turkish Army's élite "Yanichari" corps (known to the West as "Janissaries"). This plan was primarily intended to both replenish and strengthen the Turkish army while at the same time weakening the vassal peoples' resistance and inclination to revolt. In this way, the Turks perpetrated an apparently mild but cunningly hidden and very efficient form of genocide!

The Decline of the Ottoman Empire, Serb insurrections, and results thereof 

The failure in 1683 of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha (the third member of the Kuprili dynasty helping to govern the Ottoman empire - he was then strangled) to capture Vienna (the second time the Turks had tried to do so) and the total rout of the Turkish forces there, followed by further defeats at Harkany, Gran, and Mohacs (reversing the Turkish victory of 1526 on the same site that had enslaved most of Hungary from then onwards), resulted in the Turks retreating deep into the Serbian territory they had occupied for so long. The victorious Austrians entered Buda in 1685 and Belgrade in 1688. Leopold I, the Holy Roman and Austrian Emperor of the time, proclaimed “that now the road was open to Constantinople, and the time and opportunity had come o drive the Turks from Europe". [Will and Ariel Durant "The Age of Louis XIV" p. 425]

However, Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil (The Sun King), came to the Ottomans’ rescue. “The war of Bourbon against Habsburg seemed to the 'Most Christian King’ more important than the conflict between Christianity and Islam.” He resumed his war against Austria, whose “advance against the Turks ceased; Turkish assault was renewed.” Meanwhile, “the new Sultan, Suleiman II, called to the vizierate another Kuprili, Mustafa, brother of Ahmed.” [Ahmed Kuprili had governed the Ottoman Empire from 1661-1676. It is worth mentioning that both Albanians and Serbs claim the Kuprili family as their own.] “Mustafa pacified the Christians in European Turkey with extended freedom of worship, organized a new army, and recaptured Belgrade (1690); but a year later he was killed, and the Turks were routed, at Slankamen. Sultan Mustafa II took the lead of the army in person, but was defeated at Senta (1697) by the Christians under Prince Eugene of Savoy.” [Will and Ariel Durant, “The Age of Louis XIV“, p.425] All the same, the renewal of hostilities between Austria and France during The War of The Spanish Succession (1700-15) led to the Austrians having to retreat, leaving the unfortunate Serb insurgents in the lurch.

In these unhappy times, the Serbs, endangered by the full fury of impending Turkish reprisals, chose to save their soldiers and their people by abandoning their homes, lands, churches, and everything else dear to them. With heavy hearts, they retreated further and further north, even to the Pannonian swamps adjacent to the Save and Danube rivers, in what has been called “The Great Serb Migration.” This tragedy is often compared to the Battle of Kosovo because of its catastrophic effect on the Serbian people.

Thus, they left their historic homeland and their hearths, for a long time trying to survive in the dense forests and high mountains of present-day Serbia. They succeeded in preserving themselves, but at a heavy price that included relinquishing the tragic battlefield of Kosovo along with everything else materially close to their souls.

The nearby Albanians - mostly Muslims - took advantage of this circumstance to move in. They crossed the mountains separating them from Kosovo, leaving their infertile land and settled into what was essentially deserted territory, staying there as the majority people for the next three centuries.

From that time onwards, the Serbs were constantly fighting on the Austrian side against the Ottomans. The Austrians welcomed those who managed to cross the Turkish frontier, gladly having them settle the largely empty but swampy, malaria-infested border zones, strategically located in a large and deep bulwark territory that eventually became known as Vojna Krajina (War Region). This area, which was still under threat from the Turks in any one of the many wars that the Turkish and Austrian Empires fought throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries, became the Yugoslav equivalent of what the Ukraine was for Russia, with its people occupying an analogous position to that of the Ukrainian, Don, and Kuban Cossacks. As to the remaining Serbs scattered in “zbegs” (refugee enclaves) across the territory of the present-day Serbia, it was a long, agonizing struggle throughout the 18^th century to survive the cat-and- mouse, life-or-death game against continuing Turkish attacks. When they finally couldn’t take any more, they revolted. These rebellions in 1804 occurred far and wide, involving the whole country. For nine years, the Serbs enjoyed their self-liberation under Kara George before the Turks crushed them in 1813.

The Achievement of Serbian Independence

Starting in 1815, the Serbian people renewed their quest for independence, but using subtler, more politically astute tactics instead of open rebellion. Recognizing their military weakness against the huge Turkish Army, they submitted to Ottoman sovereignty on condition of their being granted internal autonomy, with the only Turkish presence being in the form of Nizams (military garrisons) stationed in all of the main cities; this autonomy they were granted in 1830. Using further such incremental deals, they obtained ever-greater concessions until their overlords withdrew their troops from all the cities including Belgrade in 1867. The heartland of Serbia was thus finally free.

In 1874, the Serb population of Bosnia-Hercegovina rebelled, and both Serbia and Russia came to their aid, declaring war on Turkey. Two successful wars which lasted from 1874 to 1878 led to the Treaty of San Stefano, whereby Bulgaria and Serbia gained substantial tracts of land; the Western powers (England, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary) thereupon intervened, threatening war against Serbia and Russia unless their demands were met. The San Stefano treaty was annulled and replaced by the fateful Treaty of Berlin, in which the only gain for Serbia was formal international recognition as an independent state; otherwise, most of the Serb land-acquisitions from the Turks were disallowed. Although Austria-Hungary had not had any rôle in the fighting other than to intimidate Serbia, she was awarded Bosnia-Hercegovina, which was at the time populated mainly by Serbs, as a protectorate which she subsequently annexed in 1908. As is well-known, this great injustice led to severe tensions between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, culminating in the events that brought about World War I.  

In the Balkan War of 1912, Serbia gained all of the territory comprising the present Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, as well as Kosovo; Montenegro got Metohia. However, there was no time for either of them to consolidate their holds on these regions due to the outbreak of the First World War, started by the mighty “Kaiserliche und Königliche” (Imperial and Royal) Austro- Hungarian monarchy declaring war on Serbia in 1914.

Serbia during World War I and between the wars

For more than a year, Serbia was able to hold her own against Austria -Hungary and her far superior forces, repeatedly defeating the Imperial armies. It was only after Germany sent her troops and heavy armament against the Serb army that the latter were forced to retreat in October 1915. An invasion from the south by Bulgaria (which welcomed the opportunity to stab her in the back) at that very time compelled the Serbs to withdraw over the high, snowbound Albanian mountains in the face of attacks by the hostile Albanian populace. It should be borne in mind that about one- third of the Serbian Army, already gravely weakened by starvation, typhoid and spotted fever, and gruelling marches, perished in the actual crossing; another third, having been weakened by the privations endured during the march, died of sickness on the isles of Corfu and Vid after being ferried to those islands by Allied warships.. 

That ordeal was permanently seared in the memories of the sorrow-stricken survivors: the ghastly stories of Serb stragglers being ambushed and killed by the inhabitants of Albania left a legacy of hatred and sadness for generations to come. This heritage, aptly summarized in the proverb “whoever doesn’t know how terrible pain can be, let him cross the mountains of Albania on foot,” remained as a grievous stumbling-block to future ethnic relationships between Albanians and Serbs when Kosovo and Metohia were reintegrated into Serbia in 1918.

In the newly-created Kingdom of Croats, Serbs, and Slovens (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929), good intentions managed to prevail over the desire for vengeance on the part of many Serbs. There were no persecutions of any minorities although there were many who were guilty of atrocities and crimes committed while Serbia was occupied by the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, and Bulgarians. Ethnic Germans (who were half a million strong at the time), Hungarians, Bulgars, Albanians, and even Turks (numbering about 160,000 people): all were left in peace. I don’t know of any cases of land or property expropriations affecting ethnic Albanians or any other minority at the time. 

According to the Yugoslav Census of 1931 (published in 1939), the ethnic Albanian population amounted to 700,000 people, most of whom lived in the Kosovo - Metohia region. The remainder, aside from a small enclave in the Sandzak, were scattered throughout the rest of the country. There was no special status for them or for any other of the ethnic minorities; all Yugoslavs had the same rights and responsibilities. In so far as I can remember, Kosovo-Metohia was divided into three (3) parts named the Moravska, Zetska, and Vardarska “Banovinas” (the last of which currently forms almost all of the FYR of Macedonia).

Our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters were the victims
of Turkish genocide in 20's. Smyrna was burnt and Greeks
were killed and forced out. Smyrna, later Izmir, was repopu-
lated by Turkish oppressors from Serb's Kosovo and Metohia.
The Turks are messing with us at Balkans now, but "the night
is still young", and Constantinopole, Adrianople, Smyrna,
are not forgotten. 

Serbia had been particularly devastated by the war. Being almost exclusively an agricultural society, there was an acute shortage of land due to the large holdings kept by the former, often foreign, nobility as well as the previous Turkish oppressors (some of whom shortly thereafter emigrated to Turkey to help resettle areas around Smyrna/Izmir just cleared of their former Greek inhabitants); these estates, mainly located in the very fertile northern plains, had been promised to the war veterans. Thus, Serbia embarked upon an ambitious programme of land reform. This programme was however effectively obstructed and delayed by the landowners, using legal loopholes and bribery when needed. Even when some of the lands were successfully expropriated by the state, it couldn’t help the new settlers with anything else. These people had no tools, seed, livestock, start-up capital or credit. Thus, many of those newly-created war-veteran-farms never progressed beyond the most primitive survival stage by the time World War II engulfed Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. [Albania meanwhile was invaded and occupied by Italy in 1939.]

Next: World War II, the Interim Occupation, and afterwards (to the present)