Violence against Serbs during the late Ottoman era

Violence against Serbs during the late Ottoman era refers to acts of violence committed against ethnic Serbs, primarily by Albanians, during the final stages of the Ottoman Empire and their control of parts of the Balkans (late 19th and early 20th century).

Background
The Ottomans began expanding into the Balkans during the 14th century, initially as part of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, followed by the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars, the Serbian–Ottoman wars and the Albanian-Ottoman Wars during the 14th-15th centuries. Most of the Balkans came under Ottoman control by the 16th century and were governed as part of Rumelia, corresponding to most of the modern Balkan region.

During the Serbian–Ottoman War of 1876–78, between 49,000 and 130,000 Albanian civilians were violently expelled by the Serb army from the Sanjak of Niš and fled to the Kosovo Vilayet. Within the context of the Serbian–Ottoman Wars, the Sultan Abdul Hamid II unleashed his auxiliary troops consisting of Kosovar Albanians on the remaining Serbs before and after the Ottoman army's retreat in 1878. Albanian refugees were hostile towards Slavs, and violent acts were carried out on local Kosovo Serbs; the ethnic cleansing of the Albanians from the Sanjak of Nish is considered to be an integral aspect of the ongoing Serbian-Albanian conflict. "In consequence of the Russian-Ottoman war, a violent expulsion of nearly the entire Muslim, predominantly Albanian-speaking, population was carried out in the sanjak of Niš and Toplica during the winter of 1877-1878 by the Serbian troops. This was one major factor encouraging further violence, but also contributing greatly to the formation of the League of Prizren. The league was created in an opposing reaction to the Treaty of San Stefano and the Congress of Berlin and is generally regarded as the beginning of the Albanian national movement. The displaced persons (Alb. muhaxhirë, Turk. muhacir, Serb. muhadžir) took refuge predominantly in the eastern parts of Kosovo. The Austro-Hungarian consul Jelinek reported in April of 1878.... The account shows that these displaced persons (muhaxhirë) were highly hostile to the local Slav population.... Violent acts of Muslims against Christians, in the first place against Orthodox but also against Catholics, accelerated. This can he explained by the fears of the Muslim population in Kosovo that were stimulated by expulsions of large Muslim population groups in other parts of the Balkans in consequence of the wars in the nineteenth century in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated and new Balkan states were founded. The latter pursued a policy of ethnic homogenisation expelling large Muslim population groups."; p. 467. "Clewing (as well as Müller) sees the expulsions of 1877 – 1878 as a crucial reason for the culmination of the interethnic relations in Kosovo and 1878 as the epoch year in the Albanian-Serbian conflict history."

Late 19th century
Albanian refugees from the Sanjak of Nish were very hostile to the Kosovo Serbs, resulting in an increase of violent acts perpetrated towards the Serbs. Some Serbs were ousted from their positions as merchants.

1901
Serbs in the Ottoman Empire were maltreated and accused of being Serbian agents. Panic ensued, and Serbs, primarily from the border areas fled to Serbia. Albanians who participated in the Greco-Turkish War (1897) used weapons not turned in to the authorities against the Serbs in Old Serbia. In May 1901, Albanians partially set Sjenica, Novi Pazar and Pristina on fire. The Albanians massacred Serbs around Pristina. Ibarski Kolašin (now known as North Kosovo), a forested region made up of 40 villages, largely inhabited by Serbs, where Serbian teachers and priests were active, had long irritated the Albanians and Ottoman government; Serbs were continuously maltreated in the region.

The Serbian government observed the developments in Kolašin, and did not remain idle. The situation became serious, with Serbs being smuggled arms by Serbia to defend themselves. In the summer of 1901, Albanians massacred Serbs in the Kolašin area. The atrocities prompted the Russian government to intervene at the Porte.

Russia
Initially, the Sublime Porte did not suppress the Albanian movement nor protect the Serbs. Russia demanded that the Albanians and Turkish gendarmeries be punished and the Serbs be allowed to keep the arms for protection. The Porte answered by mass arrests and criminalizing the Albanian language. The governor (vali) was dismissed, and several other anti-Serb officials and Albanian chieftains who had been especially cruel were removed from their posts.

Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary supported the Albanians and tried to downplay the massacres. The events were instrumental in the "Kolašin affair" (Колашинска афера), a diplomatic conflict between Austria-Hungary, which supported the Albanians, and Serbia, which was supported by Russia.

Legacy
Ottoman defeat to Serbia alongside new geopolitical circumstances post 1878 opposed by Albanian nationalists resulted in attitudes among them that eventually supported what today is known as "ethnic cleansing" that made part of the Kosovo Serb population to leave.

Prior to the Balkan Wars (1912–13), Kosovo Serb community leader Janjićije Popović stated that the wars of 1876–1878 "tripled" the hatred of Turks and Albanians, especially that of the refugee population from the Sanjak of Niš toward Serbs by committing acts of violence against them.