Sulmet ndaj serbëve (1876–1878)

Ngjarjet e persekutimit të popullatës serbe ndodhën në Kosovën osmane në vitin 1878, si pasojë e luftës serbo-osmane (1876-78).  Refugjatët shqiptarë të ardhur në Kosovë, të cilët u dëbuan nga ushtria serbe nga sanxhaku i Nishit, u përfshinë në sulme hakmarrëse dhe armiqësore ndaj popullatës serbe vendase. "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."  "For Serbia the war of 1878, where the Serbians fought side by side with Russian and Romanian troops against the Ottoman Empire, and the Berlin Congress were of central importance, as in the Romanian case. The beginning of a new quality of the Serbian-Albanian history of conflict was marked by the expulsion of Albanian Muslims from Niš Sandžak which was part and parcel of the fighting (Clewing 2000 : 45ff.; Jagodić 1998 ; Pllana 1985). Driving out the Albanians from the annexed territory, now called "New Serbia," was a result of collaboration between regular troops and guerrilla forces, and it was done in a manner which can be characterized as ethnic cleansing, since the victims were not only the combatants, but also virtually any civilian regardless of their attitude towards the Serbians (Müller 2005b). The majority of the refugees settled in neighboring Kosovo where they shed their bitter feelings on the local Serbs and ousted some of them from merchant positions, thereby enlarging the area of Serbian-Albanian conflict and intensifying it."  "In 1878, following a series of Christian uprisings against the Ottoman Empire, the Russo-Turkish War, and the Berlin Congress, Serbia gained complete independence, as well as new territories in the Toplica and Kosanica regions adjacent to Kosovo. These two regions had a sizable Albanian population which the Serbian government decided to deport."; p.470. "The ‘cleansing’ of Toplica and Kosanica would have long-term negative effects on Serbian-Albanian relations. The Albanians expelled from these regions moved over the new border to Kosovo, where the Ottoman authorities forced the Serb population out of the border region and settled the refugees there. Janjićije Popović, a Kosovo Serb community leader in the period prior to the Balkan Wars, noted that after the 1876–8 wars, the hatred of the Turks and Albanians towards the Serbs ‘tripled’. A number of Albanian refugees from Toplica region, radicalized by their experience, engaged in retaliatory violence against the Serbian minority in Kosovo... The 1878 cleansing was a turning point because it was the first gross and large-scale injustice committed by Serbian forces against the Albanians. From that point onward, both ethnic groups had recent experiences of massive victimization that could be used to justify ‘revenge’ attacks. Furthermore, Muslim Albanians had every reason to resist the incorporation into the Serbian state." Në sulme morën pjesë edhe trupat shqiptare, me urdhër të Sulltan Abdul Hamidit II.Lampe, 2000, p. 55.

 Sfondi 

Gjatë luftës serbo-osmane të viteve 1876–78, midis 30,000 dhe 70,000 myslimanë, kryesisht shqiptarë, u dëbuan nga ushtria serbe nga sanxhaku i Nishit dhe u larguan në Vilajetin e Kosovës.  Şimşir, Bilal N, (1968). Rumeli’den Türk göçleri. Emigrations turques des Balkans [Turkish emigrations from the Balkans]. Vol I. Belgeler-Documents. p. 737.   Brenda kontekstit të Luftës Serbo-Otomane, Sulltan Abdul Hamidi II lëshoi trupat e tij ndihmëse të përbëra nga shqiptarë të Kosovës mbi serbët e mbetur para dhe pas tërheqjes së ushtrisë osmane në 1878.  Tensionet në formën e sulmeve hakmarrëse u ngritën nga ardhja Refugjatët shqiptarë mbi serbët lokalë të Kosovës që kontribuan në fillimet e konfliktit të vazhdueshëm serbo-shqiptar në dekadat e ardhshme.   

Më 19 janar 1878, 40 dezertorë shqiptarë që tërhiqeshin nga ushtria osmane hynë në shtëpinë e plakut Tashko, bujkrobër, në rajonin e Bujanocit, i lidhën meshkujt dhe i përdhunuan dy vajzat dhe dy nuset e tij. Dezertorët shqiptarë u shpërndanë, të dehur dhe u kapën fillimisht në Lukarcë, ku 6 prej tyre u rrahën për vdekje. Ata i vranë të gjithë.

 Trashëgimia 
Humbja osmane ndaj Serbisë së bashku me rrethanat e reja gjeopolitike pas vitit 1878, të kundërshtuara nga nacionalistët shqiptarë, rezultoi në qëndrime antikristiane mes tyre, të cilat përfundimisht mbështetën atë që sot njihet si "spastrim etnik" që bëri që një pjesë e popullsisë serbe të Kosovës të largohej.

Përpara luftërave ballkanike (1912–1913), udhëheqësi i komunitetit serb të Kosovës Janjiqije Popoviç deklaroi se luftërat e viteve 1876–1878 “trefishuan” urrejtjen e turqve dhe shqiptarëve, veçanërisht atë të popullatës refugjate nga sanxhaku i Nishit ndaj serbëve duke kryer akte dhune ndaj tyre.

 Shih edhe 
 Toplica
 Muhaxhirë
 Masakra ndaj serbëve në vitin 1901

 Referime 

Kategoria:Vilajeti i Kosovës
Kategoria:Serbë të Kosovës