The displacement of Albanians in the years 1912-39 and the reaction of the Albanian state

By: Qerim Lita

With the outbreak of the First Balkan War, the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire and the occupation of Albanian lands by the Balkan Orthodox alliance, the process of displacement of the Albanian population from their ethnic lands to the Republic of Turkey resumed. Recently discovered documents shed light on the fact that within 1912-13, the occupying Serbo-Montenegrin and Greek armies forcibly expelled over 200 thousand Albanians; the vast majority of them settled in Istanbul, Anatolia and other parts of Turkey. Meanwhile, according to an estimate made by the Albanian Legation in Ankara, in 1928, there were 27-30 thousand Albanian families in Turkey, displaced from Kosovo, the Eastern territories and Chameria, including those Albanians who had emigrated after 1913.

The entire violent policy that was being implemented at that time by the Serbo-Montenegrin invaders had a single goal: to change the ethnic character of the regions inhabited by Albanians at all costs. As an example, we are mentioning the extremely ugly event that occurred in the spring of 1913 in Kicevo, when the Serbian Chetniks, after having surrounded the entire city, entered Albanian houses, where they took all the males and sent them to be executed in separate places: some of them in a place called "Çiflik", another part in "Biçince-Jurie" and the rest in the elementary school in the center of the city. After gathering all the Albanian males of the city in these three places, two well-known Chetnik-comitocracy criminals of that area, Vojvoda Mikail Brodi and Vojvoda Stanka Dimitriević, decided which of them should be killed by slaughter, which with a rifle and which with a stick. In addition to being killed in the most cruel way, they were robbed of all their wealth.

It is important to note that the majority of those displaced during 1912-13 lived in deplorable conditions, as all their movable and immovable property had been confiscated by the Slavic-Orthodox invaders. Although they had once been citizens and nationals of the Ottoman Empire, with the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey (1923), the vast majority of them were denied Turkish citizenship, which made their living conditions even more difficult.

In these circumstances, many of them wanted to return to their homelands, where they had left their homes and properties, but this was not possible for them by the occupying authorities in Belgrade, who recommended to their accredited representatives at the Istanbul Consulate that when issuing entry visas, they be careful that "among them there may be those who wish to enter our territory, with the aim of staying with us."

In addition, they launched a large-scale military-police campaign, ostensibly to capture fugitives, namely members of the Kaçaka Movement, who were considered the fighting wing of the Committee for the National Defense of Kosovo (KMKK). The Turkish newspaper “TNIN” wrote that the authorities of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (hereinafter MSKS) were implementing an unprecedented terror “against the local Muslim population”. As a result of this terror, many Albanian families were forced to abandon their homes to settle in safer places, most of them in Turkey, and a small part within the Albanian state.

Meanwhile, the Serbo-Croat-Slovene Legation in Sofia, on June 3, radioed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade about a new influx of the Muslim Albanian population from Kosovo and present-day North Macedonia to Turkey: "... In recent times, Muslims from our territory have been emigrating to Turkey. A certain number of such persons remain on Bulgarian territory, because the Turkish authorities at the border point prevent them from entering. Those displaced from Southern Serbia (it is thought to be Kosovo and Macedonia - QL), now request from our Legation in Sofia to allow them to return to our country..."!

This legation considered it “unfair” on the part of the Turkish authorities to prevent the population from entering Turkey, because, as the radiogram emphasized, “they are the displaced who”, before leaving the country, “definitely declared themselves citizens of Turkey” and that, with this, “they have the right”, as long as this issue does not receive a final solution. During this same period of time, the Greek Government used the Treaty of Lausanne, of January 30, 1923, to carry out an ethnic cleansing of Chameria, according to which the Turkish and Greek populations would be exchanged in these two states.

During June 1923, the Greek authorities expelled all the inhabitants of the 31 Albanian villages of Kostur and Floresti, totaling 33 people. In the fall of that year, they also increased the pressure on Chameria. The Albanians of this region were ordered to vacate 75 percent of their houses, which were to be occupied by Greek refugees, and the sale of their property was blocked. Meanwhile, on November 7, 1923, the envoy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Istanbul reported to Belgrade about his meeting with the senior advisor of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Mexhit Bey, who had conveyed the great dissatisfaction and concern of the Turkish government about the “real exodus of the Muslim population” from Kosovo to Turkey.

According to Mejit Bey, such a phenomenon was extremely worrying for the Ankara Government, which was already “in exceptional circumstances with the Muslim refugee population”, which, according to the Lausanne Agreement, signed on January 30, 1923 between Turkey and Greece, had begun to migrate to Turkey. This serious situation was apparently the main reason that forced the Albanian Government to initiate the repatriation of the displaced Albanian population from Turkey to the Albanian state. For this reason, an Albanian delegation led by Eshref Frashëri, President of the Assembly, Xhafer Vila, First Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Nezir Bey Leskovik, arrived in Istanbul on October 15, 1923. It was received by the Turkish delegation, led by the deputy Shukri Kaya.

During the negotiations, which lasted more than a month, the demands of both parties were examined and debated in detail. Among the most important demands of the Albanian delegation were: the recognition of Albania as an independent state; the regulation of the citizenship issue, especially the acceptance of Albanians in Turkey as citizens of Albania; a customs and trade convention; a post-war convention.telegrafike; many Albanians who had served in Turkey as civil servants, whether in the army or in the administration, should have the right to a pension, as these civil servants had left funds in the treasury for pensions, etc.

The negotiating parties, having reached an agreement on all issues, on November 18, 1923, initialed the Treaty of Friendship between the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Albania. Its preamble expressly stated: “The Republic of Turkey, on the one hand, and the Albanian State, on the other hand, taking into account the ties established between the two peoples during the five-century Turkish-Albanian political unity and proclaiming their sincere mutual conviction that that bond from the moment of establishing relations between the two countries will serve the destiny and well-being of the two peoples, have decided to sign the Treaty of Friendship between themselves.”

The issue of the repatriation of Albanians displaced to Turkey was included in Chapter III, Article 3 of the Agreement, which stated: "Those who are of Albanian nationality and who are deported to Turkey, while having exceeded the age of 18 from the day of the implementation of this agreement and within a period of one year, may acquire Albanian citizenship. All those who acquire Albanian citizenship in this way are obliged to leave the territory of Turkey within a period of one year from the day of the signing of this agreement, on the understanding that they cannot return to it, at the same time selling their movable and immovable property as well as making all payments and state and private debts and severing all ties. Until the Turkish border is opened, these will be considered as citizens of Turkey".

The establishment of diplomatic relations between Albania and Turkey, however, was not in favor of the then hegemonic Yugoslav policy, so it engaged its diplomacy in Istanbul and Ankara to do its best to prevent the agreement from being reached. In this regard, the Consulate in Istanbul was the most active, which informed Belgrade every day about the progress of the talks. On November 19, it reported to the MFA in Belgrade about the alleged failure of the negotiations. However, such news turned out to be incorrect, because the Friendship Agreement between Turkey and Albania, as mentioned above, was signed on November 18, while its ratification was left to take place after the next parliamentary elections, which were to be held that same year in Albania. The events that occurred in Albania during 1924, which are known to the general public, were the reason for the delay in the ratification of the Agreement. The same was signed on July 16, 1925, after Ahmet Zog returned to power.

A few months after the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, the Government of the Republic of Turkey opened its Legation in Tirana. The Government of the Republic of Albania followed suit, and in January 1926 appointed the distinguished Albanian diplomat, Rauf Fico, as Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary Albanian Envoy in Ankara, and Asafa Xhuxhuli as First Secretary of the Albanian Legation in Istanbul. We do not have detailed data on the number of Albanians who agreed to be repatriated to Albania, but Yugoslav diplomatic documents clearly emphasize the relentless efforts of Ahmet Zog and the Royal Albanian Government to repatriate them.

This effort did not stop only within the time frame set by the agreement, but continued throughout the thirties. In September 1934, the Yugoslav MFA published the report of the Albanian consul general in Istanbul, F. Dervishi, which describes the activity of that consulate in relation to the repatriation of Albanians from Turkey, and the great resonance that at that time had prevailed among the displaced. Such an action was undertaken by the director of the Agrarian Reform of the Albanian Kingdom, Hoxha Sali Vuçitërna: “By order of that Ministry and the oral agreement with the director of the Agrarian Reform, Mr. Sali Vuçitërna, on the occasion of his arrival in Istanbul, this representation has not hesitated to develop its activity among the emigrants from Kosovo who are in Turkey, to return to Albania. The activity has met with complete success, so much so that many Kosovar families, who are in Turkey, are ready to leave for Albania. Based on the promises of this Consulate, many of them have left their places assigned by the Turkish authorities and are in Istanbul, prepared to leave for Albania. Their travel expenses, together with the costs of passports, amount to 4,000 gold francs!

At a time when the Albanian Government was making maximum efforts to repatriate as many Albanians as possible who had been forcibly expelled by the Yugoslavs, the Greek authorities took violent action in Chameria, installing a large number of immigrants from Turkey in the homes of Albanians in Chameria. As a result, many Albanian families from the villages of the Filat and Gumenicë communes were registered as wanting to move to Turkey.

On February 23, 1927, the President of the Republic, Ahmet Zogu, received a letter from Chameria, which stated that the Chams, due to their many sufferings, "without schools, without any human rights, abused by Greek officials, want to leave, since they are suffering so badly and no one is looking after them, what should they do?" "It seems clear," the letter continues, "that the Greek Government will move them from Chameria. The Prefect of Ioannina seems to have sent Hasan Hamiti to tell them that if they sign an act stating that the Greek Government does not force them, but that they want to leave on their own, no obstacles will be placed in their way. As for the Turkish Government, it will also accept them, if they have some money with them"!

The letter continued by saying that "the Greek government would send an official to register the houses and properties of the Albanians of Chameria, part of which would be purchased by the Bank of Asia Minor, while the rest by the National Bank of Greece". At the very end of the letter it was stated that "this minority of our blood will have to leave its country" due to the violence being used by the Greek government authorities, and that some of them "if Albania accepted them, they would go and become Albanian citizens".

The situation in Chameria deteriorated even further during the months of April-May 1927, after the Greek Government, as it had warned, settled a large number of Greek immigrants from Anatolia in the homes and properties of Albanians. In such a situation, the Chamber of Deputies, at the meeting held on May 15, 1927, upon the proposal of deputies Maliq Bushati, R. Kiçi and Kol Mjeda, decided to summon the Government of Albania to provide explanations on the injustices being committed against the Albanians of Chameria by the Greek Government. The text of the proposal stated that despite the promises and commitments of the Greek Government given before the League of Nations, it is implementing a violent and inhuman policy towards the Albanian element in Chameria.

"According to the principle of minorities," the text continues, "instead of enjoying all the rights as Greek citizens, they are being denied the most natural and fundamental right, the right to life. With the plots and houses of these poor people, immigrants from Anatolia have been installed who, by order of the Government, enjoy all their possessions such as; gardens, olive groves, pastures and bread fields, leaving the poor Chams to die on the streets"!

Meanwhile, Xhafer Çela, Zenel Ypi and Shahin Ypi, write a letter to the President of the Republic of Albania, Ahmet Zogu, in which they express their deep concern, because a fairly large part of the Chams; "are selling their property", in order to move to Turkey. In general, the Greek Government, in the name of the population exchange with the Republic of Turkey, forcibly expelled all Albanian residents in 83 villages of Chameria. Regarding the expulsion of the Albanian population from Chameria, there is also an analysis drawn up in 1932, by the General Staff of the Yugoslav Royal Army, which, among other things, states: "In the province of Chameria, from Northern Epirus, the largest number of the local Albanian population has emigrated and settled in Turkey and Albania. Their very large property has remained in the territory of Greece. "The Greeks appropriated this wealth and distributed it to the emigrants from Asia Minor."

On the other hand, the Yugoslav authorities, inspired by the Law on Colonization, which the Turkish Parliament passed on July 14, 1934, which, among other things, provided for the migration of all Balkan Turks to Turkey, saw it as the key moment for the migration of entire Albanian and Turkish population from their homes to Turkey, and to settle Slavic settlers on their lands.

For this purpose, the Yugoslav Parliament, at its meeting held on August 21, 1934, amended and supplemented Article 55 of the Yugoslav Citizenship Law, adopted in 1928, the content of which was: "Non-Slavs who, within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 55, have become citizens of the Kingdom, cease to be such if, after the entry into force of this Law and until November 1, 1938, before the competent bodies of the first-instance government, or at any of our diplomatic or consular representations in the foreign world, they declare that they withdraw from citizenship. Declarations submitted to the said government as well as to diplomatic and consular representations by the persons in question, after November 1, 1938, and until the entry into force of this Law, will be considered as having been sent on time"!

With this law, all citizens of Yugoslavia who were not of Slavic ethnicity were "enabled" to obtain the citizenship of another state, and anyone who received a foreign passport and did not leave within a year was then forced by the Yugoslav authorities to leave Yugoslavia. In this way, a large number of Albanians, since the Albanian State did not accept them, were forced to move to Turkey, which, although it declared that it would not accept Albanian immigrants from Yugoslavia, nevertheless offered them all the facilities to settle in Turkey.

Consequently, at the beginning of 1935, news was already being heard about the Yugoslav-Turkish agreement for the resettlement of Muslims, of course, ethnic Albanians. The Minister of the Interior of Turkey, will declare that the Republic of Turkey will bring 800 thousand immigrants from Yugoslavia. The resettlement of the Albanian population from Yugoslavia to Turkey, according to the prominent Albanian diplomat, Rauf Fico, would continue even further, because it constituted a Turkish-Yugoslav “common interest”, therefore he proposed to the Royal Albanian Government to undertake all “necessary measures for the installation in Albania” of those Albanians who would insist on leaving Kosovo or other ethnic Albanian territories under Yugoslavia.

Meanwhile, the Yugoslav consul general in Istanbul, in an analysis drawn up in May 1935, assessed that the Yugoslav government should not popularize the migration of the Albanian population to Albania, because this would increase the population of that state and strengthen the “irredentist movement”, which was already being encouraged by the Albanian state itself. Instead, he proposed that the Albanians migrate to Turkey, because according to him; “that Albanian element” which migrates to Turkey is considered as “a definitively lost element”.

During this same period, the Agrarian Reform Chamber in Skopje began a broad campaign of confiscation of fertile land in Albanian settlements. The action envisaged that “Albanian villagers would be allowed only 0,4 hectares of land per family member”. The aim of this anti-Albanian policy, as we learn from numerous sources of Yugoslav police and military provenance, was to “despair the Albanian inhabitants”, especially of the villages that stretched along the Sharr Mountain and up to the Kumanovo-Pristina area, where the Albanian population was very large. The Belgrade authorities hoped that through these harsh agrarian measures, they would force the Albanians to abandon their homes and move to Turkey.

The envoy of the Albanian Kingdom in Belgrade, Rauf Fico, wrote to the MFA that “with the implementation of various colonization and agrarian reform laws, hundreds of Albanian families have had their lands and homes confiscated”, and that this was the real cause of the emigration of Albanians to the Republic of Turkey. In the supplementary report dated May 18, 1934, R. Fico informed the MFA that, on March 25, 1934, the Yugoslav authorities had ordered the residents of the villages of the Gjakova district: Batush, Nivokaz, Moglicë, Brovinë, Palabardh, Stublëll, Berjah, Ponoshec, Popoc, Shishman, Babaj Bokës that “they can no longer work their lands, which benefit from the agrarian reform…”! /Memorie.al/