Background Toponyms such as
Arbanaška River,
Arbanaško Hill,
Arbanaška Mountain,
Arbanaška,
Arbanasce,
Arbanashka Petrila,
Arnautski Potok,
Alban,
Arbanashka Brenica,
Arbanas,
Gjinofc Kulla,
Marash,
Đake,
Kastrat,
Mandi,
Muzace,
Mazarak,
Lusha,
Shatra etc. show an Albanian presence in
Niš and
Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) and in the
Preševo Valley since at least the late Middle Ages. Albanians in the Niš region converted to
Islam after the area became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Muslim population of most of the area was composed out of ethnic Albanians and with Turks located in urban centres. Part of the Turks were of Albanian origin. The Muslims in the cities of
Niš and
Pirot were Turkish-speaking;
Vranje and
Leskovac were Turkish- and Albanian-speaking; Prokuplje and Kuršumlija were Albanian-speaking. Muslim
Romani were also present within the wider area. File:Toplica-Morava-Ravensteinmap.jpg|Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions with pre-1878 borders by the English-German cartographer
E.G. Ravenstein (1880) File:Ethnographische Übersicht des europäischen Orients (Ethnographic overview of the European Orient) - Kiepert.jpg|Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions from 1876 with post-1878 borders by
Heinrich Kiepert (published 1882) File:Toplica-Morava Andreemap.jpg|Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions with post-1878 borders by the
Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas (1881) File:Toplica-Morava- Shepherdmap.jpg|Ethnic composition of Toplica/Morava regions with post-1878 borders by
William R. Shepherd (1923)
Population figures Estimates vary on the size of the Muslim population within these areas. In his extensive studies of Ottoman population movements, American historian
Justin McCarthy regarding the Muslim population of the
Sanjak of Niş gives the figure of 131,000 Muslims in 1876, with only 12,000 remaining in 1882. Whereas historian Noel Malcolm gives the figure for the Albanian population of the area as numbering around 110,000. Other Albanian researchers like Emin Pllana, Skënder Rizaj and Turkish historian Bilal Şimşir place the number of Albanian refugees from the region as numbering between 60–70,000 in the vilayet of Kosovo and 60,000 Muslim or Albanian refugees in Macedonia. Albanian sociologist
Gëzim Alpion asserts that over 100,000 Albanians were expelled from regions in Serbia and Montenegro. Mark Wells and Nick Fellows estimate the total number of Albanians expelled to be around 160,000. According to some Albanian scholars, 200,000 people were expelled and Hakif Bajrami claims that 350,000 people were expelled.
Jovan Cvijić estimated that the number of Albanian refugees from Serbia was about 30,000 a figure which current day Serbian historians such as
Dušan Bataković also maintain. That number was accepted by Serbian historiography and remained unquestioned for almost a century. Drawing upon Serbian archive and travelers documents historian Miloš Jagodić believes that the number of Albanians and Muslims that left Serbia was "much larger", agreeing with Đorđe Stefanović that the number was 49,000 Albanian refugees out of at least 71,000 Muslims that left. Prime Minister
Jovan Ristić wanted a homogeneous country, without Muslims and with a reliable population in the area.
Expulsion Hostilities broke out on 15 December 1877, after a Russian request for Serbia to enter the conflict. The Serbian military crossed the border in two directions. The first objective was to capture Niš and the second to break the Niš-
Sofia lines of communication for Ottoman forces. After besieging Niš, Serbian forces headed south-west into the Toplica valley to prevent a counterattack by Ottoman forces. Prokuplje was taken on the third day of the war and local Albanians fled their homes toward the
Pasjača mountain range, leaving cattle and other property behind. Some Albanians returned and submitted to Serbian authorities, while others fled to Kuršumlija. Advancing Serbian forces heading to Kuršumlija also came across resisting Albanian refugees spread out in the surrounding mountain ranges and refusing to surrender. Many personal belongings such as wagons were strewn and left behind in the woods. Kuršumlija was taken soon after Prokuplje, while Albanian refugees had reached the southern slopes of the
Kopaonik mountain range. Ottoman forces attempted to counterattack through the Toplica valley and relieve the siege at Niš, which turned the area into a battlefield and stranded Albanian refugees in nearby mountains. With Niš eventually taken, the refugees of the Toplica valley were unable to return to their villages. Other Serbian forces then headed south into the Morava valley and toward Leskovac. The majority of urban Muslims fled, taking most of their belongings before the Serbian army arrived. The Serbian army also took Pirot and the Turks fled to Kosovo, Macedonia and some went toward Thrace. Ottoman forces surrendered Niš on 10 January 1878 and most Muslims departed for
Pristina,
Prizren,
Skopje and
Thessalonika. The Albanian neighbourhood in Niš was burned. Serbian forces continued their southwest advance entering the valleys of Kosanica, Pusta Reka and Jablanica. Serbian forces in the Morava valley continued to head for Vranje, with the intention of then turning west and entering Kosovo proper. The Serbian advance in the southwest was slow, due to the hilly terrain and much resistance by local Albanians who were defending their villages and also sheltering in the nearby
Radan and Majdan mountain ranges. Serbian forces took these villages one by one and most remained vacant. Albanian refugees continued to retreat toward Kosovo and their march was halted at the
Goljak Mountains when an armistice was declared. The Serbian army operating in the Morava valley continued south toward two canyons:
Grdelica (between Vranje and Leskovac) and
Veternica (southwest of Grdelica). After Grdelica was taken, Serbian forces took Vranje. Local Muslims had left with their belongings prior to Serbian forces reaching the town, and other Muslims of the countryside experienced tensions with Serbian neighbours who fought against and eventually evicted them from the area. Albanian refugees defended the Veternica canyon, before retreating toward the Goljak mountains. Albanians who lived nearby in the
Masurica region did not resist Serbian forces, and General
Jovan Belimarković refused to carry out orders from Belgrade to deport these Albanians by offering his resignation. Due to depopulation and economic considerations some small numbers of Albanians were allowed to stay and return though not to their previous settlements and instead were designated concentrated village clusters in the Toplica, Masurica and Jablanica areas. This was due to a local Ottoman Albanian commander Shahid Pasha from the Jablanica area negotiating on good terms with Prince Milan and thereby guaranteeing their presence. Some other Albanians such as merchants attempted to remain in Niš, but they left after murders occurred and their property was sold off at low values. Most remaining Albanians were forced to leave in subsequent years for the Ottoman Empire and Kosovo in particular. Serbs from the
Llapi river region moved to Serbia during and after the war of 1876 and incoming Albanian refugees (
muhaxhirë) repopulated their villages. Apart from the
Llapi river region, sizeable numbers of Albanian refugees were resettled in other parts of northern Kosovo alongside the new Ottoman-Serbian border. Most Albanian refugees were resettled in over 30 large rural settlements in central and southeastern Kosovo. Many refugees were also spread out and resettled in urban centers that increased their populations substantially. Western diplomats reporting in 1878 placed the number of refugee families at 60,000 families in Macedonia, with 60-70,000 refugees from Serbia spread out within the vilayet of Kosovo. The Ottoman governor of the Vilayet of Kosovo estimated in 1881 the refugees number to be around 65,000 with some resettled in the Sanjaks of
Üsküp and
Yeni Pazar. Tensions within the Kosovo vilayet between Albanian refugees and local Albanians arose over resources, as the Ottoman Empire found it difficult to accommodate to their needs and meager conditions. Tensions in the form of
revenge attacks also arose by incoming Albanian refugees on local
Kosovo Serbs that contributed to the beginnings of the ongoing Serbian-Albanian conflict in coming decades. Amidst these events, during spring/summer 1879, multiple violent and predatory raids were conducted into Serbia by groups of Albanian refugees into former areas of residence, at times with the acquiescence of Ottoman authorities. In the aftermath of the war and expulsions, British diplomatic pressure for some time was applied to Serbia to allow the Albanian refugees to go and return to their homes, though it later subsided. In the latter part of 1878 and complaining to Lord Salisbury regarding the expulsions, the
British Resident in
Belgrade Gerald Francis Gould reported that the "peaceful and industrious inhabitants" of the "
Toplitza and Vranja Valley were ruthlessly driven forth from their homesteads by the Servians". On the other hand,
Russia's vice-consul in the Kosovo vilayet Ivan Yastrebov advised the local Ottoman governor Nazif Pasha to prevent the return of refugees to Serbia as their presence within the Kosovo area would strengthen the local Muslim element.
Serbian Josif H. Kostić, a local school headmaster from Leskovac witnessing the flight of refugees during winter 1877 noted that many of them had fled their homes with meagre clothing and that from the "Grdelica gorge and as far as Vranje and Kumanovo, you could see the abandoned corpses of children, and old men frozen to death". The journalist Manojlo Đorđević argued for peaceful reconciliation with the Albanians and condemned the policies undertaken by the Serbian state.
Legacy These events in later years would also serve as a possible Serbian solution to the Albanian question in Kosovo and Macedonia for individuals such as
Vaso Čubrilović, who advocated similar measures due to their success. The regions vacated by Albanians were soon repopulated by Serbs from central and eastern Serbia and some Montenegrins who settled along the border with Kosovo. Today, the descendants of these Albanian refugees (
Muhaxhirë) make up part of
Kosovo's Albanian population and they are an active and powerful subgroup in
Kosovo's political and economic spheres. They have also established local associations that document and aim to preserve their regional Albanian culture of origin. Many can also be identified by their surname which following Albanian custom is often the place of origin. Within Serbia today though the Serbian-Ottoman wars of 1876–1878 are mentioned within school books, the Albanian population's expulsion by the Serbian army is omitted. ==See also==