enica and around Pec
deserted the Serbian authorities. Until mid-December, Serbian forces crushed
Albanian resistance and carried out the action of disarmament with great
difficulty.20
The Austro-Hungarian monarchy was disintegrating. In Belgrade, on
December 1, 1918, the union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed
into one kingdom under the Karadjordjevic dynasty. In Kosovo, the military
and civil authorities had no time to celebrate. The Albanian resistance,
helped by agitation from Albania, with Italy behind it, announced a new,
kacak (outlaw) movement.
World War One forestalled the formation of a clear policy for ethnic
Albanians within Serbian borders, even though all those that had not taken
part in rebellions against the Serbian authorities were warranted civil
rights. Two Balkan and one world armed clashes, which deepened the old and
created new hatreds between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, had direct political
aims, being supported by the warring sides, above all Austria-Hungary and
Turkey, and in Albania by allied Italy. Yet Serbia had, on the contrary,
persistently striven to create a counterbalance to the anti-Serbian movement
helped by Vienna and Constantinople, through cooperation with Essad Pasha
and a series of tribal chiefs in mid-Albania, and to build a foundation that
would bring ethnic Albanians and Serbs closer. Contracts signed with Essad
Pasha in 1914 and 1915 were, first, a draft of possible ways of contact (a
real union with small territorial concessions), second, security in case the
destiny of Albania would again be resolved without Serbia's participation
when the war was over.
Essad Pasha Toptani's fate, whose political plans for the future of
Albania were based on support and cooperation with Serbia, displayed a
prevailing strong anti-Serbian disposition among ethnic Albanians, who would
benefit from the aims of the Serbian army to capture and include within the
composition of the new state Scutari with the neighboring Serbian villages.
Due to widespread Italian influence, under whose wing a temporary Albanian
government was formed, Essad Pasha's repeated attempts to regain power in
Albania, where he still had many followers, produced no positive results.
Despite delegates supported by Italy in the name of Albania, with Serbia's
assistance Essad Pasha brought another unofficial delegation to the Peace
Conference in Paris, April 1919, and, appealing to the legitimacy of his
government and the declaration of war to the Central Powers, requested
permission to return to his country. His struggle ended with shots fired by
assassin Avni Rustemi on June 13,1920 in Paris.
1 .More elaborate: A. Mitrovic, Srbija u prvom svetskom ratu, Beograd
1985. passim
2 Ibid., 218-224; B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u
Makedoniji, pp. 124-145.
3 B. Hrabak, Muslimani severne Albanije uoci izbijanja rata 1914, pp.
49-80; D. T. Batakovic, Podaci srpskih vojnih vlasti o arbanaskim prvacima
1914, Mesovita gradja, XVII-XVIII (1988), pp. 185-206.
4 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, pp.
147-151.
5 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, in: Srbija
1915, Beograd 1986, 300-306; for details see: B. Hrabak, Elaborat srpskog
ministarstva inostranih dela o pripremama srpske okupacije severne Albanije,
Godisnjak Arhiva Kosova, II-III (1966-1967), pp. 7-35.
6 M. Ekmecic, Ratni ciljevi Srbije 1914, Beograd 1973, 377, pp.
383-385; cf. J. Swire, Albania, The Rise of A Kingdom, London 1930. passim
7 A. Mitrovic, op. cit., pp. 225-226.
8 M. Ekmecic, op. cit. p. 344; for more details see: D. T. Batakovic,
Secanje generala D. Milutinovica na komandovanje albanskim trupama 1915.
godine, Mesovita grada, XIV (1985), pp. 115-143
9 Ahmed Zogu attempted to impose himself upon Serbian competitive
authorities as Esad-pasha's rival. He promised, given the necessary
warrants, he would turn to Serbia's side. An agent of the Serbian government
accompanied him always; more elaborate: D. T. Batakovic, Ahmed-beg Zogu i
Srbija, in: Srbija 1917, pp. 165-177.
10 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa i Srbija 1915. godine, 308-310; cf. Sh.
Rahimi, Mareveshjet e qeverise serbe me Esat pashe Toptanit gjate viteve
1914-1915, Gjurmime albanologjike, VI (1976), pp. 117-143. "
11 P. Kostic, Crkveni zivot pravoslavnih Srba u Prizrenu i okolini u
XIX veku, pp. 141-143; B. Hrabak, Stanje na srpsko-albanskoj granici i
pobuna Arbanasa na Kosovu i Makedoniji, in: Srbija 1915, pp. 80-85; idem.,
Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji, pp. 186-195.
12 O. Boppe, Za srpskom vojskom od Nisa do Krfa, Zeneva 1918; P. de
Mondesir, Albanska golgota, memories and war pictures, Beograd 1936; Kroz
Albaniju 1915-1916, Beograd 1968.
13 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, pp.
315-124.
14 A serious crisis broke out in 1916 over the issue on dividing
occupational zones between Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary (Istorija srpskog
naroda, VI/2, Beograd 1983, pp. 146-148).
15 A. Mitrovic, op. cit., pp. 329-393.
16 J. Popovic, Kosovo u ropstvu pod Bugarima, Leskovac 1921; on the
persecution of the clergy: Zaduzbine Kosova, pp. 745-750.
17 More elaborate in: M. Perovic, Toplicki ustanak 1917, Beograd 1973;
A. Mitrovic, Ustanicke borbe u Srbiji 1916-1918, Beograd 1987.
18 Petar Opacic, Solunska ofanziva 1918, Beograd 1980, pp. 358-375.
19 B. Hrabak, Ucesce stanovnistva Srbije u proterivanju okupatora 1918,
Istorijski glasnik, 3-4 (1958), 25-50; ibid., Reokupacija oblasti srpske i
cmogorske drzave arbanaskom vecinom stanovnistva u jesen 1918. godine i
drzanja Arbanasa prema uspostavljenoj vlasti, Gjurmime albanologjike,
191969), pp. 255-260; A. Mitrovic, Ustanicke borbe u Srbiji 1916-1918, pp.
520-522.
20 B. Hrabak, Reokupacija oblasti srpske i cmogorske drzave, pp.
270-279.
PART TWO: THEOCRACY, NATIONALISM, IMPERIALISM
SERBIAN GOVERNMENT AND ESSAD PASHA TOPTANI
I
The study of Serbo-Albanian relations in the first decades of the 20th
century is merely one chapter in a history long marked with conflicts which
in their strongest current bore traits of lasting political confrontation
and religious intolerance which had deepened over the centuries. Thus the
need for precisely defining in perspective the processes under study,
imposes itself as the primary obligation. Favoring a national and
ideologically neutral reflection is not simply an implicit inclusion of
historiographical principle, but an aspiration enabling a stratified account
of never unambiguous historical content, instead of a reduced image of the
past. Viewed from that angle, the figure of Essad Pasha Toptani, whom entire
Albanian historiography condemned as the biggest traitor of his own people
(for cooperating with Serbia), emerges in a different light, ideologically
impartial, alien to every industrious work on history.1
The era delimited with the beginning of the Balkan Wars and the end of
the Paris Peace Conference was marked by a fresh surge of old conflicts
between the Serbs and Albanians. The centuries-long commitment of most
Albanians in the Ottoman Empire to an Islamic structure of society (where
the Muslim belonged to a privileged status to which the Christian was
necessarily subordinate), was a major obstacle to any attempt at creating
more permanent political cooperation, and achieving national and religious
tolerance. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Albanian national
question began to undermine the very foundations of Ottoman rule in the
Balkans; subsequent to the great uprisings against the Young Turk
pan-Ottoman policy, it was supposed to end with the creation of an
autonomous Albanian unit within the frame of the Empire - in the spirit of
the decisions reached by the Albanian League in Prizren in 1878. Demands
were made to the Porte that an autonomous Albania be formed from the Kosovo,
Scutari, Bitolj (Monastir) and Janina vilayets - ethnically mixed areas to
which all the surrounding Balkan states (for many a good reason) lay claim.
Rejecting cooperation offered by the Balkan allies, primarily Serbia and
Montenegro, the leadership of the Albanian national movement decided, by
defending Turkey, to stand by the idea of an ethnic, Great
Albania.2
The proclamation of the independent state of Albania in Valona on
November 28, 1912, showed that despite the tremendous success of the Balkan
Allies at war against Turkey, the balance of forces in the Balkans depended
on the will of the most influential big power in the peninsula -
Austria-Hungary. Created primarily with support from the Dual Monarchy,
Albania was to serve as a dam to Serbia's major war objectives in the First
Balkan War - obtaining a territorial access to the Adriatic Sea at the
coastal belt between Durazzo and St Giovanni di Medua.
Serbia's diplomacy watched with strong suspicion the development of the
situation in Albania. Territorial access to the Albanian coast was jointly
assessed by all relevant political factors (the court, the government, the
army, the civil parties and public opinion) as the only possible way to
avoid the fatal embrace of the Dual Monarchy. By encroaching upon ethnically
different land, in Northern Albania, Serbia violated a principle to which it
appealed there until - the principle of nationality. State reason tipped the
balance which was justified by strategic needs and a historical right as
well as by the struggle for survival imposed by Austria-Hungary.
In fall, 1912, the Serbian troops took Allesio, Elbasan, Tirana and
Durazzo with quick actions and little resistance; the men ecstatically
jumped into the Adriatic, rejoicing over Serbia's sea. The ultimatum
presented by Austria-Hungary, threatening to attack the northern borders of
Serbia, compelled the Serbian government to renounce the access. The Great
Powers acknowledged the creation of the autonomous state of Albania at the
Conference of Ambassadors in London (1912-1913), initially under the
sovereignty and suzerainty of the sultan, and subsequently under their
control. Serbia was given trade access to the sea via a neutral and free
port in the north Albanian coast. The Montenegrin army, bolstered by Serbian
troops, managed to take Scutari after exhausting battles and many victims,
but was forced under a decision reached by the Conference to abandon it and
surrender it to the international forces.3
The new state was a cat's-paw in the hands of Vienna. The ministers of
Ismail Kemal's (Qemalli) provisional government were forced to draw up the
declaration on independence in Turkish, and write the provisions in Turkish
letters, since none of the government members were literate in the Albanian
Latin alphabet. The markedly pro-Austrian orientation of Kemal's government
did not meet with support from the wider population, which was through
centuries-long traditions attached to the Ottoman state and its ideology.
Muslims were in the majority in Albania (around 70% of the population), and
to them the only acceptable solution to the national question was to set up
a state under the rule of the Turkish prince, a demand which the government
in Constantinople was quick to point out. In northern Albania, the Catholic
Mirdits strove to create an independent state under the wing of the Catholic
powers: King Nikola I of Montenegro merely nurtured their demand for
independence. To the south, northern Epirus had little in common with the
tribes of central and northern Albania, being under Greek influence and of
Orthodox majority.4
Religious and tribal differences, an insufficiently formed national
awareness, a completely underdeveloped economy, illiterate masses and their
ignorance in politics held meager promises for a future stable state
community. Albanian tribal and feudal chiefs, who were accustomed to
reversing their positions and allies under the Turks for a handsome
gratuity, demonstrated neither enough political maturity nor national
solidarity. Clashes of different conceptions on the future of the country,
the involvement of the Great Powers and strife over power between regional
chiefs drew Albania into a whirlpool of civil war, even before its status
was defined and its borders fixed. Austria-Hungary benefited mostly from the
anarchy, with its consular and intelligence agencies encouraging a vengeful
policy of Albanian officials, flaring up old hatred between the Serbs and
Albanians, and building outposts for undermining and then destroying the
Serbian administration in the newly-liberated territories - Old Serbia and
Macedonia.5
The strengthening of influence by the Dual Monarchy in Albania, which
was threatening to become a tangible means of political and military
jeopardy to Serbia, disputes over demarcations and the status of individual
adjacent regions instructed the Serbian government to seek among prominent
Albanian tribal chiefs those who would be ready to resolve the issues within
the Balkan framework. The figure most suitable for that purpose emerged -
Essad Pasha Toptani, a Turkish general who gave Scutari over to the
Montenegrins in April 1913, and was allowed in return to leave the town with
his army and all their weaponry to become involved in the struggle over
power in central Albania.
1 K. Frasheri, The History of Albania, Tirana 1964, pp. 183-212; A.
Buda (ed.), Historia e popullit shqiptar, II, Prishtine 1969, pp. 371-516;
S. Polio - A. Puto, {ed.),Histoire de I'Albanie, Roanne 1974, pp. 181-212;
M. Qami, Shqiperia ne mareredheniet nderkombetare (1914-1918), Tirane 1987,
pp. 43-45, 107-112, 240-243,280-281, 313-315.
2 S. Skendi, Albanian National Awakening (1878-1912), pp. 438-463; P.
Barti, op. cit, pp. 173-184; B. Hrabak, Arbanaski ustanci 1912 godine, pp.
323-350; B. Mikic, The Albanians and Serbia during the Balkan Wars, in: East
Central European Society and the Balkan Wars (ed. B. K. Kiraly - D.
Djordjevic), New York 1987, pp. 165-196; Kosovo und Metochien in der
serbischen Geschichte, Lausanne 1989, pp. 311
3 Z. Balugdzic, op. cit, pp. 518-523; D. Djordjevic, Izlazak Srbije na
Jadransko more i Konferencija ambasadora u Londonu 1912, pp. 83-86; M.
Vojvodic, Skadarska kriza 1913. godine, pp. 125-137; 145-151. Cf Ismail
Qemalli. Permbledhje dokumentesh 1889-1919, Tirane 1982. An elaborate
insight in the documents is also provided by the Dokumenti o spoljnoj
politici Kraljevine Srbije 1903-1914, VI/1, Doc. Nos. 135, 389-393, 395,
411, 415, 460, 495-496, 506, 521, 527; VI/2, Doc. Nos. 23, 43, 80,
87-89,108,124.
4 M. Ekmecic, Ratni ciljevi Srbije 1914, pp. 372-377; J. Swire,
Albania, The Rise of a Kingdom, pp. 183-240, D. Mikic, op. cit. pp. 185-191;
M. Schmidt-Necke, Entstehung und Ausbau der Konigsdiktatur in Albanien
(1912-1939), Munchen 1987, pp. 25-40.
5 V. Corovic, Odnosi Srbije i Austro-Ugarske u XX veku, pp. 396-410; M.
Gutic, Oruzani sukobi na srpsko-albanskoj granici u jesen l913. godine,
Vojnoistorijski glasnik, 1 (1985), pp. 225-275; B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i
pobune na Kosovu i u Makedoniji od kraja 1912. do kraja 1915, pp. 185-206.
II
The career of Essad Pasha Toptani (born in Tirana, 1863) was similar to
the careers of the biggest Albanian feudal lords. As the owner of vast
chifliks in central Albania, Essad Pasha quickly climbed up the Turkish
administrative hierarchy. At the opening of the century he was a gendarmery
commander in the Janina vilayet. He supported the Young Turk movement in
1908, and represented Durazzo as deputy to Turkey's Parliament; in 1909 he
was entrusted with the ungrateful duty of handing Sultan Abdulhamid II the
decree on his deposition. Prior to the Balkan wars, he held the post of
gendarmery commander in the Scutari vilayet where he successfully engaged in
trade with the Italians, giving them concessions for the exploitation of
forests. He took over command of Scutari in early 1913, demonstrating all
the qualities of a great military leader. He decided to surrender the city
only when the garrison, broken by famine and disease, decided, together with
the city chiefs, to stop resisting. The London Ambassadorial Conference of
the Great Powers had already decided that Scutari remain within the Albanian
composition. In those circumstances, surrendering Scutari in late April 1913
on honorable conditions was a wise political decision.1
Essad Pasha evaluated that to rely chiefly on Austria- Hungary when
Italy and Greece were laying open claims to the territory of the Albanian
state, would be fatal to his country's survival. By cooperating with the
center of the Balkan alliance - Serbia - and through it with Montenegro, he
was seeking foundations to build a stable Albanian state with a Muslim
majority, in which he would rely on the large beylics in the central and
northern parts of the country. Essad Pasha possessed the characteristically
Muslim trait of distrusting fellow-countrymen of another religion. The
bearing of the northern Albanian Catholic tribes, which aspired to separate
from Albania, and the pro-Hellenic orientation of the Orthodox Albanian
population in northern Epirus, were the reasons why he consented to adjust
the border to the benefit of Serbia, Montenegro and Greece: he believed that
an Albania smaller than the one stipulated in 1913 would, once homogeneous
in religion, be a much more stable country. The development of international
circumstances urged a closer cooperation with Serbia: Albanian territories
were an object of aspiration and, when World War I broke out, compensation
in the cabinets of big European powers.3
Already in early May, 1913, Essad Pasha informed the Montenegrin king
of his intentions to proclaim himself King of Albania, and of his readiness
to cooperate with the Balkan alliance. He said the Albanians owed their
freedom to the Balkan peoples and that he would establish with them the
borders of Albania without the mediation of other powers. Essad Pasha told
Serbian diplomat Zivojin Balugdzic at a meeting in Durazzo, that he wanted
an agreement with Serbia. Hesitant at first, the Serbian government
consented, assessing that the Pasha had showed by his bearing that he really
wanted an agreement with Serbia, which he regarded, Balugdzic quoted, as the
nucleus for mustering Balkan forces.4
It was crucial to the Serbian government shortly before the Bulgarian
attack to neutralize preparations in Albania against raids into Serbian
territory - especially in Kosovo, Metohia and western Macedonia. Around
20,000 men were in arms in the Albanian territory, mostly refugees from Old
Serbia and Macedonia whose leaders, Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac, were
close associates of Ismail Kemal. They strove to fight the influence of
Essad Pasha, agitating an attack on Serbia and stirring up an uprising of
the Albanian people there.
The Bulgarian komitadjis trained Albanians for guerrilla actions, with
money and arms coming from Austria-Hungary. Essad Pasha refused to join them
and warned the Serbian government not to approve of their
action.5 At the end of September, 1913, a forceful raid was
carried out into Serbian territory. The around 10,000 Albanians, who charged
into the territory from three directions, were lead by Isa Boljetinac,
Bairam Cur and Kiasim Lika. Aside to them, Bulgarian officers also commanded
troops. Their troops took Ljuma and Djakovica, and besieged Prizren. They
were crushed only after two Serbian divisions were sent to the border.6
Essad Pasha used the crushing of the pro-Austrian forces to proclaim
himself (with the support of Muslim tribal chiefs and the big beylics in the
central parts of the country) governor of Albania in Durazzo, in late
September, 1913. Vienna assessed the act as positive proof of his
pro-Serbian orientation. Official Serbia simultaneously helped a number of
other small tribal chiefs who resisted Kemal's government, directing them
towards cooperation with Essad Pasha. The alliance between the Serbian
government and Essad Pasha was not stipulated in a special treaty: Pasic
nevertheless ordered that his followers be aided in money and arms. To the
Serbian prime minister, Essad Pasha served as a counterbalance to the
great-Albanian circles around Ismail Kemal. The new prince of Albania,
Wilhelm von Wied, backed the revanchist aspirations of Albanian leaders from
Kosovo and Metohia. As the most influential man in his government, Essad
Pasha held two important portfolios - the army and interior ministries. When
the unresolved agrarian question, urged by Young Turk officers, grew into a
massive pro-Turk insurrection against the Christian prince, Essad Pasha
supported the insurgents and in a clash with the Prince sought backing at
the Italian mission. After the arrest in Durazzo, Essad Pasha left for
Brindisi under protection of the Italian legate in Durazzo at the end of May
1914. After his departure, border raids into Serbia assumed greater
dimension and intensity.5
The threat Albania posed for Serbia abruptly increased at the beginning
of the world war. The relationship between different political trends within
the Albanian society towards the Central powers and the Entente powers was
to a large extent determined by their commitment towards Serbia. The
pronounced tendency towards pro-Austrian political circles grew with the
continuous influx of Albanian refugees from Serbia. Their revanchist policy
was the prime mover of a strong anti-Serbian movement in the war years, and
became after its end a basis for national forgather.
1 For details see: D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915,
pp. 299-303 (with earlier literature).
2 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani, Srbija i albansko pitanje
(1916-1918), in: Srbija 1918, Zb. radova Istorijskog instituta, 7, Beograd
1989, p. 346
3 Dokumenti o spoljnoj politici Kraljevine Srbije, VI/2, Doc. No 135,
Z. Balugdzic, op. cit., 521-522.
4 0 B. Hrabak, Arbanaski upadi i pobune na Kosovu, pp. 52-64.
5 Ibid, pp. 33-38, 60-61.
6 D. T. Batakovic, Esad-pasa Toptani i Srbija 1915. godine, p. 305.
III
The beginning of the "Great War" left open the question about a precise
demarcation between Serbia and Albania. The International Demarcation
Commission discontinued work in mid-1914, thus state borders in areas of
dispute remained to be fixed. War caught unguarded the Serbo-Albanian
border. Austria-Hungary, not heeding for money, prepared fresh raids into
Serbian territory. Paši rightly anticipated the intention
ofVien-na's diplomacy to open, aided by the Young Turks, another front and
flank Serbian lands: he feared that the Albanian leaders financed by Vienna
-Hasan Pristina, Isa Boljetinac (Bollletini), Bairam Cur (Curri) and Riza
Bey Krieziu - would "attack Serbia when they receive orders from Turkey or
Bulgaria and weaken Serbian military action on the other side".1
Concerned with reportings about incessant unrest in the border belt and
endeavors to fomcnt an Albanian uprising in Serbia, military circles in the
New Region Troops in Skoplje proposed preventive military action.
Essad Pasha strove to preserve an independent position, crossing thus
from Italy to France. He planned to confront, with the help of the Entente,
Austria-Hungary's efforts to completely subjugate his country. He made
inquiries from Paris on the conditions upon which the Serbian government
would aid his return to Albania. In 1914, Paši imposed the following
conditions: that he sign a political-customs treaty with Serbia on a joint
defense, that Albania acknowledge the customs union at the chiefs' assembly,
and that a solution be reached at the following stage on forming a personal
or real union with Serbia. Essad Pasha confirmed by cable his acceptance in
principle of Paši 's conditions and immediately set off to
Serbia.2
The Serbian government policy towards Albania was aimed at pre-venting
subversive actions from Albania and creating preconditions to exert
influence at the end of the war on the demarcation of its borders,
particularly in the strip towards Serbia. Shortly before Essad Pasha's
arrival to Serbia, Pasic was interested in learning the stand of the Entante
Powers towards Albania: would they oppose "if Albania as a Turkish-
Bulgarian-Austrian instrument now attacked the Serbian border - could we now
not only fend them off, but incapacitate them for attacks in connection with
Turkey, occupy certain Strategie points and bring them under our influence
until the time comes when Europe would again resolve that issue, and
probably reach a better solution, which would ensure peace in Europe and the
Balkans".3
Essad Pasha obtained permission in Athens from the Greek diplomacy to
work in agreement with the Serbian government. At the same time he secured
backing from Italy, which hoped to have an open road to permanently
occupying Valona (Viore) once his regime was established in Albania. The
government in Rome saw Essad Pasha as the most appropriate figure to oppose
growing Austro-Hungarian and Turkish influence on conditions in
Albania.4
Essad Pasha did not give up his claim to the Albanian throne. He warned
the Serbian consul in Salonika that it would be perilous to Albania if its
prince came from the sultan's family, as that would, through detrimental
influence from Constantinople, open new hostilities towards Serbia and other
Balkan states. He thus pointed out himself as the most appropriate figure to
rule Albania. He sent messages to Pasic on the need for them to conclude a
special treaty before his departure for Albania.5
Upon arriving in Nis, Essad Pasha signed a secret alliance treaty with
Pasic on September 17. The 15 points envisaged the setting up of joint
political and military institutions, but the most important provisions
focused on a military alliance, the construction of an Adriatic railroad to
Durazzo and guarantees that Serbia would support Essad Pasha's election as
the Albanian ruler. The treaty left open the possibility that Serbia, at the
invitation of Essad Pasha, carry out a military intervention to protect his
regime. The demarcation between the two countries was to be drawn by a
special Serbo-Albanian commission. Essad Pasha was to confirm the treaty
only upon being elected ruler, with consent from the National Assembly: this
left maneuvering space for revising individual provisions. Serbia was
obligated to finance Pasha's gendarmery and supply the necessary military
equipment by paying off 50,000 dinars per month.6
After the defeat of Prince Wilhelm von Wied in clashes with pro-Turk
insurgents and his escape from Albania, anarchy broke out in the country.
The insurgents hoisted the Turkish flag, demanding that the country preserve
its Muslim quality. The senate of free towns in central Albania invited
Essad Pasha to take over power. With over 4,000 volunteers mustered in the
vicinity of Debar, Essad Pasha marched peacefully into Durazzo at the
beginning of October 1914, set up his government and proclaimed himself
supreme commander of the Albanian army. He did not question the ties with
Constantinople, and the consent in principle to the sovereignty of the
sultan over Albania. As the lord of central, particularly Muslim parts of
the country, Essad Pasha was compelled to approve of the pro-Turkish beylics
who had invited him to take over power. His first measures were directed at
protecting the Serbian border from raids of troops lead by Young Turk and
Austro-Hungarian officers in the northern parts of the country. He informed
the Serbian government of his move on the Catholic tribes to subdue Scutari
and capture Albanian leaders Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Hasan Pristina
who were in hiding in the northern parts of Has region.7
Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria believed that under the rule of
Essad Pasha Albania would come closer to the Powers of the Entante on a
European war. Germany and Austria-Hungary immediately recalled their legates
in Durazzo, and Bulgaria withdrew its diplomatic agent. At the same time
Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk officers stepped up joint work on a
preparation to raid Serbia. In keeping with the provisions of the Nis
agreement, Essad Pasha undertook action to prevent the troops from crossing
over to Serbian territory, but he was soon thwarted by a new pro-Turk
insurrection.8
In early November 1914, Turkey engaged in a war with the Central
powers, and included among the enemies of Islam Essad Pasha Toptani, as an
ally to Serbia and therefore the Entente. The declaration of jihad stirred
up a new pro-Turk insurrection of the Muslim population. The "Board for
Uniting Islam" from Constantinople called for another conquest of Kosovo:
"Hey Muslims! The until recently part of our fatherland - Kosovo - where the
Holy Tomb of Sultan Murad lies, where the flag of the crescent moon and star
fluttered, now flies the flag of the hateful Serb, who is turning mosques
into churches and seizing everything you have. That low people is forcing
you to fight in arms against allies and Mohammedan regents".9 The
illiterate Albanian mob was easily fanaticized with pro-Turk and pan-Islamic
slogans, thus the insurgents succeeded in winning over part of Essad Pasha's
followers. With regular supplies of money, arms and ammunition from
Austria-Hungary, the insurgents, commanded by Young Turk officers, posed an
increasing threat to Essad Pasha's territory. The entire movement gained an
expressly anti-Serbian character: demands were made that regions Serbia had
liberated in the first Balkan war be annexed to autonomous Albania under
Turkish sovereignty. Italy and Greece cleverly benefited from the whole
confusion:
Italian troops disembarked on Sasseno island, and then took Valona and
the hinterland, while Greek units marched into northern Epirus and set up
full authority there.10
Essad Pasha's position in Durazzo continuously deteriorated. Pressured
by the success of the insurgents, he called the Serbian government more than
once to intervene in Albania. A tacit agreement with Italy to fend off
Austria-Hungary occasionally provided money. Not only did he request guns
from Greece, but demanded that its troops encroach upon those regions where
his enemies mustered.11
The Serbian government ordered in December 1914 that preparations begin
for a military intervention in Albania. As the allied diplomacies at the
time exerted strong pressure upon the Serbian government to make territorial
compensation for Bulgaria, offering in return some substitutes in Albania,
Pasic wanted to incapacitate further bargaining over Macedonia with an
intervention in Albania. Yet only the Russian diplomacy approved his plan.
Legate Miroslav Spalajkovic from St Petersburg informed in early January
1915 that the Russian diplomacy was not opposed to a Serbian intervention in
Albania as long as it did not affect the course and scope of operations
against Austro-Hungarian troops. There was even mention that the Russian
diplomacy hoped an occupation of some parts of Albania would "this time be
constant and definitive".12 When Serbian armies broke off an
Austro- Hungarian offensive in the north, Pasic's government feared that
politicians and military circles in Vienna would use the lull to open war
against Serbia.
Raids organized sporadically by fugitive leaders of the Albanian
movement in Kosovo and Metohia, and carried out in co-action with Young
Turks and Austro-Hungarian officers, were not of wide scope, but roused
nervousness among Serbian military circles on the Albanian border. The
insurgents besieged Essad Pasha in Durazzo and demanded of him to
acknowledge the sultan's rule and declare war on Serbia. Pasic then
evaluated it was wiser to intervene immediately than wait for a bulk army to
muster in Albania with which an entire Serbian army would be forced to
fight.13
The allied diplomacies warned the Serbian government that military
intervention in Albania would strike an unfavorable response. The Russian
diplomacy advised Serbia to be content with the occupation of the strategic
points it had already occupied and refrain from actions that Italy might
regard as measures directed against its interests.14
In late May, 1915, the Serbian diplomatic representative in Durazzo
informed that Essad Pasha's position was critical: two new raids into
Serbian territory had taken place. Despite warnings from the allies, Pasic
decided on a military intervention.15 Over 20,000 Serbian
soldiers armed with guns marched into Albania from three directions at the
beginning of June, and took Elbasan and Tirana - the hotbeds of rebellion -
suppressed the Young Turk movement, liberated the besieged Essad Pasha in
Durazzo and turned over the captured insurgent leaders. A special Albanian
Detachment was set up to implement a thorough pacification of Albania and
consolidate Essad Pasha's rule. The regions inhabited by Mirdits, where Isa
Boljetinac, Hasan Pristina and Bairam Cur were in hiding, remained out of
reach for the Serbian troops; Ahmed Bey Zogu, lord of the Matis, who was the
closest relative to Essad Pasha, attempted to reach an agreement with the
Serbian government on his own, contrary to the Pasha: he set off to Nis on
his own accord for negotiations with Pasic.16 The Montenegrin
army took advantage of the favorable situation and marched into Scutari,
officially still under international regime.
Serbia's military intervention roused strong disapproval from the
allied diplomacies, especially Italy, whose claims to the Albanian coast and
central parts of the country, guaranteed under the secret London Treaty,
ensured its domination in Albania. Pasic replied to protests from the allies
that a temporary action was at stake and that the Serbian troops would
withdraw as soon as Essad Pasha's rule was consolidated.17 The
Serbian prime minister evaluated that the timing was right to permanently
tie Albania to Serbia, through Essad Pasha.
Serbian Internal Minister Ljubomir Jovanovic arrived in Tirana and on
June 28,1915, at St Vitus' Day, signed a treaty with Essad Pasha on a real
union between Serbia and Albania. Essad Pasha obligated himself to adjust
the border to Serbia's advantage on the strip between Podgradec and Has.
Serbia was to acquire the towns of Podgradec, Golo Brdo, Debarska Malissia,
Ljuma and Has to Spac, until the international powers drew the new borders.
Joint institutions envisaged an army, customs administration, national bank
and missions to other countries. The Serbian government was to place at
Essad Pasha's disposal experts to set up the authorities and state
institutions. With Serbia's help, Essad Pasha was to be elected prince of
Albania by an assembly of chiefs, he was to draw up a constitutional draft
in agreement with Serbia and form a government of people who would represent
the idea of Serbo-Albanian unity. The treaty anticipated that the Serbian
army remain in Elbasan and perhaps in Tirana until the provisions of the
treaty were executed, to persecute and destroy joint enemies. If Essad Pasha
was to learn of Italy's intent to occupy Durazzo, he was under the
obligation to call the Serbian army which would do so before the Italian
troops.18 The Tirana Treaty was the best political option for
Pasic's government in resolving the Albanian question. It stipulated to the
end Serbia's war aims towards Albania. The real union was a political form
allowing Serbia to influence the fate of those Albanian regions to which it
lay claim prior to and during the Balkan wars. Expecting that the fate of
Albania would again be discussed at a peace conference at the end of the
war, the Serbian government wanted a tangible ground with the union project
when putting forth its demands on Albania.
The Austro-Hungarian-German offensive on Serbia and Bulgaria's
engagement in the war with the Central powers helped - with frequent news
about the defeats and withdrawal of Serbian troops - the mustering again of
Essad Pasha's opponents in northern Albania. It was proposed at an assembly
in Mati that Serbia be attacked when a favorable condition rose and Albania
be expanded to Skoplje. Ahmed-bey Zogu, who through a commissioner, had
constant connection with the Serbian government, opposed their plans. No
joint action against Serbia took place but clashes
A decision by the allies to deliver to Serbia aid in arms and
ammunition via Albanian ports suddenly increased the importance of Essad
Pasha's alliance. Already at the beginning of November 1914, Essad Pasha
examined with the Serbian representative in Durazzo the possibility of
keeping Albania a safe base for the Serbian army. Fearing another pro-Turk
insurrection, Essad Pasha requested of the Serbian government that a French
or British regiment disembark in Durazzo and be deployed to strategic
positions throughout the country; he would in return prepare detachments to
aid the Serbs in combating the Bulgarians. The Serbian prime minister,
however, proposed that Essad Pasha receive a battalion of the Serbian army
in Durazzo to thus prove that Serbo-Albanian interests stood before the
interests of the Entante Powers. Pasic feared that Italy would use the
plight of Serbian armies in the north to land its troops in Albania and
occupy the whole territory. Pasic pointed out to Essad Pasha that the
Entante Powers considered him a friend and a "kind of ally", and that after
their victory his alliance would be rewarded with guarantees from the
powers.19
1 Arhiv Srbije, Beograd. Ministarstvo inostranih dela, Strogo
poverljivo (further in text: AS; MID, Str. pov.), 1914, No 233. For details
on joint work among Austro-Hungarian Young Turk and Bulgarian services in
Albania see: A. Mitrovic, Srbija u Prvom svetskom ratu, pp. 218-229.
2 B. Hrabak, Muslimani severne Albanije uoci izbijanja rata 1914.
godine, pp. 53, 66-67.
3 AS, MID. Str. pov. 1914, No 233.
4 G. B. Leon, Greece and the Albanian Question at the Outbreak of the
First World War, Balkan Studies, 1/11 (1970), pp. 69-71.
5 AS, MID, Str. pov., 1914, No. 290, 308. Essad Pasha also had
arrangement with Montenegrin diplomats on principle to settle the
controversials border issue by agreement, thus from Athens he requested of
the Serbian government to inform Cetinje that he would "leave for Montenegro
later on, as he had promised". (Ibid, No. 250)
6 Sh. Rahimi, Marreveshjet e qe