By Ramadan Ilnica & Qemal Biraku
Part four
Memorie.al / The materials of this article, which we are publishing below in several issues, were prepared based on documents from the Albanian Secret Services, during a time period that begins in the late ’70s and ended in the early ’80s, when the people of Kosovo took to the streets in massive protests, demanding more independence. All this material refers to a secret file that agents of the Albanian State Security were able to steal from the secret safes of the 11th Division of the Yugoslav Army of that time. The “Kosovo” file, processed by specialized structures of the Albanian Secret Services, had been ordered by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PPSh, with the personal interest of Enver Hoxha, a few years before he died.
Continues from the previous issue
Map of Albanian Migrations
The districts that need to be displaced are: Upper Dibra, Lower and Upper Pollog, Sharr Mountain, Drenica, Peja, Istog, Vushtrri, Staravica, Llapi, Gračanica, Nerodime, Gjakova, Podgor, Gora, Podrimje, Gjilan and Kaçanik. From these districts, which form the Albanian wedge, for us, currently, the most important are: Peja, Gjakova, Podrimje, Gora, Podgor, Sharr, Istog and Drenica, these being to the north of the Sharr Mountain.
In my opinion, these are border districts that must be displaced at all costs. The districts in the interior such as: Kaçanik, Gjilan, Nerodime, Gračanica, Llapi, Vushtrri, should, if possible, be weakened, especially Kaçanik and Llapi, while the others should be colonized gradually and systematically. This should be carried out within ten years. During the first displacements, many things must be taken into account, but the most important ones are: first and foremost, the displacement of villages should be done, and then of cities.
Villages are more compact, and therefore pose a danger. Not only should the poor be displaced, but also the rich and middle-class people, who form the backbone of any nation. The poor, being without economic support and independent of their compatriots, are quickly displaced. This is a matter of great importance, as it is one of the main reasons for the insufficient success of our colonization in the South, because we displaced the poor, while the rich remained and always stay in the same condition, as a result of which very little land was gained for the settlement of our colonists.
During the preparation of the psychosis for displacement, every effort must be made to remove entire villages, ultimately, entire families. It must be taken into account that no parts of displaced families should remain here. Our state should spend millions not to ease the lives of Albanians, but to get rid of them as soon as possible. For this, the purchase of property of displaced Albanians by those who remain with us must definitely be prevented. Along with this, the displacement of individuals must be combined with that of entire villages, this, if we want to have facilities during the displacement process.
As soon as they agree to be displaced, they should be given all-round assistance. Their property should be paid for immediately and they should be immediately administratively detached, travel documents should be given to them without any formality. They should be helped to go to the nearest railway station, with trains made available to them up to Thessaloniki and from there to be immediately taken by ship to Asia. It is very important that the journey is comfortable and without expenses. The train journey, if possible, should be free of charge, at the same time they should also be helped with food, as mass displacement depends heavily on this.
The fear of travel difficulties is the main obstacle to their movement. For this reason, it is essential to eliminate the difficulties by solving all travel matters quickly and energetically. Care must be taken that the displaced have as few problems as possible during the journey, as simple people find it difficult to orient themselves, so it is necessary to teach them the system of worker transport through large agencies. The displaced person should pass from hand to hand, without feeling the burden of this movement. Only in this way can the river of displaced Albanians be created.”
Popularization of the Displaced Regions
“The problem of settling colonists in the emptied places is no smaller than the departure of the Albanians. The first question that arises is who should be settled there? It is most natural that our element from the passive regions be settled there, first and foremost Montenegrins, Herzegovinians, Licani, and Krajisnici. Montenegrins are more suitable for many reasons, as Metohija, Drenica, and Kosovo are the most natural places for them to swarm from their poor mountains. The increase in the population in Montenegro has led to poverty, which has caused continuous social-political movements, recently, these being not favorable for our power and quite dangerous, in terms of order and tranquility in the future.
We are not interested in giving them corn and pensions. For this, the only solution is to take them to the fertile regions of Metohija, Drenica, and Kosovo, because they are close in mentality and temperament to the Albanians. Montenegrins are the most suitable weapon for defeating and removing Albanians. First and foremost, they should be used in the Albanian-inhabited areas north of the Sharr Mountain, but, in addition to them, they should also be colonized with a quantity of Licani, Krajisnici, Serbs, Čačani, Užičani, and Topličani. This is necessary to create in them the habits of work and organization, to break their nomadic-collective psychology as highlanders, in order to neutralize this psychology through mixing and marriages from different Dinaric regions.
In this way, a new type of Montenegrin will be created, less local and more similar to the Serb. For the Southern Serbo-Yugoslav kurbetlije, south of the Sharr Mountain, we must create suitable conditions, so that they can get their hands on fertile lands. This will be an honest and hardworking contingent, which will be grateful to this state for the rest of their lives, if we create conditions for their life in the village. Generally, the village of southern Serbs has the right to demand more care and preoccupation from us than we are showing today. Colonization by means of these poor people in Upper and Lower Pollog, in Dibra, as well as giving them pastures, instead of Albanians, will make it understood that this is their state and that it would know how to defend the borders with blood.
Near them, south of the Sharr Mountain and the Skopska Crna Gora, can be colonized with Vranjanci, Leskovčani, Pirotanci, and Vlastičani, especially those from the passive mountain villages. We repeat once again that the Dinarics should not be allowed south of the line of Skopska Crna Gora and the Sharr Mountain. During the colonization of villages left by Albanians, bureaucratic slowness must be avoided. The main thing, first and foremost, is the immediate giving of title deeds to the colonists, for the properties where they will be settled, because one of the main causes of our current colonization’s lack of success has been precisely this, because the colonist did not feel secure in the property where he was settled.
He was not given the title deed immediately and was thus exposed to the numerous abuses of unscrupulous officials and politicians. The villager feels secure in the property he possesses only when he knows that no one can move him from there, therefore, this guarantee must be given to him immediately. Thus, the colonists must be provided with all living conditions for a few years, if we want them to stay there. We must ruthlessly extinguish any speculation made with the properties and houses of the displaced Albanians. The state must reserve the unlimited right to own the movable and immovable property of the displaced, and, immediately after their departure, settle its own colonists there.
This must be done because it has rarely happened that an entire village is displaced immediately. In these villages, first and foremost, Montenegrins should be settled, as arrogant, impulsive, unreasonable, and intemperate people, who, with their behavior, will force the remaining Albanians to be displaced, and then, colonists from other places will be brought to this place. No less important for us is the problem of Vojvodina, especially the Hungarian triangle in Bačka Senta Kula, Bačka-Topola. To destroy that in Vojvodina would be the same as destroying the Albanian block around the Sharr Mountain.”
Colonization: the Serbian army should handle its organization
“A problem of special importance for the solution of this problem remains the existence of an apparatus that will direct all the work. A good part of our previous failures is a result of the poor work of the current apparatus of our colonization policy. To avoid this in the future, reorganization must be done. No other issue requires as much continuity and care to be carried out as colonization. We have said that one of the causes of our lack of success in colonization in the south and in the north is the unsystematic work of the leadership and the change in policy according to the change of governments. To avoid this in the future, colonization should be entrusted to the General Staff, as our army is interested in settling its own elements on our borders, especially in delicate sectors.
For this, we will do everything possible to secure the borders with the strongest possible colonization. The General Staff, as the primary institution for the protection of national interests, can give a lot to our entire colonization policy. The General Staff would be able to direct the entire complex of work through a State Council for Colonization. This council would be completely autonomous, being fully under the orders of the Chief of the General Staff and would have under its subordination all the organisms of our colonization. This council should include representatives of several interested ministries, nationalist associations, technical organizations, and scientific institutions. An organic connection is necessary in our colonization policy between state power, private initiatives, and scientific institutions.
Private initiative can act in many directions such as, Popular Defense, Sokols, and Četnik associations. The first will be a civil army raised by the state, the Sokols will be undeclared, armed terrorist groups led by the state for war against Albanians, while the Četniks will be groups of armed civilian criminals hired by the state to carry out continuous crimes against Albanians. Even cultural associations such as: ‘Prosfeta’ in Sarajevo, ‘Matica Srpska’ in Novi Sad, ‘Sv. Sava’ in Belgrade and others like them, has their duties related to this issue. A colonization institute should be created, whose task would be to study this issue. The state power must now separate organisms from several ministries and other institutions that have been dealing with this problem until now and create a special institution, ‘the Inspectorate of Colonization.’ The organizational technique of displacing Albanians and settling our colonists will be worked out by the state institute and the institute for colonization. Perhaps, it would not be a bad idea if, in addition to these, there was also a private organization and it would be based on the existing associations and have as its task to deal with the implementation of our colonization policy through its own private initiatives. It would be better if the association of our cultural-educational societies took on this work. It would be interested in coordinating the work of private societies with the state work of colonization and would serve as an intermediary between them and the Institute for Colonization.”
Financial Means, 600 Million Dinars for the Displacement of 40 Thousand Families
“Whenever our colonization policy has been criticized for its lack of success, its defenders have complained about the meager financial means that the state has made available to carry out this work. I do not deny that this is not the case to some extent, but it must be said that more has been spent on maintaining this apparatus and for irrational work than on the colonization itself. However, if the state has not given enough, it must be admitted that every state has its primary and secondary interests. The state’s duty to secure itself in the nationally insecure regions, colonized with its own element, is included in the primary interests. First of all, let’s calculate how much the displacement of 200,000 Albanians and the settlement of an equal number of colonists in those places would cost our state.
The displacement of about 40,000 families, taking the average that one of them consists of five people, costs the state 15,000 dinars per family. So, for their displacement, at least 600 million dinars are needed. Add to this about 200 million dinars that are needed for the settlement of our families in place of the displaced Albanians. This is calculated because the displaced Albanians will leave not only the land but also the house and work tools. Thus, not only will most of our colonists be settled in the houses of the Albanians, but with a small help in livestock and food, these will only gain economically and will become independent. During the creation of new colonies, where the need arises, military force must also be used, just as it was used during the construction of Sremska Rača and the reconstruction of the villages destroyed by the earthquake in 1931 in the south.
For this work, the army should be given the right and the opportunity to create a kind of compulsory labor service for public purposes by calling up reservists for training or by extending the military service term. In agreement with specialized organizations and societies, less expensive ways must be sought to clear land of bushes, drain swamps, and other things. During colonization, the state can give properties to colonists with credit or with cash. There will be many of those who will buy land in new regions and who will sell their lands in their homeland. From this, the state will take a good part of the properties it has given. The land can only be sold to him who intends to settle there permanently. The land given with credit must not be expensive.
The interest must be minimal; the time of loan repayment must begin a few years after the settlement of the colonists, that is, when they have become economically strong. Taken together, the sum of several hundred million dinars is not a great expense for the state, compared to the profit it will have. Securing the neuralgic points in the south by settling our national elements, we save several divisions in case of war. By settling several tens of thousands of families as colonists from our passive regions, especially from Montenegro, the economic crisis in those areas is alleviated. For such a national, strategic-military, and economic task, the state has a duty to sacrifice several hundred million dinars.
At a time when it is able to spend billions of dinars on the construction of the international road from Subotica to Caribrod, from which we should have profits, perhaps in the distant future. It should and can also find millions of dinars for this major national problem, which is the displacement of Albanians. Gradual colonization, as in other countries, has not been successful with us. When the state power wants to intervene in the interest of its own colonizing element, in the struggle for land, it can only succeed if it acts brutally.
Otherwise, the Albanians rooted in their homeland are stronger than the colonist. In our case, this must be taken into account that we are dealing with a poor, deep-rooted, and fertile race. Cvijić had said that it is the most expansive in the Balkans. Statistics show that our colonization policy was defeated by the fertility of Albanian women. From this, we must draw conclusions and correct ourselves, while it is not yet too late. The whole of Europe is in a chaotic state. We do not know what the day brings, let alone the night. Albanian nationalism, even in our regions, is growing.” /Memorie.al
(From the elaborate of Čubrilović).
