PËRBALLJA E SHQIPËRISË ME POZITËN E SHQIPTARËVE NË JUGOSLLAVI (1935)
ALBANIA’S CONFRONTATION WITH THE POSITION OF ALBANIANS IN YUGOSLAVIA (1935)

Summary/Abstract: One of the issues that affected the Albanian-Yugoslav relations in the period between the two world wars was the position of the Albanians in Yugoslavia. Serbian diplomatic discourse presented Albanians as rebels, problematic and anti-state elements, while Serbian domestic political discourse defined them as arnauts or Ottoman remains, who had their place in Turkey. As a result, Serbian political thought focused on finding ways to achieve ethnic cleansing of Albanian areas. According to Serbian calculations, this goal could be achieved through the signing of an agreement with Turkey on the mass and systematic displacement of Albanians. According to the information of the Albanian diplomatic missions, at the beginning of 1935, the emigration of “Kosovars to Turkey was getting bigger day by day”. In the face of this situation, the Albanian government instructed the Albanian consulates in Skopje, Thessaloniki and Istanbul to take the following measures: First, to conduct an intensive propaganda among the Albanians, so that they would not be displaced from their settlements; Second, to work with the Albanian refugees who were left for Turkey, so that they could return to Albania; Third, to keep in touch with the Albanians who had arrived in Turkey so that they would not take up residence there, but to move in the direction of Albania. Throughout Tirana, Tirana's primary commitment to the Albanians in Yugoslavia remained the effort to preserve their national identity and enjoy basic minority rights like all other minorities in Europe. In the face of the phenomenon of Kosovo Albanians leaving for Turkey, the coming of them in Albania was perceived as a regenerative infusion, demographic, economic and political empowerment for the Albanian state. King Zog envisioned the installation of 1,500 Kosovar families in the area inhabited by the Greek speaking population. However, this project met with strong opposition from the British government. The British Foreign Secretary demanded that official Tirana to be informed that if this ’’project” was implemented, Albania would eventually lose the sympathy and friendly attitude of Great Britain.

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