The Sanjak of Niš

Sanjak of Niš it was a administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire based in Niš, in the Albanian province of Toplica.In some parts of Sanjak of Niš, especially in that of Prokuple and Kurshumli, albanians constituted the majority of population. At the time of serbian invasion in this region almost all Albanians were displaced in Kosovo, Macedonia, Turkey and other countries .This harsh situation was confirmed also by the Commissary of the Serbian border John Ross who, apart from others when dealing with the situation he had seen, wrote the following:

"Almost all the inhabitants of the western part of the Sanjak of Niš,occupied from Serbia, were Albanians of the Muslim religion..., therefore, when this district was occupied by Serbian military, the population could not stand up to the invaders. All of them left for the Vilayet of Kosovo".

It is estimated that there were "60,000 Albanian refugees spread out in the Vilayet of Kosovo in 1878. They have never gone back to their former villages, as most of them had lost everything...About the number of Albanians who had lived in the Sanjak of Niš,(Prokuple,Kurshumli, Niš,Leskovac, Vranje ,Pirot)there are various records and statistics, which are considerably controversial. The Turkish administration has left notes, in which the population was divided on the basis of religion, Christians and Muslims. Some statistical notes of Serbian and Bulgarian are different and not real, and in some German or English sources the number of Albanians appear much larger.According to Vidosava Nikolic-Stojançevic number of houses and residents in the Sanjak of Niš it was: Nis had 3500 Christian houses and 2000 Turkish-Albanian;Pirot 3000 Christians houses and 400 Turkish-Albanian houses;Leskovac 2500 Christian and 1000 Turkish-Albanian houses; Prokuplje 140 Chrisstian houses and 650 Turkish-Albanian; Vranje 2500 Christian houses and 800 Turkish-Albanian ;Kurshumlia 150 Albanian houses.According to Piliqit Nicholas and his records at work "Oslobodenje juzne Srbije 1877 to 1878" Belgrade, p. 1977. 232 Toplica on the eve of occupation has had 18333 inhabitants, of whom: The district of Prokuple 4618 Serbian, 6207 Turkish and Albanian ; district Kosanica 6708 inhabitants (757 Serb, 5951 Albanian and Turkish and 800 Cerkez).Turkish Population was more concentrated in Nis and Pirot, while in Prokuple, Krushumli, Leskovac and Vranje the majority of the population was Albanian.Even Vidosava Nikolic Stojançeviq states itself that in towns ,in most cases dominant population belonged to the Albanian language, except in Nis and Pirot, where they spoke more Turkish rather than Albanian.According to registration of the Serbian government made on 1 February 1878 Prokuple had 51 Serb houses in 1049 villages, 22 villages were of mixed Serb and Albanian population (822 Albanian houses and 858 Serbian ), only 74 villages with 1538 houses were with Albanian population (for 14 villages there are no notes). For these 14 villages was later confirmed that they had 245 Albanian houses. According to Vidosava Nikolic Stojançevic only 51 villages had Serb population. But based on Muhaxhir surnames who were expulsed to Kosovo, Albanians lived also in the serbian inhabited villages.For instance; Breznica came from the village of Breznica, Devqët from village of Devqa, Kostanicët from Costa-Nica village, Lepajët from Lepaja village, Pojatët from Pojata, etc.According to the information about the language spoken among the Muslims in the cities, we can see of which nationality they were. So, the Muslim population of Niš and Pirot consisted mostly of Turks ; in Vranje and Leskovac they were Turks and Albanians ; Muslims in Prokuplje and Kuršumlja were mostly Albanians.On the basis of abundant data of various sources (Turkish, Serbian, Britain, German, Albanian, etc.) dealing with the number of the immigrated Albanians from south Serbia, one can conclude that there were around 700 villages in that region inhabited once by the Albanians.


Houses and whole villages reduced to ashes, unarmed and innocent populations massacred en masse, incredible acts of violence, pillage and brutality of every kind — such were the means which were employed and are still being employed by the Serbo-Montenegrin soldiery, with a view to the entire transformation of the ethnic character of regions inhabited exclusively by Albanians.

– Report of the International Commission




Baladë Kosovare

Ç'ka kanë bjeshket o bre qe ushtojne.
Ç'ka kanë lugjet o bre qe po fshajne,
Ç'ka kanë malet qe s'mugullojne,
Ç'ka ka hana qe s'po shndrit,
Ç'ka ka djelli qe s'po ban drite,
Ç'ka kanë shpendet qe s'po knojne,
Ç'ka kanë qyqet o bre qe s'vajtojne.

Muhaxhiret kah po shkojnë,
Kane lan toke e kanë lane shpi,
Kane lane dhen e kanë lane dhi,
Kane lane buken cerek me hi,
Kane lane corben n'veksht te zi,
Kane lane sofren t'shtrume n'shpi,
Kane shkue miqte buke po u ngi,
Kane lane zhgujt o nveg pa u krye,
Kane lane pajen cikat pa marue,
Kane met nuset te dhandri pa shkue,
Kane met krushqit e bre pa u kthye,
Kane met djemtë o dhander pa hi,

Ohh... muhaxhiret o bre kah po shkojnë,
Dru e gurë o bre c'po vajtojne,
Bari n'toke o bre s'po mbin,
muhaxhiret kanë marrë dynjane n'sy
Vdesin n'bore e vdesin n'shi,
Vdesin pleqe o bre vdesin te rinj,
Vdesin gra e vdesin fëmijë.

Muhaxhiret bre kah po shkojnë,
Për ta malet po vajtojne,
buke pa ngrane e ujë pa pi,
Kane marrë udhën për Shqipni,
Udhen e gjatë o bre për Turki,
oh..kush njeh Zot, bre din e iman
Muhaxhireve konak ju ban,
Muhaxhiret brenda i shtin,
Shtronju mirë o bre për me fjet,
Se ju con Zoti n'xhehnet,
Se jua kthen o Zoti n'nahiret.