The process of ethnic cleansing and colonisation of the land of the Albanians, seen from the view of original data and authentic documents and overwhelming literature, makes it possible to draw some conclusions, among which the following are the most important ones: 

The Ottoman Empire held under its occupation the whole ethnic territory of the Albanians until nineteenth century. This made it possible for the Albanians, in spite of being occupied, to fight as a whole for their national liberation and form their political opinion for establishment of the Albanian nation and state. However, there was a general shaking of the peoples of the Balkans in nineteenth century, and by this the Albanians were threatened to have their territory partitioned. In the second half of nineteenth century, there were about 80,000 km2 of the land of ethnic Albanians, on which 1.7 million inhabitants lived. The Ottoman Empire had divided these territories into the vilayets of Kosova, Shkodra, Manastir and Janina. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the war against Russia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece presented a definite danger for the Albanian land to be partitioned. The neighbouring countries had their intention to occupy the land of ethnic Albanians, and Russia made its efforts to secure itself an access to the Adriatic and Ionian Sea. To accomplish these intentions they compiled pan-Slavonic projects on ethnic cleansing and forceful expulsion of the Albanians. 

In the second half of nineteenth century tens of thousands of Albanians emigrated from their ethnic land. Serbia compiled the project ‘Nacertanija’ in 1844, which anticipated the occupation of ethnic Albanians territories and emigration of the Albanians by force. Serbia, Montenegro and Russia came out victorious at the war they fought against the Ottoman Empire and managed to occupy the land of ethnic Albanians. Serbia occupied almost half of the Vilayet of Kosova and cut off Niš, Prokuplje, Kursumlia, Vranje, Leskovac, Jablanica and Toplica with more than 640 villages of the Albanians from the Albanian trunk. Serbian military committed unprecedented massacres, killing and slaughtering children as well. As a result of this, 350,000 Albanians were expatriated. From that time to the present day Serbia has continued with the expulsion of the Albanians. It ignored the decision of the Congress of Berlin that banned forcing the Albanians to emigrate, and colonised their land by Serbs. The same way was followed by Montenegro, cleaning the ethnic Albanians from their land, such as the fields of Zeta, Tivar, Ulqin, Plava, and Gucia, although it could not occupy them by its military force. The Montenegrins were settled as colonists in these regions. Therefore, after the second half of nineteenth century, especially in its fourth quarter, and later on, when the Ottoman Empire weakened rapidly, neighbouring Serbian and Montenegrin monarchies perpetrated their policy of extermination and genocide and even ethnocide on the Albanian population. 

At the battles of Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the Balkan War (1912), and during the First World War, they fought in continuity on purpose to occupy the land of ethnic Albanians. During the First Balkan War, Serbia and Montenegro occupied almost two-thirds of the territory of the Albanians and secured their access to the Adriatic Sea. In that time about 300,000 Albanians were expatriated to Turkey. Tens and thousands of Albanians met their death on the way being expatriated, due to sufferings, hunger, frost, illnesses and shipwreck.

The London Conference recognised the independence of Albania and its borders were defined, but more than half of the land of ethnic Albanians remained under the rule of Serbia and Montenegro. Ethnic cleansing and genocide continued to be committed on the Albanians to the end of 1915 by Serbia and Montenegro. 

Yugoslavia forced more than 250,000 ethnic Albanians to emigrate from their land between the two world wars. On this purpose it compiled different projects and proved acts of anti-Albanian and genocide character. Such projects were those by Cubrilovic, Andric, Molevic, Vukotic. Based on these acts and projects, forceful emigration of the Albanian people continued in the occupied territories. To mange it, the Yugoslav government organised unprecedented massacres, such as massacre of children before their parents, pulling out babies from mother's stomach by means of a knife, burning the members of families in houses, trying on tied Albanians to see how many bodies can a bullet pass through, sending Albanians to camps, plundering their property and other misdeeds. One of very harsh punishing measure was conversion of Albanians into Serbian Orthodox religion, then ruining Albanians' mosques and (Catholic) churches, and ploughing Albanians' graveyards, that, undoubtedly was a real ethnocide. 

The Yugoslav Kingdom continued the colonisation of Kosova and other land of ethnic Albanians by Serbs and Montenegrins. The Albanians were taken the best fertile land, then meadows, forests, pastures and so their life became impossible, both at villages and in cities. The Yugoslav regime settled Serbian and Montenegrin colonists in Albanians' houses. In this way, the Albanians were forced to leave their own houses. Yugoslavia erected many colonies and new settlements for Serbs and Montenegrins. A convention between Yugoslavia and Turkey was signed in 1938 in order to legalise expatriation of the Albanians, by which 40,000 Albanian families were planned to emigrate to Turkey. 

The Albanians of Kosova and other regions of theirs, as well as of Albania, took part on the side of anti-Hitlerian coalition during the Second World War, and managed to get liberated from nazi-fascism by means of their own forces. They formed their governmental organs during the war. At the end of 1943 and beginning of 1944, at the Assembly of Bujan, they made their determination to unite Kosova with Albania. It had been the intention of the Albanian people since they were cut off from Albania in 1912. Parallel to the national liberation war, the Albanians were forced to fight against their neighbouring countries in which different movements were mobilised for occupation of the territory of the Albanians. Such movements were active in Serbia and Montenegro, by chetniks and ‘partisans'. These movements intended to perpetrated the extermination and expatriation of the Albanians. On this purpose, projects were compiled by Cubrilovic and others, in which forceful expatriation of the Albanians to Turkey and Albania was foreseen, resulting to ethnic cleansing of the Albanians. It should have been instigated by war, violence and terror. Consequently, in the meantime, about 50,000 Albanians were killed by them. 
The forceful annexation of Kosova to Serbia and Yugoslavia influenced further on the emigration of the Albanians. Repression continued to be exerted in different ways and it was always done on purpose of the emigration and assimilation of the Albanians. Mixed marriages between Albanians and Serbs (or Montenegrins) were stimulated by different devices, and religious conversion as well. To accomplish these intentions, Yugoslavia activated its Convention of 1938 with Turkey, and the Gentleman's Agreement between Yugoslavia and Turkey in 1953, and implemented other measures of violence and terror. Solely in 1956, more than 100 Albanians were beaten to death by the Serbian police. Every expression of thought, feeling or culture dealing with the Albanian nation, was condemned.  That is why more than 450,000 Albanians from Kosova and other spaces of the Albanians in Yugoslavia were expatriated to Turkey during the period 1952-1966. 

In the period between 1981-1989, Serbia and Yugoslavia, based on the Memorandum of the ASAS, followed a policy of segregation and apartheid towards the Albanians. In 1989 Serbia destroyed the autonomy of Kosova, and in this way it instigated the emigration and exodus of the Albanians. It approved acts and laws on reduction of national and human rights of the Albanians of Kosova. In this direction, it ruined the economy and closed the institutions of education, science, culture and health, committing an unprecedented genocide in the Europe of twentieth century. The Albanians have been forcefully dismissed from work. All of these measures were taken in order to accelerate the process of emigration of the Albanians and re-colonisation of Kosova by Serbs. In the last five years, about 12,000 Serbs and Montenegrins have been brought to Kosova as colonists. Serbia is planning to bring more than 100,000 additional Serbs and Montenegrins to Kosova. Serbia is also planning to settle several thousand Serbs from Croatia in Kosova. Since Kosova is one of the densest inhabited regions in Europe, the intentions of Serbia are apparent for further expulsion of the Albanians and ethnic cleansing of Kosova.

Published by KIC (Kosova Information Center), ©Copyright KIC