Baština (Jan 2017)
The role of Stojan Novaković in shedding the light on the murder of the consul Luka Marinković
Abstract
After liberation wars 1876-1878 and the Berlin Congress, numerous Serbian inhabitants were still under the Turkish occupation. With an aim to ensure them a better legal position, Serbia strengthened its diplomatic activities with obvious results. Between the two countries a temporary Consular Convention which enabled Serbia to open a consulate in Turkey was signed. A consulate in Priština, with great efforts, was opened in 1890, and Luka Marinković was appointed as the first consul. The opening of the consulate for the Serbs meant a real presence of Serbia in Kosovo, while the Arbanasi considered a Serbian flag on the building as a hint of the Ottoman Empire demise. Success of Serbia in this diplomatic aspect aroused fury and dissatisfaction of the Arbanasi and the local authorities, which culminated in the murder of the consul Luka Marinković. They, with the aim of depriving Serbs of any protection, planned an action successfully persuading a Gypsy to realize it for them. The government of Serbia and its representatives both in Turkey and other European capitals faced a difficult task to shed light on the murder and bring back dignity to Serbia as its reputation was thus tarnished. The greatest credit for this goes to Stojan Novaković, the envoy of Serbia in Constantinople. Novaković's efforts to make representatives of other countries in Constantinople to take interest in this task, which was of great importance to Serbia, were fruitful. Solving the case of consul Marinković's murder took time, Turkish authorities did not have will or real wish to solve it. On the contrary, sultan and Porta never meant to solve it by diplomatic way, so they left it to the court, which often worked at the Serbs' expense, anyway. Only after intervention of the representatives of the Great powers in Constantinople, the sultan agreed to pay the wife of the murdered consul a financial compensation, thus closing the case.
