Baština (Jan 2011)
The work of Serbian diplomacy on the protection of Serbs in old Serbia in the last decade of the 19th century
Abstract
The author states that in his endeavors to protect Serbian population in the Ottoman's empire, Serbia had decided to do it by means of diplomacy, and the outcome of such determination was the sign of Consular convention. Thanks to this convention, Serbia managed to open consulates in Thessalonica, Skopje, Bitolj and Prishtina very quickly upon the sign of it. Serbian consuls immediately started sending reports on the difficult position of Serbian people and looking for possible solutions. The most difficult was the position of Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohia, which were under the competence of Prishtina's consul. His position was not safe either, what had been testified by the murder of the first Serbian consul in this place Luka Marinković. His successor was Todor P. Stanković, who was in better relationships with prominent Albanians due to his knowledge of language and earlier activities. Therefore, he insisted in the solution of Serbian issue by bringing together of Albanians and Serbs. Although he passed two mandates in that position, and made personal efforts for this plan to come true, he did not succeed. There were many reasons why he could not make a success, but one of the most important was the intervention of other states, first of all Austria-Hungary. The part of this plan was the buying of affection of some Albanians by giving them temporary presents, but neither this one was successful. All resulted in giving many presents to some Albanians, the most frequently ones in arms and money. Permanent periodic paying of some Albanians arose from the mentioned in order to protect some villages and monasteries, including country's areas from different oppressors, evil-doers and pests. The largest number of these 'protectors' turned into its contrast and burden lying on Serbs. In the last decade of the 19th century, the institution of country's field guard, who was obviously Albanian, was legalized. Out of the danger called field guard Albanian, Serbs were set free by the consul Sima Avramović in 1902. As none of the plans had given significant results, under the influence of the consul Svetislav Simić, a plan that Serbs should be protected with armament appeared. Nevertheless, this plan had not given expected results due to complex political circumstances, but led to the movement of the Albanians in order to detect arms, what resulted in new misdeeds against Serbs.
