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     Published by PLATO, Beograd 1992.
     Translated to English by Dragana Vulicevic




     Ethnic Strife and the Communist Rule
     The CPY as a section  of the Comintern and the realizer of its  concept
in dealing with the ethnic question
     The CPY's ethnic  policy  in its  struggle for power in  the civil  war
(1941-1945)
     Settling accounts with Serbia and the instrumentalization of Kosovo and
Metohia
     Centralism in Yugoslavia and  the role  of the secret  police in Kosovo
and Metohia
     Kosovo and Metohia in the transition from the centralist to the federal
model
     The  epilogue  of the  communist  solution to  the  ethnic question  in
Yugoslavia: the example of Kosovo
     Continuity and discontinuity

     The Age of Ascent
     The Age of Tribulation
     The Age of Migrations
     The Age of Oppression
     The Age of Restoration
     The Age of Communism


     The Serbian Insurrection and Pasha-Outlaws
     Time of Reforms in Turkey
     Pogroms in Metohia
     Population
     Political Action of Serbia
     Restoration of Religious and Cultural Life
     The Economy

     Eastern Crisis and the Serbian-Turkish Wars
     The Albanian League
     Court-Martial in Pristina
     Albanians Under the Sultan's Protection
     Activities of the Serbian Government
     Flaring of Anarchy
     Religious, Educational and Economic Conditions
     The Decline in Population

     Serbia's Diplomatic Actions
     Austria-Hungary and the Expansion of Anarchy
     Failure of Reforms
     Young Turk Regime

     Albanian Incursions into Serbia
     In World War One




     Otoman Vilayets
     Serbia 1804-1913
     Comunist Yugoslavia: Federal Organization
     Settling of Albanian Tribes

     AUTHOR:  Dusan  T. Batakovic (born 1957)  is  one of the  distinguished
Serbian historians. He works in Historical  Institute of Serbian Academy  of
Sciences and Arts as Research  Fellow.  Among dozens of articles  on Serbian
and Balkan history, he had published several  books:  Savremenici o Kosovu i
Metohiji  1852-1912  (Contemporaries   on  Kosovo  and  Metohia  1852-1912),
Belgrade  1988;  Kolubarska  bitka  (Battle  of  Kolubara),  Belgrade  1989;
Decansko pitanje (The Decani Question), Belgrade 1989;  Kosovo i Metohija  u
srpskoj  istoriji (Kosovo and  Metohia  in  Serbian  History), Belgrade 1989
(co-author); Kosovo  i  Metohija  u srpsko-arbanaskim  odnosima (Kosovo  and
Metohia in Serbo-Albanian  Relations), Belgrade 1991; and edited Memoirs  of
Gen. P. Draskic, Belgrade 1990 and Portraits by V. Corovic, Belgrade 1990.
     This book is the collection of his articles on major topics of  history
of Kosovo and Metohia and its recent political consequences.


     Izdavac: Knjizara Plato, Beograd, Cika Ljubina 18-20
     Za izdavaca Branislav Gojkovic
     Urednik Ivan Colovic
     Recenzenti: Prof. dr Radovan Samardzic i dr Milan St. Protic
     Beograd, 1992.
     INDEX 215 THE HISTORY CARDS OF KOSOVO CHRONICLES 219 - 222
     QP- Katalogizacija u publikaciji Narodna biblioteka Srbije, Beograd
     949.711.5 BATAKOVIC, Dusan T.
     [Kosovo Chronicles] The Kosovo Chronicles / Dusan T. Batakovic; prevela
na engleski Dragana Vulicevic.
     -Beograd: Knjizara Plato, 1992 | (Beograd: Vojna stamparija).
     - 218 Str.; 20 cm.
     - (Biblioteka Na tragu)
     Tiraz 1000 - Registar. ISBN86-447-0006-5
     a) Kosovo i Metohija - Istorija 4986380


     The modern history of  Serbia  is  indeed  pregnant  with controversial
questions. Probably the most  complex one  is  the history  of -- Kosovo and
Metohia.  It was  only in the last few years that several  historiographical
works on Kosovo and Metohia had  been  written and published. The pioneer in
this field which  deals with a  particularly important  segment  of Serbia's
past and present is undoubtedly the author of this book.
     This is trully  the first  serious  attempt to cover two  centuries  of
history  of  Kosovo  and  Metohia  and to  present  its  complex  historical
development in its  full.  In a series  of  articles  dealing  with  various
problems of Kosovo and  Metohia  throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the
author  definitely  succeeded  to  make  a  complete picture  of Kosovo  and
Metohia's  troubled  history. It  seems  appropriate, therefore, to name his
book -- The Kosovo Chronicles.
     The diversity of various topics which form the collection  most clearly
shows that the author is the master of  the subject he chose to write about.
Mr. Batakovic presented himself as a mature  historian of the Balkan history
as a whole as much as the sharp analyst of one specific aspect of it.
     One cannot but  to welcome this book.  For two major reasons at  least.
First,  for  its wide-angle approach to  the problem. And  second,  for  its
attempt to avoid typical black and white stereotypes.
     Kosovo  and Metohia undoubtedly  belong  to the corpus  of  the Serbian
history. No question about  that. It was the cradle and the  center  of  the
medieval Serbian state, it was the region  won by the Serbian army  from the
Turks  in the First Balkan War (1912), it was  incorporated  in  the Serbian
state territory and thus had entered into Yugoslavia in  1918.  It was  only
after  the  victory  of  the  Communist  Revolution in  Yugoslavia  that the
question of Kosovo emerged as a  separate  problem outside  and even against
Serbia.  That was the  moment in  which the political position of Kosovo and
Metohia  moved away from  Serbia and became a  problem  of Albanian national
rights in the eyes of very many foreign and Yugoslav observers. That crucial
borderline was rightfully pointed out by the author of this volume.
     From  the standpoint  of form, this  book  represents  a collection  of
articles.  It is  comprised  of two major parts. The  first  entitled, named
History  and  Ideology, treats the problem of Kosovo and Metohia, within the
framework of the Yugoslav unified  state, during the World War Two  and  the
Communist  rule since 1945. The second  Theocracy,  Nationalism, Imperialism
deals with the different aspects of  the 19th  century history of Kosovo and
Metohia until the Yugoslav unification of Yugoslavia.
     The second part of Mr. Batakovic's book covers the period in which this
particular area belonged to  the state territory of  the Ottoman  Empire, in
which the ethnic Serbs were subjects of constant pressures and abuses by the
Ottoman administrators  and,  much more, by ethnic Albanians who, under  the
Turkish protection, conducted  a real terror  over the Serbs. The difference
between the Christian Serbs fighting for their national emancipation against
the oriental Islamic and  oppressive regime of the Ottomans. As the  Ottoman
system crumbled  within  itself, its  peripheral  provinces became  areas of
abuse  rule  of the local population.  The local Albanians, also Muslims for
the  most  part,  found  the  best way  to  suppress the  Serbs  by  putting
themselves in the service of the Turkish  authorities. The author's archival
findings clearly proved what was  really  happening  in  Kosovo and  Metohia
during the 19th century and what were the true origins of ethnic clashes  in
that particular area.
     This   part   of   Mr.  Batakovic's  volume  represents,   in  fact,  a
comprehensive  history  of  Kosovo  and Metohia  during  the  19th  century,
starting from the First Serbian Insurrection against the Turks (1804) to the
First Balkan War  (1912) when, after  the victory of  the Serbian army,  the
region  of Kosovo and Metohia  had  been  incorporated  in  the bulk  of the
Serbian state. It is  essentially a  historical analysis of complex  ethnic,
religious  and  political  relations in  the triangle  Serbs-Turks-Albanians
based on a rather deep archival and documentary research. The author managed
to trace down the  roots of these conflicts,  their nature  and development.
Parallel  to  this, he gave  the historical background for the events  which
occurred in the 20th century, when the problem of Kosovo and Metohia reached
its peak in both, crisis  and international  attention. This segment of book
should  serve as a textbook of Kosovo and Metohia's  history to everyone who
is interested in this particular field.
     Mr. Batakovic's  collection  of articles contains  several  synthetical
pieces written on the subject of  the  history  of Kosovo and  Metohia. This
region of  constant  clashes  needed  to  be defined  in  terms  of  general
categories. In an attempt to discover the real nature of those conflicts the
author searched for the answer to the  following questions: what really lays
in  the  bottom  of  centuries long  clashes  in the  history of Kosovo  and
Metohia,  is  that the conflict  of religions, nations or civilizations? One
will  find the author's answers  both  original and inspiring. Contradictory
problems need  to be thought  about. And that  is exactly what Mr. Batakovic
has done.
     A special attention  should be paid to the article entitled "The Kosovo
And Metohia  Question  - ethnic strife and communist rule". It stands as the
pivotal piece among all  other articles in this book. It is at the same time
the most important and the most  complex attempt to analyze the situation in
Kosovo in Metohia in the last fifty years, since the communists took over in
Yugoslavia.
     This is  the  first  time  in Serbian  and Yugoslav historiography that
someone  tried  to  look  on the Kosovo and  Metohia  question  outside  the
framework of political and ideological clich