yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
Ivo Andrić, assistant secretary in the Foreign Ministry of Yugoslavia
at the time, sent a circular letter to the Yugoslav embassy in London
in June 1938 that stated that “according to our estimates, the Turkish
minority in Serbia is about 150,000, while the Turks hold that the
number is up to 250,000.” 329 The outbreak of World War II and lack of
adequate financial resources prevented the implementation of this
plan.
Italian forces occupied Kosovo and Albania in 1939. Regarding
themselves as having been liberated by the Italians, who unified
Kosovo politically and administratively with Albania to create a
Greater Albania, Kosovo Albanians took revenge for decades of
ill-treatment by the Serbian and Montenegrin population. Colonists
were murdered and their homes were torched in attempts to drive
them away. The number of Serbs expelled from Kosovo is difficult
to judge, although Serbian sources often refer to between 80,000 and
100,000 people.
Anti-fascist movements in Yugoslavia and Albania cooperated
closely during World War II. The Yugoslav Communist party helped
found the Albanian Communist Party. After the war, many people
expected Albania to become part of the Yugoslav federation. According
to some sources, Tito told Albania’s Communist leader, Enver
Hoxha, that Kosovo belonged to Albania. For instance, an Albanian
newspaper in 1981 claimed that Tito declared, “Kosovo and other
Albanian regions belong to Albania and shall be returned to them,
but not now because the Greater Serb reaction would not accept such
a thing.” 330
Turkish Population from the Region of Southern Serbia in Yugoslavia
329 Petriti Imami, Serbs and Albanians, Belgrade, Samizdat FreeB92, 1999 . p .262 .
330 Miranda Vickers, Albanians: A Modern History, Columbia University Press, 1995, p .165 .