Montenegrin premier tells Serbia to drop its "mythomanic" policy

TV Crna Gora ^ | 26 November

[Hunden]

Since the Albanians only liberated themselves from the Ottoman empire in 1912, to say that Albanian irridentism is a policy that has been in place for hundreds of years is at least to admit that they resisted Turkish occupation.

To say that Albanians are johnny come latelys to the region, whereas the are the descendants of the Illyrians, a people older then the Greeks in the Balkans, and that Kosovo is managed by the European Union whereas it is in fact administered by the UN is to show too little knowledge to contribute anything to the debate.

[eleni121]

You are off by a mile - no make that a million miles.

First of all the myth that Albanians are descended from the Illyrians is just that...a stupid myth. They are as descended from the Illyrians as much as we are descended from the Martians. Albanians are not autochthonous (to the region) people, AND they are also not related in any way to the Pelasgians or the Illyrians.

Now go fry an egg.

[Banat]

Albanians did not liberate themselves from the Turks. Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro did all the dirty work, while the Albanians reaped the benefits. They were Turkey's junkyard dog in the Balkans for centuries (15th-early 20th), and it is only due to the defeat of Turkey -- in which they took no part -- and Austro-Hungarian insistence that Serbia be kept off the Adriatic coast that they managed to get a state of their own.

The First Balkan War was fought between the members of the Balkan League--Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan League was formed under Russian auspices in the spring of 1912 to take Macedonia away from Turkey, which was already involved in a war with Italy. The league was able to field a combined force of 750,000 men. Montenegro opened hostilities by declaring war on Turkey on Oct. 8, 1912, and the other members of the league followed suit 10 days later. The Balkan allies were soon victorious. In Thrace, the Bulgarians defeated the main Ottoman forces, advancing to the outskirts of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and laying siege to Adrianople (Edirne). In Macedonia, the Serbian army achieved a great victory at Kumanovo that enabled it to capture Bitola and to join forces with the Montenegrins and enter Skopje. The Greeks, meanwhile, occupied Salonika (Thessaloníki) and advanced on Ioánnina. In Albania, the Montenegrins besieged Shkodër, and the Serbs entered Durrës.

The Turkish collapse was so complete that all parties were willing to conclude an armistice on Dec. 3, 1912. A peace conference was begun in London, but after a coup d'état by the Young Turks in Constantinople in January 1913, war with the Ottomans was resumed. Again the allies were victorious: Ioánnina fell to the Greeks and Adrianople to the Bulgarians.

Under a peace treaty signed in London on May 30, 1913, the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its remaining European territory, including all of Macedonia and Albania. Albanian independence was insisted upon by the European powers, and Macedonia was to be divided among the Balkan allies.

(source: http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/balkan1912.htm)