Kosovo and metohija
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[edit] Eight stages of the history of Kosovo and Metohija
[edit] 4th century BC
In the 4th century BC, invading Celts forced Illyrians from the northern Adriatic coast, and over several centuries a mixed Celtic-Illyrian culture arose. In the 3rd century BC, Rome conquered the Adriatic coast and over the next 500 years, Latin culture permeated the region and the Illyrian, Celtic, and Thracian languages all eventually died out.
[edit] fifth and sixth centuries
Slavic tribesmen poured into the Balkans during the fifth and sixth centuries. They allied with the powerful Avars to plunder the Danube Basin. The Avar incursions proved key to the development of Yugoslavia because they immediately preceded, and may have precipitated, the arrival of the Serbs and Croats. The Serbs occupied large parts of the land toward the end of the twelfth century.
[edit] 1683-1690
During the Great War (1683-1690) between Turkey and the Holy Alliance - created with the sponsorship of the Pope - the Serbs rebelled against the Turks. Soon guerrilla war spread throughout the Balkans: from Montenegro to the Danube basin and Ancient Serbia (Macedonia, Raska, Kosovo and Metohija). However, when the Austrians started to pull out of Serbia, they invited the Serbian people to come north with them. Having to choose between Turkish vengeance and living in a Christian state, Serbs massively abandoned their homesteads, lead by their patriarch Arsenije Carnojevic. Many areas in southern Balkans were de-populated in the process, and the Turks used the opportunity to Islamize Raska, Kosovo and Metohija.
[edit] 1690-
In retaliation, after the defeat of European forces in 1690, the Ottomans and Muslim Albanians exposed the population to mass reprisals and, essentially, to the first large-scale ethnic cleansing, including in Kosovo and Metohija where some 1 400 Christian monasteries and churches covered the area.
[edit] 1941
In April 1941 the Axis powers occupied Yugoslavia and disintegrated it. The western parts were turned into a Nazi puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia. Kosovo and Metohija were mostly annexed by Albania. Following the Nazi example, the Independent State of Croatia established extermination camps, killing over 750 000 Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. With the eviction of the Serbian and Montenegrin population, Albanians from Albania and Turkey were settled in the region.
[edit] 1945
After the World War II, the communist authorities of that time prohibited the return of the deported Serbs, and in the period 1968-1988 an additional 220 000 Serbs and Montenegrins were deported from over 700 villages. Over 400 000 Serbs and Montenegrins left Kosovo and Metohija during 40 years.
[edit] 1991
In June 1991 both Croatia and Slovenia passed declarations of independence from the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzegovina followed in April 1992. Ethnic violence flared almost immediately, with thousands of Serbians being forced from the new independent states. The largely Serbian-led Yugoslav military reacted by pounding the break-away Bosnia and Herzegovina, leading the UN Security Council in May 1992 to impose economic sanctions on the Belgrade government.
[edit] 1999
In 1990, a resurgence of nationalism led the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo to demand greater autonomy, but they were rebuffed by Serbia. In 1996 the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) begins attacking Serbian policeman. In February 1998 President Slovodan Milosevic sends troops to Kosovo to quash unrest in the province; a guerrilla war breaks out. NATO starts air attacks against Yugoslavia in March 1999. More than half a million Albanians move out of Kosovo. In June 1999 an international protectorate is established in Kosovo and NATO led peacekeeping troops move into the Province after the withdrawal of the Yugoslav forces. More than 200.000 Serbs and non-Albanians flee from the province in front of the wave of KLA led Albanian retaliations. More than 100 Serb Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed despite the NATO presence. Despite the international presence Kosovo province remains unstable and volatile region.
