World Stands Aghast at Albanian Atrocities

 July 2, 1911: The New York Times publishes a detailed account of the atrocities against Albanians. Just days after the region's tour by Sultan Mehmed V, the plight of the Albanians, seeking independence from the Ottoman Empire, was presented to the American public. Descriptions of Ottoman actions to control the Albanian uprising, with the subtitle, "Massacre and Pillage by the Young Turks in their War to Curtail the Province's Ancient Rights Rival the Awful Scenes of Horror in Bulgaria and Armenia", offer great insight into what actions the failing Empire would take against rebellious ethnic groups in the Balkan War of 1912, as well as the massacres of World War I. The title hearkens to the brutal suppression of the Armenians in the late 1890's, where an estimated 100,000 or more Armenian citizens were slaughtered.

Faik Bey Konitza was a primary focal point in the article, as he sought to raise funds for the Albanian nationalists, from an estimated 30,000 Albanians in the U.S. as well as immigrated Greeks and other regional ethnic groups, "inclined to look with favor on anyone fighting against the Turks"

"In the three years that this insurrection has been going on", the famous Albanian writer Konitza recounted, "over three hundred Albanian villages have been destroyed by the Turks". From ten to fifteen thousand of my fellow countrymen have been massacred - seven hundred of them children. Fifty thousand men, women and children are starving to death - the crops have been laid to waste by the Turks."

In one particularly chilling statement, "...the Albanian women would rather commit suicide than fall into the hands of the enemy. For the young Turks are morally decadent, and only one fate awaits the women captives."

Just a few years earlier the Albanians had hope the the Young Turks take over of the Ottoman Empire would lead to less repression. However, the new leaders reneged on their promise to give regional ethnic groups more autonomy and became as repressive as any previous regime.