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The Peace of San Stefano (3 march 1878) which ended the Russo-Turkish War, decreed that those parts of Albania, predominantly Muslim, which had belonged to the Ottoman Empire, was henceforth to be attached to Bulgaria and Montenegro, which were Orthodox Christian, thus giving rise to 'The Albanese Question'. In June 1878 the League of Prizren was established in Kosovo, with the aim of maintaining the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, especially the Albanese areas. While local fighting broke out in Albania, the Treaty of Berlin (13 June 1878) decreed that Bulgaria must surrender all, and Montenegro almost all, claims to Albanese land. Greece, which had joined in the war against Turkey in 1878, acquired a small stretch of territory in what in now called Epirus. The Treaty permitted administrative changes within the Ottoman Empire (for which read, the four united Albanese districts). This was little to the Sultan's taste, and when the League of Prizren applied continuing pressure for more autonomy, he sent the army into the town of Prizren in 1881. |
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