The Principality of Serbia received autonomy from the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, but a notable Serb population remained to the south, outside of the borders of the principality. With the Serbian–Ottoman Wars (1876–1878) and the Congress of Berlin, the Serbian borders were expanded. During this time and thereafter, numerous instances of violent acts were perpetrated towards local Serb populations. Tens of thousands of Serbs would emigrate from Kosovo alone from 1876 to 1912, along with several others being killed, kidnapped, or otherwise brutalized in periodic attacks.
19th century
The Ottoman Empire saw growing political and economical crisis in the mid-18th century which led to feudal anarchy. The European-Ottoman wars and new economic relations broke the Ottoman feudal system and effected the emancipation of Christians in the empire, especially in the Balkans. The rayah (subordinated Christians) were subject to forced labour (known as chiflik), terror from authorities, forced migration, epidemics and starvation. Serbs had joined the Austrian wars against the Ottomans and suffered consequences due to their failure. Out of all Serb-inhabited areas in the Rumelia Eyalet, the most homogenous was the Pashalik of Belgrade.
The territory of modern Serbia was outside Austrian focus after the Austro-Turkish War (1737–1739) and peace signed in 1747. Russian victories (1768–1774) and intention to liberate the Balkans prompted Austria to ally in 1782, also dividing spheres of influence, with a Serbian state not included in any plan. Austria did not join Russia when it occupied Crimea but instead initiated contact with the agitated Serbs of the Belgrade Pashalik. The Serbs were oppressed by the Ottoman authorities and Janissaries and were eager to form alliances with Christian states in order to liberate themselves. The Ottomans declared war on Russia in 1787 and Austria joined in February 1788. In 1787 the Serbs were violently disarmed by the Ottoman authorities during the Austrian war preparations, with terror carried out by military and bashi-bazouk irregular units leading to people fleeing across the Sava and Danube to Austrian territory and forming the Serbian Free Corps. Serb volunteers actively engaged Ottoman troops and raided ships on the Danube, and liberated many towns in central Serbia, however, much needed aid and equipment was denied. Successful Ottoman counter-operations and terror led to further flight to Austria, numbering 50,000 by late June 1788. The Austrian court increasingly sought to end the conflict and peace was signed in August 1791, returning central Serbia to Ottoman rule. The Porte gave amnesty to participants on the Austrian side and banned the Janissaries from the Pashalik. The Janissaries had earlier been part of the backbone of Ottoman military power but had lost their importance in the 18th century, becoming a source of disorder, due to lack of discipline and bad morals. The reign of Selim III saw internal conflicts, with tumult among the pashas, ayans and kircalis. The Janissaries revolted in the Belgrade Pashalik in the 1790s, but were decisively defeated by a Serb militia, which led to the Porte issuing firmans (decrees) which acknowledged Serb self-governing privileges, better socio-economic status, the right to renew and build churches, and to lead security detachments for maintaining road safety and apprehending robbers. Muslim retaliation and entry to Serb villages was forbidden, as to not make way for conflict. This significant improvement did not last long, as new conflicts with Janissaries arose and the external threats forced the Porte to allow the return of Janissaries in early 1799. The Janissaries renewed terror against the Serbs in the Pashalik, captured Belgrade and the Vizier in July 1801, murdered him in December, then ruled the Pashalik. The leading Janissaries, called the Dahije, abolished the Serbs' firmans, banished unsupportive sipahi and invited Muslims from neighbouring sanjaks which they used to control the Serbs. The banished sipahi and loyal Muslims organized a rebellion against the Janissaries with Serb support in mid-1802, but it failed, resulting in further oppression. The "Slaughter of the Knezes" led to the uprising against the Dahije in 1804 and the start of the Serbian Revolution. The Janissaries were disbanded in 1826.
In the 19th century, the Serbs that lived in the Ottoman Empire experienced various forms of oppression, most of which went unreported due to a fear of reprisals. Those who filed complaints were often ignored or faced unjust Ottoman court rulings, and their hope for support rested in the consulates of the Great Powers that had been opened on Ottoman territory, particularly those of the Russians. The Russians had declared themselves to be the "protectors" of Orthodox Christians within the Ottoman empire. Partially due to the increasing pressures they placed on the Ottomans, the Sultan issued a series of reforms, some of which sought to improve the positions of Orthodox Christians within the empire. As a result, an increasing number of petitions and complaints were written by Serbs, and increasing violence by Muslim populations was exhibited towards the Serbs, who were seen as the main culprits behind the reforms.
In 1854, Vasilije Đorđević from Pristina informed Toma Kovačević about incidents in the Kosovo region, including kidnapping of women and girls and Islamization. European courts received complaints about the oppression of Christians and thus put pressure on the Porte to improve the situation. In this regard, Grand Vizier Kıbrıslı Mehmed Pasha set out to investigate matters in Rumelia ("European Turkey"). Upon hearing this, local Muslims put further pressure on the Christians in an attempt to steer them from testifying. Kıbrıslı travelled from Vidin via Pirot to Niš, where he received complaints from the Muslims that the Christians had revolted, refused to work, and had pushed them from their properties. Upon hearing this, Kıbrıslı had notable Serbs in Pirot and Niš killed, and some Serbs who escaped to Serbia informed the government about this act. The archimandrite of the Dečani Monastery, Serafim Ristić, had collected some complaints that he then gave to Kıbrıslı in Podujeva in September 1860, but no measures were taken and Kıbrıslı returned back to Istanbul. Serafim turned the complaints into a book, labelled the Cry of Old Serbia, which he published in 1864.
Of all the international consulates that had opened in the Ottoman Empire, the Russian consul in Prizren, Ivan Jastrebov (t. 1870–74; 1879; 1881–86), was the only consul who sought to improve the status of the Serbs. The Serbs in Ottoman territory had virtually no protection before the opening of Serbian consulates in 1889.
Events in the Serbian–Ottoman Wars (1876–1878)
1876 Timok and Morava devastation
In 1876, the Ottoman army fought mainly in the Timok and Morava valleys in the territory of the Principality of Serbia, which resulted in the destruction of local areas. The Ottoman army was accompanied by Circassians and bashi-bozuks that had systematically pillaged and burnt down villages that they came across. Some of the crimes committed against the civilian population included murders, torture, rape, and slavery, and the victims included children and the elderly. Knjaževac, Zaglavak, Svrlig and their surroundings were destroyed. Osman Pasha, who had encouraged the plundering, later forbade it as he was threatened with the death penalty. The front page of The Illustrated London News of 9 September 1876 was of the plunder of Knjaževac. On 22 August 1876 Đura Horvatović wrote about the atrocities in Knjaževac, where the burnt bodies often showed signs of torture. Zaječar, which was evacuated by the Ottomans on 23 March 1877, had been completely pillaged, with houses burnt down and the church and graveyard desecrated with bodies thrown around. Aleksinac was evacuated by the Ottomans on 6 March 1877, and the houses were partly burnt, and bodies were found in wells, as in other settlements, and the local church survived destruction as it had been transformed into a mosque. In the five okrug of Aleksinac, Kruševac, Krajina, Crna Reka and Knjaževac, some 221 villages and three towns were burnt down and pillaged by the Ottoman forces. Refugees moved to the interior and a government department for the care of refugees from the frontiers, Old Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was set up on 30 September 1876. By late 1876 there were 140,000 refugees in Serbia, out of which 87,948 were from the five frontier okrugs.
1877–78 Sanjak of Niš and Muslim refugees
Albanians inhabited large parts of the Sanjak of Niš and formed the majority in certain areas, with modern estimates stating that the region contained more than 110,000 Albanians prior to their mass expulsion. The 1877–78 war brought Serbia into conflict with the Albanians, as they had inhabited parts of the newly-conquered territories in the Sanjak of Niš and had fought in the Ottoman army against the Serbs to defend their homes during the latter's offensive campaign in the region. The Serbian government considered the Albanians to be an "undesirable" and "unreliable" population that had to be replaced with a more convenient one, and they believed that Serbia should become an ethnically homogeneous country. Additionally, the territories inhabited by the Albanians was to become the base for future expansions into Kosovo and North Macedonia. As such, between 1877-78, tens of thousands of Muslims - most of whom were Albanians - were expelled by the Serbian army; the majority had left during the course of Serbian military operations in the area, and the rest were expelled after the conclusion of the war. Estimates on the exact number of Albanians and Muslims expelled from the Sanjak of Niš vary; western officials had reported a total of 60,000 Muslim refugees in Macedonia and 60-70,000 Albanian refugees in the Vilayet of Kosovo. Other modern estimates range from 70,000, of which 49,000 are estimated to be Albanians, all the way up to 160,000 Albanians. At the same time, during the Ottoman retreat from the region, Sultan Abdul Hamid II unleashed his auxiliary troops consisting of Kosovar Albanians on the remaining Serbs.
This mass expulsion would have long-term negative effects on Serbian-Albanian relations. The new Balkan Christian states pursued ethnic homogenisation policies through expelling Muslims, and this was the first gross injustice committed by Serbian forces against Albanians. It radicalized Muslim Albanian refugees who retaliated against the Serbs in Kosovo, and greatly contributed to the formation of the Albanian nationalist League of Prizren. These Albanian refugees were settled in the eastern border area of Kosovo, where Serbs had been forced out by the Ottoman authorities. Some scholars view the 1877–78 expulsions as crucial in the interethnic conflict in Kosovo, and from this point, both groups had experiences of mass victimization that served to justify vengeance.
Post-war events
In Toplica, the abandoned houses of Albanians were settled in 1878–79 by refugees from mainly the frontier districts that were devastated in 1876. Montenegrins were settled on the Serbian-Ottoman border on the left banks of Toplica and Kosanica to try and stop Albanian raids into Serbia. The Muslim refugees, or Muhaxhirs, that had been expelled by the Serbs in 1877-1878 were hostile to the Kosovo Serbs, and the Serb population was subject to retaliatory acts by Albanians, particularly after the formation of the League of Prizren following the Berlin Congress (July 1878). In the Pristina, Peja and Prizren sanjaks, several hundred were killed. The Ottoman authorities strategically placed Muslim refugees from Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the northern part of the Kosovo Vilayet and actively prevented their repatriation, which was an act that had been advised by the Russian consul Ivan Yastrebov. Additionally, a wave of Muslim Slavs from Bosnia had voluntarily settled in Kosovo as they refused to live under Christian Austrian administration, and they brought with them a strong anti-Christian sentiment to the areas in which they settled.