Petar Ristanović

Institut za srpsku kulturu, Priština/Leposavić

petar.ristanovic@gmail.com

Two sides of the Kosovo Albanians’ national struggle myth – the case of Tahir Meha

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the murder of four and wounding of three members of the Yugoslav Federal Militia Special Unit on May 13, 1981, in the village of Donje Prekaze in Drenica (SAP Kosovo). An attempt to bring Tahir Meha to serve a two-month prison sentence turned into an exchange of fire during which Tahir and his father Nebih were killed. In the years that followed a myth has been spread among Albanians about the life and heroic death of Tahir Meha, which was then built into the foundations of the Albanian separatist movement and attempts to build the statehood of Kosovo. Extensive archival material collected after the skirmish reveals the true events behind the myth.

Keywords: Tahir Meha, Donje Prekaze, SAP Kosovo, Kosovo issue, demonstrations in Kosovo 1981, Adem Jashari

Summary: The story of Tahir Meha (1943–1981) became a modern legend among Albanians from Kosovo. A myth was fabricated around his life and death, which was then built into the foundations of the Albanian separatist movement. Songs and books were written about Tahir’s fight against Serbs. His house and grave became places of national pilgrimage. As many as five cities in Kosovo named their streets after him. While the legend of a “century-long struggle of the Meha family” has become a legend among Albanians, the name of Tahir Meha is completely unknown to Serbs. The background of the myth can be clarified based on the documentation preserved in the Archives of Yugoslavia, in the fund of the Presidency of the SFRY. More than 500 pages of documents were obtained and written during the work of the Committee formed by the State Secretariat for Internal Affairs to shed light on the events of May 13, 1981, in the village of Donje Prekaze, in Drenica, SAP Kosovo. On that day four police officers were killed and three wounded during the attempted arrest of Tahir Meha, before Tahir and his father, Nebih Meha, were also killed. The documents reveal the other side of the myth – that behind the heroic legend lies a story about quarrels and violence deeply embedded in everyday life of a backward community. Tahir Meha did not shoot at the police because of his hatred of Serbs. On the contrary – he was afraid of Albanian policemen from his hometown and demanded to surrender only to Serb officers. During the siege, he didn’t even mention Albanian national goals. These are only two of many facts that were hidden and distorted for a heroic myth to be written.