In the late Ottoman period, Serbian diplomat Ilija Garašanin contacted the abbot of Mirdita, Monsignor Gasper Krasniqi, with the goal of acquiring the Albanian Catholic element as the alleged solution to the "Eastern Question".[3] However, their goals were different. While Garašanin considered those contacts as means for the realization of a Serbian exit to the Adriatic Sea, Krasniqi made effort to help Serbia to organize a revolution of the Albanian Catholic community, primarily Mirdita, against the Turks, for the political freedom and independence of Albania.[3]
At the beginning of Balkan Wars, one of the important strategic goals of Serbian politics was to acquire a corridor to the Adriatic Sea, as such, its intention had been to share a common border with its ally the Kingdom of Greece thus denying the Albanian state independent status.[4][5] At the First Balkan War, Albanians fought for a national state. This fighting was largely limited, however, to militia operations and guerrilla tactics.
In December 2008 Serbian police arrested ten former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), in an Albanian-populated area bordering Kosovo. Serbia's war crimes prosecution office stated that it had evidence that the ten KLA members had killed 51 people and kidnapped 159 civilians in Kosovo between June and October 1999.[11]