Timok, Again
Greetings Backroomers.
Before going into hiding for a whole month I opened here a thread about the Serbian persecution of Romanians in Timok Krajina.
After Sarmatian closed the topic it was 1-nill for him but now the debate has been resurected with a little paleoforumism.
1) Are Vlachs and Romanians different ethnicities. Has the Jireck Line moved towards the Danube? Is there any reason to belive Vlachs and Romanians are different nations speaking different languages?
Gah! No!
Sarmatian's first argument is that Vlachs are Aromanians not Romanians so they should not concern Bucharest. Wrong!
Let me start with a simple example to prove my point. Russians and Serbians are both slavic nations though the two nations are separated by more than 2000 km. Yet despite this they both write in Cyrillic alphabet. If a Serbian would come over a Russian town in his path he would immeadetly recognise the road signs and banners even though they're written in a different language.
Not the same can be said about the so-called vlachs and Romanians.
Serbia's official Vlach ethnicity has Serbian names, writes in Cyrillic and goes to Serbian lithurgy without missing a single word. Yet if a Romanian, Aromanian, IstroRomanian would enter a Serbian city he/she would barely find a public toilet.
And yet for Serbian Academia Vlachs are a ROMANIC population related to Romanians but more related to Aromanians.
For some people who belive Budapest is the capital of Romania and Romanians are Roman Catholic slavo-hungarians here are some facts about Eastern Romance.
1) Romanians use the Latin Alphabet
2) Romanian words despite borrowings from neighbouring nations (Serbians, Magyars, Bulgarians and Ukrainians) share a common substratum that neither neighbour has loaned into his own vocabulary (eg: branza <<cheese>>, gard <<fence>>....).
It's impossible to have an Aromanian population N. of the Jireck line before 1900's when the Aromanians migrated in the North, yet vlachs are attested long before this date in Timok Krajina. Their earliest records date as far as the XIVth century in some serbian manuscripts.
Timok was even occupied a few times by Romanian voievodes like Vlaicu and Radu I Basarab. He even erected a Romanian monastery in Krajina whose ruins can still be seen at the foothills of the Rtan Mt.
In Turkish and Magyar archives Romanians and Vlachs are mentioned as Vlachs. None makes any distinction between the two nations. That is because the word Romanian appeared in the late 18th century and by that time even romanians called themselves Vlachs.
The ideea that Vlachs in Serbia are Aromanians is absurd and ahistorical. The official name of Timok during Roman rule was Dacia Ripensis. Any scholar knows that
Thraco-Romans => Aromanians
Dalmato-Romans => Istro-Romanians
Daco-Romans => Romanians
So Timok could only be inhabited by Romanians because the formation of the Tsardoms of Bulgaria and Serbia prevented any migration to occur between Dacia and Thrace as neither Bulgarian nor Serbian chronicles record a massive Vlach migration in the Timok Krajina. If Sarmatian's hypothethis is correct in Timok there wouldn't even exist a Vlach population. It would be 100% Serbian. And if his hypothethis is correct we should have a Slavic population between Serbians and Bulgarians to become alien from both Serbians and Bulgarians in Timok. But Serbians and Bulgarians have never intermingled because there was an ethnic buffer between both Tsardoms or we would have some transitory populations between the two develop like Hutsuls buffer between Ukranians and Slovaks.
Yet Timok presents no single Serbian village which has such a distinctive feature that it can be reffered to as by other Serbians as something other than Serbian.
As an addendum this inscription from the 1849 proves Vlachs are Romanians
“along the 4 villages who revolted along the Serbian borders another 13 revolted with romanians, and the head of this rebellion is the shephard Ivan Başchinezul"
The French Geographer G. Lejean tells Romanians are a great gift for Serbia as they are lucrative and hard-working.
For 1857 this are the demographics he gives for Serbian romanians. Note that this are statistics for Timok, not for Voievodina.
1857 39.728 Pojarevaţ
35.671 Krajina
20.597 Cerna Rieca
7.351 în Kiuprija
996 în Semedria
This single piece of evidence alone can convince the world that Vlachs in Central Serbia are Romanians just like the ones in Voievodina, just like Sarpski in Bania Luca and Belgrade are the same.
Serbian Upheavals Meant To Denationalise Romanians In Timok
Long before Jesanovac and the historical trauma of WWI and WWII began for Serbians, the Romanians in Krajina ware allready beginnig their long and painfull process of forced assimilation.
In the third army of General Leşianin was a Romanian Division.They're accused of refusing to fight for Serbian glory and many are executed.
In 1883 there's a peasant uprising in Timok because it was intended to ban militia the right to keep its armoury home.90 death sentences are signed.
In 1909 a file 9695 of the Negotin Courthouse speaks of a priest charged for spreading romanian books and magazines and for spreading the romanian language.
Physics teacher Ivan Ilici was retired simply because he asked Romanian to be taught in schools.
In Serbia anyone who considered the existence of romanians in Serbia was considered a traitor.
The Zaicear prefecture by Order 3190/23.03.1899 banned Romanian national clothing such as the pointy hat. All Serbian Orthodox Churches had a Serbian NameList from which Romanians could chose their first name when baptised.
That was THEN
Now lets return to NOW!
That is the Romanian Orthodox Church of Milosevo. When the Serbs obtained Timok from the Ottoman Empire many Romanian Orthodox Churches ware aquired by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Romanian priests ware banished, others killed or forced to retire. Some Romanian Churches ware simply left to crumble or vandalized.
This church has suffered both measures. Serbs have vandalized the holy icons, bulging the saints eyes ánd cutting off their arms. When some romanians wanted to perform the holy rites in this church Serbian nationalists blocked the gates. The holy grounds of the Romanian cemetery ware desecrated, tombstones ware used as foundations for serbian homes.
Father Boian Alexandrovici, the only Romanian Orthodox priest in Central Serbia was indicted by a Serbian Court and now he must demolish his second church to avoid prison. And that Church is Orthodox.
Since Kosovo declared independence many proeminent Romanians in Timok have been threatened by Serbian nationalists and forced to move to Voievodina where at least their basic human rights are respected.
Sarmatian may argue that Vlachs declare themselves as Vlachs because the want to. But anyone who recognises Romanians in Serbia is considered a traitor or seccesionist and romanians have always stayed loyal to Serbia , despite the hummiliations endured by her hands.
Despite a deep friendship for Albanians and the persecutions, Romania was Serbia's only non-Serb neighbour who didn't recognise Kosovo's Independence and rallied to Serbia's side, despite recieving no positive feedback from Serbia like Russia did. Even after this gesture of friendship the persecution against romanians in Timok continues, despite the fact that romanians in this corner of Serbia never engaged in guerilla warfare or killed Serbian policemen or profited in any way from the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Morale
There is no Obraz (honor) in the morale of this story.
It proves that:
Nationalists home can betray their ethnic interests abroad if they must prove a point
(NouaDreapta opposed Kosovo's Independence because the Albanians ware Muslim)
After targeting her enemies Serbia is also secretly targeting her close allies, ready to change sides if presented with an opportunity.
Originally Posted by Cronos Impera
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