Kosovo Liberation Army. Total: c. In early , KLA attacks targeting Yugoslav authorities in Kosovo resulted in an increased presence of Serb paramilitaries and regular forces who subsequently began pursuing a campaign of retribution targeting KLA sympathisers and political opponents; [ 67 ] this campaign killed 1, to 2, civilians and KLA combatants, and had displaced , Kosovar Albanians by March In , a UN administered Supreme Court based in Kosovo found that there had been a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments against the Albanian population, and that Yugoslav troops had tried to force them out of Kosovo, but not to eradicate them and therefore it was not genocide.
The modern Albanian-Serbian conflict has its roots in the expulsion of Albanians in โ from areas that were incorporated into the Principality of Serbia. Modern estimates put the number of expelled Albanians to 50,โ, Albanian refugees. Tensions between the Serbian and Albanian communities in Kosovo simmered throughout the 20th century and occasionally erupted into major violence, particularly during the First Balkan War โ , World War I โ , and World War II โ Between and , Yugoslavia expelled hundreds of thousands of Albanians and promoted the settlement of mostly Serb colonists in the region, while Albanian language schools were prohibited.
During the occupation, Albanian collaborators persecuted Serb and Montenegrin settlers, [ ] with thousands killed and between 70, and , expelled from Kosovo or sent to concentration camps in order to Albanianize the province.
The new socialist government under Josip Broz Tito systematically suppressed nationalism among the ethnic groups throughout Yugoslavia, and established six republics Slovenia , Croatia , Serbia , Montenegro , Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as constituent parts of the Yugoslav federation.
The University of Pristina was established as an independent institution in , ending a long period when the institution had been run as an outpost of University of Belgrade. The lack of Albanian-language educational materials in Yugoslavia hampered Albanian education in Kosovo, so an agreement was struck with Albania itself to supply textbooks.
