[1] The colonisation programme begun in the early twentieth century between the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro during the Balkan Wars and was later implemented by their successor state Yugoslavia at certain periods of time from the interwar era until 1999.

[30] Beginning from 1912, Montenegro initiated its attempts at colonisation and enacted a law on the process during 1914 that aimed at expropriating 55,000 hectares of Albanian land and transferring it to 5,000 Montenegrin settlers.

[34][35] Kosovo was strategically important for the state, its elite and security with the Albanian population deemed as "unreliable" and concerns existed over possible future rebellions by locals that did not approve of its governance.

[41] The process involved the construction of 106 colonies and 245 new settlements in Kosovo and due to serbianisation efforts some were named Lazarevo, Obilić, Miloševo after heroes from Serbian epic poetry.

[51] In June 1919, the Serbian Chetniks led by Colonel Katanic, Babic and Stanko assaulted the village of Llapusha, allegedly in pursuit of Kachaks who were residing in the mountains of Gurabardhi.

[83] The table shows the total number of registered settlers in each Kosovo county:[9] The government associated colonisation with improving the agricultural sector and implemented policies such as the Agrarian Reform.

[3][4][85] It was a settlement plan to encourage Serb and Montenegrin settlers from other parts of Yugoslavia to resettle in Kosovo through preferential treatment of land and financial incentives such as tax exemptions to strengthen the Slavic element.

[11] Kosovo exceeded Vardar Macedonia in the amount of colonies it contained and their success rate was due to high quality land, water availability and good climate.

[95] Turkey reiterated to Albania its disinterest in Albanians from Yugoslavia coming to Anatolia and stated that the matter mainly related to ethnic Turks of Vardar Macedonia.

[85] His reflections of the time published in a book described colonisation as a "cultural and economic task of a national character" that had a particular focus on Kosovo, due to public security concerns and the "important factor" for the "nationalisation and assimilation of these regions".

[85] Additional aims entailed serbianising urban centres through "nationalisation" and development, increasing hygiene standards in rural areas and targeting "patriarchal and primitive" modes of life and work.

[85] He described colonisation as a success within the Kosovo and Skopje regions and less so in other areas due to "incompetence", poor leadership, lack of trained personnel, ad hoc and speedy measures, legal issues and so on.

[39] Krstić wrote that in the early years of colonisation, settlers did not receive support from the state and instead it was the American Mission and English Society of Friends of Serbia that funded homes for the colonists and procured equipment.

[97] The agreement referred to the proposed relocation of 40,000 families during 1939–1944 in accordance with regulations and requirements such as being fluent in Turkish, exclusion of Romani and targeting municipalities in Kosovo and western Vardar Macedonia for the migration process.

[99] Archival and printed documentation from the era show the agreement to have been a misleading and deceptive text in its written composition and intent, as the outcome was for the removal of the Albanian population to Turkey.

[13] He wrote a memorandum and presented it at the Serbian Cultural Club (May 1937) to an audience of intellectuals, prominent military personnel and politicians who were influential in politics and held sway over public opinion.

[96][103] Nevenka Tromp states that the memorandum "did reveal the pattern of thought" that existed at the time toward altering the demographics of Kosovo as a solution to maintain Serb rule in the area.

[21] Serbian historiography and Serb elites have expressed similar sentiments that colonisation was a failure due to state mismanagement and use of ineffective Western methods in Kosovo and that different solutions were needed toward addressing "this problem".

[107] According to some Serbian historiography, the colonisation was an attempt to correct "the historical injustice", given the belief that the ethnic structure of Kosovo was constantly being changed in favor of Albanians, since the end of the seventeenth century.

[101] In Yugoslavia, the Albanian intelligentsia of the communist period stated that a policy for the recolonisation of Kosovo and its repopulation with Montenegrins and Serbs was undertaken by the "Greater Serbian bourgeoisie".

[96] A book by historian Dimitrije Bogdanović titled Knjiga o Kosovu was a response to those debates and it became widely used among the Serbian intelligentsia as a source and reference on the Kosovo question.

[42] Qirezi describes that state policy aimed at creating equality, in addition to altering the demographic structure, was sidelined by the government as the constitution was suspended and Kosovo was administered under military control in 1912.

[13][88] To date, access is unavailable to the Turkish Foreign Ministry archive regarding this issue and as such the total numbers of Albanians arriving to Turkey during the interwar period are difficult to determine.

[94] Following the Second World War and establishment of communist rule in Yugoslavia, the colonisation programme was discontinued, as President Tito wanted to avoid sectarian and ethnic conflicts.

[14] A small proportion of the previous colonist population came back to Kosovo and repossessed land, with a greater part of their number (4,000 families) later leaving for other areas of Yugoslavia.

[113] Figures included academic Dimitrije Bogdanović who defended and upheld interwar Yugoslavia's policy of Albanian migration to Turkey and the attempted Serbian colonisation "to redress the ethnic and national balance" toward making local conditions favourable for Serbs.

[124] During this period, varied definitions of terms such as "ethnic cleaning" and "genocide" were employed in the country to condone removing Kosovo Albanians through force and supplanting them with a Serbian population.

[26] It outlined government benefits for Serbs who desired to go and live in Kosovo with loans to build homes or purchase other dwellings and offered free plots of land.

[128] As the conflict intensified Serb refugees from Krajina competed with Kosovo Albanian internally displaced persons for limited resources and living space in Pristina.

[133] In January 1999, the Serb police and army initiated a planned offensive against Kosovo Albanians that involved the violent liquidation of assets aimed at their displacement and Serbianisation of the region.