Capital Drač (Durrës) Today part of Albania | Disestablished April 1913 | |
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Drač County (Serbian: Драчки округ/Drački okrug) was one of the counties of the Kingdom of Serbia established on 29 November 1912 on the part of the territory of Albania taken from the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War. Drač County had four districts (Serbian: срез/srez): Drač (Durrës), Lješ (Lezhë), Elbasan and Tirana. The army of the Kingdom of Serbia retreated from Durrës in April 1913.
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Establishment
The army of the Kingdom of Serbia captured Durrës on 29 November 1912 without any resistance. Orthodox Christian metropolitan of Durrës Jakov gave a particularly warm welcome to the new authorities. According to a 1929 work by Serbian essayist Milutin Lazarević, the Christian population of Durrës was thrilled by the arrival of the Serbian army. The Kingdom of Serbia established district offices and appointed the governor of the county, mayor of the city, and commander of the military garrison. Тhe first military governor of the city of Durrës capetain Branislav Milosavljević (commander of vanguard of Albanian-Šumadian unit), appointed first city councel (Petar Djurasković, chair, Hristo Spiro, Mehmed Efendi etc.).
The first governor of Drač County was Ivan Ivanić, a Serbian diplomat. His wife Delfa, who was famous as one of the founders of the Circle of Serbian Sisters (Serbian: Kolo Srpskih Sestara), governed the city hospital in Durrës. The first mayor of Durrës was Petar Đurašković, a member of a family from this city, while members of the city council were Hristos Spiro, Imam Husein Efendi and Filip Serić. When the army of Kingdom of Serbia occupied Albania in 1912, Dragutin Anastasijević was engaged as a translator for the Greek language and, after a while, he was appointed as governor of Durrës County instead of Ivan Ivanić.
The military conquest of the area was justified by historical arguments brought up by Serbian politicians which said that since the region belonged to Stefan Dushan in the 14th century, Durrës could be part of the new Kingdom of Serbia. According to Pašić and Gruić, Albania has no right to autonomy, the Albanian Malissors are actually Serbs, Albania belonged solely to the Empire of Dushan, and Durrës, Lezha and San Giovanni di Medua [Shëngjin] were formerly only Serb ports..
Disestablishment
The army of the Kingdom of Serbia retreated from Durrës in April 1913, but it remained in other parts of Albania for the next two months.