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However, after the fall of the Nemanjic Dynasty, Serbia was under Turkish rule for over half a century. This placed the Serbs in a cultural and economic limbo. Inevitably, this lead to what seemed to be, a never-ending age of Communism introduced by the Ottoman Empire. This form of government would give the Serbians a new outlook on life. It would thus change Serbian society for quite sometime. Then, in the late 1980's, Slobodan Milosevic came to power as the Communist party leader in Serbia. His first actions were directed against Kosovo Albanian dominance in the province. He saved himself and his party from potential collapse by pointing his finger to the begrimed hills of Old Serbia and promising these words: "Never again will anyone defeat you" (Balkan Ghosts, 40). He knew the significance of these few choice words and the effect it would have on the Serbians. Therefore, he used this to his advantage in order to sustain power. Thus, he removed virtually all of the Albanian's rights, their leadership role in government, their party, and their parliament. He further removed their control of their Albanian-language library and the administration of their school system. This was a classic case of human rights violations. In esscence, Milosevic took away the Albanians" right to govern themselves. .
Also, when the Turks came to Serbia, they imposed their religious views on the Albanians who were living there as well. As a result, many Albanians converted to Islam. The Serbians especially hated the Albanians for this. This would definitely be one of the contributing factors to the ethnic hatred in the Balkans between the Serbians and the Albanians. An example .
of this type of hatred was when Mother Tatiana said, "Without the cultural and economic limbo of half a millennium of Turkish rule, Communism might not have been established here so easily, and the Albanians might never have been converted to Islam and settled in such large numbers as they were in Old Serbia" (Balkan Ghosts, 35).
