On 8 October 1912 Gen. Hasan Riza Pasha announced that Montenegro had declared war on the Ottoman Empire in order to get rid of the 600 years of oppression by the "Turkish foot", as the enemy claimed, and that its troops were crossing the border between Montenegro and Albania. Two hours after the news the Montenegrin troops, as expected, were approaching Scutari. Up to 70% of the Turkish army in the inner parts of the Balkans was composed of Muslim Albanian conscripts during the freedom struggle from the Ottoman Empire.