Albanian Connection

Kosova Flag Flamuri I Ri i Kosoves

2008-02-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

The flag of Kosovo was officially adopted following the unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008. The flag is partly the result of an international design competition, organized by the United Nations-backed provisional government, which attracted almost a thousand entries. The competition rules insisted that the final design must not use ethnic or national symbols or colour schemes in order to ensure that it represented all citizens. The now-used design is a variant of one proposal. It shows six white stars in an arc above a golden map of Kosovo on a blue field.[2] [3] They are meant to symbolize Kosovo's six ethnic groups: Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Gorani, Roma, and Bosniaks.

The Flag of Kosovo resembles the Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of colours and shapes used (white stars and yellow shape of the country on a blue field). It also resembles the flag of Democratic Republic of Congo used between 1997 and 2006, which was deep blue with six yellow stars down the hoist and a larger yellow star in the centre.

Movie Trailer - THE AGE OF SCANDERBEG

2007-05-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

Gjergj Kastrioti (1405–January 17, 1468), better known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian prince who united the Albanian tribes of Epirus , Albania and a Slavic tribe from Montenegro in resisting the expanding Ottoman Empire for 25 years. Today he's considered a national hero of Albania.

Obliged by the Ottomans to pay tribute to the Empire, and to ensure the fidelity of local rulers, Gjon Kastrioti's sons were taken by the Sultan to his court as hostages. In 1423, Gjergj Kastrioti and his three brothers were taken by the Turks. He attended military school and led many battles for the Ottoman Empire. He was awarded for his military victories with the title Iskander Bey (Albanian transliteration: Skënderbeu, English transliteration: Skanderbeg, In Turkish this title means Lord or Prince Alexander, in honor of Alexander the Great). Skanderbeg soon switched sides and came back to his native land to successfully defend Albania against the Ottoman Empire until the time of his death.

Success in the Ottoman army

He earned distinction as an officer in several Ottoman campaigns both in Asia Minor and in Europe, and the Sultan appointed him to the rank of General. He fought against Greeks, Serbs and Hungarians, and some sources claim that he maintained secret links with Ragusa, Venice, Ladislaus V of Hungary, and Alfonso I of Naples. Sultan Murad II gave him the title Vali, making him Governor of some provinces in central Albania. He was respected abroad, but he missed his country. After the death of hirisoner exchange, failed.

In 1466, Sultan Mehmed II personally led an army into Albania and laid siege to Kruje as his father had also attempted sixteen years earlier. Kruje was defended by a garrison of 4,400 men, led by Prince Tanush Thopia. After several months, Mehmed, like Murad II, saw that seizing Kruja by force of arms would not be easily accomplished, and left the siege to return to Istanbul. However, he left a force of forty thousand men under Ballaban Pasha to maintain the seige, even building a castle in central Albania, which he named El-basan (eventually becoming the modern Elbasan), to support the siege. This second siege was no more successful than the first was eventually broken by Skanderberg, resulting in the death of Ballaban Pasha, who fell victim to the use of firearms.

A few months later, in 1467, Mehmed, frustrated by his inability to subdue Albania, again led an army into Albania, this one the largest of its time. Kruje was besieged for a third time, but on a much grander scale. While a contingent kept the city and its forces pinned down, Ottoman armies came pouring in from Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece with the aim of keeping the whole country surrounded, thereby strangling Skanderbeg’s supply routes and limiting his mobility. During this conflict, Skanderbeg fell ill with malaria in the Venetian controlled city of Lezhe, and died on January 17, 1468, just as the army under the leadership of Leke Dukagjini defeated the Ottoman force in Shkodra.

The Albanian resistance went on after the death of Skanderbeg for an additional ten years under the new leadership of Leke Dukagjini. In 1478, the fourth siege of Kruje finally proved successful for the Ottomans; demoralized and severely weakened by hunger and lack of supplies from the year-long siege, the defenders surrendered to Mehmed, who had promised them to leave unharmed in exchange. As the Albanians were walking away with their families, however,the Ottomans reneged on this promise, killing the men and enslaving the women and children. A year later, the Ottoman forces captured Shkodra, the last free Albanian castle (although it was under Venetian control at the time), but the Albanian resistance continued sporadically until around 1500.

Papal Relations

Skanderbeg's military successes evoked a good deal of interest and admiration from the Papal States, Venice, and Naples, themselves threatened by the growing Ottoman power across the Adriatic Sea. Skanderbeg managed to arrange for support in the form of money, supplies, and occasionally troops from all three states through his diplomatic skill. One of his most powerful and consistent supporters was Alfonso the Magnanimous, the king of Aragon and Naples, who decided to take Skanderbeg under his protection as a vassal in 1451, shortly after the latter had scored his second victory against Murad II. In addition to financial assistance, the King of Naples supplied the Albanian leader with troops, military equipment, and sanctuary for himself and his family if such a need should arise. As an active defender of the Christian cause in the Balkans, Skanderbeg was also closely involved with the politics of four Popes, one of them being Pope Pius II, the Renaissance humanist, writer, and diplomat.

Profoundly shaken by the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Pius II tried to organize a new crusade against the Turks, and to that end he did his best to come to Skanderbeg's aid, as his predecessors Pope Nicholas V and Pope Calixtus III had done before him. This policy was continued by his successor, Pope Paul II. They gave him the title Athleta Christi, or Champion of Christ.

Skanderberg's 25-year resistance against the Ottoman Empire succeeded in helping protect the Italian peninsula from invasion by the Turks.

Gjergj Kastriot's Legacy

After his death from natural causes in 1468 in Lezhë, his soldiers resisted the Turks for the next 12 years. In 1480 Albania was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire. When the Turks found the grave of Skanderbeg in Saint Nicholas church of Lezhe, they opened it and held his bones like talismans for luck. The same year, they invaded Italy and conquered the city of Otranto.

Skanderbeg's posthumous fame was not confined to his own country. Voltaire thought the Byzantine Empire would have survived had it possessed a leader of his quality. A number of poets and composers have also drawn inspiration from his military career. The French sixteenth-century poet Ronsard wrote a poem about him, as did the nineteenth-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Antonio Vivaldi composed an opera entitled Scanderbeg.

Skanderbeg today is the National Hero of Albania. Many museums and monuments are raised in his honor around Albania, among them the Skanderbeg Museum next to the castle in Krujë.

Skanderbeg is founder of Castriota Scanderbeg family which is today part of Italian nobility.

Sincerely,

BRAND NEW SKENDERBEU SCANDERBEG DOCUMENTARY - PREVIEW

2007-05-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Best Fighting Scene EVER Of Skender Beu

2007-05-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

Tags: Skënderbeu Skenderbeu Skanderbeg Skenderbeg Albania Kosova Albanian Hero Fight Fighting Old Movie Gjergj Kastrioti

Skanderbeg Warrior King of Albania

2007-05-11T17:43:00.001-07:00

Evidences about Serbian Crimes in Kosova

2007-04-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

A unique archive of destroyed of Albanian Villages by Serbian special police. Serbian Criminal Police have fired on Albanian Civilians fleeing their homes in the western region, including those attempting to cross the border into Albania. Helicopters marked with the red cross have shot at refugees near the Albanian border.
Attacks on civilians and the systematic destruction of villages have effectively cleansed Kosova's western region of ethnic Albanians.

2007-04-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

The last Serbian war, started in january 1998 until june 1999, was destroying for Kosova and his people. This war leaded by serbs and their government caused over 12000 killed and massacred Kosova-Albanians. Many houses were burned down and the Serbs intended to clean Kosova from Albanians, who was always the majority population in this region. Only with the NATO intervention, this Serbian plans could be stopped.

Serbian Stateterror in Kosova

2007-04-18T15:03:00.001-07:00

The fight of the Kosova-Albanians for liberty, freedom and democracy in their country begins with a tragedy. The Serbian Government in Belgrade revoked the autonomous status of Kosova and made this country to the larges prison in Europe. This film shows the events in the end of the 80s till the beginning of the 90s which leads to the Kosova war 1998-1999.

EVIDENCE - The War in Kosova

2007-04-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

In the last war in Kosova, the Serbian Criminal State killed around 14,000 Albanian people. Near 90% of them were unarmed civilians. The defenseless. Mainly children, women and old-aged men. Around 3.000 people were kidnapped and are still missing. The overwhelming number of them are in Serbia. Near to 20,000 women were raped. 740,000 people were violently expelled. 120,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by the Serbian Criminal Army.

The distinctive aspect of the war was the destruction of Kosova's economy. The extreme exploitation and robbery of the 1990s culminated with purposeful destruction during the war.

Conclusion:

There is no alternatives to Kosova Independence, never again Kosova under Terrorist State of Serbia

Kosov History

2006-10-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

This brief history, based on authoritative published sources, is intended to provide readers with an objective and reasonably concise history of the hundreds of years of struggle between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. Interested readers are strongly encouraged to consult the sources cited for a much fuller treatment of the subject. At the end of the historical summary an analysis of the NATO military intervention of 1999 is provided. This represents the author's opinion of the intervention only,and is not intended to be part of the short history of Kosovo that is provided in this document. The postscript brings us up-to-date on the essentials of the continuing controversies as of November15, 2002.

History Prior to 19th Century

The earliest known inhabitants of Kosovo were called Illyrians by both Greeks and Romans. Albanians today claim to be direct descendants of the Illyrians. Serbian scholars claim that Albanians appeared on the scene in the early Middle Ages as a result of intermarriage between nomadic shepherds and unromanized remnants of Illyrians and Dardanians from Thrace. Tracing such descents is difficult but the people living in the region before the arrival of the Serbs from the North are likely to have some genetic relationships to Albanians, but DNA data would be needed to definitively settle the claim, which in any case is hardly germane to the current conflict. The region was conquered by Alexander the Great 300 years before Christ and became part of the Roman province of Dardania in the 4th century A. D.

Slavs crossed the Danube and moved into the Balkans by the 6th century. These migrations weakened the Byzantium Empire sufficiently that Illyrian speaking people, known to their neighbors as Albanians moved eastward from the Adriatic into the Kosovo region of the Balkans. Their language became known as Albanian and their culture became allied with Byzantium after the breakup of the Catholic Church into Eastern and western branches in 1054. Slavs migrating into the Balkans divided into three groups; Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, as is still true today. By the 12th century almost all arable land in the region now known as Northern Albania and Kosovo was in Slavic hands.

By 1190 Kosovo had become the administrative and cultural center of the medieval Serbian state ruled by the powerful Nemanjic dynasty. This dynasty lasted 200 years and still today Kosovo is known by Serbians as "Old Serbia". However in 1389, in the famous Battle of Kosovo Polje, the Serbs and their allies were defeated by the Ottoman Turks and shortly Kosovo became part of the Ottoman Empire. Albanians started to move back into Kosovo in considerable numbers in the 15th century and the Ottomans took sovereignty over the region in 1489. During this time the great majority of Albanians were still Christians, and Serbs and Albanians lived together in reasonable harmony. Gradually Albanians and to a lesser extent Serbs became converted to Islam. Serb resistance to conversion was strengthened by activities of the Orthodox Church since Kosovo contained many seminaries and was the home of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In the late 17th century Serbs left Kosovo in large numbers as a result of military victories of the Ottoman Turks. This caused the Serbian "center of gravity" to move northward to the region of Belgrade where it has remained ever since. This displacement of the Serb population is known in history as "the great migration". As a result, the region of Kosovo became underpopulated and, attracted by available fertile land, was resettled by Albanians moving eastward from the hills of Albania. At this time these Albanians were both Christian and Muslim.

The Islamic Conquest and Islamization

Serbia including Kosovo was conquered by the Islamic Ottoman Turks in 1459, Bosnia and Herzegovina fell in 1465 and 1483 repectively. During this time Serbian Christians and Jews, as "people of the book", became dhimmis subject to the dhimma or protection offered to Christian and Jews in newly Islamized lands in exchange for their lives. Dhimmi status goes back to the 7th century when the Jews at the oasis of Khaybar in Arabia accepted the treaty offered to them by Muhammed. In exchange for their lives the Jews forfeited ownership of their lands were forced to defer to Muslims on the street, in business dealings and under the Shari'a law, and were forced to by heavy taxes to their Muslim conquerers. This treaty of Khaybar became the model by which all Christian and Jews in newly conquered lands became subject to a condition referred to by the scholar Bat Ye'or as dhimmitude, a contraction of the two word dhimmitude and servitude. Christians and Jews in lands under Islamic rule remained in the status of dhimmitude until the emancipation ordered by the Ottoman Sultan in the middle of the 19th century.under pressure from the European powers. In reality the oppression of the Christians and the Jews in the Balkans moderated in 1912 after the first Balkan war.

Late 19th and Early 20th Century

The opening of a Serbian seminary in Prizren in 1871 started a pronounced strengthening of the Serb presence in Kosovo culminating in Serbian reoccupation and control of Kosovo by 1912. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Turks in the Russo-Ottoman War in 1878 the terms of the "Peace Accord" extended Bulgaria westward and gave the Serbs control of Mitrovica and Pristina in Kosovo, while the remainder remained in Ottoman hands. In response to this peace settlement Albanian nationalists called a meeting in Prizren which was attended by over 300 delegates from Kosovo and western Macedonia. This meeting founded what became known as "The Prizren League". The delegates were primarily conservative Muslim landowners whose main interest was to maintain strong Ottoman control of Kosovo to protect them from marauding Balkan neighbors. The League also included Albanian intellectuals inspired by ideas of the European Renaissance who were interested in unification of Albanian people under the umbrella of Ottoman rule. The Ottoman Sultan supported the League because he wanted to instill pan-Islamic ideology as a counterbalance to Christian and Slavic influences. However, as the Ottoman Empire weakened the League moved toward autonomy within the Empire. In this movement the League increasingly became anti-Christian as well, causing considerable anxiety among Christian Albanians and especially among the Serbs. At this time the Muslim leadership encouraged what today would be termed "ethnic cleansing" and as a result more and more Serbs left Kosovo and moved north in Serbia. The Treaty of San Stefano in 1898 granted independence to Serbia.Also in 1898 Western powers, reacting to what they perceived as undue Russian interests in the Balkans, compelled Russia to submit to a new peace settlement, this time at the Congress of Berlin presided over by the "Iron Chancellor" Bismarck. This settlement greatly reduced the size of Bulgaria and returned all Albanian inhabited land to the Ottomans. Many Serbs were expelled from Kosovo at this time and Serbian troops also were forced to withdraw..

In the early 20th century the "Young Turk Movement", as a liberal movement in opposition to the Sultan, became an important factor within the Ottoman Empire. A constitution was established and electoral laws promulgated. Unfortunately for the hopeful Albanians in Kosovo the electoral law of 1908 stipulated that voters must have a knowledge of the Turkish language in order to vote leaving the great majority of Kosovars, whether Albanian or Serbian, disenfranchised. The Young Turks were strongly opposed to nationalist tendencies within the Empire and worked toward centralization of power and authority and Turkification of all subjects in the Ottoman domain. As is the case in present day Serbia, the Ottomans strongly opposed the autonomy desired by Kosovars in general and Albanians in particular. This was one of many Albanian Kosovar disappointments though the years.

In the first Balkan War of 1912 Albania was attacked by Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. The Albanians were allied with the Ottomans. Serbs joined the army in large numbers to avenge the Serbian defeat by the Turks at the Battle of Kosovo Polje. At this time Kosovo was mostly Albanian. Serbs entered Pristina as Albanians retreated to the mountains. The Serbian army destroyed Turkish and Albanian houses and there was much plundering and killing. Serb peasants followed the army into Kosovo re-occupying the land. The Albanians fought fiercely but lost the war and Kosovo came under Serbian authority. At the Conference of Ambassadors in London in 1912 presided over by Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, Serbia was given sovereignty over Kosovo which it has retained to the present day. Albania, for the first time was internationally recognized and by the Treaty of London in1913 became a fully independent and sovereign state. Within Kosovo not surprisingly there was much anti-Serbian sentiment since the population was still mostly Albanian. In 1913, in the second Balkan War, Bulgaria attacked the Serbian and Greek armies in Macedonia. They miscalculated and were quickly and decisively defeated. Among the outcomes Serbia nearly doubled in size obtaining most of Slavic Macedonia.

History of Albania in Ottoman Times

2006-10-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Officially Republic of Albania, Albanian Shqipëria, or Republika e Shqipërisë, country located in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula on the Strait of Otranto, the southern entrance to the Adriatic Sea. It encompasses an area of 11,100 square miles (28,748 square kilometres), with a maximum length from north to south of about 210 miles (340 kilometres) and a maximum width of about 95 miles. It is bounded to the northwest by Montenegro, to the northeast by the Kosovo region of Serbia, to the east by Macedonia, and to the southeast and south by Greece. To the west and southwest, Albania is bordered by the Adriatic and Ionian seas. Albania's immediate western neighbour, Italy, lies some 50 miles across the Adriatic. The capital city is Tiranë.

Albanians refer to themselves as shqiptarë, meaning "sons of eagles," and to their country as Shqipëria in Albanian History. Descended from the ancient Illyrians, they have lived in relative isolation and obscurity through most of their difficult history, in part because of the rugged terrain of their mountainous land but also because of a complex of historical, cultural, and social factors. Owing to its location on the Adriatic Sea, Albania has long served as a bridgehead for various nations and empires seeking conquest abroad in Albanian History. In the 2nd century BC the Illyrians were conquered by the Romans, and from the end of the 4th century AD they were ruled by the Byzantine Empire. After suffering centuries of invasion by Visigoths, Huns, Bulgars, and Slavs, the Albanians were finally conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century in Albanian History. Turkish rule cut off Albania from Western civilization for more than four centuries, but in the late 19th century the country began to remove itself from Ottoman Orientalism and to rediscover old affinities and common interests with the West in Albanian History. Albania was declared independent in 1912, but the following year the demarcation of the boundaries of the new country by the Great Powers of Europe assigned about half its territory and people to neighbouring states in Albania History. Ruled as a monarchy between the world wars, Albania emerged from the violence of World War II as a communist state that fiercely protected its sovereignty and in which almost all aspects of life were controlled by the ruling party in Albanian History. But with the collapse of other communist regimes beginning in 1989, new social forces and democratic political parties emerged in Albania. This shift reflected the country's continuing orientation toward the West, and it accorded with the Albanian people's long-standing appreciation of Western technology and cultural achievements-even while retaining their own ethnic identity, cultural heritage, and individuality.

World War I and its effects on Albania

2006-10-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Albania achieved a degree of statehood after World War I, in part because of the diplomatic intercession of the United States. The country suffered from a debilitating lack of economic and social development, however, and its first years of independence were fraught with political instability. Unable to survive in a predatory world without a foreign protector, Albania became the object of tensions between Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (the later Yugoslavia), which both sought to dominate the country.

With Yugoslav military assistance, Ahmed Bey Zogu, the son of a clan chieftain, emerged victorious from an internal political power struggle in late 1924. Zogu, however, quickly turned his back on Belgrade and looked instead to Benito Mussolini's Italy for patronage. Under him, Albania joined the Italian coalition against Yugoslavia of Kingdom of Italy, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria in 1924-1927. After the United Kingdom's and France's political intervention in 1927 with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the alliance crumbled. In 1928 Zogu coaxed the country's parliament into declaring Albania a kingdom and himself king. King Zogu remained a hidebound conservative, and Albania was the only Balkan state where the government did not introduce a comprehensive land reform between the two world wars. Mussolini's forces overthrew Zogu when they occupied Albania in 1939.

The Origin of the Albanians

2006-10-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Most scholars consider that the Albanians are direct descendants of an Illyrian tribe that was named "Albanoi" that was located in present day Albania. Some scholars dispute this. See Origin of Albanians. Some scholars have claimed that the Albanians and the Illyrians are the descendants of the ancient Pelasgians, and thus their history goes back at least 4000 years before Christ.

Those who support the Illyrian-Albanian continuity theory maintain that all the Illyrian tribes except the Albanians disappeared during the Early Middle Ages under the waves of migrating barbarians. A forbidding mountain homeland and resilient tribal society enabled the Albanians to survive into modern times with their identity and their Indo-European language intact.

The name Albania is said by these scholars to be derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Arber, or Arbereshë, and later Albanoi, that lived near Durres.

Ethnik Albanians In Kosovo

2006-08-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Independent Operator of System of Transmission and Energy Market inaugurated today

2006-07-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

The establishment of the independent operator of transmission system and market in Kosova – KOSTT represents the first big step towards the reformation of the energy sector in Kosova, and the fulfilling of the obligations which come out of the Southeastern European Energy Treaty, said Minister of Energy and Mining Ethem Çeku.

General Cecchi promises the Italian military presence in Kosova

2006-07-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Italian Army Chief of Staff, General Filiberto Cecchi, has promised today in Prishtina to the government officials the Italian military presence in Kosova, as part of the KFOR peacekeeping force and the contribution of the Italian people for the processes that Kosova is going through.

Gjon buzuku Meshari (1555)

2006-06-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

Buzuku Gjon, 16th century. The first author known so far of theAlbanian literature, translator into Albanian of a clerical bookcalled "Missal" (1555), the oldest Albanian work which has beenpassed on up to date. The first 16 pages of the copy of the bookare missing. The book contains clerical material and the mainparts of Catholic liturgy. "Missal" was published in Latinalphabet of semi-gothic type.

Naim Frasheri

2006-06-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Frasheri Naim, 1846-1900. Great poet of Albanian NationalRenaissance, outstanding patriot, thinker and activist ofeducation and culture. He was born in Frasher of Permet. NaimFrasheri completed the secondary school Zosimea, in Greece. Hisfirst poem was "Albania" published in 1897 and which enthusedAlbanian patriots. He was one of the main publishers of theReview Drita in Istanbul, "Dituria" in a later period whichpublished many of his verses and proses for Albanian schools. In1886, he published the poem "Bageti dhe Bujqesi." The main worksof his are "Qerbelaja," "History of Scanderbeg," "AlbanianLanguage" , "Korca", etc.

The Frasheri brothers, Sami, Abdyl, and Naim were all very noteworthy patriotic figures -though in different ways - of the Albanian Renaissance. They were born in the village of Frasher in the district of Permet. Naimi was above all an intellectual and a writer. He composed and published first in Persian -which he learned at a Bektashi tekke - then in Albanian. His subject range was wide but concentrated on patriotic themes.
He wrote for children too, and translated the fables of La Fontaine. In outlook a pantheist and idealist, Naim supported the emanicipation of women and universal education. He was naturally as opposed to the Megali idea (that Greece should take over and run the Ottoman Empire) as well as to Panslavism. After Scanderbeg's death in 1468, all of Albania eventually fell to the Ottoman Turks where it was to remain for almost 500 years. It was not until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that a national movement for Albania's independence became a major force.
Naim Frasheri was foremost in that movement. Born in 1846, he spent most of his life propagating the Albanian cause. His influence with the Turkish adminstration gave him unique opportunities to further Albanian nationalist activities such as the publication of the Albanian periodical Drita (Light) in 1864, and the opening of the first Albanian school in Korça (southern Albania) in 1866.
Romantic in style, Naim used simple language in his poetry so that uneducated people could grasp its meaning. His works were well understood by all Albanians - though until the Communist rule of Enver Hoxha, the literacy level in Albania was the lowest in Europe. The Turks had banned everything published in the Albanian language so his works had to be smuggled into and around Albania. This precious cargo was securely packed into sacks of grain and rolls of dry goods which were being delivered to shops.
One of the most cherished of Naim's poems is Bageti e Bujqesi ('Herds and Pastures', 1886). In this poem, Naim Frasheri exalted in poetry the beauty of Albania and the simple life of her people, expressing gratitude that she bestowed on him.

Pov Florim krasniqi

2006-02-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

Fatmir Sejdiu Interviw

2006-02-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

Ceremoni Mortore E Dr Ibrahim Rugoves

2006-02-01T04:35:00.000-08:00

Video 2

Ibrahim Rugova

2006-01-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

Ibrahim RugovaDecember 2, 1944 - January 21, 2006Steadfast leader who became 'Kosovo's Gandhi' with his passive resistance in the fight for independence
WITH his characteristic red scarf, which he swore he would not remove until Kosovo became free, Ibrahim Rugova was a leading figure in the politics of the Balkans from the late 1980s until his death. His political life was devoted to the cause of Kosovan freedom, but if he was unflinching in his objective he was equally determined upon the means to its attainment: he was, and it was an analogy he was not shy of using himself, Kosovo’s Gandhi, a man dedicated to peaceful resistance and to the achievement of one’s goals by nonviolence.
Ibrahim Rugova was born in a small village in the Istog area of Kosovo in 1944. It was a turbulent time in Kosovo. During the Second World War the area had been included in Albania, the majority of Kosovo’s inhabitants being, like Rugova, ethnic Albanians. After the Germans had withdrawn, Serbian communist partisans reimposed rule from Belgrade. And this they did with considerable brutality. On January 10, 1945, they shot Rugova’s father and grandfather. They were but two of the many who died during the reimposition of Belgrade’s authority, an authority which was to be maintained with great strictness until the second half of the 1960s.
NI_MPU('middle');
Rugova finished his secondary schooling in the town of Peja, graduating in 1967 before moving on to the University of Pristina, where he was a student in the Faculty of Philosophy’s Department of Albanian Studies until 1971. He then enrolled as a research student concentrating on literary theory and receiving his doctorate in 1984 for his thesis The Directions and Premises of Albanian Literary Criticism, 1504-1983.
As part of his advanced studies he spent 1976-77 at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris where his supervisor was the redoubtable Roland Barthes. In Pristina he also edited the student newspaper Bota e Re (New World) and the magazine Dituria (Knowledge). In the early 1970s he worked in the Institute for Albanian Studies in Prishtina. He also continued his journalistic activities, serving as editor-in-chief of the Institute’s periodical Gjurmime albanologjike (Albanian Research). Like most intelligent men and women of his generation, Rugova joined the Communist Party, primarily as a means of ensuring a decent career. As a conscientious academic he published a number of works in his own field and in 1988 was elected president of the Kosovo Writers’ Association. This appointment came with potential political change — and danger.
By the late 1980s tensions between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo were rising rapidly as President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia sought to tighten the central control over Kosovo which had been relaxed under the Yugoslav constitution of 1974. The writers’ association became an important factor in the Albanian protests, and eventual resistance, to the reimposition of Belgrade’s control. When Milosevic’s regime produced new constitutional proposals in 1989, Rugova was one of the 215 who signed the Appeal of Kosovo Intellectuals against the proposal. He was immediately expelled from the Yugoslav League of Communists and pushed into the maelstrom of political dissidence. In December 1989 he was a founding member of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (LDK) and was immediately chosen as its leader.
Rugova’s response to the tightening of Serbian control in Kosovo was passive resistance. This included the boycott of elections: to vote would imply recognition of the legitimacy of the existing state power. This did not greatly upset the Serbian authorities. Having refused to have anything to do with the Belgrade parliament, the Kosovan deputies then went underground, declared Kosovo a republic and established a virtual parallel state. This conducted both parliamentary and presidential elections, Rugova winning both the latter. The parallel government, operating from a grubby building in Pristina, provided Kosovo’s Albanians with education and medical services, most of the money coming from Kosovan Albanians abroad.
In the late 1990s Rugova’s star waned temporarily. When the Dayton Accords brought no change in Kosovo’s status, many questioned his policy of passive resistance. In 1998 the appearance of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) presented a direct threat to his domination of the Kosovan political scene. During the Nato campaign of 1998-99 Rugova appeared to have been elbowed aside, and when the Rambouillet conference met the United States treated the leader of the KLA as a more important figure than Rugova. But Rugova did not make his position any more credible by his own conduct: he appeared on Serbian television with Milosevic in an appeal for an end to the bombing campaign, though it is quite possible that this was done under duress.
The damage was not long-lasting. When the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) established a new system of government in the area, Rugova returned to his former dominant position. In the elections of October 2000 the LDK won 58 per cent of the votes and on March 4, 2002, Rugova was elected President.
As President, Rugova maintained that the only long-term solution for Kosovo, which was still technically part of Serbia, was that it should become independent. Nothing else would satisfy its Albanian population, he argued, and that an independent Kosovo would serve as a buffer state between Serbia and Albania and would therefore make the Balkans more stable. Rugova was equally insistent that independence had to be secured not with Kalashnikovs but through negotiated agreements with all the parties concerned. This was not to the taste of the heirs of the KLA, but in November 2004 Rugova took an uncharacteristic gamble and made Ramush Haradinaj, the former KLA commander, Prime Minister, even though he was under investigation for alleged war crimes. With crucial negotiations with the United Nations on Kosovo’s future on the horizon, Rugova wanted to unite all Albanians.
These negotiations were approaching a critical stage when, in August 2005, Rugova was flown to a US military hospital in Germany. It was later announced that he had lung cancer.
Rugova at times showed an inflexibility which perhaps came from his training in literary theory, but most of those who met him found he possessed a personal, quirky charm, represented not only in his red scarf but also in his passion for geology. After official business had been completed, all visitors were shown the presidential collection of crystals and then given a sample as a present. It was a carefully graded process with leaders of delegations receiving theirs wrapped in a small velvet cloth while the others had to be content with a napkin. The size of the crystal could also reflect Rugova’s pleasure, or otherwise, at the outcome of the meeting and as a result diplomats in Pristina were constantly comparing notes.
His dedication to peaceful resistance and non-violence brought Rugova a number of awards, including the peace award of the Paul Litzer Foundation in Denmark in 1995, and, three years later, the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize. He was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Parisin in 1996.
He is survived by his wife, Fana, and their three children.
Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo, was born on December 2, 1944. He died on January 21, 2006, aged 61.

Dr Ibragim Rugova Biography

2006-01-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

Ibragim Rugova ( Video Documentary)
This is a video dumentary about the life of Former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova. This documentary shows video clips of Mr.Rugova starting in 1989 until he died. It's very interesting! This one is from the Kosovo Public Television(RTK) and it's in Albanian.

Ismail Kadare

2005-12-31T19:38:00.000-08:00

ISMAIL KADARE

Albanian writer, frequently mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, a leading figure of Albanian cultural life from the 1960s. During the terror of the Hoxha regime, Kadaré attacked on totalitarianism and the doctrines of socialist realism with subtle allegories, although as a committed Marxist he officially supported the liberation of Albania from its backward past. Among Kadaré's best-known works is The General of the Dead Army (1963). In the story an Italian general is immersed in his absurd and gruesome mission in Albania. He never realizes that he is as dead as the fallen soldiers of past wars. Ismail Kadaré was born in the museum-city of Gjirokastra, in southern Albania. His father worked in the civil service. Kadare grew up during the years of World War II, witnessing the occupation of his home country by fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union. He attended primary and secondary schools in Gjirokastra, and went on to study languages and literature at the Faculty of History and Philology of the University of Tirana. In 1956 Kadaré received a teacher's diploma. He also studied at the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow. In 1961 Albania broke with the Soviet Union, and finally with all other countries, including China. From the cultural standstill arose a new generation of writers, among them Kadaré, Fatos Arapi, and Dritëro Agolli, who was for many years head of the Albanian Union of Writers, although his work was occasionally felt to be out of touch with the party line. In Albania Kadaré first won fame as a poet. Writers hostile to Hoxha suffered persecution. Kadare's attitude to the Hoxha regime was ambiguous. His first novel, Gjenerali i ushtrisë së vdekur (1963, The General of the Dead Army), is a study of postwar Albania and begins in a pouring rain. The general of the title is on a mission to Albania, years after the occupation and war, to dig up and repatriate the bones of his fellow soldiers, who had died in the country during World War II. "I have a whole army of dead men under my command," he realizes bitterly. Before completing his work, the general suffers a nervous breakdown in a wedding feast. Dasma (1968, The Wedding) was well received in Albania. The heroine of the novel, a young peasant girl, is rescued from a traditional arranged marriage by factory work. She meets and marries a man she loves, thus breaking the traditions. Kadaré's Chronicle in Stone (1971) was praised by John Updike in The New Yorker as "sophisticated and accomplished in its poetic prose and narrative deftness". In Kështjella (1970, The Castle), a story of Albania's struggle against the Ottoman Turks, and Ura me tri harqe (1978, The Three-Arched The Bridge), an account of the events surrounding the construction of a bridge across a river, Kadaré depicted the feudal Albania. After offending the authorities with a politically satirical poem in 1975, he was forbidden to publish for three years. In Broken April (1978), a story about the blood feud, Kadaré returned to one of his favorite themes - how the past affects the present. "Gjorg came out of the concealment and walked towards the body. The road was deserted. The only sound was the sound of his own footsteps. The dead man had fallen in a heap. Gjorg bent down and laid his hand on the man's shoulder, as if to wake him. 'What am I doing?' he said to himself. He gripped the dead man's shoulder again, as if he wanted to bring him back to life. 'Why am I doing this?' he thought." Nënpunësi i pallatit të ëndrrave (1981, The Palace of Dreams) was a political allegory of totalitarianism, set in an Ottoman capital. The central character is a young man, Mark-Alem, whose job is to select, sort, and interpret the dreams of the imperial populace in order to discover the "master-dream" that will predict the overthrow of the rulers. The basically humorous novel for others than the Albanian authorities was almost immediately banned after its publication. In 1982 Kadaré was accused by the president of the League of Albanian Writers and Artists of deliberately evading politics by cloaking much of his fiction in history and folklore. Hoxha died in 1985, and his successor, Ramiz Ali, was a less powerful figure. In October 1991, a few months before the collapse of the communist regime, Kadaré emigrated to Paris where he has lived with his family ever since. Koncert në fund të dimrit (1988, The Concert) was considered the best novel of the year 1991 by the French literary magazine Lire. The story is laid against Albania's break with China. In exile Kadaré has expressed his disappointment and bitterness. La Pyramide (1992), written in French, was set in Egypt in the twenty-sixth century B.C. and after. In the novel Kadaré mocked Hoxha's fondness for elaborate statutes, the pyramid form also reflecting any dictators love for hierarchy.

2005-12-31T19:37:00.000-08:00

JAMES BELUSHI
James Belushi was born June 15, 1954 in Chicago. Both of his parents were Albanian. His father was 16 when he immigrated from Albania, and his mother was born in US by Albanian immigrants. The 3rd of four children, he grew up in Wheaton, Illinois. A high school teacher, impressed by Jim's improvisational skills while giving speeches, convinced Jim to to be in a school play. After that he joined the school's drama club. Today if asked why he got involved in acting, he will jokingly say "Because of girls. In the drama club, there were about 20 girls and six guys. And the same thing with choir....more girls!". He attended the College of Dupage and Southern Illinois university where he graduatedIn 1977, Jim joined Chicago's Second City improv troupe for three years. In 1979, Garry Marshall saw Jim performing for 2nd City and arranged for him to come to Hollywood and co-star in the TV Pilot "Who's Watching the Kids" for Paramount, and then for a role in the television show "Working Stiffs" (co-starring Michael Keaton). Later, in 1983, he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for 2 years. Jim came to national attention through his role in the film "About Last Night", playing the role he originated in the Chicago Apollo Theatre's production of David Mamet's Obie-award winning play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago". He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Jennifer, and their daughter, Jamison and a son, Robert, from Belushi's first marriage. with a degree in Speech and Theater Arts.

Eliza Dushku

2005-12-31T19:34:00.000-08:00

ELIZA DUSHKU
Eliza Patricia Dushku was born December 30, 1980 in Boston, Massachusetts and named after an aunt. Surrounded by brothers, she admits to being quite the tomboy when she was a little girl. Rumor has it Eliza has also studied dancing and singing and was often seen in children's theater, signing for the deaf. Now, 20 years old, she already is considered a veteran of the large and small screen. Eliza has numerous starring roles in several acclaimed films. She began her movie career in the movie "That Night" at the tender age of twelve, playing Alice Bloom opposite Juliette Lewis. She has starred with such notable players as Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro as well Arnold Schwarzeneggar in such major motion pictures as This Boy's Life & True Lies, respectively. More film work from the nineties included the Hallmark TV movie Journey, the Paul Reiser flick Bye Bye, Love and Race the Sun. She began to get older roles, able to look a few years beyond her true age.

After graduating from high school, the then-17-nearly-18 year old Eliza auditioned for television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and won the part of Faith, a Slayer much more troubled than Buffy. The role began in the fall of 1998 and was only supposed to be a short stint, but actress and character soon won over the cast, crew and audience. The role became a recurring one and continued throughout the 1998-1999 season (the third year of BtVS). She has since had guest starred on various episodes of both BtVS and its spinoff Angel. She steals every scene she is in. The movie Bring It On opened #1 in the box office in August 2000. Eliza received second billing as Missy, a tough tumbler turned cheerleader. The movie held strong at the box office, topped in the charts two weeks in a row, then staying in the top ten for a few months' time. With four new films opening in 2001 alone, it's safe to say Eliza will continue to grace the big screen for quite some time.

Albanian Dj biography

2005-12-28T16:20:00.000-08:00

Albanian Dj Biography

You could say that there’s nothing special in this website, it's the same as million websites in the internet. The one thing that does make it different is that this small place is 100edicated to Albanian DJs. It's a new culture in our land but it’s getting bigger and bigger, and we can see that by the number of Albanian DJ's around, which is growing every day. So we decided to make a website especially for Albo DJ's where they can share their ideas and support each other. So far it's not a profitable website, we're just offering a little help for the next Albo DJ generation. We wanted to have a dedicated music site and to compliment other Albanian websites. When I did a little research about Albanian DJ's I was surprised to find that we are all over the world. There’s a lot of music to be mixed and remixed, copied or created. Even taking some Albanian folk music and laying down some beats on it can make a profound house tune. I’m just sharing my thoughts, you may have better ideas, a stronger imagination, God knows what kind of talent is hiding in you!...So that’s what this website is all about, to help and guide one another.

Lake Ohrid - Europe's oldest Lake

2005-12-25T10:04:00.000-08:00

Lake Ohrid, that came into being between four to ten million years ago, is Europe's

The Lake of Ohrid oldest lake, and is amongst the oldest in the world. It is a typical oligotrophic lake, meaning that it contains low levels of nutrients. By its origin the lake is a tectonic one and belongs to the so-called group of "Desaretian lakes" (named by an ancient region called Desaretia). The Lake came about in the tertiary period, prior to the glaciations.
Otherwise, most of the lakes of the world came into being immediately after the end of the latest glaciations period. Only a few lakes in the world are older than this one. Famous examples are Lake Baikal, Caspian Lake, and Lake Tanganyka and just a few lakes situated on Celebes, Philippines and China.

Myzeqe - rich in oil and natural gas

2005-12-25T10:02:00.000-08:00

MyzeqeMyzeqeja ( Albanian also Myzeqe ) is a large level , which takes far parts of central of Albania. To the Adria coastal country lain swampland was main until few decades ago . Only after the Second World War the amelioration began . Today the area is coined/shaped particularly by the agriculture.

View of Myzeqeja from Apollonia Origin of the nameOf 13. up to 15. Century belonged the level of the Feudalfamilie of the Muzakaj , which lent it also the name. Before the Myzeqe Savra was called.GeographyThe Myseqeja forms a triangle of approximately 1350 km² between the cities Vlora in the south and Elbasan in the east as well as the delta of the river Shkumbin in the northwest. The river forms also the northern border. In the west the level is limited by the Adria. Into the east the landscape changes in the hills from Mallakastra and the southAlbanian mountains.The Myzeqeja is to the good part washing country. Beside the Shkumbin still the rivers Seman and Vjosa pull through the level.

LIBERATION OF KOSOVO AND METOHIA

2005-12-21T17:44:00.000-08:00

LIBERATION OF KOSOVO AND METOHIA

Albanian Incursions into SerbiaIn World War One

The development of events in Turkey, particularly war with Italy and disorder in Old Serbia and Macedonia, had created a peculiar disposition in the Balkan states. Albanian insurrections accelerated the conclusion of the Balkan alliance. Since February until August, the alliance between Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece was definitely confirmed. Realizing the impossibility of a peaceful solution to the Christian issue in Turkey, the allies decided to war. Owing to Russia's diplomatic moves, Central Powers consented to the Balkan states handling the destiny of the Balkan Peninsula. Estimating a certain victory for the Turkish army, Austria-Hungary calmly awaited war. The road leading to the realization of a historical mission - the liberation of compatriots under Turkish rule, opened in autumn, 1912. Beginning with October, the allies declared war to Turkey, the official reason being Turkey's denial to pronounce new reforms (with concessions equal to those given to the ethnic Albanians), the supervision of which would have been entrusted to the Balkan states.1
Shortly before the war, Serbia endeavored to win over the ethnic Albanians and isolate them from military operations. In a secret mission in Kosovo, two most distinguished intelligence officers Dragutin Dimitrijevic Apis and Bozin Simic aimed to come to an agreement with Isa Boljetinac and Idriz Sefer for ethnic Albanians not to take part in the upcoming war.2 Serbian Premier Nikola Pasic offered the Albanian leaders a "contract on the association of Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo vilayet", whereby within the framework of the Serbian state organization, they were warranted freedom of religion, Albanian language in schools and society, administration of Albanian communities and administrative districts, preservation of the common law and finally, a special Albanian assembly to enact laws on religious, judicial and educational matters. At an assembly held in Skoplje on October 10, (and subsequently in Pristina and Debar), the ethnic Albanians decided to defend their Ottoman fatherland in arms and use weapons obtained from Serbia against its army.3
Commanding the third Serbian army for action in Kosovo was General Bozidar Jankovic, who had previous contact with the ethnic Albanians, which might have influenced their decision. A military announcement mentioned amiable disposition toward the ethnic Albanians providing they deserved it through proper conduct. Yet Austro-Hungarian agitators encouraged both Muslim and Catholic ethnic Albanians to move against the Serbian army, promising that troops of the Dual Monarchy are on their way from Bosnia to assist them.4
Isa Boljetinac received 63,000 guns from the Turkish authorities to organize resistance toward the Serbian army. Despite Boljetinac's strong agitation that "Islamism is in jeopardy", and the need to defend "Turkish soil", only 16,000 ethnic Albanians appeared at the frontier. They were committed with the defense of Kosovo together with a Turkish corps. Well armed and equipped, the Serbian army advanced toward Kosovo in exaltation. The feeling that the "Serbian covenant thought" was coming to life with the liberation of Kosovo, bleeding five centuries under Turkish reign, had created a remarkably high morale for combat. Identical feelings were born by Montenegrin units advancing towards Pec and Djakovica.5
Combats with the ethnic Albanians were severe only in the first skirmishes. The Serbian artillery easily scattered Albanian bashibazouk companies without encountering serious resistance. Following their defeat, Bairam Cur, Riza Bey and Isa Boljetinac fled to Albanian Malissia. After the liberation of Pristina (October 22), and victory in Kumanovo (October 23-24), war was resolved for Old Serbia and Macedonia. In Kosovo and Metohia, Serbs greeted the Serbian and Montenegrin armies with exhilaration. The entire third army attended a formal liturgy at Gracanica to mark the liberation of Kosovo. Military authorities issued proclamations in Pristina and other towns for ethnic Albanians to quiet down and surrender arms;
however, anti-Serbian agitation from tribal leaders drove many to flee and shelter in the mountains. Realizing they would not be persecuted after surrendering their arms, ethnic Albanians in Drenica and the Pec region finally laid down their guns. Serbian officers kept repeating that the Serbs were warring Turkey and not the ethnic Albanians. In the newly liberated areas Serbia established civil rule and administration. Kosovo and Metohia became part of the Lab, Pristina and Prizren district. Montenegro divided liberated Metohia into the Pec and Djakovica district.6
The liberation of Old Serbia was not, however, the final goal of the Serbian armies. The political and economical hoop encircled around Serbia, held tight by Austria-Hungary since the .Kg War (1906-1911), and the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina induced Serbian diplomacy to resolve the issue of its political and economic independence by gaining free exit to the Adriatic Sea, a plan similar to one made by Ilija Garasanin. The determination of the Serbian government to advance toward the Adriatic coast, to an ethnically Albanian area, was based on the evaluation that ethnic Albanians were "not a people, but tribes split up and mutually estranged, without a common language, alphabet and religion". The government was supported by the court, by civil parties, the army and the widest public.7
While Montenegrin troops besieged Scutari, Serbian regiments from Old Serbia entered Albania and occupied its northern ports. In the land of the Mirdits, Serbian troops were greeted cordially, whereas they were forced to penetrate Dukadjin toward the Adriatic Sea with arms.8
Reports of Serbia's glorious victories were received with anxiety in Vienna. Austro-Hungarian diplomacy warned Serbia not to advance its army further from Prizren. To prevent Serbia's exit to the sea, the Viennese government sent special emissaries to Albania to spread the idea of autonomy, and even called one of the most important Albanian leaders from Constantinople, Ismail Kemal. Through the Viennese press, he demanded an independent "Great Albania", encompassing the towns Bitolj, Janina, Skoplje, Pristina and Prizren. Embarking an Austrian ship, Kemal set off to Valona to proclaim independence of Albania. Gathering feudal and tribal leaders from the southern regions to his side, on November 28, 1912, Kemal proclaimed the formation of an independent Albanian state. The provisional government in Valona was a toy in Vienna's hands devoid of any influence with the people. All documents, including the proclamation of independence, were written in the Turkish language; not one member of his cabinet knew how to write in the Albanian tongue. Ismail Kemal consigned the military formation to refugee leaders from Old Serbia, Riza Bey Krieziu and Isa Boljetinac.9
Kemal's government sent messages to Serbian troops to withdraw from the territory of the new state. The Serbian army established civil rule north of the Durazzo-Elbasan-Struga line. The situation in Albania was on the verge of anarchy. The temporary government proclaimed an energetic severing of all ties with Turkey. Subsequent to the Young Turk coup d'etat, the mid-Albanian Muslim populace was disposed to Albania remaining within the framework of the Ottoman Empire. Rumors spread among the people that the Young Turks were advancing with large armies to reoccupy Albania. To the north, the Catholic Mirdits negotiated with Montenegro and Serbia on the creation of an autonomous state. The Mirdit mbret Bib Doda requested permission from the Serbian army for his fellow tribesmen to loot the Muslims. Within the Mata region, malcontents took down the Albanian flag and threatened to call the Serbian army;
in some places there was agitation to resist the Serbs. Ismail Kemal's government soon disintegrated. Disorder and mutual conflicts began within the first months following the proclamation of the independent Albanian state.10
Austria-Hungary considered the emergence of the Serbian army on the Adriatic Sea a serious injury to its interests. Belligerent military circles in Vienna proposed to attack Serbia whose northern borders remained unguarded. During December all tokens pointed to an upcoming Austro-Hungarian - Serbian war. After conferring with the Russian and Italian diplomacy, the Serbian government pronounced the following statement:
"We do not desire to raise the issue of our emergence at sea ourselves, but rather to let the matter remain within the hands of the Great Powers when war ends and peace is concluded. We should not disapprove of the creation of autonomous Albania if Europe should agree to it. We only believe that Albania will not abide by peace necessary to both the Balkan allies and the whole of Europe. Our desire is to have a port on our territory - yet we leave this issue for the Great Powers to resolve, when they solve other matters that will unfold from peace."11
The Austro-Hungarian incursion on Serbia was prevented by a conference of ambassadors of the Great Powers convoked in London toward the close of 1912, at the initiative of the French and British diplomacy.
Representatives of the Balkan states began peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire. The conference of ambassadors argued the issue of Serbia's emergence at sea and the status of Albania, which would then enter into regulations of peace with Turkey. While Russia supported Serbian demands for Adriatic ports, Austria-Hungary's intention at the conference was to struggle for a larger Albania. France and Great Britain accepted the formation of Albania but feared Austro-Hungarian and Italian superiority in it. Thus the very first day the conference opened, the ambassadors reached the following agreement: "Autonomous Albania guaranteed and controlled exclusively by six powers under the sovereignty or suzerainty of the sultan. The exclusion of every Turkish element from the administration is understood." Ensuring the frontiers of Albania and Montenegro were "neighbored all the way", Serbia was denied emergence to the Adriatic Sea. As compensation, it was given a free and neutral trade port on the Albanian coast, to which Serbian goods would arrive by railway secured by international gendarmes under European control. Peace in Europe was saved, but, as Poincares pointed out: "Serbia paid the highest bill".12 The border issue presented a more serious problem. Since December
1912. several plans were in diplomatic emulation. Serbia demanded the borders to be drawn west of the Ohrid Lake and the Crni Drim river, so that Decani, Djakovica, Prizren, Debar and Ohrid would remain in its composition. Montenegro demanded north Albania until the Maca river, with Scutari, Medua and Alessio. Greece demanded north Epirus where the Albanian populace lived admixed with the Greek one. Autonomous Albania was to have been constituted from the remaining areas. The Austro-Hungarian proposition, contrary to the Serbian one, suggested the creation of Great Albania. The Monarchy demanded that Djakovica, Debar, Korcca, Janina and Struga belong to Albania, and "in the first round" both Pec and Prizren, as "compensational objects". It left Struga, Ohrid and Debar to Bulgaria if it were to make any claims. Italy supported Montenegrin claims but acutely opposed Greek ones. Russia and France maintained a medial solution by which Albania's frontier toward Serbia should stretch along the watershed of the Beli and the Crni Drim rivers to Ohrid. The Albanian delegation demanded the formation of "ethnical" Albania, inclusive of the towns Pec, Mitrovica, Pristina, Skoplje and Bitolj.13
The standpoint of the Serbian delegation was most wholly revealed by the aide-memoir submitted to the ambassador conference on January 8,
1913. It explicitly stated that Serbia was not opposed to the formation of autonomous Albania, but that its whole centuries-long struggle for national survival under Turkish rule, and subsequently for state independence from 1804 until 1912, would prove to have been senseless if those regions with admixed Serbian-Albanian populaces, where forceful Islamization, Albanization and the routing of Serbian inhabitants had been urged on for centuries, were to belong to Albania. Supporting its attitudes with historical, ethnographic, cultural and ethical rights, the Serbian delegation underscored that Kosovo and Metohia, where the towns Pec, Decani and Djakovica lay, were since time immemorial the sacred land of the Serbs, and that under no condition would any Montenegrin nor Serbian government consent to their belonging to someone else.14
The Serbian government was adamant in its defense of Kosovo, Metohia and west Macedonia. The entrance of either of these regions into autonomous Albania would create a new seedbed of conflicts through which Austria-Hungary would exert pressure upon Serbia. Stojan Novakovic, the first delegate at the conference of ambassadors, believed that by "demanding Prizren, Djakovica, Pec for Albania, Austria-Hungary desired to renew the barrier between Serbia and Montenegro, between Serbia and the sea".15 Pasic kept underscoring that he would never abandon Debar and Djakovica whatever the decision of the Great Powers, and that "only a stronger military force could rout the Serbian army from these regions". In a subsequent letter addressed to the Great Powers/Pasic underlined bitterly: "The lands and sanctity of Old Serbia are being taken away and given to one who has been devastating them until today."16
Serbia was forced to withdraw its troops from the Adriatic coast. Austria-Hungary gave in to Russia's demands, so Debar and Djakovica remained part of Serbia, while its demand to include Scutari in the new Albanian state was accepted, though the town was still besieged by Montenegrin and Serbian troops. The final agreement was reached on April 10, 1913, while the structure of Albania continued to be discussed in the months to follow. At the end of July, the Austro-Hungarian - Italian proposition was accepted by which Albania was to become a sovereign state with a hereditary prince. An International Control Committee was formed whose duty was to organize life in the country with the aid of Dutch officers. As the hereditary Albanian prince, among numerous candidates, an Austro-Hungarian was chosen, German Prince Wilhelm von Wied, cousin of the Romanian queen, interpreted in Belgrade as another attempt of Austria-Hungary to close the hoop around Serbia by way of Albania, Bulgaria and Romania.

Albanian Incursions into Serbia

The situation in Albania and the border area toward Serbia was marked by anarchy, disorders and conflicts during 1913 and the first half of 1914. The commander of Scutari, Essad Pasha Toptani, surrendered the town to the Montenegrins on April 23,1913; in return, he was enabled to advance south with his army and military equipment and take part in the struggle for power. Already three mutually conflicting governments existed in Albania. As one of the most powerful landholders, Essad Pasha relied on the Muslim heads of mid-Albania. By wielding his influence between Durazzo and Tirana, he saw an opportunity to candidate himself for the still vacant Albanian throne, taking into consideration requests of the Albanian majority that did not want a Christian ruler. Already on May 5, 1913, he informed the Montenegrin prince of his intention to pronounce himself prince of Albania, expressing his wish to cooperate with the Balkan allies. He told the Serbian diplomat in Durazzo, Zivojin Balugdzic, that he wanted an agreement with Serbia. Hesitant at first, the Serbian government consented to cooperate with Essad Pasha, evaluating that "his overall behavior displayed an earnest wish for an agreement with Serbia, which he regarded as the focus for mustering Balkan forces".1
The second Balkan war was triggered off by Bulgaria in July, 1913. Dissatisfied with its territorial gains, it prepared to war its former allies. It sought support with Albania: ethnic Albanians gathered around Ismail Kemal were promised considerable territorial expansion if they advanced onto Serbia. Thus Sofia counted on the Albanian insurrection leading to the proclamation of autonomous Macedonia and its annexation to Bulgaria. Thus, somewhere in Macedonia, an Albanian-Bulgarian border would have been established. Conditions for armed incursions were favorable: around 20,000 ethnic Albanians who fled Old Serbia and Macedonia found themselves on Albanian soil, while their leaders Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac sat in the government at Valona. Austro-Hungarian and Italian emissaries and agents, mostly the clergy and teachers, suppressed Essad Pasha's influence and appealed to the ethnic Albanians to rise against the Serbs.2
Individual surprise attacks on the most forward Serbian units and border stations began already during the second Balkan war. In the meantime, detailed preparations for a large incursion into Serbia were underway. Shipments of arms sent by the Viennese government kept arriving to Albania. Bulgarian komitadjis trained ethnic Albanians for guerrilla warfare. Small renegade groups were infiltrated into Serbian territory during May and June 1913 to check their guerrilla skills. Informed of the preparations for attack, the Serbian government sent Bogdan Radenkovic to try to influence his former friends among the Albanian leadership, but he returned without accomplishing his task.3
When the Serbian army was forced to withdraw to the restriction line behind the Crni Drim, a signal was given for a full force attack. At the end of September 1913, around 10,000 ethnic Albanians invaded Serbian territory from two directions - west Macedonia and toward Djakovica and Prizren. The initiator of the attack was Austria-Hungary. Ismail Kemal ordered the refugee Albanian leaders, Bairam Cur, Isa Boljetinac, Riza Bey and Elez Jusuf to attack Serbia with their parties, promising that with the aid of the Dual Monarchy and Italy, all conquered territories would belong to Albania. Essad Pasha refused to join them and warned Serbia not to approve of their action.4
The infiltrated companies were headed by Albanian leaders and Bulgarian officers in coaction with the Bulgarian komitadjis. Weak Serbian border troops and several gendarmes units were unable to withstand the attack. On the southern stretch, commanded by Bulgarian komitadjis, the companies managed to take Debar, Ohrid and Struga and advance toward Gostivar. To the north, Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Kiasim Lika took Ljuma, besieged Prizren and shortly occupied Djakovica. At the beginning of October, two divisions, the Troops of new regions, advanced from Skoplje and, having routed the ethnic Albanians from Serbian territory, crossed to Albania to continue their pursuit.5
The Vienna press published elaborate articles on great victories gained by the ethnic Albanians and demanded a revision of the borders. Ismail Kemal demanded an exclusion of those regions encircled by the insurrection from the Serbian state and proposed a plebiscite that would be implemented by the infiltrated companies. When the incursion was checked, the Vienna press spread rumors of alleged reprisals committed by Serbian troops upon the innocent Albanian people. Austro-Hungarian diplomacy endeavored to prove that an insurrection had broken out within Serbian territory, subsequently joined by ethnic Albanians from the other side of the frontier.6
To emphasize his pro-Serbian orientation, Essad Pasha took advantage of the commotion resulting from the incursion, and in Durazzo, on September 23, proclaimed himself Governor of Albania. Before the European public, which blamed the external activities of the Serbian army for the incursion, Serbia intended to compromise the government in Valona by proving that two of its ministers, Isa Boljetinac and Hasan Pristina, were the organizers and leaders of the incursion. Again the issue was brought up that the borders determined by the London conference of ambassadors were unfavorable for Serbia, since the outlaw seedbeds around Debar and Ljuma demanded by the Serbian delegation were seriously imperiling Serbian territory.7
Wilhelm von Wied arrived in Albania in March 1914. Pressured by the International Control Committee, Essad Pasha was compelled to enter a united government, but did receive two of its most important spheres of activity, the Ministry of War and Internal Affairs. Discontent of the Muslim Albanian populace with the government of the infidel prince culminated in a pro-Turkish uprising lead by Hadji-Qamil Feiza, a Young Turk officer originally from Elbasan. Incited by Muslim fanaticism and the unsettled agrarian issue, the uprising caused general anarchy. Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk agents inflamed discontent among the Muslim masses. Essad Pasha first supported the uprising, but was forced to emigrate to Italy in May, 1914, having been checked by the prince's followers.8
Simultaneously, with the aid of Austro-Hungarian secret services, Albanian leaders Bairam Cur and Isa Boljetinac were preparing for another incursion into Serbia. At the end of March, 1914, several hundred ethnic Albanians crossed the border, having received news that an uprising against the Serbs broke out in some villages near Orahovac. The uprising spread to four villages. Cur and Boljetinac planned to bring members of the International Control Committee to the rebelling areas, where the local ethnic Albanians would express their wish for Djakovica, Pec, Prizren and regions until the railway Urosevac (Ferizovic) - Mitrovica, to be annexed to Albania, as promised by Austria-Hungary. Tension at the borderline did not cease.

In World War One

The direct cause leading to World War One was the assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo, by Serbian students (on St. Vitus' Day, June 28th, 1914), thus symbolically marking the commencement in the outcome of Austro-Hungarian and Serbian confrontation. Serbia's victories in the Balkan wars proved its military, political and economical strength; in the Yugoslav provinces of the Dual Monarchy, national movement grew, turning to Belgrade as the pillar of national and South-Slavic assemblage. War with Serbia turned over from a considerable delay of punitive expedition to a war to destroy the Serbian state. The Viennese diplomacy found reliable allies first with Albania and then with Bulgaria.1
The opening of the war found the borderline between Serbia and Albania unrestful and unconsolidated. Essad Pasha, follower of Balkan cooperation, was in emigration, while civil war raged in Albania. The insurgents, called "Ottomans", demanded a Muslim for a ruler, and for the flag, and the character of state administration to be Ottoman. Refugee Albanian leaders from Kosovo, organizers of the previous incursion into Serbia, did not take part in the uprising; they awaited the opportunity to incite a rebellion and seize Kosovo, Metohia and west Macedonia from Serbia.
Two days before war was declared to Serbia, consular officials in Albania received orders from Vienna to assist the Albanian insurrection on Serbian territory. Bairam Cur, Hasan Pristina and Isa Boljetinac obtained money, arms and ammunition from Austro-Hungarian consuls to prepare for the insurrection. In Constantinople, a contract was concluded for Austria-Hungary to finance and urge the insurrection, while the Young Turks would handle the propaganda, military organization and operations of the insurrection. Incursions onto Serbian territory and the Albanian insurrection in Kosovo, Metohia and Macedonia were to have been the basis for opening another front against Serbia, which had, after the Austro-Hungarian attack, distributed its troops along the border with the Dual Monarchy. The at first small-scale attacks were recorded already at the beginning of August, 1914. Turkish and Austro-Hungarian association was growing closer, thus sealing the destiny of Prince Wilhelm von Wied. After several unsuccessful attempts to crush the insurrection, abandoned by his volunteers, the prince left Albania for good at the beginning of September, 1914.2
Shortly before the war, Serbia strove to win over some of the chiefs of mid and north Albania for cooperation. The agents cruised Albania endeavoring to make contact with dissatisfied chiefs. It was soon disclosed that Albanian tribal and feudal chiefs were inconstant, bribable and unreliable, that they easily changed sides for money and, being without a clear political conception and strong national awareness, cared most of all about their personal and tribal interests. Internal political polarization between them was determined by religious affiliation which ascended over national feelings.3
Incursions into Serbia, though mostly skirmishes with bordering stations and gendarmes never ceased since the war began. Even though small in number and always rapidly checked, they increasingly disturbed competent circles in Serbia. Informed of preparations for new incursions of broader dimensions, on the delivery of arms to Albania and the arrival of Young Turk and Austro-Hungarian officers to join Albanian companies at the Serbian-Albanian borderline, the government sought a way to neutralize the preparations for the insurrection. Military circles proposed a preventive military intervention.4
With the departure of Prince von Wied, no one held power in Albania. At an assembly, a senate of rebelling towns in mid and north Albania chose Essad Pasha for their leader, while the Serbian government immediately appealed to him to take over rule. Nikola Pasic contracted with him an agreement of friendship, aid and customs union, in Nis, mid-September, 1914. Aided by Pasic's government, supplying him with money and arms, Essad Pasha mustered around 5,000 Albanian volunteers, crossed over to Albania and entered Durazzo at the beginning of October without strife. He immediately formed a government and proclaimed himself Premier of Albania and Supreme Army Commander.5
At the beginning of November, Turkey engaged at war on the side of the Central Powers and declared Holy War (jihad) to the Entante and its allies. Essad Pasha was considered an enemy to Islam, being a friend to Serbia, and therefore, an ally of the Entante. The declaration of jihad caused a new pro-Turkish insurrection of Muslim-fundamentalist forces, this time against Essad Pasha. The rapidly spreading insurgent masses were lead by Young Turk officers. The entire movement was of anti-Serbian orientation; the insurgents demanded the restoration of Albania under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, with Kosovo, Metohia and west Macedonia included in its composition. Greece and Italy benefited from the new opportunities. The Greeks took north Epirus, while Italian troops first occupied the island Sasseno and then Valona.6
Essad Pasha's position in Durazzo was becoming increasingly uncertain. Thus the Premier appealed to the Serbian government more than once for military intervention in Albania. In December, 1914, Serbia successfully withstood an Austro-Hungarian offensive. The Serbian government feared that following their defeat north, the Austro-Hungarian state and military circles would urge the ethnic Albanians to war Serbia, which imposed preventive military action as a solution.
Incursions of broader dimension announced Hasan Pristina's attempt to organize an insurrection in Serbia in February, 1915, with a company numbering around 200 men. Three bordering villages on Serbian territory joined the insurgents, but in the first clash with a stronger Serbian unit, Hasan Pristina's company was crushed and banished to Albania.7 Pro-Turkish insurgents besieged Essad Pasha in Durazzo and demanded of him to recognize the sultan's power and declare war to Serbia. Pasic thus believed it was best to intervene immediately rather than wait for Austro-Hungarian and Young Turk officers to muster an Albanian army against which a whole Serbian army would be forced to fight. When a Serbian diplomat reported at the end of May that Essad Pasha's position was desperate, and since Albanian companies had then attacked the Serbian border at two places, the Serbian government decided to move its army and take strategic positions in Albania. Around 20,000 Serbian soldiers invaded Albania from three directions. In only ten days the Serbian troops crushed the rebellious movement, took Elbasan and Tirana and liberated the besieged Essad Pasha in Durazzo. A special Albanian regiment was formed from Serbian troops in Albania to implement thorough pacification in Albania and consolidate Essad Pasha's position.8 Essad Pasha did not succeed in establishing power in all the northern and middle regions of Albania. In the Mirdit region, Isa Boljetinac, Bairam Cur and Hasan Pristina were hiding, while in the Mat region, pasha's relative Ahmed Bey Zogu strove to come to an agreement with the Serbian military authorities; at his personal request he went to Nis for negotiations with Pasic.9
Serbia's military intervention met with general complaints in allied circles, especially with Italy, whose claims to the Albanian coast, warranted by a secret London Treaty (1915), were thus jeopardized by the entrance of Serbian troops. Pasic replied to protests sent by ally diplomacies that it was only a matter of temporary action and the troops would withdraw after consolidating Essad Pasha's regime. To secure Serbian positions in Albania after the war was over, the Serbian government contracted a secret agreement in June, 1914, in Tirana, anticipating an actual union between the two countries. Essad Pasha consented to rectify the border to Serbia's advantage, and in return received warranty of Serbia's support for his choice of ruler to Albania.10
The beginning of the German - Austro-Hungarian offensive against Serbia in autumn, 1915, Bulgaria's engagement in war on the side of the Central Powers and its attack on Serbia, forced the Serbian army to war on two fronts and withdraw to the interior of the country. Bulgaria's incursion into Macedonia threatened to cut off the retreat of the Serbian army to Greece. Its retreat and Bulgaria's penetration into the depths of Macedonia emboldened ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Metohia and Macedonia. Masses of ethnic Albanians recruited into the Serbian army became deserters, and many joined the Bulgarians who gave them arms. With Austro-Hungarian advance-guards, they attacked Serbian soldiers whom they awaited in the Ibar valley.
When the Serbian army reached Kosovo, followed by many refugees, various diversions and surprise attacks on field trains were effected. In many villages ethnic Albanians refused to provide food for the refugees and soldiers. In Istok, on November 29, 1915, a company of Serbian soldiers lagging behind was massacred. Near the St. Marko monastery in the vicinity of Prizren, ethnic Albanians of the Kabash clan deceitfully disarmed and then killed 60 Serbian soldiers. After the Serbian army retreated from Pec, ethnic Albanians pillaged many Serbian homes and sacked shops. Austro-Hungarian guards prevented them from entering the hospital in Pec, in front of which they gathered to massacre the wounded soldiers. They set ambushes near Mitrovica, killed soldiers and looted refugees. Serious crimes were committed in Suva Reka and other regions of Kosovo.11
At the end of November, after the Bulgarians cut off all connections with Salonika, the Serbian Supreme Command decided to withdraw the army to Albania and make the necessary reorganizations there. The withdrawal of the Serbian army through Albania, in winter 1915-1916, has been retained as the "Albanian Golgotha". With the entrance of the Serbian army into Albania, Essad Pasha issued an announcement appealing to the Albanian people to help the amicable army and sell their food. In regions under his immediate control, Albanian gendarmes considerably helped to ease the withdrawal of the starving army, inflicted by disease, through impassable mountains covered with snow. Essad Pasha's gendarmes took care of overnight stays, food supplies and guarded the roads.
The regions to which Essad Pasha's authority did not stretch, particularly Ljuma, Mirdits, Drims and partly in Mati, the Serbian army was forced to clear with guns, on its way toward the Adriatic Sea. In Mirdits, Mat and other regions, Catholic friars called to the ethnic Albanians to confront the Serbian army in arms. Rumors spread that Prince Wilhelm von Wied was arriving from Prizren with Austro-Hungarian troops, ethnic Albanians avoided confrontation with large military formations; they preferred to wait in ambush in high gorges for lagging soldiers and refugees, and then and murder them. The heaviest battles were waged in the Mirdits by a Combined Regiment of the Serbian army that fell into ambush at the gorge of the Fani river. Around 800 ethnic Albanians commanded by a Catholic friar let the army pass through only after they were given large quantities of supplies from the field train. In places where there were no armed assaults, the ethnic Albanians refused to rent rooms for overnight stay and sell food.12
General chaos encircled the withdrawal of the Serbian army, with Essad Pasha endeavoring to restore order with his gendarmes; but chaos and fear caught hold of his people and disobedience ensued. Still, most of his troops protected the Serbian army during its retreat and, whenever necessary, fought together with it against Albanian companies that joined Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian troops. After much turmoil and long marches toward the south, the Serbian army was transferred by allied ships from Albania to Corfu. Squeezed in between Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian troops, Essad Pasha was forced to submit to the Italians; escorted by a Serbian emissary, with a thousand most devoted followers, he crossed over to Italy by boat.13
Kosovo and Metohia were divided into two Austro-Hungarian occupational zones: Metohia entered the General Government "Montenegro", while a smaller part of Kosovo with Kosovska Mitrovica and Vucitrn became part of the General Government "Serbia". The largest part of Kosovo (Pristina, Prizren, Gnjilane, Urosevac, Orahovac) was included in the composition of the Bulgarian Military-Inspectional region "Macedonia".14
In Metohia and Kosovo, Austro-Hungarian authorities aimed to win over the Albanian and Muslim populace: schools and the local administration were conducted in the Albanian language. Albanian inhabitants were obviously privileged. The occupational authorities of the Dual Monarchy immediately established contact with the leaders. Many refugee chiefs returned from Albania, while beys from Kosovo and former Turkish officers from Sandzak cooperated most closely with the new authorities. Hasan Pristina and Dervish Bey handled the conscription of volunteers who were assigned either to the Bosnia-Herzegovinian gendarmes or the Turkish corps fighting at the front in Galicia. A bulk of Albanian volunteers entered the service of Austro-Hungarian military command in Kosovska Mitrovica and served in small posse regiments. At the beginning of 1917, Dervish Bey was nominated as commander of a distinct volunteer battalion (a force of 400 men), comprised mainly of ethnic Albanians.15
The Bulgarian occupation of Kosovo has been retained by its great oppression, internment of civilians, forced Bulgarization, and the persecution and murder of priests. The former Raska-Prizren Metropolitan Nicifor, was interned in Bulgaria and killed. Serbian priests suffered the most, being persecuted and murdered on both occupational zones by ethnic Albanians and Bulgarians. Bulgarian authorities assigned ethnic Albanians and Turks to all village communities as chiefs, officials and gendarmes, who helped their compatriots to raid and plunder without disturbance, to win trials against Serbs in courts, and murders were often hushed up. In certain villages, Turks and ethnic Albanians oppressed the Serbs of Kosovo in conjunction.16
In the area between Juzna Morava and Kopaonik, a komitadji movement had been growing since 1916, under the leadership of Kosta Vojinovic-Kosovac of Mitrovica, which at the beginning of 1917 turned into a large national insurrection with its seat at Toplica. ethnic Albanians took part in persecuting Serbian komitadjis in the Mitrovica district. The armed resistance was aided by many Serbs from Kosovo. Attempts made by insurgent leaders to win over ethnic Albanians through negotiations failed. Albanian companies attacked the insurgents, and in October, 1917, special Albanian and Turkish units were formed to fight them.17
After being transferred to Corfu, the Serbian army, reorganized and supplemented by volunteers, was disposed along the Salonika front along with allied troops. Crossing over from Italy to Paris, with the aid of the French diplomacy, Essad Pasha arrived at Salonika and formed a new Albanian government which acquired the status of an emigrant ally cabinet, owing to Serbian and French intermediation. A special army unit was formed from around 1,000 gendarmes (Essad Pasha's camp and Albanian archers), and disposed in juxtaposition to the Serbian Ohrid regiment as part of the French East Army. Premier Nikola Pasic's idea was to admix the forces with Serbian ones and direct operations toward Kosovo and north Albania.18
In autumn, 1918, subsequent to the penetration of the Salonika Front, a widespread national insurrection developed in Serbia. When the Austro-Hungarian troops abandoned the line Skoplje-Pristina, the insurrection spread to Kosovo and Metohia. French and Serbian troops commanded by General Tranier emerged in Kosovo at the beginning of October, liberating Pristina, Prizren, Gnjilane and Mitrovica. Serbian komitadji companies, lead by Kosta Milovanovic Pecanac, met with French troops in Mitrovica and immediately set off to Pec. Serbian komitadjis surrounded the town, compelling the considerably stronger Austro-Hungarian troops to surrender; then the French cavalry trotted into town. Divisions of the second Serbian army also arrived in Kosovo and established civil and temporary martial law.19
After the arrival of Serbian and French units, the Albanian people bore themselves coldly and with reserve. When the bodies of troops continued to advance toward Montenegro, ethnic Albanians began to assail solitary soldiers at the end of October. The reason was the injunction given by Serbian military authorities to collect all state property left from the Bulgarian administration. Obtaining supplies from communities with arms left behind, the ethnic Albanians began to assail Serbian civil and military authorities, while the injunction to surrender arms met with heavy resistance. Community seats, villages and small military garrisons were attacked, while during November entire villages in Drenica and around Pec deserted the Serbian authorities. Until mid-December, Serbian forces crushed Albanian resistance and carried out the action of disarmament with great difficulty.20
The Austro-Hungarian monarchy was disintegrating. In Belgrade, on December 1, 1918, the union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed into one kingdom under the Karadjordjevic dynasty. In Kosovo, the military and civil authorities had no time to celebrate. The Albanian resistance, helped by agitation from Albania, with Italy behind it, announced a new, kacak (outlaw) movement.
World War One forestalled the formation of a clear policy for ethnic Albanians within Serbian borders, even though all those that had not taken part in rebellions against the Serbian authorities were warranted civil rights. Two Balkan and one world armed clashes, which deepened the old and created new hatreds between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, had direct political aims, being supported by the warring sides, above all Austria-Hungary and Turkey, and in Albania by allied Italy. Yet Serbia had, on the contrary, persistently striven to create a counterbalance to the anti-Serbian movement helped by Vienna and Constantinople, through cooperation with Essad Pasha and a series of tribal chiefs in mid-Albania, and to build a foundation that would bring ethnic Albanians and Serbs closer. Contracts signed with Essad Pasha in 1914 and 1915 were, first, a draft of possible ways of contact (a real union with small territorial concessions), second, security in case the destiny of Albania would again be resolved without Serbia's participation when the war was over.
Essad Pasha Toptani's fate, whose political plans for the future of Albania were based on support and cooperation with Serbia, displayed a prevailing strong anti-Serbian disposition among ethnic Albanians, who would benefit from the aims of the Serbian army to capture and include within the composition of the new state Scutari with the neighboring Serbian villages. Due to widespread Italian influence, under whose wing a temporary Albanian government was formed, Essad Pasha's repeated attempts to regain power in Albania, where he still had many followers, produced no positive results. Despite delegates supported by Italy in the name of Albania, with Serbia's assistance Essad Pasha brought another unofficial delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris, April 1919, and, appealing to the legitimacy of his government and the declaration of war to the Central Powers, requested permission to return to his country. His struggle ended with shots fired by assassin Avni Rustemi on June 13,1920 in Paris.

Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjin

2005-12-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjin

Nga gojëdhënat popullore të Shqipërisë së veriut dhe të Kosovës, emri i Kanunit të Lekë Dukagjinit lidhet personalitetet e fisnikut dhe udhëheqësit shqiptarë të kohës së Gjergj Kastriotit - Skënderbeut, Lekë Dukagjinit. Mirëpo, historia shqiptare njeh disa personalitete me këtë emër. Kështu një grup shkencetarësh supozojnë se Leka III Dukagjini (1410-1481) e ka dhënë dhe e ka kodifikuar këtë Kanun. Këta shkencatë përpiqeshin gjatë shumë viteve që ta gjejnë tekstin e shkruar të këtij Kanuni. Shkenctari i njohur Shqiptarë Fan S. Noli konsideron se Kanuni është fryt i veprimtarisë dhe i qeverisjes së urtë të Pal Dukagjinit, vdekja e të cilit ishte humbje e madhe për Gjergj Kastriotin - Skënderbeun, ngase ai kishte dhënë kontributin më të çmueshëm në krijimin dhe ruajtjen e Lidhjës së Lezhës.Sot mbizotron mendimi shkencor se Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit as nuk është shkruar e as nuk është shpallur nga ndonjë personalitet i caktuar apo organ ligjdhënës, por paraqet të drejtën zakonore të shqiptarëve, e cila u krijua me kohë, në praktikë gjatë shekujve. Rregullat që përmban Kanuni u përkasin periodeve dhe kohëve të ndryshme historike. Si i tillë ky Kanun ka vlerë dhe rëndësi të posaçme jo vetëm për historinë e shtetit dhe të së drejtës shqiptare, por edhe për kulturën e përgjithshme kombëtare shqiptare.Si e drejtë e pashkruar dhe zakonore në vetëdijën e popullit shqiptarë, kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit gjatë shumë shekujve konsiderohej si Ligj mbi Ligje, ngase pavarësisht nga rregullat e sjelljes shtetrore, ky Kanun ishte dhe mbeti për një kohë të gjatë rregullatori kryesorë i raporteve shoqërore shqiptare.Përmbledhja e thesarit të kulturës shqiptare e kishin vënë detyrë të posaçme priftërinjtë katolikë. Kështu Dom Lazër Mjeda dhe Dom Nikollë Ashta shumë vjetë ishin përpjekur të mblidhnin folklorin e në kuadër të tij edhe normat e kanunit të Lekë Dukagjinit. Vend të dalluar në mbledhjen e rregullave të kanunit zë studiuesi i mirënjohur Atë Shtefën Gjeçovi, i cili la në trashigim veprën më të kompletuar dhe shumë të rëndësishme të Kanunit të Lekë Dukagjinit.Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit përmban rregulla stautore, familjare juridike, civilo-juridike, penalo-juridike si dhe rregulla konkrete mbi procedurën penale dhe civile. Në disa rregulla kanunore vërejmë ndryshime rajonale apo edhe variante, mirëpo kryesisht në dispozitat që rregullonin pozitën e kishës, mikpritjen, besën dhe gjakmarrjen vërejmë rregulla të njejta për të gjitha viset shqiptare, ku vlente kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit. Rregullat konunore të karakterit penalo-juridik, në mënyrë të veçantë trajtonin konceptin e veprës penale, çështjen e paramendimit, përkujdesinë, bashkëpjesëmarrjen etj.Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit njeh këto sanksione penale: dënimin me vdekje, gjakmarrjen, dëbimin nga bashkësia, bojkotin - leçitjen etj. të cilat shqiptoheshin ndaj kryesit të veprës penale e në raste të caktuara edhe ndaj familjes së tij. Përpos këtyre dënimeve kanuni rregullonte në mënyrë precize edhe dënimet pronësore si gjobitjen, dënimin me të holla, konfiskimin e pasurisë, asgjësimin e pasurisë, rrëzimin e shtëpisë, prerjen e pemëve etj. Dënimet i shqiptonte gjyqi i pleqëve, kuvendi i vllazërisë apo ai i fisit. Dënimet e rënda shqiptoheshin ngaj kryesve të veprave të tradhëtisë, kryësve të veprave kundër Besës (fjalës së nderit), kryesve të veprave kundër moralit, atyre të mikpritjes, kundër kishes etj. Kanuni njihte dhe rregullonte në mënyrë të posaçme institucionin e strehimit. Sipas këtyre rregullave familjet, bashkësitë dhe fiset janë të detyruara t`u sigurojnë përherë strehim individëve apo familjeve që këtë e kërkonin në raste rreziku apo rreziqe të tjera të jetës pa marrë parasyesh se kush i kërkonte.

Albanian mafia takes control of Soho vice scene

2005-12-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

By Ian Burrell, Home Affairs Correspondent 18 June 2001

The Albanian mafia has seized control of the Soho vice trade, according to a Home Office report.

In the space of less than a year, the ruthless Eastern European crime network has moved into almost all of the saunas and massage parlours in the heart of Britain's sex industry. The development is described as a "revolution" by one government source.

A Home Office briefing, seen by The Independent, says: "Around 70 per cent of sauna/massage parlours in London's Soho [are] now controlled by Albanians/Kosovars." The briefing said that the "tightening grip" of Albanian gangs on the vice trade was "changing the landscape" of Britain's sex industry. The Albanian mafia's establishment of a foothold in Britain is of deep concern to law enforcement agencies, which have been concerned by the crime network's growing presence in other parts of Europe.

A source said: "Twelve months ago, Albanian organised crime was not an issue for the UK. Their infiltration has been very swift."

Albanian gangs already control much of the vice in Greece, Germany and Italy, where they have been prepared to take on the Italian Mafia, particularly in Milan. The Home Office report follows a shocking study by Save the Children last March, which revealed that thousands of Albanian girls as young as 14 were being abducted from their families and sent overseas to work as prostitutes.

A concerted police raid on Soho brothels in February revealed that 80 per cent of women working as prostitutes were from overseas, mostly from the Balkans and Baltic states. According to the National Criminal Intelligence Service, Albanian women are also being moved to red light areas in the north of England and the Midlands. Nearly a decade ago it was predicted that Russian organised crime would seek to exert influence over the British vice trade but instead it is Albanian gangs that have taken control.

Inspector Paul Holmes, of the Metropolitan Police clubs and vice unit, said the Albanians had come to prominence "very rapidly" by striking a deal with the Maltese and East End London gangsters who have traditionally dominated the Soho vice scene. Inspector Holmes said he believed that 70 to 75 per cent of women working in UK brothels were now from Albania or were Kosovo Albanians.

"The Albanians have inserted their girls into the existing infrastructure [of brothels] but the women are being controlled by organised criminals," he said.

The arrival of the Albanian mafia has not yet led to violence. Inspector Holmes described the relationship between the Albanians and the traditional London vice rackets as "almost like a comfortable bedfellow thing.

"The people that run these places want a set level of money and don't care whether the girls are from Albania or Mars. But we are concerned at what will happen when the turf is full and the Albanians start setting up their own places."

Similar scenarios in Italy and Germany have led to violent clashes, with the Albanian gangs demonstrating that they are incomparably ruthless and heavily armed.

But some women's groups challenge the official view of Albanian prostitution in London. They argue that the women, many of whom are seeking asylum, are not being victimised and are grateful for an opportunity to earn money.

Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes said all the Albanian women she had met had claimed to be "working independently" and none had said they were exploited by criminal racketeers.

"There are a number of women in Soho who are sending money back to their families and have said to us, 'I am the only wage earner in my family'," she said.

Inspector Holmes said 90 per cent of the women knew they would be working as prostitutes when they left Albania but he rejected the idea that they were working independently. "What they believe is that once they have paid their debt bond they will be able to make significant money for themselves. The reality is completely different," he said. "At its most benign it is ruthless exploitation and at its most malevolent it is rape on a daily basis." Albanian prostitutes were terrified of giving evidence against their pimps in case of reprisals against their families, he said.

The problem of the Albanian mafia in Britain will be raised tomorrow in Edinburgh, when some of the world's foremost experts on organised crime will meet to discuss emerging trends at the Global Forum for Law Enforcement and National Security.

The guest speaker, Mark Galeotti, the director of the organised crime centre at Keele University, told The Independent that the Albanian mafia was "the key crime group emerging at the moment" in Britain.

The old territorial crime families were "increasingly dinosaurial", he said.

Albanian Mafia

2005-12-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, Albanian gangsters stormed a Gambino hangout in Astoria, sending a brazen message to the Mafia.

The club, called Soccer Fever, was now theirs.

The seven men who invaded the dimly lit basement club tore the joint apart, shot off handguns and beat the club manager bloody, prosecutors say. It was bold - and, prior to August 2001, unthinkable.

Capitalizing on disarray within traditional Italian organized crime, the Albanian gang was bidding to give New York - and prosecutors - another crime family to deal with.

"You're used to us speaking about the five families," said Fred Snellings, head of the FBI-New York's criminal division. "Well, this must be the sixth family."

The feds did not watch idly as the new family emerged.

Last week, Interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley announced a crippling blow to the Albanian group, with the arrests of 22 members, including its leadership.

Prosecutors, who also put out a wanted photo of a 23rd member, Miri Patani, described a lucrative gambling operation built on fear.

Prosecutors say the Albanian gang is headed by Alex Rudaj (who stole the nickname "Allie Boy" from the Colombo family's boss), Nikola (Nicky Nails) Dedaj and an Italian named Nardino Colotti, who had ties to the late Gambino soldier Skinny Phil Loscalzo.

With bosses of the five Cosa Nostra families behind bars, and the mob being buffeted by turncoats working for the feds, the new family operated without fear. They beat up Colombo and Gambino associates, they pointed a gun at the face of a Mount Vernon bar owner, and they shot a man five times in the back of his neck. Somehow, he survived.

"They were incredibly violent and incredibly feared on the street," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Treanor said in court.

The Rudaj organization grabbed up turf in Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County from the Gambino, Luchese and Colombo families. Rudaj was the titular head. Dedaj was the group's enforcer.

Colotti provided a connection to the traditional mob - whether to bargain or deliver threats. He enabled the organization "to negotiate its way into gaining more territory and to get out of bad situations where the organization was at risk," Treanor said.

For instance, the Rudaj organization "took over from the Luchese family all of the gambling in Astoria in the summer of 2001," Treanor said.

At the time, the FBI videotaped Colotti meeting with Luchese consigliere Joseph Caridi, prosecutor Treanor said.

And after the Albanians shut down the Gambinos' Soccer Fever operation, the government observed Colotti meeting with Anthony Megale, acting underboss of the Gambino family. Originally published on November 1, 2004

History - KOSOVA: The Albanians in Yugoslavia

2005-12-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

The Albanians in Yugoslavia in light of historical documents
By Dr. S.S. Juka
Part One
At present, nobody would think of considering the Slavs as the descendants of the Illyrians. Nonetheless, in the first half of the 19th century, when the nationalities problem - which before Napoleon was practically nonexistent - acquired a preeminent importance, the belief that the Illyrians were the ancestors of the Slavs was very strong.1 This conviction, which persisted in some circles until the turn of the century and even beyond, evoked at that time much fervor and exaltation. These feelings may be conveyed by a passage taken from Edmund Spencer's "Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea, and Circassia" (London, 1854):
How flattering must it have been to a people (i.e. the Slavs) so long the bondsmen of the Tatar and the Turk, the German and the Magyar, to be told in their own language (by the preachers of panslavism) and in their own journals, that they were the descendants of those illustrious Illyrians, who won by their valor the glorious epithet of the Slavon (men of renown)2 from the great Macedonian chief - the conqueror of the world. But all this was necessary - and much more that is fabulous and fanciful in their history - to inspirit, to awaken a pride of race among a people who had been long sunk in abject slavery ... (p.43).
In "Travels in European Turkey" (London, 1850): E. Spencer gives an account of the Illyrian Empire:
...The Illyrians founded an immense empire extending from Epirus ... to the Danube and the Black Sea and comprehending the whole of the maritime coast of Hungary to Venice and Triest, with Istria, Carnolia, Carinthia, Styria, and Friuli... History and tradition affords us many interesting details of the battles of the Illyrians with the ancient Greeks and the Romans... Napoleon was well versed in the history of these people when he flattered their national pride...(Vol. I, pp. 93-94)
* * *
As indicated by E. Spencer, the Illyrians fought, in fact, for a long time against the Romans, who eventually conquered the whole of Illyria in A.D. 9. Many Illyrian soldiers, who susbsequently served in the Roman army rose to high positions. Some became emperors and viceroys: Claudius II, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, Maximilian, Constantius, Valens, and Valentinian. Mention should also be made of Saint Jerome, one of the greatest scholars of his time. The Illyrians gave to Byzantium three of its greatest emperors: Constantine, who officially accepted Christianity; Justinius, who built Saint Sophia; and Justinianus, famous for his Code of Laws. The philologist Paul Kretschmer went so far as to maintain that the Illyrians actually founded Byzantium.
* * *
Proud of what they considered their heritage (see E. Spencer, Travels... I, p. 94), the South Slavs became eager to recreate ancient Illyria by forming a union among themselves. Napoleon, who following the Franco-Austrian War had formed the short-lived (1809-1814) Illyrian Provinces, inspired in them the idea of calling their state-to-be Illyria. This state was to comprehend Croatia, Slovenia, the Dalmatian coast with its hinterland Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Thrace.
However, by the time the dream of the South Slavs came true, i.e., by the time two great Empires were overthrown and the South Slavic state was created on the ancient Illyrian soil, it was evident that the country could no longer be called Illyria. For, by that time, it had become obvious that the descendance of the Slavs from the Illyrians was but a myth. Irrefutable historical documents demonstrated clearly that the Slavs were latecomers in the region inhabited by them.
With the myth that had connected the Slavs with the Illyrians withered and died also the legend of the mighty huntress Illyria who had given birth to three sons: Tcheck, Leh, and Rouss (see E. Spencer, Travels... I, p.92). Yet the fact remains that the Illyrian myth had kindled among the South Slavs the national idea by inspiring in them self-confidence and pride.
* * *
Illyrism originated in Croatia. The Austro-Hungarians used to consider it as a movement inspired and supported by the Russians. The latter, however, often regarded its propagators as Austrian agents.3
Russia, who was planning to exercise her own influence in the Balkans was brought, at various occasions, into conflict with Austria. Owing to this fact, she could not fully accept Illyria as the dynamic symbol for the unification of the South Slavs. Instead, she found it more appropriate to make use of another term; she coined Great Serbia.4
Great Serbia was to comprise roughly the same territories as Illyria, but to these was to be added North Albania.
Russia's role in the formation of the Balkan states is paramount. It has been rightly remarked that without Russis's aid none of the Balkan nations would have probably achieved independence. Albania is the only nation to have stood desperately alone in her struggle for freedom.
When considering the problem of the Albanian borders, it is essential to be aware of the dominant role played quite early by the Russians relative to the Balkan nations. For it is a very common error to think that the unification of the South Slavs is an idea that emerged after World War I and that the Albanian borders would probably not have been quite what they presently are, had they been discussed with respect to Yugoslavia and not in regard to Serbia and Montenegro, as was the case.
* * *
In 1878, at the Congress of Berlin, the idea of Great Serbia, which goes as far back as the 18th century, served as a guideline relative to territorial claims, but it could not, of course, be disclosed and openly discussed; it would have been premature. Indeed, even for the sake of the future unification, it was much more appropriate to be first concerned with the revindication of the South Slavs as single states and not as a group.
At the Congress, it was thus merely insisted that Serbia be aggrandized and that a seaport be given to Montenegro, which was very poor.
In fact, when the French savant Ami Boue visited Montenegro in 1836, he was struck by its poverty, claiming that it would be doomed to remain for a long time without resources because neither Turkey nor Austria would be willing to conquer rocks; adding, however, that Russia could have used her influence to induce Austria to ceding to Montenegro the seaport Cattaro which was of no great importance to herself.5
Yet, forty years later, at the Congress of Berlin, there was no question of allotting Cattaro (Kotor) to Montenegro. She was awarded, instead, Antebari (Tivar) and, a little later, Dulcigno (Ulqin), a harbor which from 877 to 1560 had been the see of a Catholic bishopric. It had practically never been under Slav rule. Moreover, its population was 95% Albanian.
But the Principality of Montenegro, which was made up of rocks, did not merely need a seaport; it also lacked pasture land. It was thus awarded Podgorica (recently Titograd), Shpuza, the rich valleys of Plava and Gusigne, Hoti, Gruda, and Triepshi, which were Albanian strongholds. As pointed out by Justin Godard, after the Treaty of Berlin, Montenegro's territory doubled (L'Albanie en 1921, Paris, 1922, p.9.). Montenegro, on account of her small size, was in an excellent position to extend her territory at Albania's expense and at the same time come closer to Serbia, i.e., toward achieving her goal of unification. As for Serbia, who was much pitied for her lack of access to the sea, she received, in compensation, Kuršumlija, Leskovac, Vranja and Niš, a region whose population was mainly Albanian.
These important acquisitions made by Serbia and Montenegro were to be added later to the greater nation that tese single states were planing to form.
* * *
The Albanians became alarmed when the preliminary Peace Treaty of San Stefano had created a huge Bulgaria, which was to include territory nominally under Turkish rule, but inhabited by Albanians. Since 1330, when the Bulgarians lost their independence, there had been no noticeable uprising in the Balkan nation. In all probability, Bulgaria's independence would not have come about without Russia's assistance.
Although the Albanians did not have anybody to back their claims, they reacted very rapidly. In the fall of 1877, they formed a committee - Le Comite central pour la defense des droits de la nation albanaise - whose purpose was to denounce the states that were planning to expand their territory at Albania's expense.
The committee invited the neighboring countries to a peaceful coexistence, but added that it was determined to defend Albania's national rights.
Albania was at that time a domain of the Turkish Empire comprising four vilayets or provinces: Shkodra - which included the Dukagjini Plateau (Metohija), Monastir (presently Bitolja), Janina, and Shkup (Skopje), presently in Macedonia. This latter province was more readily called Kosova by the Turks in memory of the victory of a battle on the Plain of Kossovo, the "Campo dei Merli" of old Venetian maps. The capital of this province had at times been Priština.6
* * *
Owing to the efforts of the committee headed by A. Frasheri,7 80 delegates representing all four provinces convened at the city of Prizren, in the Vilayet of Shkup (Kosova) in June 1878, three days prior to the opening of the Congress of Berlin, whose purpose was to reconsider the decision reached by San Stefano's preliminary Peace Treaty. The assembly of these delegates was henceforth called The League of Prizren. Its task was to defend Albania's rights.
Kosova became thus for the Albanians the center of their resistance and they have ever since regarded this territory as a symbol of their struggle for independence.
* * *
Various letters, telegrams, petitions, and memoranda signed by Albanians inhabiting all four provinces were dispatched to heads of state and ambassadors. Their reading reveals the exasperation and bitterness of the Albanians, who, judging by their messages, preferred to be annihilated rather than to be included in a Slav state.
Below are excerpts of a long memorandum; they convey some of the feelings experienced by the Albanians:
...To annex to Montenegro or to any other Slav state, countries inhabited ab antiquo by Albanians who differ essentially in their language, in their origin, in their customs, in their traditions, and in their religion, would be not only a crying injustice, but further an impolitic act, which cannot fail to cause complaints, discontent and sanguinary conflicts...
...notwithstanding their longing to escape the misfortunes which Turkish rule has inflicted on them for five centuries, the Albanians will never submit themselves to any Slav State which Russia may attempt to put forward; race, language, customs (...) national pride, everything, in a word, is opposed to such a state of things; and it is neither just nor prudent to free them from a yoke only to place them under another, which would in no way ameliorate their social position.8
Yet despite all the requests sent to heads of state by so many Albanians, Albania was not granted autonomy. Similar to Metternich who once claimed that Italy was merely a geographic expression, but that there was no Italian nation, Bismarck declared that "Albania is merely a geographic expression; there is no Albanian nation.9
* * *
Whereas Moslem Bosnia was assigned to Austria, Serbia (proclaimed an independent kingdom by the Congress) and Montenegro were allotted regions whose population was purely Albanian.
As soon as the Serbs occupied the ceded territories, the Albanians were asked to evacuate them. With respect to the Albanians inhabiting those areas, Mr. Gould, Consul of Great Britain in Belgrade, wrote to the Marquis of Salisbury, Secretary of the Foreign Office of Great Britain, on Nov. 26, 1878:
I hear that the Servian Government has behaved with great and unnecessary harshness, not to say cruelty, toward the Albanians in the recently ceded districts. If my information is correct, and I have every reason to believe it to be so, the peaceful and industrious inhabitants of over 100 Albanian villages in the Toplitza and Vranja Valley were ruthlessly driven forth from their homesteads by the Servians in the early part of this year. These wretched people have ever since been wandering about in a starving condition in the wild country beyond the Servian frontier. They have not been allowed to gather in their crops on their own lands, which were reaped by the Servian soldiery... I ... casually stated to his Excellency (Ristic) that these facts had come to my knowledge, and that should they be confirmed I felt certain Her Majesty's Government and the majority of the Great Powers would call the Servian Government to account, and insist upon strict justice being done to these unfortunate people, whose only crime was their belonging to an alien race and another creed...10
Yet the Serbs did not stop their harsh measures against the Albanians. Tens of thousands were brutally forced to evacuate these areas inhabited by them from time immemorial without receiving any compensation for their losses.
The Servian government confiscated all property owned by the Albanians despite the articles 35 and 39 of the "Berlin Negotiations" stipulating that the Albanians living in the regions ceded to Serbia would have the same civil rights as the Serbs.
As to the number of the Albanians inhabiting those territories, various statistics and extant documents give contradictory figures. According to a note of the administrative divisions dating from 1873, the district of the Sandjak of Niš had about 100 000 Albanians. As regards the number of refugees, the figures given by Prof. J. Cvijic for those who settled in Kosova is 30 000, that furnished by English documents, 100 000. According to Turkish sources, the number of the Albanians who were forced to leave the region amounted to 300 000.
On June 3, 1978, Rilindja (p.7), published a letter addressed by these miserable people (who were deprived of all means and many of whom were sick) to the European Powers requesting that at least a commission be set up to look into their serious problem.11
Leaving these helpless refugees to their sad fate, the Serbs colonized the region with astounding rapidity. Referring to the colonization of the area by the Serbs, V. Cubrilovic stated in his "Memorandum" (about which more will be told later) that "Toplica and Kosanica, once Albanian regions of ill-repute, gave Serbia the finest regiment in the wars of 1912-1918".
* * *
Since these territories forcibly annexed to Serbia belonged nominally to Turkey, the Albanians could not oppose a marked resistance on account of the fact that they did not have a state of their own and, consequently, were not provided with an organized army. However, realizing that after the disintegration of the Turkish Empire, which was imminent, land that had been theirs would remain under Slav domination, they felt very bitter. They were thus quickly organized and armed by the League and despite every difficulty defended heroically the districts that had been adjudged to Montenegro. As a result, the latter failed to take them by force. These territories were to be ceded by the Great Powers to Montenegro in 1913.
As for Ulqin (Dulcigno), it was quickly occupied by Albanian troops (which the League had managed to organize in the meantime) as soon as the Turks evacuated it. The resistance of these troops in that city was so fierce, that the Great Powers had to send seventeen war vessels in order to compel the Albanians to yield, giving them a delay of three days. Paying no heed to this naval threat, the Albanians resisted for more than two months. The Turks dispatched, then, their own troops numbering eight battalions. As a result, the Albanians found themselves encircled on all sides. After a desperate battle, they surrendered to the Turks, who, after taking possession of Ulqin, handed it over to the Montenegrins in June 1880.
In regard to Ulqin, M.E. Durham wrote: "The naval demonstration was instigated by Gladstone. Dulcigno remains a monument of diplomatic blunder...it is a constant reminder to the Albanians that they may expect no justice from Europe, and it has enhanced their hatred for the Slav". (High Albania, London, 1909, p.9).
Owing to the passionate and tenacious resistance of the Albanians, the battle of Ulqin received much attention in Europe and elsewhere. Some of the numerous reports published in French newspapers as well as in the New York Times in 1880 are interesting to read. Below are merely two passages picked at random:
...There are said to be 8 400 Mohammedans and 4 000 Catholic Albanians in the district with a sprinkling of Slavs and Gypsies. These people are not on the friendliest terms with their Montenegrin neighbors, but they hate the Turks quite as much...The Albanian League declares ... that the territory of Albania is sacred... (NYT, Sept. 13,4:3).
Dulcigno12 humorously described...
... That sweetly named town, as is well known, belongs to Albania, which in turn belongs to Turkey. The Great Powers of Europe, after a pleasant consultation in Berlin, in Prince Bismarck's back parlor, decided that it should be a good thing if Montenegro, an independent principality which from lack of seaport has hitherto been compelled to restrict itself to brigandage instead of piracy, were to have a convenient seaport like Dulcigno... (NYT, Sept, 4:5).13
* * *
The Catholics resented their annexation to Montenegro just as much as did the Moslems, if not more. The loss of Ulqin inspired the Franciscan Father Ndue Shllaku to address the population of that town in terms the reading of which still moves Albanians to tears.
The other fights with Montenegro were sung by Father Gjergj Fishta, a Franciscan, in his Epic The Lute of the Highlanders, one of the great masterpieces of Albanian literature. In this strong and moving work, Fishta shows the Albanian Catholics side by side with their Moslem brothers in their fight against the Montenegrins.14
Yet the admirable contribution of the Catholics to the national cause was completely ignored by the West, as had been the numerous petitions sent to the Powers by Catholic tribes, who begged not to be annexed to Montenegro.
The Albanians, who had reacted in a most courageous and dignified way were to find out that their heroic fights for the national cause were described as a resistance of Moslem fanatics to Christianity and to Christian civilization and that the League of Prizren was presented as being supported by the Turks. For propaganda purposes, Slav Orthodoxy, chauvinistically national in character, was equated with Christianity and its universal values.15
Whether the Albanians had any premonition that the decisions of the Berlin Congress would constitute for them only the beginning of a series of other iniquities and humiliations, is hard to say. The admirable activity they displayed in the years that followed, suggest that they kept believing in human justice.16
* * *
To be sure, there were, among foreigners, individuals who considered the plight of the Albanians in an objective way and who tried to assist them. Thus Lord Goschen, British Ambassador to Constantinople, wrote to Earl Granville, Secretary of the Foreign Office of Great Britain, on July 26, 1880:
... I venture to submit to your Lordship, as I have done before, that the Albanian excitement cannot be passed over as a mere maneuver conducted by the Turks in order to mislead Europe, and evade its will. Nor can it be denied that the Albanian movement is perfectly natural. As ancient and distinct a race, as any by whom they are surrounded, they have seen the nationality of these neighboring races taken under the protection of various European Powers, and gratified in their aspirations for a more independent existence. They have seen the Bulgarians completely emancipated... They have seen the ardent desire of Europe to liberate territory inhabited by Greeks from Turkish rule. They have seen the Slavs in Montenegro protected by the great Slav Empire of the North with enthusiastic pertinence. They see the Eastern question being solved on the principle of nationality and the Balkan Peninsula being gradually divided, as it were, among various races on that principle. Meanwhile, they see that they themselves do not receive similar treatment. Their nationality is ignored, and territory inhabited by Albanians is handed over in the north to the Montenegrins, to satisfy Montenegro, the protege of Russia, and in the south to Greece, the protege of England and France. Exchanges of territory are proposed, other difficulties arise, but it is still at the expense of the Albanians, and the Albanians are handed over to Slavs and Greeks without reference to the principle of nationality. (Public Record Office, London, F.O. 424/100 pp.31-34).
This is but a brief passage of a long letter which shows Lord Goschen's admirable insight relating to the Albanian question and hence to the Balkan problem. In this letter Lord Goschen points out that the Turks were using, in regard to Albanians, "cajolery" and "every other means but the promise of independence" because, as he remarks, "if the Turks lose Albania, they lose their cause in Europe". Lord Goschen adds that on account of this fact and since the Albanians are very eager to detach themselves from Turkey, it would be a blunder on the part of the Western Powers to overlook the Albanian nationality. In his opinion, a large Albania would "facilitate the future settlement of the Eastern question in Europe". Lord Goschen feels sorry that Kirby Green, Consul of Great Britain in Shkoder, failed to understand the Albanian problem. Above all, he is indignant as to a ruthless plan worked out by Captain Sale who proposed to tell the Albanians that if they rebelled against the decisions of the Great Powers, "their villages would be uprooted and they would incur a further penalty in the contraction of their boundary". Lord Goschen is convinced that the Albanians do not deserve such treatment "because, after all, in their attitude of resistance, and in their deep-rooted objection to a portion of their countrymen being handed over to an alien rule, they are simply acting on the same principle of nationality as have formed the basis of the recent treatment of the Eastern question".
Referring to Captain Sale's memorandum relative to the plan already mentioned, Lord Goschen remarks in the same letter:
...as the memorandum contained the suggestion that a British agent should be employed to influence the Albanians by fear as to the private and not only the political consequences of resistance, and as this memorandum will remain on record amongst the Archives of the Embassy, I have thought it my duty to record my strong protest against the plan it contains.
Similar to Lord Goschen, others were equally disturbed by the iniquities to which the Albanians were subjected, but their efforts to assist them were thwarted. With respect to Kosova's population, Lord Fitzmaurice (British representative on the Eastern Rumelian Commission created by the Treaty of Berlin to work out an agreement with the Porte) wrote to Earl Grey:
The extension of the Albanian population in the north-easterly direction toward Prishtina and Vranja is especially marked, and is fully acknowledged even upon maps such as that of Kiepert, generally regarded as unduly favorable to the Slav element, and that published by Messrs. Stanford in the interest of the claims of the Greek Christian population... the recent Albanian movement has a more vigorous hold on this eastern district than perhaps upon any other ... The vilayet of Kosova with the exception of a Serb district extending eastward from Mitrovitza, may be said to be Albanian. (May 26, 1880).17
The iniquities committed in regard to the Albanians are occasionally acknowledged even by Slavs. Thus N. Todorov writes:
The Albanian people who had also risen in armed struggle, were denied the right to self-determination and were abandoned to their fate against the vast human and material resources of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the encroachments of their neighboring Balkan states". (Todorov, The 0Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 and the Liberation of Bulgaria", East-European Quarterly, 1980, Vol. 14, No. 1, p.15).
* * *
The Great Powers eventually left the Balkans in the hands of Austria and Russia. The influence of the latter, however, grew stronger as time went by.
In regard to Kosova, Russia sent priests to Serbian monasteries situated in the region exalting, together with the Orthodox faith, heroes and deeds pertaining to Serbian legends.18 They opened schools which were hotbeds of Slav propaganda. Clearly, her purpose was to colonize the province where the Serbs were but an insignificant minority.
The West knew little at that time about the Balkan states. In fact, the ignorance was such that some missionaries who went to Macedonia to support the Bulgarian cause confessed that formerly they had been ignorant of the fact that there were Bulgarians in the Peninsula; they had thought that only Greeks lived there. Practically nothing was known, of course, relative to the Albanians; those unfamiliar with the question could be told anything. Thus, when two Russian consuls in Kosova and Monastir were killed by Albanians (who acted in self-defense), these acts were described as being committed by 'Moslem fanatics'. The two propaganda agents were presented as martyrs; their funerals were grandiose. Since Christianity was equated with civilization and Islam with backwardness, the Christians were regarded as the allies of the Great Powers. Thus the Catholic Albanians who are animated by patriotic feelings were ignored by design. The Albanians were depicted merely as backward Moslems and as allies of the Turks.
* * *
Many books and articles were published by the South Slavs for the purpose of showing the ferocity of the Albanians, their backwardness, their despicable behavior, their lack of discipline, etc. Vladan Djordjevic, former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia, went even so far as to claim that until "as late as the 19th century", there had been Albanians with tail in their rear! Djordjevic even referred the reader to J.G. Von Hahn's scholarly work, Albanesische Studien, where, he asserted, he had found the information.19
The purpose of all these writings was, of course, to draw a picture that gives to the non-specialist a very poor idea of the Albanians so that these, by dint of being despised by others may, in their innermost soul, start to despise themselves.20
* * *
To be sure, there are established scholars - be they geographers, historians, anthropologists, or serious travelers and explorers - who have expressed opinions of a very different kind: H.N. Brailsford went even so far as to maintain that "from Byron's day downward it would be hard to find a Western European who has learned to know the Albanians without admiring them" (The New Republic, March 1, 1919). In fact those who had nice words on behalf of the Albanians were so numerous that the Serb S. Protic (Balkanicus) considered the tendency to praise the Albanians as highly ethical individuals and to describe them as "unusually gifted", to have become a fashion.21 The fact remains, however, that the latter writings were not accessible to many. The influential French daily Le Temps, published merely articles favoring the Slavs and Greeks, for France was then Russia's ally.22
Unknown or misunderstood by the outside world, the Albanians had to fight, under the most difficult conditions, both their neighbors and the Turks without being supported by any great power.
* * *
In order to achieve national unity with a delimited territory, the League had requested the Porte, in July 1878, to turn Albania into one vilayet. The request had not been granted. As a consequence, the Albanians, under their gallant leader Isa Boletini, a native of Kosova, openly took a stand against the Turks. All their activities were centered in the Kosova region, which became the cradle of their national struggle and thus acquired a special meaning for them.23
In 1912, when the Albanians seized Shkup (Skopje) and were about to enter Monastir (Bitolja), the Turks called a truce and granted them autonomy uniting the vilayets of Shkodra, Janina, Kosova, and part of Monastir. As a result of this Albanian victory, the government of the chauvinistic Young Turks Party was overthrown. The weakness of Turkey became thus evident.
The Albanians had administered a heavy blow to the Turks and rightly hoped for approval and sympathy, for, as Lord Goschen had rightly pointed out back in 1880, if the Turks lost Albania, they would lose their cause in Europe. Instead, the Albanian victory triggered the Balkan wars, the purpose of which was the annexation of Albanian-inhabited territories that were under Turkish rule.
At that time, Montenegro had been free from Ottoman rule for over forty years; Serbia and Greece for over eighty. These states, being independent, had their regular armies. When attacked on all sides (by the Greeks, the Montenegrins, and, of course, by the Serbs, who entered Kosova), the Albanians, aware of the great danger, hastened to raise their flag and declared their neutrality.
* * *
The atrocities perpetrated by the Serbo-Montenegrins during the Balkan wars on the Albanian population were acknowledged by the Serbian socialist Dimitrije Tucovic (1881-1914) in his book Srbija i Albanija (published in 1946):
The bourgeois clamored for a merciless extermination and the army executed the orders. The Albanian villages, from which the people had made a timely flight, were burned down. There were at the same time barbaric crematoria in which hundreds of women and children were burned alive...24
Brutalities committed by the Serbo-Montenegrins are also described in the Carnegie report. They may be best summed up in two short paragraphs taken from Mary Edith Durham's Twenty Years of Balkan Tangle (1920):
No Turks ever treated Armenians worse than did the two Serb peoples treat the Albanians in the name of the Holy Orthodox Church (p.235).25
As for the Balkan Slav and his vaunted Christianity, it seems to me all civilization should rise and restrain him from further brutality (p.238).26
It should be reiterated that the unbelievable massacres were in no way committed as a result of a struggle between Christians and Moslems, as it was at that time believed by Gladstone and stressed in his speeches.27 They were solely motivated by the desire to decimate the Albanian race. Not only Kosova was coveted, but all of North Albania.
During World War I, Albania's neutrality was not respected and mass massacres continued.
At the turn of the century, the reports of the Ohio journalist J.A.Mac Cahan concerning the Bulgarian uprising, had shocked the West; as known, Russia used these accounts as a pretext to march against the Turks. By contrast, the Albanian cause did not benefit from the Carnegie report, nor by the frequent and moving declarations of philanthropists and journalists who, like M.E. Durham, were eyewitnesses to mass massacres of women and children, simply because it was not in the interest of the Great Powers to take Albania's defense.28
* * *
The well-known Swiss geographer H. Hauser, rightly pointed out that the principle of nationality, like all other principles, cannot be applied in a strict and equitable manner given the fact that most places constitute, with respect to the population inhabiting them, a mosaic.29
This mosaic of nationalities was particularly striking in the Balkans. Here, more than anywhere else, there was need for what H. Hauser suggested, namely: good will, compromise, and a fair system of guaranties. It is an undeniable fact that relative to Albania no appeal was ever made to compromises and good will; and no system of guarantees was ever applied to her. The expediency of her neighbors prevailed. No matter what the problem at stake Albania was always the loser.
In 1878, Lord Goschen and Lord Fitzmaurice had been in favor of a large Albania comprising the Albanian-inhabited territories of the four vilayets.30 But, at the Congress of Berlin it was decided -as already pointed out - that territories indisputably Albanian be handed over to Montenegro and to Serbia. Places connected with Albanian history and national pride, like Janina, Arta, Preveza, were allotted to the Greeks, who within a relatively short period of time were to exterminate the overwhelming Albanian population inhabiting them. No system of guarantees was applied. Albanians, numbering hundreds of thousands were to be forcibly sent to Turkey.
The manner in which Albanian territories were ceded to neighboring states clearly indicates how arbitrary decisions that make history may be. And one cannot but agree with Mircea Eliade (The Myth of the Eternal Return), who, with respect to the theory that valorizes historical events, to which the 19th century attached so much importance, pertinently remarked that such a theory could have been established only by thinkers who know nothing about injustices and miseries caused by history.
Also, in 1913, those in charge of assigning to Albania her borders gave no consideration to the very problem of her survival. The fertile pasture lands, the regions rich in minerals and other resources, where nearly two-thirds of the Albanian population lived, remained outside the borders assigned to her.31 As Lord Fitzsimmons rightly remarked, "Albania was to start her career as a state mutilated from her birth". Indeed, as a nation humiliated in her pride, she had no place among her sister nations. She was doomed to poverty, bitterness, and complete isolation.
In regard to Kosova, a territory where Albanians displayed their most important activities for the independence of their nation and a region which, as some scholars contend, is the cradle of the Albanian people, the principles of ethnicity and self determination were not observed. Nor had they been taken into account when districts indisputably Albanian had been allotted to Montenegro and Serbia by the Treaty of Berlin. At that time, the principle of history had been ignored as well.
* * *
When, following World War I, the Dalmatian question was discussed, the fact that the West Adriatic coast had previously belonged to the Venetians, Austrians, Hungarians, and - in parts - to the Turks, and that, moreover, Slav colonization of the Coast was a relatively recent event in history (for, although the Slavs had settled in some parts of the Coast already in the 7th century, colonization was still going on as late as the beginning of the 20th century),32 did not have an adverse effect relating to the claims of the South Slavs. According to M.R. Vesnic, ...except for historical arguments... no present day consideration would authorize Italy to spell out such pretentions. Economically, geographically, and from the point of view of morale, these shores are inseparable from the hinterland which is Yugoslavia.33
Thus, disregarding historical considerations, Yugoslavia was allotted territories that were vast beyond her wildest dreams: to her devolved the beautiful Dalmatian Coast, where the Slavs had not ruled before, except for brief periods of time (a claim contested by the Hungarians) on some portions of it; to her was ceded Macedonia where the Serb population was insignificant and to which the Serbs had no claims before 1885;34 to her was allotted the Vojvodina (Banat) where a certain number of Serbs had been hospitably allowed to settle in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The newly created state of Yugoslavia also retained territories which, regardless of the principles of ethnicity and self-determination had been previously granted to Serbia and Montenegro by the Treaty of Berlin and forcibly annexed by them.
* * *
Yet when the Albanian borders were delimited in London in 1913, problems pertaining to economy, geography, ethnicity, morale - in short, to all those important factors to which so much attention was to be accorded after World War I with respect to Yugoslavia - were not taken into account. The problem of Albania's survival as an independent state was thus completely ignored by those in charge of tracing her frontier.
Relating to Kosova, history - that very factor which in regard to the Dalmatian Coast was not to be considered weighty - eventually acquired such decisive import as to make it seemingly compelling for the Great Powers to disregard completely the principles of ethnicity and self-determination.
With respect to the principle of history, the term Stara Srbija (Old Serbia), employed by the Slavs to designate "Kossovo", proved very effective.
* * *
Faust, when translating the New Testament into his mother tongue, rendered with "action" the meaning of "logos", thus writing: "at the beginning was action".35 As prototype of modern man, Faust did not believe in the fascination and power of the word, as traditional doctrines do. Since then, however, sociologists and anthropologists, especially Frazer, have pointed out the magic that not merely traditional doctrines, but also the so-called primitive peoples attach to certain words and names, the use they make of them in myths, and how these myths affect them. In his turn, Freud has rightly remarked that the primitive mind is contained in all of us. We are impressed by words. Indeed, the suggestive power emanating from some particular words and names that affect our unconscious, especially when used in myths, surpasses action. More exactly, words may become dynamic symbols; they automatically generate action owing to the very magic contained in them.
In fact, Old Serbia acquired for the Serbs a magic power similar to that contained in Illyria.
a. It was asserted that Stara Srbija was the cradle of the Nemanjis, the Serbian kings. Special emphasis, in this regard, was laid on the Glorious Empire of Stefan Dušan.
b. Of foremost importance was considered the Battle of 1389 against the Turks on the Field of Kosova. It was somehow implied in various writings that Czar Dušan's Empire was sacrificed on that battle which was said to have been fought by the Serbs alone to protect Europe.
c. The Serbs who wanted to prove that the Albanian-inhabited region had formerly been ethnically Serb, underscored and proclaimed widely what it became known as the Serbian Exodus or the Emigration of the Serbs to Hungary. It was stressed that the Serbs, as a result of the Austro-Turkish wars of 1690 and 1735, had been obliged to evacuate the region and emigrate to Hungary under the leadership of their bishop, Arsenije III Crnojevic. And that, subsequently, the land, once vacant, had been colonized by the ferocious Albanians assisted by the Turks. The Albanians inhabiting Kosova were thus considered as recent settlers who had no right to be there.
These important issues which played a paramount role in the delimitation of the Albanian borders shall be discussed in PartII.
Part Two
That the imagination is, indeed, impressed and excited by certain names, is suggested by the fact that in 1912-1913, only Serbian theories were taken into consideration.
The recent finds in the domain of linguistics, archeology and history have shown that these theories, as they were formulated in the 19th century were based on myths. But myths, on account of their suggestive power, do not die easily. Some of them may prove extremely tenacious. Such had been, for example, the myth mentioned before, connecting the South Slavs with the Illyrians.
* * *
It had been clearly indicated by J.E. Thunmann, back in 1774, that the Albanians alone could possibly be considered as the descendants of the Illyrians. Their origin had been suggested even before (in a letter) by the philosopher Leibniz.
Aside from pointing out historical data, Thunmann also remarked that certain Illyrian names are still used by Albanians: Dasios = Dash; Dida = Dede; Bardhylis = Bardhe, etc. A. Boue, who from 1836 to 1838 journeyed across the Balkans accompanied by various experts, subscribed to Thunmann's theory. J.G. von Hahn exposed the same view in his learned work Albanesische Studien (Jena, 1853) basing his research on ethnography, history and linguistics.36
* * *
That the Albanians have been living in the coastal areas since ancient times is evidenced by the fact that the Albanian language is greatly influenced by Latin; not merely Balkan Latin, but also Latin in its archaic form, missing not only in Rumanian, but sometimes even in other Romance languages. Latin also affects the vocabulary dealing with the intellectual and spiritual domain. Scholars have explained this influence through long-lasting relations between the Romans and the ancestors of the Albanians. Had the latter not been living since ancient times on the Adriatic coast, these relations would not have been possible.37
On the other hand, some Greek words in Albanian show the sound pattern of ancient Greek, an indication that the words were transmitted in an ancient epoch and that the Albanians must have been living in the vicinity of Greece for the past 3 000 years.
As regards Slavonic, from which the Albanians, like the Rumanians, borrowed many words, it has in no way affected the structure of their language, an indication that the borrowing must have taken place at a date when the Albanian language was already formed. Moreover, its influence is dialectical and concerns vocabulary dealing with material things rather than with spiritual matters. In Albanian, the terminology of the church, both Catholic and Orthodox, is not Slavonic, but overwhelmingly Latin with some Greek.38
Yet the ancestors of the Albanians did not merely inhabit the coastal areas. As attested also by the Halstatt culture, the domain of the Illyrians was vast; it extended to the east and to the north. Some words, still used in a few Swiss dialects, denote an Illyrian origin. Thus, for example, in the Berner Oberland, the cow is still called lobe as in Albanian. Noteworthy also are the Illyrian finds on the left bank of Lake Neuchatel, connected with a culture known as La Tene culture (500 B.C. to 1 A.D.) and the recent discoveries in Zurich ascribed to a much older civilization.
However, North Illyria was sparsely populated. The North Illyrian tribes eventually mixed with Celts and other invaders and little by little lost their identity. Only Southern Illyria, more densely peopled, survived. Appian, who wrote in the second century AD, maintained, citing the Greeks, that Illyria at that time stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Danube. This included the important province Dardania, i.e., the region of Shkup (Skopje), Niš and Priština. Ancient authors (Pliny) used to call the Southern Illyrians "Illyrii proprie dicti". They were divided into tribes, some of which managed to form small kingdoms. With its capital Scodra (Shkodra, Scutari) and its main seaport Ulqin, Illyria constituted, in the 3rd century B.C., a powerful federal state.
Fanula Papazoglu, professor of ancient history at the University of Belgrade, who has written extensively on the Illyrians (see among others, Les origines et la destinee de l'Etat illyrien - Illyrii proprie dicti, in Historia, Wiesbaden, 14, 1965, Heft 2), has also devoted a long chapter to the Dardanians in her work The Central Balkan Tribes in Pre-Roman Times...(Engl. Transl. from the Serbo-Croatian, Amsterdam, Hakkert, 1978, 664 p.). In this latter work she indicates that
Not one of the peoples with whom we have to deal in this book has such a claim to the epithet "Balkan" as the Dardanians... because they appear as the most stable and the most conservative ethnic element in the area where everything was exposed to constant change, and also because they, with their roots in the distant prehomeric age, and living in the frontiers of the Illyrian and the Thracian worlds retained their individuality and, alone among the peoples of that region succeeded in maintaining themselves as an ethnic unity even when they were militarily and politically subjected by the Roman arms...and when at the end of the ancient world, the Balkans were involved in far-reaching ethnic perturbations, the Dardanians, of all the Central Balkan tribes, played the greatest part in the genesis of the new peoples who took the place of the old (p.131).
After pointing out that the Dardanians had founded Troy, that Dardanelles is a name derived from them, that Dardanians were also encountered in Italy, Prof. Papazoglu adds that when the Dardanians reappear in our sources as a historically documented people in the central part of the Balkans, they are related to the Illyrians. Illyrian elements have also been noted among the Dardanians in Asia Minor. This all increases the probability of the theory that the Illyrians belonged to the oldest Indo-European element in the Balkan Peninsula (see pp.131-134).
The Albanian scholar, Zef Mirdita, of the University of Priština, who, like his colleague of the University of Belgrade, has devoted much time to the study of the Dardanians, has also arrived at the same conclusions (see among others, Studime Dardane, Prishtine, 1980).39
The Dardanians resisted the Roman invasions as much as did the rest of the Illyrians and after the Roman conquest were not annihilated or absorbed as were not annihilated or absorbed the Illyrians of the coastal areas (See Mirdita, "A propos de la romanisation des Dardaniens" St.Alb., 1972 II pp. 287-298).40
* * *
The extent of the territory inhabited by the Illyro-Albanians at the time of the arrival of the Slavs is suggested by place name. The well known Albanian linguist, E. Cabej, has remarked in "Die aelteren Wohnsitze der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel im Lichte der Sprache und Ortsnamen" (Atti e memorie del VII Congresso internationale di scienze onomastiche, Firenze-Pisa 1961 I, pp.246-251) and in various other articles that names of small localities change in the course of years (thus many place names in present-day Albania, in Kosova and elsewhere in the Balkans are Slav),41 but not so those of cities, mountains and rivers:42 Various toponyms prove that at least since Roman times the Albanians have between living as well on the Adriatic and Ionian coasts as in the Western Macedonia - Kosova region, formerly called Dardania, for many geographical names, be they of Illyrian, Ancient Greek, or Roman origin - were transmitted with changes characteristic of Albanian phonetic rules. Such names are, for example, Nish (Naissos), Shkupi (Scupi), Oher,Ochrid (Oricium = Lychnos), Drisht (Drivastum), Shar (Scardus), Shkodra (Scodra), Mati (Amatia), Buna (Barbena), Ulqin (Ulcinium), Lesh (Lissus), Tcham (Thyamis), Ishm (Ismus), Durres (Durachium), Drin (Drillion), Zara (Zadar), Triest (Tregest), Tomor (Tomarus), Shtip (Astibos), Shtiponje (Stoponion).
* * *
J. Cvijic described the Albanians as "the most expansive race in the Balkans", and G. Jakšic compared the expansion of the Albanians to a "devastating river". G. Stadtmueller contended that originally they were confined to the Mati area and to the mountains of the north.43 Yet the Albanian scholars maintain that in the light of the data cited above it becomes evident that far from expanding the territory of their ancestors, the Albanians have constantly been restricted to smaller areas.
* * *
However, until very recently, there had been no archeological finds to invest the assumption of the Illyro-Albanian continuity with firm and concrete support.
Before World War II, there were in Albania very few archeological discoveries connected with the Illyrians. Leon Rey, head of the French archeological mission in Albania, expressed doubts as to the possibility of finding any vestiges linked to prehelenic times. Prehistoric objects, numerous in Macedonia, were at that time completely lacking in Albania (L. Rey, "Lettre d'Albanie", Revue internationale des Etudes Bakaniques, 1937, 301-304). In L. Rey's time, among 25 excavation sites, only two were Illyrian and the finds - insignificant ones - were related merely to the Iron age (1 000-450 B.C.).
Things have changed since then. At the present time there are over 200 excavation sites connected with the Illyrians. In the past 25 years, archeology has acquired in Albania considerable significance. Various meetings have taken place in Tirana and much has been published on the subject by Albanian and foreign scholars.
Among the numerous publications, one may mention:
a) Les Illyriens et la genese des Albanais, Tirana 1972.
b) Actes du Congres des Etudes Illyrienns (two volumes), 1974.
- a) and b) contain the acts of the two important meetings held in Tirana in 1969 and 1972 which were attended by a considerable number of Albanian and foreign scholars).
c) Iliria (in Albanian, with abstracts in French), first volume published in 1971; Vol 10, 1980. Vol. 2, entirely in French, is devoted to Illyrian cities.
d) Two Albanian academic journals, Studia Albanica, and Studime Historike (see especially 1972, nos 2,3,4) also contain articles dealing with the Illyrians and the Albanian genesis.44
* * *
Tumuli from the Iron Age were found in Mat (north Albania), Dropull (south Albania), Vajze (southeast Albania) and other localities. The archeological finds of these places chow links with the Illyrian necropolia of Glasinac in Bosnia and of Trebnište in Macedonia. This culture, known in archeological literature as Glasinac Culture, is encountered in a region stretching from Epirus to the Drin (Drina) and Morava, comprising Montenegro, Kosova and Bosnia.
* * *
Other discoveries made are connected with a more ancient epoch, the Bronze Age. On account of the unifying elements between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, Albanian archeologists have concluded that the Illyrians as an indigenous population and that their ethos was formed during the Neolithic or Bronze Age - i.e., prior to 1 000 B.C. - and not during the Iron Age as it had been formerly assumed.
Noteworthy is the fact that inventory objects pertaining to the Bronze Age (around 1 500 B.C.), such as the double axe, etc., leave no doubts as to relations between Illyria and Crete, thus confirming what had previously been asserted by F. Nopcza and M.E. Durham by reason of ethnographical data. As regards archeological inventory, the unifying traits linking the Bronze Age to the Iron Age were also noticed relative to finds outside the borders of present-day Albania: at Zocavi near Prijedor, Ptuj. The Yugoslav scholars Josip Korošec, Frane Stare and Alojz Benac, when studying these finds, concluded - prior to the Albanian archeologists - that since there is no cultural interruption between the two layers representing the two different epochs, it becomes evident that one has to deal with one and the same ethnos (see A. Stipcevic, op. cit., pp.17-18).
Considerable prehistoric agglomerations dating from the Eneolithic Age (1 600 B.C.) were also unearthed in various locations. Albania may now compare with any other European country considered rich in prehistoric finds.
* * *
Of special interest is the inventory connected with a more recent age, namely, the early medieval epoch for which historical data are wanting. Noteworthy, relating to this epoch, is the necropolis of Kalaja Dalmaces in north Albania.
Although more finds have been made recently at this locality, the necropolis was discovered at the end of the 19th century and much had been written about it at that time and later by well-known foreign archeologists: S. Reinach, Th. Ippen, P. Traeger, F.Nopcza, L.M. Ugolini, L. Rey, D. Mustilli and also by A. Degrand, French consul in Scutari, who discovered it. For the history of this necropolis see especially Hena Spahiu, "Gjetje te vjetra nga varezza mesjetare e Kalase se Dalmaces", (Ancient finds from the medieval necropolis of Kalaja e Dalmaces") Iliria I, Tirana, 1971, pp. 227-260; and S. Anamali, "De la civilisation hautemedievale albanaise", Les Illyriens et la genese des Albanais, pp. 184-187.
The finds - most of which are at the Museum St. Germain-en-Laye - were formerly attributed to the Illyrians. Yet archeologists connected them with the Illyrian culture of the Iron Age. At the present time, however, there is incontrovertible evidence that the inventory objects belong to an epoch that stretches from the 6th century to the 8th century A.D.
Similar finds, linked to the same epoch, were made recently in Shurdha, near Shkoder, Bukel (Mirdita), Kruje, Lesh and, not too long ago, also in south Albania. This culture, known in archeological literature as Koman culture (from a village near Kalaja e Dalmaces), shows striking ties with the ancient Illyrian civilization. Despite the differences inherent to each epoch, one can easily recognize the unifying traits: funerary rites, orientation of graves, building methods, etc. They indicate that the Koman culture is the continuation of the ancient Illyrian civilization and not a culture introduced by recent settlers. In certain areas, such as Tren and Maliq, different layers show a continuity stretching from the Neolithic to the medieval epoch.
Despite ethnological and archeological data suggesting that the Illyrian ethnos was formed on Albanian soil prior to the Iron Age, it might perhaps still be premature to maintain a categorical stand as to problems relating to such a distant past. Therefore, Prof. Cabej without opposing the assertion expressed by Albanian archeologists, kept a cautious attitude in its regard. He argued, however, that the Illyro-Albanian continuity from the Classical period to the Middle Ages, both in present-day Albania and in Dardania, is indubitable.45
* * *
Although in Kosova there have been no systematic excavations similar to those undertaken in Albania in the past twenty five years, the archeological material that is available leads to the conclusion that the ethnos of Kosova's inhabitants belonged to the Illyrian family. Burial tumuli, characteristic of the Illyrian culture, unearthed in Albania at various localities were also found in Kosova (near Priština and in Lastica near Gjilan); in the district of Kukes which has territorial links with Kosova; in the Dukagjini Plateau (Metohija), in Mjele (near Virpazar), Montenegro, and in the region of Ochrida.
The cultural heritage in Kosova shows the same unity of materials and building methods as in present-day Albania. These finds, which denote an advanced urban culture, also indicate the extent of the territory occupied by the Albanians at the time when the Slavs began to settle in the Balkans; they corroborate the claim made by Cabey on linguistic grounds.
* * *
As reported by Constantine Porphyrogenitus (Emp. from 913-919), the Slavs Started to come to the Balkans from the Ural and the Caspian Sea during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-641). They were often led by nomadic Turks.46 The region, called at that time Illyria, was inhabited by the aborigine population, the Illyrians, the ancestors of the Albanians.
It is generally admitted that the Slavs settled in the Danube area along the Dalmatian coast, and in Greece. But the question as to the exact territories occupied by them has not been elucidated as yet. From various sources - historical as well as linguistic - the conclusion may, however, be drawn that if the greatest part of the vast Illyrian territories was by the end of the 9th century already colonized by the Slavs, some areas were spared. These were Dardania, New Epirus, the southern part of Prevalitania and North Epirus.47 These territories correspond exactly to the region which before the Treaty of Berlin were inhabited by Albanians.
The Slavs emerge as a strong population in the 10th century. But these Slavs are Bulgarians, not Serbs. It is they who in the 11th century named Belgrade48 the city that at present is Serbia's capital. The Slav toponyms that replaced the Illyrian and the Roman toponyms are also in many areas Bulgarian and not Serb.
It is now time to discuss the three issues mentioned in Part I:
* * *
a) Practically nothing was known about the Serbs before 1136 when Tihomir, who was merely a shepherd, became Grand Zupan.
In the 12th century, according to a contemporary chronicler, W. of Tyre, the Serbs were "an uncultured and undisciplined people inhabiting the mountains and the forests" and who "sometimes ...
quit their mountains and forests... to ravage the surrounding countries", (cited by W. Miller, Essays on the Latin Orient, 1921, p. 446).
The Serbs began to gain strength in the 13th century when Stefan Simon Nemanjic - previously Zupan - started using, in 1217, the title of king.49 At that time the Serbs had already taken much land from the Albanians. In 1217, they conquered Peja (Pec) which was to become in 1346 the see of the Serbian Patriarch. The greater part of Kosova, however, was not yet in their power.50 It was afterward that they got hold of it little by little. But the Serbian kingdom, within the short span of its existence was not marked by fixity. Its precarious stability is indicated by a striking array of capitals: Raška, Priština, Belgrade, Kruševac, Smederevo, Belgrade again, Prizren, Banjska, Shkup (Skopje), Prilep, Smederovo, Kruševac again, Kragujevac.51 The names of these short-lived capitals suggest that the Serbs invaded and conquered, but then retreated and lost, because of some kind of opposition that they found. In this regard, it is interesting to note an observation made by V. Cubrilovic in his rather inhumane memorandum:52 "The Albanians are the only people during the last millennium that managed not only to resist the nucleus of our state, but also to harm us". This remark indicates that the Serbs were opposed by the aboriginal population.
When Stefan Dušan was killed in 1355, the Serbian Empire included not merely Kosova; it encompassed practically all of present Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, and part of Hungary. Yet the Empire had no fixity and lasted merely nine years. It had been built up with the help of mercenaries and it disintegrated immediately after Dušan's death because of the heterogeneous elements of which it was composed: Vlachs, Greeks, Albanians, etc.
* * *
Considering the fact that in the 12th century the Serbs were regarded as an uncultured and undisciplined people, that they began to gain strength in the 13th century; that their kingdom lasted a little over 100 years, and Czar Dušan's Empire merely nine, it is reasonable to assume that during this very short span of time the aboriginal population could not have been annihilated no matter how difficult the living conditions might have been for them.
As for Kosova - which is incorrectly designated as the cradle of the Nemanjic, for the Serbian nucleus did not start in Kosova, but in Raška, i.e., north of the site of present-day Novipasar53 - the very names of the capitals of that short-lived Serbian state suggest that Kosova was not even abidingly its center. That state, as pointed out by many historians, does not seem to have had any permanence or center.
Neither was Stefan Dušan's Empire lost to the Turks. When the Battle of Kosova took place, Serbia was insignificant and divided among various petty lords. Lazar Hrebljanovic, to whose share had fallen the Kosova Plain was merely a Knez, i.e., a prince or a simple count.54 His capital was Kruševac.
* * *
b) Some nations show restraint, shyness, or reluctance when it comes to exalting historical events and national heroes. India, for example, a country where thousands of myths originated, has refrained from underscoring the deeds of her national heroes.55 Conversely, it has become the characteristic of the Serb nation - as various scholars have observed - to glorify personages and events associated with nationalists pride. For imaginative, sentimental, or other reasons which shall not be examined here, the Serbs have created nationalistic myths as India has created religious ones.56 In so doing, however, they have insisted to the extreme upon the rights of their own nation which clash with those of other nations.
True, for instance, the Battle of Kosova, so greatly exalted by the Serbo-Montenegrins since Karadzic's time, was an important and sad event for the Slavs. However, when viewed objectively, one must concede that this battle, as specialist have not failed to remark - was not fought by the Serbs alone, but by a coalition of Balkan nations: Bulgarians, Greeks, Vlachs, and Albanians57 (including 10 000 Croats). As a consequence, these nations should be imparted the merit due to them. Various sources suggest that the most numerous troops were the Albanian and that they were placed in the front rows.57 Besides, the victory of the Turks in that battle is said to have been occasioned by the treason of Lazar Brankovic, Knez Lazar's son-in-law, who deserted to the Turks at the critical point of the battle with a large number of Serbs.58
The important role of myths becomes evident when one thinks that the Battle of Nikopolis on the Danube, where the army of Sigismond of Hungary fought in 1395 against Beyazit, was just as decisive as that of Kosova, and perhaps as important, according to some scholars, as the very capture of Constantinople by the Turks. Yet we are heedless of its importance because of lack of myths. The Turkish victory on this battle is also due to the Serb troops fighting on the Turkish side, Beyazid being married to the sister of Stefan Lazarevic.59
As to the hero of Kosova Battle, widely sung by the Serbs in the 19th century, most people will perhaps show surprise at learning that in all likelihood he was Albanian. His name, which was not recorded in Serbian church documents - perhaps for the simple reason that he might have been Catholic, perhaps also for other motives - became known to us thanks to a casual traveler and through Turkish documents: originally Copal - which is Albanian - it was Serbized, as were at that time other Albanian names, thus becoming Kopilic. In the 18th century, Kopil, Kopilic, underwent another modification and at present is merely known as Obilic.60
* * *
c) The Serbs did not merely make, by way of myths, the most of Stefan Dušan's short lived Empire as well as of the Kosova Battle. Their purpose was also to prove that prior to the Turkish occupation, state and nationality coincided and that the Albanians in Kosova were but an adventitious population having colonized the region as a result of the Austro-Turkish Wars when the Serbs had to seek refuge in Hungary in order to safeguard their dignity.
Thus it was, and still is, repeatedly underscored that the Serbs who emigrated to Hungary were chiefly from the areas bordering on present-day Albania, i.e., from the region of Prizren, Djakova and Peja (Pec); the area which the Albanians call the Dukagjini Plateau and the Serbs Metohija.
J.G. von Hahn, who believed in the Illyro-Albanian continuity, had no doubts, when he visited Kosova that the Albanians had been living there since ancient times. He regarded the region of Sitnica as constituting a pure Albanian link between Dardania and Albania.61
As for A. Boue, although the Serbian exodus, which started to receive publicity at the beginning of the 19th century, was by the middle of that same century accepted as an indubitable fact, he was sure, when journeying in Kosova (1836-1838), that at the time of the Emigration the Albanians might have occupied certain districts evacuated by the Serbs in Novipazar and in the Dukagjini Plateau, but in doing so, they were merely recuperating their ancient territory, for, he pointed out, the Albanians are the descendants of the Illyrians and these used to inhabit the territory presently occupied by the South Slavs.62
In his turn C.E.N. Eliot argued that
The Turks are usually thought of as a destructive force, and rightly; they have destroyed a great deal and constructed nothing. But in another sense, they have proved an eminently conservative force for they have perpetuated and conserved as if in a museum, the strange meddling which existed in South-Eastern Europe during the last years of the Byzantine Empire (Turkey in Europe, 1965 ed., p. 16).
* * *
That some people followed the Austrian army and were allowed to settle in Hungary is a historical fact that cannot be denied. Yet no historical documents are available regarding the number of people who emigrated, nor the exact areas affected by this emigration. The figure of 37 000 families,i.e., about 350 000 people, claimed by some historians, cannot be supported by any indisputable nor plausible evidence. This figure is, as it seems, the result of the arbitrary interpretation of the word void mentioned in some church document.
* * *
Despite the lack of historical proof in support of the Serbian assertion, the exodus, widely and abundantly advertised throughout the 19th century, was unquestionably accepted even by very critical minds. The event was so frequently mentioned and the publicity it received was such that it eventually became a commonplace: it has been mechanically repeated by all those who in various capacities have had to deal with the question. Newspapermen did not fail to refer to it again when reporting on the recent events that took place in Kosova.
Prof. A. Hadri of the University of Priština pointed out that the appeal to the Balkan peoples to rise against the Turks was not merely made by the Patriarch Arsenije Crnojevic, but jointly by him and the Albanian Archbishop of Skup (Skopje), Pjeter Bogdani. According to Hadri, there were about 20 000 rebels, Serbs and Albanians, some of whom emigrated north of the Danube. This figure does not tally with that claimed by the Serbs.
The historical error concerning various aspects of this emigration and the faulty interpretation of the word void used in church documents were already pointed out by a Serb himself - the well-known historian J. Tomic, in a passage which, surprisingly, has not received the attention it deserves considering the fact that it dates from 1913. It is contained in Les Albanais en Vieille-Serbie et dans le Sandjak de Novi-bazar, Paris, Hachette, 1913.
"This retreat of the southern and south-eastern population toward the north is known in Serbian history as the emigration of the Serbian people to Hungary under the Patriarch Arsenije Crnojevic. This event has lead in some instances to a few errors which for more than a century and a half, have been repeated from one book to another. One of those errors concerns the very regions that were hit by this emigration. If one opens at random any history book of the Serbian people one never fails to read everywhere as if it were a firmly established fact that during this emigration the Serbian regions of the Southwest - i.e., the regions of Prizren, Djakovo, Ipek - were the ones that suffered the most and remained vacant. This claim is incorrect and must be amended once and forever. Indeed, when presented in this manner the facts do not correspond to the reality. If this historical error has persisted for so long it is because the question has not been sufficiently studied. One has relied on notes and chronicles written by Orthodox priests and the 'void' mentioned in them has been identified with the ruin of the Serbian people; in reality, it refers to Orthodoxy.
It is an established fact that in the Turkish Empire the Serbian people were equated with the Orthodox element. The Serbs were always inseparable from the Orthodox Church; thus, their interests coalesced with those of Orthodoxy See: Dix ans, etc.)...
During the epoch with which we are concerned, Orthodoxy in those regions was very hardly hit. A void was created in the Orthodox Church. Never was any Serbian region diminished by so many priests, dignitaries, and simple ministers as that particular area at that time. Neither had ever such a conjunction of circumstances occurred that rendered the situation of the Serbs as distressful as it was then. As a consequence, deprived of its best defenders and supporters in the battle against Islam, the population of Orthodox Serbia found itself more than ever subjected to the double process of Islamization and Albanization. This population did not evacuate the territories bordering on Albania proper; however, after being subdued, it was forced to an accelerated Islamization and Albanization. In terms of the Serbian national idea, this process may be equated with the disappearance of Serbian life, since it is this Islamized and Albanized population that has produced the worst enemies of the Orthodox faith with which the Serbian people and the national idea are identified. We have sufficient proofs confirming the fact that the stream of the Orthodox Serb emigration did not, indeed, affect the neighboring territories of Albnia proper and that, consequently, the way the facts were presented by priests in their notes and chronicles does not correspond to the reality. The decline of Serbian life in the regions of Prizren, Djakovo, and Ipek must therefore not be interpreted as the result of an emigration, but should more readily be considered as the subjection of the Serbian people to Islamization and Albanization which, owing to the circumstances, had become at that time particularly intense giving rise to the gravest violence on the part of the Moslems.
A direct proof that the Serbian land was not evacuated by the Orthodox population is the very existence of this same population until now. Still another proof is the steady decline of Serbian life which may be noticed starting with the beginning of the 18th century. However, aside from this fact of foremost importance, these events can also be confirmed by extant information dating back to that very epoch. Indeed, as it was indicated before,63 the Orthodox Serbs of Luma declared themselves against Austria. It goes without saying that these Serbs did not need to emigrate and even less to flee with the Austrian troops, for their attitude gave them the right to remain where they were. In fact, they did not move. Moreover, it is well known to us from extant documents of that era that in this region numerous Serbs as well as Catholic Albanians withdrew from the Austrian Army as a consequence of some unfortunate proceedings on the part of the Duke of Hollstein. These people joined the Turks even before the latter had driven back the invader. Those Serbs did not feel any need, either, to flee from the Turks. Nor could they possibly place themselves under the protection of Austria. A man sent to Ipek during the first half of January 1690 came back with a monk of the patriarchy. Upon his return to Kutchi, this man recounted the looting of the churches and monasteries as well as the slaughters of priests and monks by the Turks, but he did not report any emigration of the people. On the other hand it was indeed not at all easy for the patriarch and his suite to flee because the Austrians were followed very closely by detachments of Turkish soldiers. As a consequence, there could, of course, be no question of any exodus of a slowly moving crowd. After this region was again occupied by the Turks who continued their chase, any flight became impossible for the people. If a mass emigration had taken place, how was it then possible for the same patriarch, Arsenije III, to work the following year, as he did with the Serbs of Brda and Montenegro in order to organize another uprising of the people on behalf of Austria?
On the other hand, one should again stress the fact that it was physically impossible for the people of that geographic area to emigrate en masse because the Turks, streaming into the region behind the Austrians, already occupied the greatest part of it even before the secret departure of the patriarch. Lastly, it was in the middle of the winter at a time when the roads are impossible to find.
As a consequence, there was no mass emigration of Orthodox Serbs from those regions at that time although this has been repeatedly asserted until now. Emigration and flight took place only whenever it was possible, i.e., wherever the Turks did not appear suddenly and the people could leave the area before their arrival. This was the case in the Sandjak, in Kosova, Upper Morava and Serbia within its former boundaries. These regions where the Austrians had made a longer halt were abandoned by the Orthodox Serb population that crossed the Danube and the Save. These emigrants were joined by a flow of people, a progressive migration, still headed for the north. As for the areas bordering on Albania proper, only a few single individuals and those who remained in the army as volunteers were able to flee immediately following the withdrawal of the Austrian army. The others left to side with the Turks. This is established by three facts:
a) Among the emigrants with fairly well-known names surrounding the patriarch there is not a single one from the region bordering on Albania proper.
b) The absence of an ancient population in the Sandjak may be explained solely by a migration that started out from a distant zone.
c) The traditions among the Serbs who became Moslem and Albanian, is proof that this population is old ...64(see pp. 35-41).
* * *
The recent examination of Turkish catastral registers has revealed that, in fact, J. Tomic was right: the area bordering on present-day Albania could not have been evacuated. In the 16th century, the number of people inhabiting the mountainous areas around Dukadjini Plateau (Metohija) was too insignificant. According to Albanian scholars, even assuming - without any valid reason - that the population had doubled in the 17th century and that all of the highlanders had departed from the mountaineous region, their number would not have sufficed to fill the area, nor to affect the population of Kosova-Metohija (Kosmet) had that population been previously Slav. But Turkish catastral registers clearly indicate that in addition to being small, the population of the mountains was also stable.65
J. Tomic argued, besides, that following the Austro-Turkish wars, the population of the region was forcibly Albanized and Islamized.
To this claim, one may reply that:
1) The region of Prizren, Djakova, and Peja is marked by the tribal66 system as North Albania. Aside from the fact that this system constitutes a link between the two units, it must be borne in mind that no outside man can belong to the tribe, least of all Albanized Serbs. Therefore Tomic's remark at the end of the passage that "the tradition among the Serbs who became Moslem and Albanian is proof that this population is old", does not seem to make much sense.
2) At present, there are two million Moslem Slavs, the Bosnians. In 1974 they have inaugurated a Moslem university, which is the only one of its kind in Europe. Since these Slavs were merely Islamized, the question, of course, arises as to why the other Slavs were, as maintained by Tomic, Albanized in addition to being Islamized.
3) Contrary to the Vilayet of Kosova which was 90% Albanian, that of the Sandjak of Novipazar was, at the turn of the century, mixed. Whether those Albanians are recent settlers in that region, as claimed by Tomic, has, to my knowledge, not been established. Be it as it may, the fact remains that the two populations did not mix. Although both Moslem, they kept their individuality.
4) Kosova was not Islamized in the 18th century following the Austro-Turkish Wars. According to the Turkish registers, Kosova as a whole was already 65% Islamized back in 1520.67 In certain areas Islamization seems to have been particularly strong; thus Prizren (which in addition to the Orthodox population also had a Catholic minority) was 80% Moslem (see M. Ternava's article in Fjala, Prishtine, Spring 1980); the population of Shkup (Skopje) in Macedonia, was 74% Islamized.68
It is significant that Peja's population, still mostly Christian in 1483 (105 hearths Christian; 33 Moslem) had turned overwhelmingly Moslem (90%) by 1582 (142 hearths Islamized, 15 Orthodox, the latter mostly with Albanian names).69 This happened at a time when the Patriarch of Peja (Pec) was granted power by the Porte (1557) thanks to the efforts of the Serbian Grand Vizir Sokolovic whose brother - or uncle - was an Orthodox ecclesiastic.70
* * *
At this point it is opportune to give some consideration to the problem of religion:
Although there have been conversions also in Bulgaria and Cyprus, the fact, nonetheless, remains that the most significant ones occurred among the Bosnians and the Albanians. In 1520, i.e., eighty years after Bosnia's conquest by the Turks, Sarajevo was 100% Moslem.71
The Bosnians admit that they did not regard the Turks as oppressors, that on the contrary, they welcomed them as liberators.72
The Albanians cannot say the same thing about themselves, for their numerous fights against the Turks are an undeniable historical fact. The Albanian national hero who distinguished himself in these combats was compared to Charles Martel73 who in 732 halted the Moorish invasions at Poitiers, thus saving western Europe from the Moslem peril.74
Voltaire asserted that if the Greek emperors had been comparable to Skanderbeg, the Eastern Empire would have been preserved.75 The French savant Ami Boue, drawing a parallel between the Albanian leader and Stefan Dušan, portrayed the latter as a mere conqueror but pointed out that Skanderbeg is remembered as one of the bravest soldiers that has ever existed.76
During the 25-year span that preceded the Turkish invasion, the Albanians were at the height of their power; as regards moral prestige, they had plenty of it. Relating to territories, according to the Byzantine chronicler L. Chalcocondiles, the land of Gjon Castriota, Skanderbeg's father, extended between the kingdom of Sandalj, king of Bosnia, and Epirus.77 N. Iorga mentions a document from the archives of Venice, dating from 1413 which calls Gjon Castriota "dominum partium Bosniae";78 this presupposes that the territories northeast of Shkodra (Scutari) were under Castriota's sway.79 Also, in 1420, Gjon Castriota granted to the inhabitants of Ragusa the privilege to exercise trade in his territories until Prizren,80 an indication that this latter town was under Gjon Castriota's rule. Besides, according to Ami Boue (who points out that between the Greeks and the Albanians the differences are very slight), the Albanians inhabiting Greece were so excited about Skanderbeg's deeds that in 1454, they would have easily subdued the two despots, Demetrios and Thomas, and Greece would have come under their sway.81
It becomes evident that under these circumstances the Turks would not have been welcomed by them. In fact, the Albanians who fled to Italy following the Turkish invasion of their land were very numerous. They are said to have made up one-fourth of the nation's population.82
When thinking of these facts and considering that the fights of the Albanians against the Turks constitute a glorious episode in the history of the Albanian nation, the question, of course, arises as to why so many of these firm opponents of the Ottomans gave up Christianity.
There is no doubt that in the Balkans the Turks used pressure at times, especially perhaps in regard to the Albanians because they resisted them longer than other Balkan nations, but also on account of their links with the Pope, i,.e., with the West, which were suspect to the Porte. On general, however, the Turks strike as having been extremely tolerant in matters of religion. In fact, various data lead to the assumption that practically all conversions were in a way, voluntary. At the present time, it seems therefore simplistic to think that "after the Battle of Kosova whole populations were butchered or compelled to adopt Islam.83 Neither may those who remained Christian be regarded as angels and martyrs, nor should those who embraced Islam be depicted as opportunists.
The religious problem is, as are most problems, more complicated than it seems at first sight. Up to now, scholars have not been able to study it properly on account of insufficient documents. Therefore, in many respects, there have been conjectures of a controversial order rather than definite conclusions drawn from objective historical evidence. The conversions of the Bosnians, for example, have often been attributed to the eagerness of the Bosnian nobles to secure their feudal rights. Yet the Bosnians themselves consider their acceptance of Islam as a means to preserve their identity for they do not identify themselves with the Serbs.84
As far as the Albanians are concerned, since they provided Turkey with numerous energetic and most able statesmen and reformers, various scholars, contending that they had a privileged position in the Turkish Empire, have imputed these conversions to utilitarian motives, such as the desire to have access to high positions,85 if not simply to avoid taxes.
As regards Islamization, the role played by the Balkan Churches has received very little attention although the pressure wielded by these churches against one another has often been stressed with respect to other matters. It is in connection to these churches that this problem shall be considered in this essay. * * *
The corruption of the Greek church has already been pointed out by different scholars.
In this regard, a passage from Sir C.N.E. Eliot's Turkey in Europe (first published in 1900) is illuminating:
"There was a strong party for the reelection of Jeremias, who, finding that the Porte refused to accept his candidature, offered 40 000 ducats if his brother Nicephorus could be elected. Metrophanes, by unheard of efforts, collected a like sum and laid it at the Sultan's feet. "The man is worthy of his office", said his Majesty; "let him alone". In 1620, the Grand Vizier demanded from Timotheus 100 000 ducats, on the ground that he had named 300 Metropolitans during his 10 years tenure of office. Cyrillus Lucaris, the successor of Timotheus, was deposed by the Jesuits and their party for 40 000 ducats and reinstated for 180 000 more.
"Naturally, these enormous sums did not come from the pockets of the Patriarch. As the Turks treated him, so he treated his own subordinates. The tribute of the Patriarchate was paid from the money received from consecrating bishops, the bishop paid his money from consecrating priests, who in their turn found the wherewithal by insisting on payments from their flocks for the performance of the simplest religious rite. The visitations of Metropolitans were dreaded almost as much as those of Pashas, and the whole fabric of the Church seemed converted into a vast mechanism of extorting money from the unhappy Christians for the most shameful purposes" (pp. 246-347 - 1965 ed.).
Not only ecclesiastical, but also educational matters were in the hands of the Greeks. "Their object was to Hellenise the Christian races of the Ottoman Empire, which meant that those unfortunate populations had to submit to a double yoke: Turkish and Greek".86 Eliot also adds that under these conditions, "It is hardly surprising to find that this dark period was characterized by numerous conversions" (op. cit., p. 50).
These conversions become, indeed, understandable when one thinks that the non-Greek populations had to pay huge sums to keep in Constantinople a patriarch whose aim was to prevent the development of their own cultures and to suppress their own languages. In fact, according to Turkish catastral registers, at the beginning of the 16th century, Gjirokastra's and Vlora's populations were overwhelmingly Christian (53 hearths Moslem as against 12 257 hearths Christian for the former city; 1 200 Moslem against 14 304 Christian for the latter).87 At the beginning of the 20th century, the Christian population of these two cities had dwindled; they were overwhelmingly Moslem.
C.and B. Jelavich have remarked that the Greeks who had high positions in the Turkish Empire88 used their authority to oppress the rights of other nations in the Balkans, especially those of the Serbs.
Also, when examining the Bosnian problem, C. and B. Jelavich have pertinently indicated that the Bosnians, situated as they are, between Orthodox Serbia and Catholic Croatia, found themselves torn by disputes between the two churches and they were compelled first to have recourse to the Bogomil heresy and after the Turkish conquest to embrace Islam.89
These two remarks by C. and B. Jelavich are relevant. The first about the Greeks in regard to other nations may apply also to the Serbs with respect to the Albanians. When reflecting on the second remark pertaining to the conversions of the Bosnians, who first turned Bogomil, then Moslem in order to keep their identity, the question arises as to what were the Albanians before embracing Islam.
Of late, the Albanian scholar Dhimiter S. Shuteriqi has expressed the opinion that the Albanians also, like the Bosnians, might have been Bogomil.90 There are, however, no extant documents to support this conjecture with incontrovertible evidence.
It is assumed that Skanderbeg was Catholic on account of his close connections with four different popes. Yet, one of his brothers, Reposh, was a monk in an Orthodox monastery as were other north Albanians. These data do not simplify the religious problem as regards the Albanians.
* * *
The Albanians, we are told, were under the jurisdiction of Rome until 731 when Leo the Isaurian placed Illyricum under the Patriarchate of Constantinople (K. Jirecek, Geschichte der Serben, p. 47). However, as pointed out by N. Iorga, Illyricum had received its first missionaries from Rome quite early,91 which meant that it adhered to Western civilization. The Albanians, on account of the geographical position of their country and for various other reasons, found themselves obliged, in the course of years, to vacillate between the two churches. Yet they managed to keep alive their Western background. Perhaps they never severed completely their ties with Rome. According to A. Cabej, of all the Balkan nations - including even Rumania - Albania sided more with the West than with the East. It is also interesting to indicate that the Albanians who settled in Italy following the Turkish invasion, many of whom still use the eastern rite, were never required to sign any document proclaiming their union with the Vatican as is the case with other Eastern communities. Nor did they abjure Orthodoxy. This presupposes that their links with Rome had never been broken.92
The Serbs, evangelized many centuries after the Albanians, did not receive their missionaries from Rome. In Stefan Dušan's Code of Laws, there are indications that those who had links with Rome were persecuted.
According to Law no. 6, "The ecclesiastical authority must strive to convert such (i.e., Catholics) to the true faith. If such a one will not be converted..., he shall be punished by death. The Orthodox Tsar must eradicate all heresy from his state. The property of all such as refuse conversions shall be confiscated... Heretical churches will be consecrated and open to priests of Orthodox faith".
According to Law no. 8, "If a Latin priest be found trying to convert a Christian to the Latin faith, he shall be punished by death".
According to Law no. 10, "If a heretic be found dwelling with the Christian he shall be marked on the face and expelled. Any sheltering him be treated the same way".93
It is evident that under such rigid laws it must not have been easy for the Kosovars to keep their ties with Rome. In fact, the recent examination of Turkish catastral registers has revealed that in the 15th and 16th centuries many Albanians in Kosova were Orthodox.94
It goes without saying that the Albanians were not persecuted merely on religious grounds. In fact, in 1332, Father Brocardus (Gulielmus Adae, a French Dominican, Archbishop of Antebari) remarked that "The Albanoi are oppressed under the intolerable and very hard servitude of the most hateful and abominable lordship of the Slavs because they are overburdened with taxes, their clergy is lowered and humbled, their bishops and abbots often imprisoned, their monastery and priests lost and destroyed, their nobles deprived of their possessions".95
These persecutions against the Catholic Albanians continued during the Turkish occupation.
The Yugoslav scholar Jovan Radonic (Rimska Kurija i Juznoslavenske zemlje XVI-XIX veka, Beograd 1950,pp. 269, 473, 511-512) has revealed that the Patriarch of Peja had the authorization of the Porte to place the Catholics under his jurisdiction, threatening to impale the Albanians who would dare to address themselves to the Pope.
In 1664, Andre Bogdani, Archbishop of Shkup (Skopje), informed his congregation in Rome that the Albanians were more persecuted by the Orthodox Church than by the Turks (see Mark Krasniqi "Les Albanais dans l'oevre d'un diplomate russe", "Gjurme e Gjurmine, Prishtine, 1979, pp. 291-391).
The question of religion is, indeed, closely related to that dealing with national identity.
Being evangelized by Roman missionaries, the Albanians did not have a national church of their own similar to that of the Slavs. Pressed by the Greeks in the south and by the Slavs elsewhere their conversion to Islam seems to have been a means to preserve their national identity.
* * *
The conversions have been detrimental to the Albanians in more than one way: during Ottoman rule, they had to serve as mercenaries in the Turkish army. Sent to far away countries, they were decimated in wars or succumbed to climates to which they were not used while the other nations of the Balkans cultivated their land and grew in population.
In the 19th century, their desperate efforts to shake off Ottoman rule were ignored by the West and whereas the other Balkan nations were not merely allowed but also aided to constitute themselves as states, the Albanians, the oldest nation in the Balkans, were denied the right to do so.
It is because of their conversions that they lost the greatest part of their territories to neighboring states for Gladstone favored the Christians whom he considered as the allies of the Western Powers whilst he regarded Moslems as inferior; civilization being - according to him - equated with Christianity.
Religion was also taken as a pretext for plans made by neighboring states to transplant to Turkey the Albanians who as a result of peace treatise had remained in the territories ceded by the Great Powers to neighboring states.
The Albanian scholar and diplomat, F. Konitza, pointed out that the Albanians are fully aware that the conversions are cause of many of their grievances and misfortunes while remaining at the same time perfectly conscious that if they had remained Christians, they would have been absorbed by their neighbors. Konitza implies thereby that between the two alternatives, the Albanians had no choice.
* * *
Giving further consideration to the Turkish registers pertaining to Kosova - which to this date may be regarded as the most reliable source of information relating to religion and ethnicity - the Albanian scholars have pointed out that in the light of the various data contained in these registers, the conclusion must be drawn that many Albanians had become Orthodox and were in the process of being Slavized. One may notice, for example, that many of them had added Slavic suffixes to their Albanian names. Thus, one encounters names such as Gjon Leshovich, Mark Bushatovich, Gjin Progonovich (Albanian names except for the suffix). Sometimes even the first names are Slavic: Radoslav, Jovan, Bogdan, Radislav, Bozhidar, Petko, etc. There are cases when both names are purely Slavic as to make it impossible to tell that one has to deal with Albanians were it not for certain remarks added to them such as 'son of Gjin', 'son of Tanush', 'son of Arben', (which are indisputably Albanian names) or simply Arbanas, i.e., Albanian. Sometimes, the only indication as to the ethnos is the village which has an Albanian name or the section of the city marked 'Albanian'.96
These names have not failed to become the subject of a controversy. In fact, the Albanians consider as Albanian, despite their Slavic names, all those for whom some indication was found as to their Albanian ethnicity.
The Yugoslav scholars did not observe the same guideline. A. Handzic,97 for example, who has published various foreign documents attesting that the Albanians were present in Kosova prior to the 17th century and who was also the first to point out that many of the individuals who had Slavic names were in reality Albanians on account of the indications mentioned above, when it came to statistics, he listed as "Slavs" all those who had Slavic names regardless of other data. Therefore the conclusion he reached was that in the 15th century, the Albanians, although present everywhere in Kosova, did not constitute the majority of the population. Conversely, the Albanian scholars maintain that the population was overwhelmingly Albanian, because of the fact that Slavic names - given the political situation - may not be considered as a criterion of ethnicity without taking into account other data.
Be as it may, the fact remains that in the 15th century, according to the registers, the Albanians were, contrary to the opinion that had prevailed until recently, everywhere present in Kosova.
* * *
With regard to the Turkish registers relative to Peja, the Albanian scholars content that, if the population of that city had been Slav, the numerous conversions at the very epoch when the patriarch was granted power by the Porte, would be unfounded and incomprehensible. These scholars regard the conversions as a clear indication that Peja's population was Albanian; they maintain, furthermore, that these conversions were, for their co-nationals, a means to keep their national identity.98
That the Albanians in Kosova are an aboriginal population is attested by the very Serbian Chrysobulls of the 13th and the 14th centuries. On the other hand, Turkish chroniclers mention Albanian uprisings in Kosova in the 15th century.99 The archives of Dubrovnik also testify for the same epoch. As for 17th century, important are, among others, the writings of the Turkish chronicle Evlija Celebi which clearly indicate that prior to the Austro-Turkish Wars the Albanian population was overwhelmingly present in Western Macedonia, in Montenegro and in the Vilayet of Kosova (E. Celebi, Putopis, Sarajevo, 1973, pp. 136-137). Mention should also be made, for the same epoch, of pastoral reports - that of the Papal Envoy, Pietro Massarechi (Mazreku, born in Prizren who succeeded M. Bizzi) dating from 1623 specifies that at that time, the population of Prizren was made up of 12 000 Moslem Albanians, 200 Catholic Albanians and 600 Serbs and that the population of Shkup (Skopje) was also mainly Albanian.100 Likewise, the Austrian documents pertaining to the Austro-Turkish Wars give evidence that the Austrian army was continuously in touch with an Albanian population. These documents refer to Prizren as the Capital of Albania and to Pjeter Bogdani, Archbishop od Shkup, as Archbishop of Albania.101 Various incidents linked to the Austro-Turkish Wars, as related by T. Ippen (in Novibazar und Kossovo,(das Alte Rascien) eine Studie, Vienna, 1892), who used Austrian War documents - as did J. Tomic - make it obvious that in Kosova the Austrian army had to deal with an Albanian population.
The fact that Shkup (Skopje) had an Albanian Archbishop, implies that that city had an Albanian population. Also, it is well known that among those who followed the Austrian army was an Albanian tribe, the Kelmendi (Clementi), from the region of Niš, which suggests that the area was inhabited by Albanians.
* * *
The recent study of catastral registers has not only indicated that in the 15th century the Albanians were overwhelmingly present in Kosova and Western Macedonia; it has also shown that they were not merely shepherds, as they were often said to have been, but held all kind of positions and practiced professions which are not normally characteristic of a nomadic population. That study has also revealed that in contrast to the Albanians who were sedentary, the Serbs appear as a nomadic population.102
Objective research has therefore established that what has been called Old Serbia, a term suggesting Serbian tradition and permanence, is in reality a region inhabited ab antiquo by Albanians which was only for a period of time under Serb rule.
* * *
It is undeniable fact that until recently (but especially so during the Middle Ages) state and nationality seldom coincided. The desire to invade and conquer is, indeed, a characteristic of many peoples and races. England was invaded by the Normans and ruled by them; the Arabs held sway in Spain from 756 to 1492; Calais was for two centuries under the domination of the British; Poland stayed for a long time divided between Russia, Germany and Austria. Needless to say that many more examples may be cited. There are places that remained, in fact, for centuries under the nominal rule of various invaders, alien to the population inhabiting them. The South Slavs, who were themselves, as a race and as a nation, under the domination of Turkey, Hungary, and Austria, should be in a better position than most people to feel and admit that in the past state and nationality were very seldom identical and that the transient power over something does not give claim to a permanent possession.
Indeed, temporary conquerors do not normally use the adjective "old" to describe territories which they once held under their sway. The French do not find it appropriate to call "Old France" territories once occupied by the short-lived Napoleon's Empire. Nor do the Turks name "Old Turkey" the Balkans where they ruled for over five centuries. The Bulgarians do not refer to Belgrade as "Old Bulgaria", despite the fact that that city belonged to them from the 9th century until the 11th; neither is this city called "Old Hungary" although Belgrade, which was Serbia's capital only briefly in the 12th century, fell under Hungarian control before being captured by the Turks in 1521. As for Ragusa, recently Dubrovnik, it was founded in the 7th century by the Romans and the Illyrians fleeing the incursions of the Slavs. Later, it fell under the rule of Byzantium, then under that of Venice, and finally of Hungary. The Turks held it from 1526 until 1806. Only since 1918 do the Slavs have control of it.
* * *
The term "Old Serbia", which, like all expression that are well chosen, has a tremendous suggestive power, was employed for the first time by Vuk Karadzic at the beginning of the 19th century. Yet Karadzic applied it practically to the whole Balkan peninsula. "Old Serbia" at that time was synonymous with what was also called "Great Serbia". But the chances to annex Bulgaria and Thessaly waned. The term was thus no longer applied to those regions and at present nobody considers these places any longer as "Old Serbia". Curiously on John Bugarsky's map, published in Belgrade in 1845, there is one area marked "Old Serbia or Present-day Albania". It is the region of Bielopolje separating Montenegro from Serbia - a clear indication that the term was used to designate various areas depending on the possibilities regarding territorial claims offered by political circumstances. Thus the limits traced by Prof. Cvijic for "Old Serbia" in 1909 differed considerably from those used by the same scholar in 1911. Since there was nobody to protect Albania's rights, the term was eventually used to designate merely the region that at present is identified with Kosova-Metohija (Kosmet). As for the Albanians, they call "Old Serbia", Serbia before 1878.
* * *
According to Theodor Ippen, if the term "Old Serbia" should be used at all, it should apply solely to that district which is situated between Ibar and Sitnica, whose southern border is the river Lab, i.e., to the area once called "Old Rascia" (Rascia = Serbia) whose capital was Ras located north of present Novipazar. Ippen remarks that this region too used to be Albanian (even the name Ras, he points out, goes back to an Albanian etymology), but it was there that the Southern Slavs formed their first nucleus in the 12th century under Nemanjic; it should in no way be applied to the territory of Kossovo:
The use of the expression 'Old Serbia' would be, if applied to a limited territory, after all justified, in as much as here (in Raška) the old Serbian state, which in its early stage may be identified with Rascia, originated. But he term 'Old Serbia' is used by chauvinistic Serbs to designate regions, such as Prizren, Gjakova, Ipek on the one hand and, on the other, Iskup, which geographically and ethnographically belong to Albania and Macedonia. 'Old Serbia' is therefore applied, for political purposes, to regions which ethnically speaking were never Serb (Ippen, op.cit., p.4).103
* * *
In the sight of these facts, the Albanians maintain that the principle of history invoked by the Serbs in support to territorial claims, is not based on any solid facts.
Serbian Churches in Kosova
It is an undeniable fact that people feel the need to build whatever they establish themselves. It is therefore normal that when they move away, they leave monuments behind. Suffice it to mention in this regard the famous mosques of Spain where the Arabs ruled for more than seven centuries. Some nations inherit monuments found by them in conquered territories. Thus Istanbul contains, aside from Hagia Sophia, many other Byzantine churches. These Christian places of worship stand amidst a Moslem population. Their fate is - mutatis mutandis - comparable to the Moslem monuments of Spain.
Similar to other nations, the Yugoslavs inherited from those who had previously ruled over the territories presently inhabited by them, various monuments associated with different civilizations that flourished in those areas throughout the centuries - for instance, on the Dalmatian coast, works of art built by the Romans and the Venetians add charm to the beautiful coast attracting a great number of tourists.104 These monuments are well preserved by the Yugoslavs. Conversely, the Serbo-Montenegrins thought it appropriate to destroy practically all Turkish works of art. The beautiful 17th century mosque of Podgorica, recently Titograd, was thus demolished despite the loud protests of the Bosnians. In Belgrade and its surroundings alone over 260 mosques, some of which were of undeniable artistic value, were razed.105 The Serbs have also demolished or damaged Albanian Catholic Churches.106
It is evident that places of worship as well as works of art represent the very spirit of a nation; to destroy them is tantamount to ruining the nation itself. The urge to conquer is more often than not accompanied by the need to annihilate the very spirit of the enemy. In this regard, it is perhaps not inappropriate to point out that the Greeks, who in 1766 eliminated the autocephalous Church of Peja and the following year, the Bulgarian Church of Ochrida, also destroyed Serbian manuscripts and monuments. In 1825, the Metropolitan Ilarion is said to have burned publicly all the Slavonic books in the old library of Trnovo Patriarchate.107
One could also point out the fact that during the Balkan Wars, the Bulgarian army, responsible for many other destructions, turned into a stable the monastery of Gracanica, damaging the frescoes on the walls.108
Many Catholic churches were damaged or demolished by the Serbs.
In the light of these facts, one appreciates more fully the attitude of the Albanians with regard to Serbian places of worship situated in a region where the population is overwhelmingly Albanian and Moslem. But before giving any details a few words about these churches become compelling.
In the region bordering on present-day Albania, there are three important monasteries (restored at high cost between the two World Wars):
1) The Patriarchate of Peja, built in the 13th century and aggrandized in the 14th. Its religious importance is well known, but from the point of view of architecture it is not important.
2) The monastery of Decani, built in 1325-1335. Its architect was Vita of Cattaro, a Catholic brother. It is the most beautiful of the three monasteries.
3) The Church of Devica in Drenica, built by the Despot Georg Brankovic, mentioned in documents only in 1578. From the point of view of architecture, this church is less important than the two others.
All three of them are situated in isolated areas. According to A. Slijepcevic, these monasteries were not so much intended to be places of worship; rather, they constituted landmarks either in conquered territories or away from from state rule. In the latter case, they were like attempts to "rapprochments".109
Medieval Serbian documents clearly indicate that the villages surrounding the Serbian monasteries were inhabited by Albanians, who contributed to their maintenance.110
It is now time to point out that these places of worship would have been destroyed in the course of years had it not been for the Albanians. It is to them that they owe their existence. For centuries, the guardians of these churches - the vojvods, as they are called - have always been Moslem Albanians, elected by the neighboring villages of these churches. There were times when the Albanians experienced bitter and inimical feelings in regard to the Serbs, especially following the Berlin Congress, when tens of thousands of their co-nationals inhabiting the regions ceded to Serbia and Montenegro were brutally driven out of their homes and forced to leave the region. There were also times, especially at the turn of the century, when the Albanians, disobeying the Turks, held sway in those territories, where they constituted over 90% of the population. It was thus in their power to reduce to ashes those places of worship. But they did not do so despite the fact that they were fighting the Serbs. This surprising attitude is due to the Albanian Code of Laws (the Code of Laws of Lek Dukagjini, rightly regarded as the bible of the North Albania), which penalizes those who do not show respect for churches even if they are not their own. Numerous were the vojvods killed while defending one or the other of these monasteries. Orthodox priests sent to their families letters of praise and gratitude.111
Considering these facts, Serb propaganda that depicts the Albanians as vandals who damage Serbian churches seems both mean-spirited and undignified, especially when one thinks that even poets have put their talents to the service of a defaming propaganda by describing the Albanians as destroyers. In this regard, mention should be made of a widely advertised poem by the well-known Serb poet, Rakic, where an Albanian is described as having damaged the eyes of one of the frescoes at Gracanica112 representing Simonida.113 Since there is irrefutable proof that this act was not committed by any Albanian and owing to the fact that Rakic - who at the turn of the century was consul of the Kingdom of Serbia in Priština - must have been fully aware of the truth, his poem is more than objectionable.114
Regarding these churches, those who cause damage are Serb school children, who put their signature wherever they can. Mark Krasniqi in one of his two illuminating essays devoted to these churches has even reproduced the signature of the Serbian Consul in Monastir, which he found in Gracanica. Using the Cyrillic alphabet, the Consul had written clearly and in a conspicuous place: "D.Bodi, Srpski Konsul u Bitolju, 1893".115
A leap shall now be made into the present time to point out that the unjust attitude of the Serbs has not changed.
On March 16, 1981, a fire broke out at the convent of the sisters at Peja, a fairly recent construction without architectural value. Although the convent is at a good distance from the patriarchate, which was in no way touched by fire, the casualty was presented to the press in such a manner as to suggest that the patriarchate itself had suffered damages. Accused were the Albanian "irredentists".
As a result of a court investigation, Judge Hoti, a Kosovar, declared that the casualty was due to inadequate electrical installation. Although damages had been minimal, the Fedral Government allotted for the restoration of the convent sums that were surprisingly high. The case, however, seemed closed. It has been reopened of late.
It is understandable that, hurt in their pride, the Albanians have come to view these churches, which they have so magnanimously defended, as symbols of injustice.
Part Three
Kosova Between The Two World Wars
At the outbreak of World War I, the illiteracy of the Serbs was over 83%.116 However, the South Slavs, who had been under Austrian rule and subsequently served in the administration of the newly created state of Yugoslavia, enabled Serbia to progress between the two wars. As for the Albanians who remained under Slav rule, the period that began in 1913 and ended in 1941 was one of regression and mourning. Progress was completely denied to them. The few Albanian schools that had finally been permitted by Turkey shortly before the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, were closed by the Yugoslav Government. No education in the Albanian language was tolerated. Unprecedented pressures of all kinds were wielded on the impoverished population. New settlers - non-Albanians - were established in the region. Under a so-called Agrarian Reform, the Albanians were deprived of their land and compelled to cede it to the Serbo-Mongtenegrins, who little by little set out to colonize the whole area. The man responsible for this colonization, which was not performed in a very humane manner, was Djordje Kristic, the head of the agrarian commission that had its headquarters in Shkup (Skopje). In his book The Colonization of South Serbia, published in Sarajevo in 1928, he tells how rapidly the ethnic composition was changing in a region which before 1913 "did not have a single Serbian inhabitant".117
Yet soon, the Yugoslavs decided upon means even more cruel in order to eradicate Albanian element faster and more efficiently. It was thus resolved that tens of thousands should be removed to Turkey or to the State of Albania.
There was some concern that obstacles of international import might arise, but in a memorandum to the Royal Government on March 7, 1937, Dr. Vaso Cubrilovic had this to say:
At a time when Germany can expel tens of thousands of Jews and Russia can shift tens of millions of people from one point of the continent to another, the shifting of few hundred thousand Albanians will not lead to the outbreak of a World War.
The Albanians intended to be expatriated were not to be allowed compensation for their loss of property.
The means that were to be used for this removal are explicitly mentioned by V. Cubrilovic. Below are picked at random and transcribed some recommendations contained in his memorandum:
...agitators to advocate the removal by describing the beauties of the new territories in Turkey; refusal to recognize the old land deeds; ruthless collection of taxes; threats; withdrawal of permits to exercise a profession; dismissal from state, private and communal office; destruction of cemeteries; ill-treatment of clergy. Conflicts between Albanians and Montenegrins should be prepared and encouraged and should be either presented as conflicts between clans or attributed to economical reasons. These will be bloodily suppressed with the most efficacious means. In the colonization process, the role of the police should be of foremost importance; settles should be mostly Montenegrins because they are arrogant and merciless and would drive the Albanians away with their behavior; from the ethnic standpoint, the Macedonians will unite with us only when they enjoy true ethnic support from the Serbian motherland, which they have lacked to this day; this they will achieve only through the destruction of the Albanian block. Settlement should begin in villages, then in towns.118
The plan to begin colonization first in villages was based on previous experience and had worked out well; namely, along the Dalmatian coast. In fact, Austria, thinking that the Italians, on account of their advanced culture, were more of a threat to them than the Slavs, had allowed and encouraged Slav settlements in the rural areas. As a result, Fiume and Triest, whose population had remained Italian, eventually looked like islands immersed in the rural Slavic population surrounding them.
Despite the strong opposition of the Kosovars to the plan for their settlement in Turkey, the agreement with the Turkish government was made. Yugoslavia was prevented from carrying out the plan because of the outbreak of World War II.119
+ + + + + +
Kosova During World War II
As a result of Yugoslavia' capitulation in 1941, Kosova - except for some districts ceded to Bulgaria - was annexed to Albania. It was a great relief for the Kosovars to be able to breathe freely after so many years of humiliation, and unspeakable misery. Albanian schools were founded everywhere, books and newspapers started being published and an Albanian radio station was established.
The joy was, however, short-lived, for Albania was at that time engaged in anti-fascist guerilla war and the inhabitants of Kosova joined them in their struggle for freedom. There were several political parties in Albania during the war. As time went on, however, the non-communist parties received less and less support from the West; as a result, the Communist Party eventually grew stronger owing to the ties existing between the communists in Albania, Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.
The Montenegrin writer, Mark Miljan (1833-1901) who, having lived a long time among the Albanians subsequently wrote about them, pointed out their qualities and their shortcomings. He remarked, among other things, that they are quick-tempered but that they would never betray anyone even if it were in their own interest to do so. Trust, he asserted, characterizes them and it is thus quite easy to take advantage of them.
This trait of their personality is reflected in their attitude toward the Yugoslavs during the war years. The communist Albanians were convinced that the spirit of the Yugoslav communists was totally opposed to that of the former Royal Government of Yugoslavia. They saw in Communism true brotherhood among men and sincerely believed that the miseries of the Kosovars were a thing of the past since they were due solely to the greed of a selfish bourgeois society. Thus, the Communist Albanians helped the Yugoslavs in a selfless manner. The Kosovars, erasing from their minds the atrocious memories of their great sufferings, formed various guerilla bands and fought side by side with the people of the nation which had been toward them most cruel and unjust. Here is what E. Hoxha said with respect to Kosova.
Our aim is to continue the joint struggle (i.e., the resistance movements in Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece) and to forget the past, because we are fighting our common enemy; at the conclusion of the struggle we who have fought shoulder to shoulder with the greatest understanding will settle any misunderstandings. The national liberation movement has the task of making the Kosova people conscious of their aspirations... We must see that the people of Kosova decide for themselves which side to join, Albania or Yugoslavia, and to oppose the Yugoslav regime which would attempt to oppress them.120
+ + + + + +
Kosova After World War II
It was agreed that the Albanians of Yugoslavia should be able to chose their destiny with the right to self determination, including secession.121 The Kosovars had fought the Nazis and the Fascists hoping that Kosova would become one with the motherland only to realize that the Yugoslavs did not intend to keep their promise. Bitter and resentful, they rose in protest. But their uprising was bloodily suppressed. Thousands of Albanians were placed in a concentration camp near Priština where they endured unspeakable tortures.
In 1945, when the province of Kosova was officially restored to Yugoslavia by the force of arms, the principle of self-determination was not applied. Kosova was not even annexed with the status of a republic; it was attached to Serbia, first as a "Region" and then as an "Autonomous Province". Yet the question for the Yugoslavs was again how to deal with the Kosovars, since it was no longer possible to do away with them. In order to destroy any hopes that the Kosovars might have to join the rest of their countrymen, Serbia's ambition had always been the partition of Albania between Yugoslavia and Greece. The Serbian Nobel prize winner, Ivo Andric, who admitted this view, expressed his thoughts in a memoir addressed to the Government of the kingdom of Yugoslavia in January 1939. In his opinion it was the only way to solve the problems pertaining to the Kosovars.
Communist Yugoslavia thought of doing better: she strived to annex the whole of Albania. Her efforts were thwarted.
As for the Kosovars, they found themselves in a very difficult plight because of the partition of the territory inhabited by them into three republics: Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Thus, for example, Shkup (Skopje = Uskup), once the capital of the Vilayet of Kosova, was ceded to the Republic of Macedonia. The splitting was done in an arbitrary way, most detrimental to the interests of the Albanian population, for if the Albanians were granted some rights in the recently created Autonomous Province of Kosova, these rights were denied to the other Albanians inhabiting the Republics of Macedonia and Montenegro.
As regards education, the Albanian schools that had been opened during World War II were not closed. However, they deteriorated rapidly for lack of financial governmental support. Little by little, the teaching of the Albanian language, as well as courses in Albanian history were not tolerated. Although the Albanian population is larger than that of Macedonia, Macedonian is an official language in the SFRY, whereas the Albanian language has no status.
Also, the Albanians started to be harassed by the secret police and to be subjected to discriminations that manifested themselves in all aspects of life. Colonization by Serbs and Montenegrins resumed again, whereas reports were released that the Slavs were leaving the area. Thousands were imprisoned, especially intellectuals. Those who were arrested were not allowed lawyers and were sentenced to several years in jail, where they had to endure the most painful and humiliating tortures. Over 200 000 Kosovars were forced to emigrate.122
* * *
Recently, there has been much talk about the alleged growth of the Kosovars. The ignorance of many journalists concerning an area where not too long ago the Slav population did not exceed 15% is reflected in many of their remarks. One of them wrote that "the birth rate of the Albanians in Kosova is so high that the Albanians will soon outnumber the Serbs". According to Steven Erlager (Globe, June 18, 1981, p.3) the birthrate of the Kosovars is 26 per 1000 (sic), whereas other Yugoslavs average only 3 per 1000 (sic). He adds that on account of this prodigious birthrate, the Kosovars have become in Yugoslavia a butt of jokes.
Yet figures speak for themselves: After World War I, the Albanians in Yugoslavia were almost as numerous as those within the borders assigned to the state of Albania. At present, according to statistics, the SAR had, as of ten years ago, nearly three million inhabitants, whereas the Albanians in Yugoslavia are, at present, according to 1981 statistics, a little over one million and a half. Considering the alleged high birthrate, the question, of course, arises as to why the number of the Albanians does not match their birthrate.
Noteworthy also is the fact that in 1840, the Serbian state had less than 900 000 inhabitants; Montenegro numbered merely 80000. At that time the Albanians were over 1 600 000. At the present time Serbia's population is more than three times larger than Albania's.123
* * *
In 1966, the Yugoslav Communist Party was shaken by disturbing events that took place within the party. As a result, Tito suddenly realized that the rights and the interests of the Kosovars had been neglected and that there had been arbitrary and impermissible actions taken against them. Although the whole truth was not disclosed, the plight of the Kosovars was - albeit partially - openly admitted. Responsible for the crimes, Tito argued, were Rankovic and his agents.
As a result of several uprisings in Kosova, the Yugoslav constitution was revised and in 1969, the Kosovars, notwithstanding the fact that they were not allowed to form their own republic, were allegedly granted full equality with the other ethnic groups.
The Institute for Albanology was then reopened and in 1970 even an Albanian University was founded in Priština. The Albanians displayed great energy, new magazines and journals started being published and considerable research was undertaken. Despite the fact that professors were very poorly paid, as compared to those teaching outside Kosova, the University of Priština grew so fast that within a very short period of time it became the third largest university in Yugoslavia. As of April 1981, it had over 35 000 students.
The situation in Kosova seemed greatly improved. In reality, it had changed only on the surface. The Serbian conservative circles were working hard underground to repress progress as regards education and culture. In the mid-seventies courses in Albanian language, history and literature were reduced and sometimes abolished in elementary and high schools.
On other hand, Yugoslav police had been continuously arresting Kosovars much before the mass demonstrations of March 1981.
Among the Kosovars in Yugoslav prisons are some very promising writers and poets. A Kosovar poet who had been living abroad for 15 years was arrested and imprisoned when he went back to visit his native town. After months in jail, he was freed thanks to the intervention of the League of Writers and because the German and the Austrian press took his defense. A prisoner much bewailed by all Albanians is the brilliant writer, Adam Demaci. His novel Serpents of Blood, published in 1958 was an overnight success. Demaci, 48 years old, is almost blind. He has been incarcerated for 20 years. Presently, he is in a prison 500 miles far away from his family.
* * *
Of great concern became also the problem dealing with economy. In articles published abroad, Kosova is described as poor. The Yugoslavs call attention to the alleged resentment of richer republics to the financial contributions they are obliged to make to the fund for the development of backward provinces and republics. This claim is granted credibility. Elizabeth pond, staff correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor wrote from Belgrade that the local press and television reports emphasize the ingratitude of the Kosovars for all the money and efforts the more developed parts of Yugoslavia have lavished in trying to modernize Kosova. As a result, those who are unfamiliar with the question may conceive admiration and even pity for the charitable attitude of the Yugoslav government with respect to the Kosovars. However, the Autonomous Province of Kossovo is one of Yugoslavia's richest region, perhaps the richest, in mineral as well as other resources. In fact, the Albanians argue that if the region had not been so rich, the Serbian legends originating in the 18th and 19th centuries would not have been created. The exploitation of Kosova's mines by the Serbs, the billions of kilowatts generated from its thermal power stations, and the selling of Kosova's meat and wheat on European markets bring millions to Yugoslavia. The poverty of the Kosovars is due to the fact that only the most exploitative investments are made in the region.
* * *
In The Burden of the Balkans, 1905, M.E. Durham quotes an Albanian newspaper saying: "The Slavs are a brave people; they may have all sorts of other qualities too. That is not the question. Our hatred does not extend to individuals, not even to national groups, but to the spirit of aggression..." (p.56). Also, Justin Godard of the Carnegie Commission who witnessed the ill-treatment of the Albanians by the Serbs praised the Albanians for not blaming the Serbian people, but merely "La Serbie officielle", adding that all nations in their relations with one another should be able to make this distinction between the people and the government (op.cit., p. 234).
The Albanians in the People's Republic of Albania seem to have maintained toward the South Slavs an attitude reminiscent of that spirit pointed out by M.E. Durham and J. Godart. In an article published in Albania (Paris, 1981), the Albanian novelist, I. Kadare, remarks that the Albanian people, although perfectly conscious of the inequalities, have chosen not to react in a chauvinistic way in regard to the chauvinism of the Serbs, i.e., not to use eel against evil, but to maintain an attitude of restrain characteristic of the Albanian spirit.
Yet whereas the Government of Albania, in an effort to maintain good relations with Yugoslavia, has kept purposely in the background illuminating personalities, both national and foreign (such as for example, Father Gjergj Fishta, the greatest of all Albanian poets, and M.E. Durham), on account of the unfriendly sentiments toward the Serbs exposed in their works, the Yugoslavs have not made gesture of a similar order toward the Albanians. Of late, various new books have been published in Yugoslavia, which - mutatis mutandis - are not different from those that were published by the Serbs at the turn of the century. In this regard mention should be made especially of a novel, Zatocnici, in which its author, Mihailo Lalic, uses a language that is most insulting to the Albanians, calling them 'garbage', and using on their behalf various disgraceful epithets. Far from being criticized, Lalic received, instead, recognition and praise. He is the recipient of a national award. The purpose of all these writings is, of course, to humiliate the Albanians and not let them take pride in their identity.
In the light of all these facts, there is no doubt that the Kosovars were harassed. When thinking of the demonstrations that took place in Kosova in 1981 and calling to mind the brutality of the police and the means used on an unarmed population demonstrating in a peaceful manner, one feels particularly disturbed by some of the recommendations contained in V. Cubrilovic's memorandum, such as "conflicts should be prepared and encouraged...attributed to economic reasons" and then "bloodily suppressed with the most efficacious means...the role of the police should be of foremost importance". The Macedonians should enjoy "ethnic support...through the destruction of the Albanian block".
The parallel between the recommendations and the recent events in Kosova is, indeed striking. The Albanians maintain that the details worked out in 1939 are still finding their application at the present time: the Kosovars seem to have been provoked by design. After the bloody suppression of their demonstrations and killing of thousands of their co-nationals, the Kosovars are now being deprived, bit by bit, of that relative freedom granted to them by Tito in 1968.
This time the target of the repression has been the Kosovar intelligentsia: writers, poets, students, and especially professors of the University of Priština, who by their intensive research in Albanology have revealed the true facts of history in the light of which it has become evident that the Albanians are not an adventitious population in Kosova but indeed have their roots there.
* * *
F. Piy Margall proposed back in 1876 the principle of Federation as a solution to the nationalities problem, expressing the opinion that national minorities included in a foreign state would eventually accept willingly what they would have instinctively rejected, provided they are granted equality of rights and conditions.
Under the SFRY (Socialist Fefederal Republic Yugoslavia) government, the Kosovars have been treated as harshly as they were under the government of the Kingdoms of Serbia and Yugoslavia, despite the fact that the principle of nationality is supposed to constitute its basis.
Very little has been written about the Kosovars, their fate may be described by what a statesman is supposed to have said with respect to oppressed population, "The death of a person is a tragedy; deaths of thousands of people are merely a matter of statistics".

Albanian Authors Ndre Mjeda biography

2005-12-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

High amongst the clouds, above the cliffs
Sparkling in perennial snow,
Like lightning, like an arrow,
Soars on sibilant wings
'Midst the peaks and jagged rocks
The eagle in the first rays of dawn.

The azure sky above its head,
Companion of the stars, glows
Like jewels, like the shimmering
Gold of a bridal gown,
Or the radiant night in which
A god bestows wisdom and grace.

Your kingdom is silent,
Eagle, arbiter of freedom,
And in the empty wastes
The harmony of stars
And the rising moon give you comfort,
And the pensive Muse is heard.

But above the forlorn flatland
Where your children in lamentation lie,
Thunder resounds,Lightning flashes,
And you above those peaks
Hear no echo of their lament.

Oh, descend to us, royal
Eagle, once more, as you did
When in battle, majestic
Castrioti the Great shone forth
And the whole world trembled
At the brandishing of his sword.

Classical poet Ndre Mjeda (1866-1937) bridges the gap between late nineteenth-century Rilindja culture and the dynamic literary creativity of the independence period. Mjeda was born on 20 November 1866 in Shkodra and, like so many other Gheg writers of the period, was educated by the Jesuits . Influential in his upbringing were Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni (1863-1915) and Franciscan poet Leonardo De Martino (1830-1923). The Society of Jesus sent the young Mjeda abroad for studies and training. He spent an initial three months in the spring of 1880 in the village of Cossé-le-Vivien near Laval in the west of France and thereafter attended a college at the Carthusian monastery of Porta Coeli north of Valencia, Spain, where he studied literature. In 1883, we find him in Croatia studying rhetoric, Latin and Italian at a Jesuit institution in Kraljevica on the Dalmatian coast. From 1884 to the beginning of 1887, he trained at a college run there which was run by the Gregorian University of Rome, and in 1887 transferred to another Gregorian college in Chieri southeast of Turin where he remained until the end of that year.
It was during these years that Ndre Mjeda began writing verse in Albanian, including the melancholic and much-read poem Vaji i bylbylit (The nightingale’s lament), published in 1887 in the booklet Scahiri Elierz (The honorable poet), expressing his longing for his native Albania. Also of this period is the poem Vorri i Skanderbegut (Scanderbeg ’s grave). The theme of the exiled Albanian yearning nostalgically for his homeland under the Turkish yoke was nothing unusual in Rilindja literature, in particular in the decade following the defeat of the League of Prizren, and many of his other poems are devoted to such nationalist themes. In Mjeda’s verse, however, we sense the influence not only of the Rilindja culture of the age, but also that of his mentor Leonardo De Martino , the Scutarine Catholic poet whose refined 442-page bilingual verse collection L’Arpa di un italo-albanese (The harp of an Italo-Albanian) had appeared in Venice in 1881. An equally important component in Mjeda’s verse were the contemporary poets of Italy: the patriotic Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907), the pensive Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912) and the sensuous Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938), as well as the Latin literature of classical antiquity.
From 1887 to 1891, Mjeda taught music at the College of Marco Girolamo Vida in Cremona on the River Po, the city of composer Claudio Monteverdi and of Antonio Stradivari . There and in Soresina he continued writing verse and at the same time devoted himself to the translation of religious literature. In 1888, the Propaganda Fide in Rome published his Jeta e sceitit sc’ Gnon Berchmans (The life of St John Berchmans ) about a Jesuit saint from Brabant, and in 1892 T’ perghjamit e Zojs Bekume (Imitation of the Holy Virgin) translated from Spanish. In later years he was to publish a translation of the Katekizmi i madh (The great catechism) in three volumes, Historia e shejtë (Sacred history), and a life of St Aloysius of Gonzaga .
From 1891, Mjeda studied for a couple of years at the theological faculty of a Gregorian college in Kraków in Catholic Poland. In 1893, we find the poet in Gorizia on the Italian-Slovene border and in the following year back in Kraljevica where he taught philosophy and philology and served as librarian at the Gregorian college. He was subsequently appointed professor of logic and metaphysics. It was in 1898 that a conflict is said to have broken out among the Jesuits of Kraljevica, apparently concerning their loyalties to Austria-Hungary and the Vatican. The exact details of the scandal are not known, but Ndre Mjeda was somehow involved and was promptly expelled or resigned that year from the Jesuit Order. Mjeda was a member of the Literary Commission set up in Shkodra on 1 September 1916 under the Austro-Hungarian administration, and from 1920 to 1924 he served as a deputy in the National Assembly. After the defeat of Fan Noli ’s June Revolution and the definitive rise of the Zogu dictatorship at the end of 1924 he withdrew from politics and served thereafter as a parish priest in Kukël, a village between Shkodra and Shëngjin. From 1930, he taught Albanian language and literature at the Jesuit college in Shkodra, where he died on 1 August 1937.
Mjeda’s poetry, in particular his collection Juvenilia, Vienna 1917 (Juvenilia), is noted for its classical style and for its purity of language. It is probably no coincidence that the title of this work for which Mjeda is best remembered is the same as Giosuè Carducci ’s lyric volume Iuvenilia which was published almost half a century earlier. Mjeda’s Juvenilia includes not only original poetry but also adaptations of foreign verse by Tommaso Grossi (1790-1853), Giuseppe Capparozzo (1802-1848), Charles Wolfe (1791-1823) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). A second cycle of poetry begun by Mjeda was to be devoted to the ancient cities of Illyria: Lissus (Lezha), Scodra ( Shkodra), Dyrrachium (Durrës) and Apollonia (Pojan). However, only the first two parts of this cycle ever saw the light of day. Lissus, composed of twelve sonnets, appeared in May 1921 in the Franciscan monthly Hylli i Dritës (The day-star), and Scodra was published posthumously in 1939.
Though not covering an especially wide range of themes, Mjeda’s poetry evinces a particularly refined language under the influence of the nineteenth-century Italian classics and, in general, a high level of metric finesse.

Albanian Origin (Origjina Shqitare)

2005-12-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

WHO WERE THE ILLYRIANS

Albanians are the most mysterious Indo European people. The name Arbanesh, Arbëresh chosen by Albanians during the 11th century was of Romance origin: Albanian: Arbëresh `Albanian', Gjuha Arbëreshe `Albanian language'; Rumanian: Albanez, Limba Albaneză; Spanish Albanés, Albano, Albanés, Albano, Idioma Albanés; Portuguese: Albanês, Albanês, Língua Albanesa; Italian: Albanese. Neither from old Latin nor from old Greek did Albanians borrow their name. If Albanians were the direct descendants of Illyrians their name could not be a Vulgar Latin loanword. Romance languages had abbreviated Greek Αλβανικόσ (Albanikos), Αλβανόσ (Albanos) into *Albanes. The Indo European Etymological Dictionary shows that the name Albanian is not of Albanian origin.

The question of the origin of the Albanians is still a matter of controversy among the ethnologists. A great many theories have been propounded in solution of the problem relative to the place from which the original settlers of Albania proceeded to their present home.The existence of another Albania in the Caucasus, the mystery in which the derivation of the name "Albania" is enshrouded, and which name, on the other hand, is unknown to her people, and the fact that history and legend afford no record of the arrival of the Albanians in the Balkan Peninsula, have rendered the question of their origin a particularly difficult one. But, however that maybe, it is generally recognized today that the Albanians are the most ancient race in southeastern Europe. All indications point to the fact that they are descendants of the earliest Aryan immigrants who were represented in historical times by the kindred Illyrians, Macedonians and Epirots.
According to the opinion of most ethnologists and linguists, the Illyrians formed the core of pre-Hellenic, Tyrrhenopelasgian population, which inhabited the southern portion of the Peninsula and extended its limits to Thrace and Italy. The Illyrians were also Pelasgians, but in a wider sense. Moreover it is believed that of these cognate races, which are described by the ancient Greek writers as "barbarous" and "non-Hellenic," the Illyrians were the progenitors of the Ghegs, or Northern Albanians, and the Epirots the progenitors of the Tosks, or Southern Albanians. This general opinion is born out the statement of Strabo that the Via Egnatia or ®gitana, which he describes as forming the boundary between the Illyrians and the Epirots, practically corresponds with the course of river Shkumbin, which now separates the Ghegs from the Tosks. The same geographer states that Epirots were also called Pelasgians. The Pelasgian Zeus, whose memory survives even today in the appellation of God as "Zot" by the modern Albanians, was worshiped at Dodona, where the most famous oracle of ancient times was situated. According to Herodotus the neighborhood of the sanctuary was called Pelasgia. These findings of the ethnologists are, moreover, strenghthened by the unbroken traditions of the natives, who regard themselves, and with pride as the descendants of the aboriginal settlers of the Balkan Peninsula. They, therefore, they think have the best claims on it. It is also on the strength of these traditions that the Albanian looks upon the other Balkan nationalities as mere intruders who have expropriated him of much that was properly his own. Hence the constsant border warfare which has gone on for centuries between the Albanian and his neighbors.

Adem Jashari History (Historia e ADEM JASHARIT)

2005-12-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

Adem Jashari lindi në Prekaz të Drenicës, më 28 nëntor 1955. Këtë vit, Shaban Jasharit, krahas Festës së Flamurit, që e festonte për çdo mot, ju shtua edhe një festë tjetër - Ditëlindja e djalit të cilin e pagëzoi: Adem. Dhe ishte e natyrshme që mbi djepin e t´posalindurit në këtë ditë, Djepi të mbulohej me flamurin e Skënderbeut. Kështu ndodhi atë ditë në familjen Jashari, në Prekazin e Ahmet Delisë. Familjes se xha Shabanit iu shtua edhe një pushkë, në Drenicë jehuan krismat e pushkëve për flamur dhe ushtarin e posalindur të lirisë. Xha Shabanit ju duk se jehona e pushkëve që u zbrazën për lindjen e Adem Jasharit po shpërndahej valë - valë nëpër Drenicë e Kosovë si jehona "Oooo o o prite, prite Azem Galicën o heeejjj", e atij sikur ju duk se po ndëgjonte jehonën: "Prite, prite Adem Jasharin o heeejjj". S´do të ishte çudi që atë ditë, xha Shabani t´i kishte ndëgjuar të dy jehonat, se atë ditë e kaluara po e përcaktonte të ardhmen, ishin bërë një. Atë ditë, Flamuri - Lindja - krisma - jehona ishin determinim i një lavdije të madhe. Adem Jashari erdhi në këtë botë me të vetmin ndryshim nga gjithë moshatarët e tij se ky u lind në ditën e fitorevë më të lavdishme të popullit shqiptar, në Ditën e 28 Nëntorit. Kështu nisi jeta në vazhdimësi në Prekazin e lavdive të përsëritshme. Në festë me krisma e këngë edhe vdekjen e bëjnë me krisma e këngë. Xha Shabani ishte i kujdesshëm me të gjithë fëmijtë, por ndaj Ademit tregonte një kujdes të veçantë, ndoshta pse i kujtohej dita e lindjes, i kujtoheshin krismat e pushkës dhe jehonat e përsëritura të atyre krismave në 28 Nëntorin e vitit 1955.
Xha Shabani pas Luftës së Dytë Botërore, për një kohë pati ushtruar profesionin e mësuesit, por për shkak të veprimtarisë atdhetare ai do të largohet nga procesi mësimor dhe do merrej me bujqësi. Ai pa ndonjë ngurri vendosi të merrej me punimin e tokës dhe edukimin e fëmijëve në frymën e atdhetarizmes. Kështu po rritej Ademi së bashku me vëllezërit më të mëdhenj, Rifatin dhe Hamzën. Ademi kishte një interesim të veçantë për armët, për të bëmat e prekaziotëve gjatë historisë e sidomos i interesonte akti tepër burrëror i Ahmet Delisë dhe ndihma që ai i pati dhënë fqiut, që ishte sulmuar nga bandat serbe. Sopata e Ahmet Delisë, ajo që bandës çetnike i ndau kokat në dysh, ishtë bërë legjendë, legjendë e historisë në mbrojtje të nderit dhe dinjitetit kombëtar. Adem Jashari kishte një interesim të veçantë për Emin Latin, prekaziotin bashkëluftëtar të Azem e Shotë Galicës, të atij brezi trimash, që në gjithë shqiptarinë njiheshin për të burrëri e trimëri. Ndonëse ky brez i trimave me nam të lirisë, Kosovës nuk i sollen çlirimin e bashkimin kombëtar, por brezave ju lan amanet: pushkët trimërore të lirisë. Ky amanet përcillej nga brezi në brez, nga luftëtari ke luftëtari me porosi, që të përcillej si stafetë deri në fitoren mbi armikun e kombit. Prekazi në mënyrën më besnike e përcolli amanetin e luftëtarëve të lirisë, jo vetëm duke e mbajtur syrin në shënjestër, por duke përcjell jehonën e pushkëve të lirisë nga Prekazi në Drenicë e në Kosovë, jehonë që i mbulonte të gjitha tokat e pushtuara të Shqipërisë. A nuk e tregoi këtë edhe Kulla e Shasivar Alisë, në dimrin e ftohtë të vitit 1945? A nuk u përsërit kjo nga pasardhësi i Emin Latit me 13 maj 1981, kur Tahir Meha mbuloi me turp njësinë speciale të policisë beogradase, duke i shkaktuar humbje të mëdha edhe në njerëz edhe në teknikë luftarake agresorit, që kishte aktivizuar për shuarjen e celulave kryengritëse.
Të gjitha këto dhe shumë të tjera që s'u përmendën, lanë gjurmë të thella në edukimin atdhetar të Adem e Hamëz Jasharit dhe çetës së tij trime. Adem dhe Hamez Jashari do të betohen para varrit të Tahir Mehës, se do të vazhdojnë luftën për çlirim deri në fitore. Dhe, ecen guximshëm rrugës së luftëtarëve kombëtarë, duke ngritur si në aspektin organizativ, njashtu edhe duke rritur numerikisht, numrin në rradhët luftëtarëve të lirisë e të pavarësisë, duke ngritur efikasitetin e luftës çlirimtare, me çka ndryshuan rrjedhat e historisë dhe hapen një epokë të re - Epokën e Ushtrisë Çlirimtare të Kosovës. Demonstratat e vitit 1981, ngjarjet e Pranverës së madhe studentore të vitit 1981, të cilat u shëndrruan në Lëvizje të madhe popullore, që me vite mbajten të ndezur flakadanin e lirisë e të çlirimit të kombit, patën ndikim të fortë patriotik në brezin që formuan, organizuan dhe udhëhoqen politikisht dhe ushtarakisht Ushtrinë Çlirimtare të Kosovës. Adem Jashari dhe çeta e tij ka qenë dhe ka mbetur bërthama themeltare e UÇK-së. Në histori mundet edhe të ndodhin ngjarje të rastsishme, por Adem Jashari, çeta dhe familja e tij nuk janë rastësi e historisë, ata me ndërgjegje e vendosmëri u përgatitën për kthesën vendimtare të historisë sonë më të re. Adem Jashari nuk shkoi rastësisht në Shqipëri për të përsosur artin e luftës, të cilin e përvetësonte me shpejtësi të rrufeshme, dallohej nga i gjithë brezi i tij. Në përgatitjet ushtarake tregoi aftësi dhe cilësi të larta në përvetësimin e artit të përdorimit të armeve të ndryshme për luftën çlirimtare. Adem Jashari, ndryshimet që po bëheshin në vitet 90, i shihte me optimizëm, prandaj me vendosmëri e sinçeritet të lartë nisi angazhimin e tij në sferën ushtarake, për organizimin e luftës çlirimtare. Adem Jashari dhe çeta e tij nuk ishin nisur në rrugën e luftës për liri, për hirë të këtij apo atij lideri, pse ky apo ai i paskan sytë e zinj. Ata ishin nisur për çlirimin e Kosovës pa bërë llogari meskine, karieriste apo grabitëse. Ata e donin Kosovën e lirë e të pavarur. Ata ishin të liruar nga ideologjizmat, veç shqiptarizmës. Adem Jashari dhe çeta e tij ndryshimet politike që ndodhen në vitet 90 i priti me optimizëm, besoj shumë, por nuk do të kalojë shumë kohë dhe do të zhgënjehen se kasta e "re" e politikajve po bëhej pengesë e rrjedhave të reja të historisë, po ngulfaste shpirtin luftarak të shqiptarëve liridashës. Kur në fund të vitit 1991, në Kosovë po bëheshin arrestime të të gjithë atyre që ishin përgatitur në Shqipëri, Adem Jashari do të njoftojë çetën e tij dhe të kërkojë nga ata, që të ishin vigjilent se çdo natë armiku mund t´iu trokaste në porta. Ai do t´iu thotë shokëve: "Armët nuk i kemi marrë që t´ia dorëzojmë armikut, por që ta luftojmë deri në fishekun e fundit". Më fjalën e komandantit u pajtuan të gjithë. Dhe, nuk vonoi dita kur armiku do të trokas në portën e Jasharëve. Ishte mëngjesi i hershëm i 30 dhjetorit 1991, ku armiku me një makineri të tërë policore kishte rrethuar Jasharajt dhe kërkuan dorëzimin e Adem Jasharit dhe Jasharëve tjerë. Adem Jashari me vëllezër e shokë apelit të armikut për dorëzim ju përgjigjen me breshëri armësh nga shumë drejtime. Ishte e çartë, çeta e Prekazit kishte vendosur epokën e luftës çlirimtare, ata mes jetës se burgut e të poshtërimit kishin zgjedhur jetën e lavdisë e të lirisë, me të gjitha pasojat që mund t´i kishte. Vetëm të guximshmit nëpër kohë të ndryshme i kanë ndërruar rrjedhat e historisë, kështu ndodhi edhe me Adem Jasharin dhe çetën e tij. Kështu nisin aksionet luftarake mbi policinë e armikut, fillimisht në Drenicë, e për t'u përhapur më vonë ne Llap e Dukagjin, në Drini e kudo në Kosovë. UÇK po bëhëj shpresë për popullin dhe tmerr për armikun, armikut po i rrëshqiste dheu nën këmbë, pasigurinë e shihte të çdo kaçube. Adem Jashari ishte kudo. Ai po bëhej legjendë. Ai ishte kudo ku sulmohej armiku, ai ishte në çdo cep të Kosovës. Vetëm frikacaket nuk mund t´i besonin trimërive e të bëmave të Adem Jasharit, ata nuk dëshironin ndeshjen me armikun dhe sa herë që çeta e tij sulmonte e vriste policinë kriminale të armikut do të thonin: "Këta janë dorë e zgjatur e armikut, janë të Sheshelit apo të Arkanit etj.", - dhe kjo nuk ishte diçka e re, dikush duhej të mbulonte kolaborimin me Beogradin, por paraprakisht duhej akuzohej tjetri. Adem Jashari kishte shumë mundësi, ai kishte zgjedhur me ndërgjegje mundësinë e luftës së armatosur për liri e pavarësi, anipse ai i dinte mundësitë e veprimit luftarak të UÇK-së. Pas luftës se 26 nëntorit 1997, në Llaushë të Re, ku mori pjesë Ademi me çetën e tij, nga e cila armiku u tërhoq me bisht nën këmbë, armiku do të bëjë plane për zhdukjen e Adem Jasharit. Kjo do të ndodhë me 22 janar 1997. Një bandë kriminele kishte sulmuar familjen Jashari, me qëllim që të zhdukej kjo çerdhe e rrezikshme e Ushtrisë Çlirimtare të Kosovës. Por, falë gjakftohësisë e guximit të familjes dhe ndihmes që erdhi nga çeta, armiku u tërhoq pa arritur qëllimin. Ato ditë e tërë Kosova sikur ishte në Lagjen e Jasharëve. Nuk ishte e vështirë ta kuptoje mesazhin që kishte lënë armiku. Armiku ishte tërhequr i bindur se nuk kishte gjetur mënyren e eliminimit të Adem Jasharit dhe familjes Jashari. Armiku dëshironte qoftë edhe largimin e Jasharajve nga trojet e tyre, por Jasharajt nuk i lëshonin trojet stërgjyshore. Ata as të vdekur nuk donin të shkuleshin nga vendi i tyre, për çka kishin nisur luftën. Adem Jashari dhe gjithë Jasharajt nuk e donin ikjen e poshtërimin, ata e dëshironin qëndresën, e donin lirinë dhe pavarësinë e Kosovës. Armiku pas disfatës së 22 janarit kishte filluar përgatitjet për një sulm të përmasave të mëdha policore dhe ushtarake, dhe ky sulm do të fillojë në mëngjesit e hershëm të 5 prillit 1998, pak ditë pasi policia armike kishte pasur një disfatë të Lisat Binak, në Likoshan. Këtë herë forca të mëdha ushtarake dhe policore e kishin rrethuar Prekazin, me orientim kryesor Lagjen e Jasharëve. Lufta për eliminimin e Jasharëve ishte e rreptë. Armiku Prekazin e kishte vendosur në rreth të hekurtë dhe sulmonte nga shumë anë. UÇK-ja aso kohe i kishte mundësitë e kufizuara të sulmit e të depërtimit. Adem Jashari dhe çeta e tij sulmit armik ju përgjigjen me sulm. Lufta që zhvilloi Adem Jashari me shokë që e madhe. Sulmi i armikut vinte nga larg. Pas një rezistence të gjatë dhe herioke, armiku arriti të djegë e shkatërrojë Lagjen e Jasharëve, por jo kurrë vendosmërinë për të vazhduar luftën për liri e pavarësi. Adem Jashari deri në vdekje luftoi e këndoi, jo vdekja e Adem Jasharit nuk është vdekje është përjetësi. Lufta për Prekazin që e ashpër. Qëndresa ishte e madhe. Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës humbi prijetarin e saj. Kosova fitoi komandantin legjendar. Me aktin e rënies se Jasharëve, Kosova mundi frikën dhe për lirinë e pavarësinë u hapen shtigje të reja. Adem Jashari - legjendë, solli kualitet të ri në filozofinë dhe mendësinë e shqiptarëve për jetën, atdheun, lirinë për nderin dhe dinjitetin e kombit. Rënia heroike e Adem Jasharit i dha shtytjen më të fuqishme mobilizimit, strukturimit dhe profesionalizimit të Ushtrisë Çlirimtare të Kosovës. Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës fitoi hapësira të reja veprimi. Komandanti Legjendar i UÇK-së me jetën, veprën dhe lavdinë e tij i dha kualitete dhe përmasa të reja 28 Nëntorit - Festës sonë Kombëtare

Ne Anglisht

It hangs above the door of the Youth Center, which is a really stunningly hideous building from the 1970s. It shows Adem Jashari in full combat regalia... fatigues, assault rifle, enormous beard. Insofar as you can make out his expression (it's a big beard), he looks about two parts menacing, one part mournful.
-- Adem Jashari. He's the great martyr-hero of Kosovo's war of liberation. He was from Drenica, which is a rural region in central Kosovo with a long tradition of resistance to the authorities... Turkish, Yugoslav, Serbian, whoever. Maybe more important, he was a Jashari. Rural Kosvo is all about clans, big extended families, and the Jasharis were one of the richest and most important clans in Drenica, or indeed in all of Kosovo.
Adem Jashari was one of the founders of the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army. This was in 1996, after the Dayton Agreement convinced some Kosovar Albanians that there was no hope but war. (Dayton ended the war in Bosnia, but at the expense of completely ignoring what Milosevic was doing in Kosovo.)
In its first year or 18 months of existence, the KLA wasn't much. They had maybe a few hundred active members, in a province of ~2 million people. Most Albanians were still going along with Ibrahim Rugova's program of non-violent resistance. This wasn't because Albanians are a peaceful people. No. It was because Milosevic and the Serbs seemed stronger than ever, international assistance seemed wildly unlikely, and armed resistance looked like a bloody dead end.
So the KLA made a nuisance of itself, but not much more. It killed some Serb police (who were universally loathed as corrupt and brutal), set off some bombs, and managed to make some regions (like Drenica) a no-go area for Serb forces. But overall it accompanied little of military significance.
Until the spring of 1998. In February and March of that year, the Serbs unleashed a series of deadly attacks on Albanian villages containing KLA guerrillas. The most famous of these was on Donji Prekaz, the village of the Jashari family. It was aimed at Adem Jashari, who by this time had become one of the most famous or notorious KLA commanders.
Here's the official Serbian version:
"In the early morning hours of March 5, a terrorist group attacked another police patrol near the village of Donje Prekaze. After police returned fire, the terrorists retreated to their base and dug in at the Jashari family farm in that village... engagement with the terrorists lasted for 27 hours, with a total of 51 casualties. Unfortunately, it was later established that Jashari family members were among them. Terrorists physically prevented them from leaving the farm, despite the police invitation. The Interior Ministry expresses regret and bitterness that these victims were a direct consequence of cruelty and ruthlessness of Albanian terrorists... The fact that he personally shot his nephew to prevent him from surrendering testifies to Adem Jashari’s cruelty. Two officers lost their lives in this action, and seven were seriously injured."
Here's Human Rights Watch's version:
"Human Rights Watch was not able to visit Donji Prekaz, a village with a pre-war population of approximately 1,000 people, due to continued fighting. It is, therefore, the case from Drenica on which the least direct testimony was available to Human Rights Watch. This notwithstanding, Human Rights Watch has concluded that serious violations of international humanitarian law were committed by the Serbian special police: notably, indiscriminate attacks on noncombatants, the systematic destruction of civilian property, and the summary and arbitrary executions of those in detention. Although it appears that some Albanian villagers in Donji Prekaz were armed and defending themselves against the police, the evidence is overwhelming that the police used excessive and indiscriminate force, and that the police executed at least three people after they had been detained or had surrendered.
"The police attacked Prekaz and the Jashari compound [in a] prepared and determined manner. All evidence suggests that the attack was not intended to apprehend armed Albanians, considered “terrorists” by the government, but, as Amnesty International concluded in its report on violence in Drenica, “to eliminate the suspects and their families.” Testimonies collected by human rights groups and journalists indicate several cases of extrajudicial executions and unlawful killings from excessive force.
"An estimated fifty-eight ethnic Albanians were killed in the attack, including eighteen women and ten children under the age of sixteen, and then summarily buried by the police before autopsies could be performed. The exact number and identities of the dead reported by different sources varies slightly, a consequence of the manner in which the burial was conducted, and because some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition.
"According to the Serbian police, the attack on Donji Prekaz was in response to KLA attacks on nearby police patrols. According to witnesses, however, the attack was well orchestrated and included APCs, artillery shelling from the nearby ammunition factory, and special police forces in camouflage and face paint."
The Albanian version... well, I can't find it in English online. But it's basically Butch and Sundance. Adem Jashari goes down, ferocious, heroic, guns blazing defiance. Then the Serbs kill everybody.
The Donji Prekaz massacre turned out to be a huge strategic mistake. It inflamed Albanian public opinion and vastly increased support for the KLA. By summer, KLA membership had soared from ~2,000 to more like ~15,000, and it was on its way to being a serious guerrilla force. The UN Security Council had passed a resolution 'condemning the use of excessive force by Serbian police" in Kosov... the first sign that anyone in the outside world cared a whit about this remote and obscure province. And Adem Jashari, hero and martyr, had entered the realm of legend.
Which brings us back to the picture of him, twelve feet tall, armed and bearded, glowering mournfully at the teenagers passing under him to enter the Youth Center. Is he there as an inspiration to the young people of Kosovo?
Maybe. Or maybe he's there because directly across the street from the Youth Center is the UN compound. In fact, his picture is directly opposite the office window of UN proconsul Soren Jessen-Peterson. Peterson, a Danish diplomat, is the appointed governor of Kosovo; there's a local Parliament and a Prime Minister, but he has final power over everything they do.
But whenever he looks out the window, he'll see Adem Jashari staring back at him.
I should probably say that I think this is pretty dumb. The Kosovars had a hell of a time under the Serbs, so a certain amount of acting out is understandable. But it's been six years, and they're about to gain their independence. Whatever Adem Jasheri was, he doesn't belong up on the Youth Center -- a government building, in a Kosovo that's supposed to be multi-ethnic and respectful of minority rights. And whether Peterson and the UN are doing a good job or not, they should be able to go about their business without a bearded giant with an AK-47 looking over their shoulders.

Mother theresa (Nena Tereze)

2005-12-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

"Pashaporta" shqiptare e Nënë Terezës

Në vështrimin historik, shfaqja e Nënë Terezës si përfaqësuese e një misioni të shenjtë, në botën shqiptare jo vetëm nuk ka asgjë të papritur, por vjen si përforcim i një tradite 2 mijëvjeçare.
I. Që prej shpalljes së vendimit të Selisë së Shenjtë për bekimin e më pas shenjtërimin e Nënë Terezës, në mjediset shqiptare është diskutuar mjaft rreth rolit dhe përmasave të kësaj figure të shquar të njerëzimit. Prej këtyre debateve kanë dalë të vërteta të rëndësishme që ndriçojnë aspekte vendore të personalitetit të Nënë Terezës, sidomos të familjes së saj, të origjinës, të lidhjeve burimore me Shqipërinë dhe shqiptarët. Në vështrimin historik prapavajtës, shfaqja e Nënë Terezës si përfaqësuese e një misioni të shenjtë, në hapësirën dhe botën shqiptare jo vetëm nuk ka asgjë të papritur, por vjen si përforcim i një tradite dymijëvjeçare. Illyricum-i i shenjtë, siç e pati quajtur dy shekuj më parë I. Farlati, e preku krishtërimin qysh në shekullin e parë. Sikurse dëshmohet prej burimeve kishtare, Dyrrah-u pati një peshkop të shuguruar qysh në vitin 56. Prof. Kristo Frashëri ka parashtruar tezën e guximshme se shprehja "gjithë të shenjtët, por sidomos ata të shtëpisë së Cesarit, ju dërgojnë të fala", që gjendet në "Përshëndetjet e fundme" të letrës së shën Palit Filipianëve (E Palit, Filipianëve, 4: 22), duhet kuptuar në formën "keni të fala nga famullia e peshkopit Cesar", që kryente shërbimin e ungjillit në atë kohë në Durrës, jo "nga familja e perandorit Cesar", sikurse del në disa përkthime. Peshkopi Cesar është një prej shenjtorëve më të hershëm të njerëzimit. I dyti ndër shenjtorët e botës iliro-shqiptare është shën Ashti (apo shën Asti), gjithashtu peshkop i Durrësit, i martirizuar në vitin 117. Një prej mbledhësve më të hershëm të dorëshkrimeve ungjillore, Origeni, që jetoi në shekullin e 2-të, dëshmon se gjeti një ungjill të shekullit të parë në Nikopojë, Arta e sotme. Kjo do të thotë: një dorëshkrim të kohës kur shkruheshin për herë të parë ungjijtë, një arketip. Shën Gjëri, siç thuhet në formën e kryehershme të pranimit në shqip për emrin e Shën Jeronimit (Hieronymus), një nga "katër dotorëtë" e mëdhenj të kishës siç e përcakton Bogdani, përktheu në shekullin e 4-t "La Vulgata-n", duke I dhënë Perëndimit të parin tekst në latinisht të shkrimit të shenjtë. Për këtë mision ai u shpall shenjt dhe u bë një figurë referenciale e krishtërimit. Sikurse duhet, shën Gjëri lindi në Stirdon, Dalmaci dhe ishte me origjinë ilire. Pak a shumë në të njëjtën kohë, shën Niketa, i njohur edhe me emrin "shën Niketa i Dardanisë" apo "shën Niketa i Remessiana-s" (tek sllavët: "sveti Nikita", kompozoi himnoren e mirënjohur "Te deum, laudeamus" - "Ty Zot të lavdërojmë". Të paktën që nga fillimi i shekullit të kaluar, kur britaniku A. E. Burn botoi në Cambridge (1905) monografinë "Niceta of Remessiana", dihet botërisht se ky shenjtor doli prej botës iliro-shqiptare. Vetë shën Niketa shkruan me dorën e tij: "Dardanus sum" - jam dardan. Të tjerë shenjtorë e martirë pasuruan traditën e krishtërimit në Shqipëri duke ardhur prej visesh ku nuk gjetën mundësi për të bërë çfarë kishin në mendje. Flori dhe Lauri, ose Floriani dhe Laurini, siç njihen shpesh dy vëllezërit binjakë, erdhën nga vise të largëta në shekullin e 2-të në Dardani, ku, me pëlqimin e sundimtarëve vendës, ngritën një faltore të krishterë. Në fund të punës së tyre Flori dhe Lauri ia kushtuan faltoren që ndërtuan Jezu Krishtit dhe e kthyen në kishë. Jetuan në gjysmën e parë të shekullit të 2-të. Shën Flori e Lauri, apo Floriani e Laurini, u martirizuan në Kosovën e sotme në mbarim të faltores. Në fillimin e shekullit të pestë, sipas dëshmive të Zef Valentinit (1929) dhe të Kristo Frashërit (1995), shën Gjon Gojarti kaloi dy vite të vështirë në brendësi të Ballkanit, saktësisht në tokën ilire. Një dëshmi e paraqitur një shekull më parë nga greko-shqipari Nikolaos Mystakidis bën të ditur se kishës së Labovës perandori Justinian i dhuroi një copë nga druri i shenjtë i kryqit të kryqëzimit të Krishtit dhe një dorëshkrim të artë të shën Gjon Gojartit. Tradita e takimit të hapësirës shqiptare vazhdoi me shekuj. Në veri shën Sergji e Baku; në jug shën Gjon Vladimiri, deri tek shën Kozmai, tregojnë se bota shqiptare jo vetëm nuk ishte e largët p§ër misionarët e shenjtë, por, madje, ofronte mjedis zhvillimi e lartësimi. Kjo nuk lidhet vetëm me krishtërimin, por me bashkësinë shqiptare në tërësi. Për ilustrim po lexojmë të plotë letrën e Ali pashë Tepelenës drejtuar të bindurve të tij, me porosinë për ringritjen dhe ruajtjen e manastirit të shën Kozmait: "Juve rum të nahijes së Beratit, myzeqarë dhe vlleh grabovarë, katunde dhe çifliqe. Ju lajmëroj se ja ku vura një epitrop që të më ndreqë manastirin e plakut Kozma; ndihmova dhe unë me aspra e të ndihmoni dhe ju si t'ju thotë dhespoti, me qëllim që të ndreqet ky manastir. Për ata që nuk do të japin ndihmën e tyre, do të më mbetet hatëri dhe pastaj do të paguajnë dyfish. Sikundër ju urdhëroj ashtu të bëni pas këtij vendimi. Në Gjirokastër, më 12 shtator 1813" ("Kodikët e Shqipërisë", bot. i DPA & Unesco-s, Tiranë 2003, f. 48). Dijetari austriak Teodor Ippen është shprehur se në malet e Shqipërisë së Veriut dikur shiheshin portrete shenjtorësh të kohës së paleokrishtërimit. Kjo nuk është provuar dhe as mohuar nga ndonjë studiues i mëvonshëm. Por në një përmendore tjetër të kulturës tradicionale, në të drejtën etnozakonore shqiptare, thuhet rreptë se "shtëpia e shqiptarit është e mikut dhe e shtegtarit", shprehje kjo e mirënjohur për të gjithë, por, për fat të keq pa shtojcën arsyetuese: "sepse nuk dihet kush troket: shenjti a përderësi":
II. Nënë Tereza është një figurë me karakter universal, sikurse janë misionet e humanizmit, bamirësisë dhe solidaritetit. Përpjekjet për ta trajtuar figurën e Nënë Terezës jashtë kësaj tradite, ashtu sikurse përpjekjet e kundërta, për ta çmuarkryesisht në një vështrim etnocentrist, do të çonin në kufizimin e vlerave të saj. Nënë Tereza mund të çmohet me tërë madhështinë e personalitetit të vet menjë vështrim antropocentrist, si arritje e kulturës njerëzore.
Çfarë i takon botës shqiptare nga ky personalitet? Pikë së pari origjina, raporti me Shqipërinë si atdheu i saj. Për atdheun e Nënë Terezës kohët e fundit është folur e shkruar shumë dhe janë përmendur mjaft fakte qëduhen çmuar. Por kërkimi i së vërtetës së fundme për këtë çështje na detyrontë arsyetojmë se nuk ka ndonjë rëndësi ç'mendojmë ne se përfaqësonte Shqipëria për Nënë Terezën. Rëndësi ka të gjendet një përgjigje për pyetjen: ç'ishte Shqipëria për Nënë Terezën sipas vlerësimit të saj. Për t'i dhënë përgjigje kësaj pyetjeje na vijnë në ndihmë disa të dhëna, që kanë të bëjnë me burimet arkivore më të reja, të cilat po i përmendim.
Gonxhe Bojaxhiu ne vitet e rinise
III. sNë fund të viteve '80 Nënë Tereza pati mundësinë të vizitonte Shqipërinë. Vizitat e para të saj janë përfolur me e pa të drejtë. Ka sunduar pikëpamja se Nënë Tereza nuk u prit mirë, nuk iu rezervuan nderet që meritonte, nuk iu dëgjuan këshillat dhe kërkesat e të tjera. Në të gjitha këto ka të vërteta të pjesshme. Vetë fakti që Nënë Tereza nuk i ndërpreu më vizitat në Shqipëri qysh prej vitit 1989 tregon se kontakti i parë me këtë vend qe pozitiv. Por çfarë del prej burimeve? Me vizitën e parë të Nënë Terezës në Shqipëri edhe qendrimi i autoriteteve shtetërore të kohës reflekton ndryshime pozitive. Shprehje e këtij reflektimi është vendimi i këtyre autoriteteve për t'i propozuar Nënë Terezës dhënien e pasaportës së shtetit shqiptar. Sigurisht, kjo nuk ishte një çështje e lehtë as për t'u hapur dhe as për t'u zgjidhur. Nënë Tereza kishte, sikurse dihej botërisht, përveç pasaportës italiane, të Vatikanit, të Britanisë dhe Indisë, edhe pasaportë të Shteteve të Bashkuara të Amerikës. Ndërkohë, shteti shqiptar, për afro një gjysmë shekulli, i kishte refuzuar asaj edhe hyrjen në tokën ku preheshin varret e prindërve dhe familjarëve. Në fillim të vitit 1991, me iniciativën e ish-kryetarit të shtetit R. Alia, u bë përpjekja e parë për të marrë informacionin e nevojshëm nëse dhënia e një pasaporte shqiptare do të ishte një veprim i mirëpritur nga Nënë Tereza apo, përkundrazi, kjo mund të shkaktonte një problem tejet të ndërlikuar për gjykimin e raporteve të saj me Shqipërinë, më të ndërlikuar ngasa paraqite në debatet e tashme. Për këtë, nga ana e autoriteteve shtetërore të kohës, u kërkua ndihma e bashkësisë së krishterë "San Egidio", e cila kishte raporte konfidenciale me Nënë Terezën dhe, në çdo rast, duke përfshirë edhe rastin më të keq, refuzimin, kjo mund të mbetej një çështje e trajtuar gojarisht. Ashtu sikurse pritej, Nënë Tereza jo vetëm nuk e kundërshtoi marrjen e pasaportës shqiptare, por e konfirmoi menjëherë pranimin e saj. Duke qenë se një vizitë e rendit e Nënë Terezës në atë periudhë nuk dukej e afërme, u vendos që pasaporta t'i çohej dorazi në Itali, duke pasur gjithnjë ndërmjetësinë dhe mbështetjen e komunitetit të "San Egidio-s". Kështu, prej vitit 1991, Nënë Tereza zyrtarisht ka mbajtur edhe pasaportën shqiptare, krahas pasaportave të tjera të përmendura tashmë, të cilat nuk ishin rastësore. Pasaporta e Vatikanit dhe ajo e Italisë lidheshin me qendrën e krishtërimit perëndimor, rreth të cilit vepronte misioni i motrave të Nënë Terezës. Pasaporta britanike lidhej me qendrimin relativisht të gjatë të saj për shkollim e formim, deri në hyrjen në rrugën e misionit të bamirësisë dhe të humanizmit. Pasaporta e Indisë lidhej me kryeqendrën e shërbimit të saj. Pasaporta amerikane ishte shprehje e përmasës globale të saj si figurë. Ndërsa pasaporta shqiptare shprehte raportin me dheun e të parëve. Pranimi i një pasaporte, në terma juridikë, do të thotë pranim i shtetësisë së vendit që e ka lëshuar atë., ashtu sikurse lëshimi i një pasaporte është akt juridik, që ka të bëjë me njohjen e shtetësisë dhe të detyrimit të mbrojtjes së shtetësisë. Nënë Terezës, nga autoritetet shqiptare, iu dha pasaportë diplomatike, shkalla më e lartë e identifikimit zyrtar-shtetëror. Të gjitha këto veprime sigurisht kanë lënë gjurmët e veta në praktikën shkresore të institucionit të kryetarit të shtetit dhe të shërbimit konsullor. Ne nuk e dimë nëse Nënë Tereza pati rast ta përdorte ndonjëherë pasaportën e shtetit shqiptar. Dihet fare mirë se ajo nuk kishte kurrfarë nevoje për atë pasaportë. Vendimi për ta pranuar atë ishte vendim për të shprehur një raport specifik me Shqipërinë, raport që në një dokument pak më të hershëm ajo e ka shprehur në mënyrën më të qartë dhe më domethënëse.
IV. "Dear Mr. President of our dear Country Albania, After many years of prayer and desire to visit my oën countring after visiting so many throught out the Ëorld, at last the good God gave this beautiful gift to come and to see my people. My oën family lived here for many years and they also died here so I ëas able to visit theis graves… I hope together ëe ëill do something beautiful for God and for our people".God blest You, M. Teresa, mc". Ky është një fragment hyrës nga letra që Nënë Teresa i drejtoi kryetarit të shtetit në mbarim të vizitës së saj në Shqipëri, më 16 gusht 1989. Në një përkthim të përpiktë shqip të këtij fragmenti është kjo përmbajtje: "I dashur zoti president i vendit tim të dashur Shqipëri, Pas shumë vjet lutjesh dhe dëshire për të vizituar vendin tim; pasi kisha vizituar aq shumë vende të ndryshme jashtë nëpër botë, i lumi Zot më dha dhuratën e bukur: të vij e të shoh popullin tim. Njerëzit e familjes sime kanë jetuar këtu për shumë vite dhe këtu vdiqën dhe unë pata mundësi të vizitoj varret e tyre… Unë shpresoj se … së bashku mund të bëjmë diçka të bukur për Zotin dhe për popullin tonë"Zoti ju bekoftë, Nënë Teresa, misionare e mëshirës
/missione di caritas" (AQSH, F. 889, V. 1989, D. 261/19, fl. 6-7).. Në letrën e saj Nënë Teresa preferon të nënshkruajë me formën shqipe të emrit të vet: Teresa, jo Theresa. Ky është teksti i përpiktë i letrës së Nënë Terezës, shkrim dore, dërguar kryetarit të shtetit shqiptar më 8 gusht 1989, në mbarim të vizitës së saj të parë në Shqipëri. Në këtë letër, pa asnjë ekuivok, Shqipëria përcaktohet nga Nënë Tereza si "vendi im", populli shqiptar përcaktohet si "populli im", kurse për vendet e tjera të vizituara prej saj gjatë një gjysmë shekulli mungese në Shqipëri përdoret shprehja "out the World", thua se Nënë Tereza gjithë jetën kishte rrojtur brenda. Në letrën që ish-kryetari i shtetit R. Alia i drejtoi Nënë Terezës në përgjigje të pohimeve të saj, letër që mban datën 2 shtator 1989, megjithëse Shqipëria vazhdonte të ishte një shtet ateist me kushtetutë, thuhet shprehimisht: "E respektuara Nënë Terezë, Ju faleminderit për letrën që më dërguat me rastin e mbarimit të vizitës suaj në Shqipëri. Ne jemi të gëzuar që ditët e qendrimit në Atdheun tonë të përbashkët, edhe pse ishin të pakta, u karakterizuan nga ndjenjat e dashurisë vëllazërore shqiptare, nga rigjetja e lidhjeve të vjetra miqësore e familjare, nga rilindja e kujtimeve dhe emocioneve që vijnë nga ajo tokë ku kanë jetuar e ku pushojnë të parët e etërit tanë. Njerëzit tanë njohën bashkatdhetaren e tyre fisnike, që u ka dhënë besën të varfërve, të sëmurëve dhe fatkeqëve" (AQSH, F. 889, V. 1989, D. 261/19, fl. 2-5). Ky letërkëmbim vijon dhe përmbyllet në vitin 1993, me një letër që Nënë Tereza i dërgoi ish-kryetarit të shtetit, tashmë në kushtet e arrestit. Afërsisht një gjysmë shekulli më parë, pikërisht në vitin 1942, Zyra e Biografive e Kryeministrisë, duke e rekomanduar si punonjëse të denjë për ministrinë e kulturës popullore, e cilësonte Age Bojaxhiun, motrën e Nënë Terezës, "element nacionalist" shqiptar (AQSH, Fondi i Kryeministrisë, Zyra e Biografive, V. 1942). Me sa duket, Nënë Tereza dhe familja e saj e lindjes nuk kishin ndonjë paqartësi në lidhje me raportet e saj me Shqipërinë dhe popullin e saj, e kishte zgjidhur vetë, me kohë, problemin e raporteve të saj shpirtërore dhe reale me Shqipërinë, shumë vite para se të fillonte diskutimi për atdheun e saj.

Fatmir Limaj

2005-12-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

Pas dy vitesh paraburgim ne tribunalin e Hages, Fatmir Limaj Dhe Isak Musliu sot u shpallen te pafajshem per te gjitha akuzat, ndersa Hajredin Balaj denohet me 13 vite burgim. Menjehere pas shpalljes se vendimit mijera shqiptare vershuan rruget e Prishtines...
Pasi qe perseriti akuzat, gjykatesi kryesore deklaroi se pas te gjitha deshmive dhe provave rreth te akuzuarit Fatmir Limaj, nuk kishte vertetuar nese i akuzuari kishte vizituar ndonjehere burgjet e UCK-se dhe se nuk kishte vertetuar prezencen e Fatmir Limajt ne malet e Berishes ku vertetohet se jane vrare 9 te burgosur civil. Ne baze te analizave qe jane bere, gjykata vendos qe te shpall Fatmir Limaj te pa fajshem per te gjitha pikat qe e akuzonin ate.Nderkaq gjykata deklaron se ne baze te deshmive dhe provave vertetohet qe Hajredin Balaj ka qene nje nga rojet e burgut te Llaupshnikut si dhe verteton qe Balaj ka ndihmuar ne disa raste kur jan torturuar te burgosurit poashtu dhe ka qene njeri nga tre rojet qe kane ekzekutuar 9 te burgosur civil ne malet e Berishes, megjithate gjykata e akuzon ate si roje apo si ushtare qe ka vepruar ashtu si eshte komanduar e jo si komandat apo si pergjegjes kryesor per vrasjen e 9 te burgosurve, por siç shprehet gjykatesi, kjo nuk e deshmon pafajsine e plot te tij keshtu qe ai shpallet i fajshem per disa nga akuzat dhe denohet me 13 vjet heqje lirie.Poashtu per Isak Musliun gjykata verteton se nuk eshte i fajshem per asnje akuze dhe e shpall te pa fajshem duke vertetuar edhe lirimin e tij te menjehershem, ngase deshmite dhe provat nuk kishin vertetuar qe i akuzuari ishte fajtor per njeren nga akuzat.Prokuroria me ne fund deklaroi qe Fatmir limaj dhe Isak Musliu te lirohen menjehere nga parabugrimi, ndersa Hajredin Balaj do te vuaj denimin prej 13 vitesh duke i llogaritur edhe kohen qe ka qene ne parabugrim.

Albanian Flags History (Historia e Flamurit)

2005-12-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

Eqerem bej Vlora, jep variantin e tij, për historinë e flamurit që u ngrit nga plaku Ismail Qemali, më 28 Nëntor të vitit 1912.Ai thotë shprehimisht: “E zgjata ca historinë e ngritjes së flamurit, sepse vitet e fundit kanë qarkulluar variante krejt të pavërteta dhe unë dëshiroj që ngjarja e saktë të përshkruhet e të mbetet njëherë e përgjithmonë”. Ja se çfarë shkruan Eqerem Bej Vlora në librin e tij.

Eqerem bej Vlora: E vërteta e flamurit“Ismail Qemalit i kërkova flamurin që më fali Aleandro Kastrioti”-------------------------------------------------=Eqerem bej Vlora, jep variantin e tij, për historinë e flamurit që u ngrit nga plaku Ismail Qemali, më 28 Nëntor të vitit 1912.Ai thotë shprehimisht: “E zgjata ca historinë e ngritjes së flamurit, sepse vitet e fundit kanë qarkulluar variante krejt të pavërteta dhe unë dëshiroj që ngjarja e saktë të përshkruhet e të mbetet njëherë e përgjithmonë”. Ja se çfarë shkruan Eqerem Bej Vlora në librin e tij.-------------------------------------------------=Kthimi në Vlorë Me t’u kthyer nga Kuçi, unë shkova menjëherë në shtëpinë e tim kushëriri, Xhemilit, për të takuar Kryetarin e Qeverisë së Përkohshme, shtëpia ishte kopje e zvogëluar e haramllëkut nuk kishte katër, por tri kate. Përmes derës ndërmjetëse hyra në katin përdhes ku ishin shkallët e mëdha. Oborri, sallat poshtë e lartë , shkallët ishin mbushur plot nga njerëz me fytyra, sjellje e veshje që nuk i kisha parë kurrë në Vlorë. Të gjithë bisedonin me zë të lartë dhe kur mërziteshin në një vend, lëviznin lirshëm dhe pateklif sikur të ishin në shtëpinë e tyre. Në katin e sipërm ishte një sallon i madh i paijsur me mobilje të bukura të stilit bidermajer, dera e të cilit ishte krejt e hapur. Përpara saj njerëzit ngjesheshin e shtyheshin për të dëgjuar seç thuhej brenda. Unë ndalova për disa çaste për të përshëndetur një mori të njohurish dhe pastaj hyra në sallon. Ismail beu po rrinte në një divan me një pamje të ligështuar, sa mua m’u dhimbs. Kisha tre vjet pa e parë dhe tani m’u duk më i plakur dhe i drobitur. Ai vuante në këtë mjedis të ri dhe të huaj për të. Për vite me radhë Ismail beu kishte qenë nënpunës i lartë i administratës turke dhe vali, poste këto, kur largësia me të lartit dhe të ultit mbahej vetiu. Kështu, ai kishte rënë në një kaos kontrastesh shoqërore, të cilit nuk po ja gjente dot anën. Unë iu afrova i putha dorën me nderim dhe u ula pranë tij. Të paktën divanin, njerëzit që mbushnin hapsirën kishin pasur mirësinë t’ja linin. Ai më bëri pyetje të zakonshme: si ia çoja, ku ishte im atë a kishte hequr keq në Kuç me këtë mot të keq e kështu me radhë. Pastaj unë u ngrita për të ikur. Por, ai më mbajti dhe më pyeti me zë të ulët: “ dua të të bëj një vizitë. Është edhe te ty si këtu?” Unë iu përgjigja se po të donte të vinte tek unë, do të vija ta merrja vetë. “Jo, -tha ai. Xhemioli më ka thënë se dera ndërmjetëse është ende. Unë vij vetë.” Sidoqoftë edhe tek unë nuk ishte më mirë. Por falë manisë sime për protokoll, falë karakterit të paafruar dhe të mbyllur, largësia sidoqoftë ruhej. Po përse të shkaktohej kjo rrëmujë e kjo gjullurdi në një shtëpi private, mund të pyesë ndokush. Nga koha atërore dhe stërgjyshore Ismail beu kishte mësuar se banesa e sanxhakbeut ishte edhe seli qeveritare. Ndaj edhe selamllëku i shtëpive të bejlerëve, quhej në shqip zapana. Kështu edhe Ismail beut nuk i pëlqente të rrinte në bashki. Dhe njerëziut, që me punë a pa punë, duhej të takonin kryetarin e shtetit, vinin turma-turma në banesën e tij private. Ditët që pasuan, unë takova zyrtarët e lartë të qeverisë së re , të emëruar më 4. 12. 1912, nga i përnderuari kryeministri Ismail beu dhe nënkryeministri fort i nderuari dom Nikollë Kaçorri. Anëtarët e qeverisë së re ishin miq dhe të njohur të mirë, e më duhej të shtoj, se në rrethanat e atëhershme vështirë të bëhej ndonjë zgjedhje më e mirë. Dhe nëse kjo nuk u përgjigjej aspak kërkesave të kohës, nuk ishte faji i saj. Pozita e çdo qeverie përparimtare pas shkatërrimit të sundimit osman nuk mund të ishte e lehtë; vetëm një orë e fortë diktatoriale do të kishte mundur mbase t’ia dilte mbanë qeverisjes. Po ku ishte ky diktator dhe fuqia për të qenë i tillë? Në qeverinë e Ismail Qemal beut dhe të babaxhanit Don Nikollë Kaçorri nuk kishte vend për tiranë mesjetarë, ajo përbëhej krejtësisht nga njerëz të arsyeshëm. Këshilli i Ministrave mblidhej në shtëpinë e Ismail beut, por se ku i kishin selitë ministrat e tij, unë nuk e mora vesh kurrë edhe pse, them se e njihja shumë mirë atë çerdhe mjerane , që quhej asokohe Vlorë. Më mirë nga të tjerët e kishte- këtë e kam parë vetë - ministri i Postëtelegrafës: ai ishte zot i një ministrie të tërë, i Zyrës Posttelegrafike të Vlorës. Asambleja kombëtare që shpalli pavarësinë e Shqipërisë, më 28. 11. 1912, u shpërnda më 7. 12. 1912, pasi zgjodhi më parë, në këmbë të saj, një Këshill Pleqsh, (senat) me 18 anëtarë. Gjatë kohës që qëndroja në Kuç isha zgjedhur (në mungesë) delegat, e tani u zgjodha senator i Vlorës. Dy nga ministrat ishin miqtë e mi, Myfit bej Libohova dhe Abi bej Toptani. Por nuk kishte dy njerëz më të ndryshëm, madje më të përkundërt nga karakteri. Ndërkohë që Myfit beu i merrte me të përqeshur të gjitha këto: mangësitë e qeverisë së përkohshme, papjekurinë e popullit shqiptar, madje tërë këto fyerje që na kishin pllakosur, Abdi beu, përkundër, pikëllohej dhe dëshpërohej sa s’thuhej kur ishte i detyruar ta paguante me një apo dy javë vonesë marrjen e rrogave në shtetin e ri shqiptar. Po ku e mësuan shqiptarët, pyesnim më shpesh me tallje, konceptin e rrogës mujore? Problemi i financave, që unë do ta quaja me emrin e tij të vërtetë: vështirësitë për të siguruar paratë e nevojshme për të mbajtur aparatin shtetëror dhe këto mori të shpërngulurish më dukeshin të pazgjidhshme. Sipas koncepteve turko-shqiptare, Vlora dhe Berati ishin krahina të pasura. Por të ardhurat nga doganat nuk vileshin më për shkak të bllokadës detare greke dhe me afërsisht 6000 -7000 napolonat që qeveria e përkohshme mund të siguronte në muaj, Abdi beu duhej të bënte çudira, duke përmendur këtu se asnjë nga bejlerët nuk mori kurrë asnjë grosh si rrogë apo si dëmshpërblim. Myfit beu, ministri i Brendshëm, banoi disa javë tek unë, pastaj mori me qera një shtëpizë të këndshme prapa avllisë sonë, ku jetoi gjatë kohës së qëndrimit të tij në Vlorë. Stili në të cilin ai e drejtoi Ministrinë e Brendshme, të kujtonte paksa kohën e Dagobertit, Mbretit të mirë të Frankove: pakëz atëror, pakëz kalorsiak, por edhe pakëz despotik.Pas një javeNjë javë pas kthimit tim në Vlorë, çova Murat bej Toptanin dhe Hydaj efendin tek Ismail Qemali, duke iu lutur të më kthente flamurin që i pata huajtur. Më premtuan të ma kthenin atë menjëherë, sapo zonja Marigo Posjo (një atdhetare e madhe demokrate, por që i pëlqente reklama) ta kishte qepur e qëndisur flamurin e ri. E pra, më 28 nëntor kryeobjekti i ditës, flamuri si simbol i pavarësisë, me atë pakujdesin tipike shqiptaro-lindore ishte harruar. Për më tepër shumica nuk e dinte sesi ishte ai. Kurrkush më përpara as e kishte parë, as e kishte mbajtur. Askush në Vlorë nuk kishte flamur në shtëpi. Shtetformuesit ranë në hall dhe vështruan njëri-tjetrin të hutuar. Atëherë ngrihet miku im Hydai efendiu dhe thotë se në dhomën e gjumit të Eqrem beut varet në mur një flamur shqiptar, i futur në një kornizë të bukur. Dhe pyeti se a mund të merrej pa qenë aty i zoti? Ismail beu i dha leje dhe kështu flamuri që dikur don Aleandro Kastrioti më kishte dhuruar solemnisht në Paris, shtegtoi në konakun fqinj dhe ra në duart e Ismail beut, i cili ia dorëzoi Murat bej Toptanit, me porosinë ta varte jashtë, ndërkohë që vetë qëndronte në dritare. Mijëra njerëz u mblodhën në sheshin para shtëpisë dhe në kopësht, duke brohoritur “rroftë, rroftë “ edhe pse shumë prej tyre nuk e kuptonin edhe aq se ç’po bëhej. Më vonë kur unë në ditët festive të shpalljes së pavarësisë si shtet i lirë dhe i pavarur, ngrita flamurin shqiptar në ballin e shtëpisë sonë, disa kosovarë të mirë më thanë: “Shumë mirë e bëtë ju të diturit që ngritët flamurin e babë Kralit (pra të perandorit Franc Jozef) se tani nuk ka më se ç’të na bëjë as serbi i poshtër, as malazezi morracak. Kur pyeta se ku e kam parë shqiponjën e zezë m’u përgjigjën krenarisht : “Tek ushtarët e babë Kralit, në Pazarin e Ri”. Por natyrisht, pati edhe të tillë si një farë Haxhi Muhamet efendiu, një klerik i rëndësishëm e fanatik në Vlorë dhe ithtar i fortë i tim eti, i cili shprehej me zemërim se Ismail beu kishte zgjedhur një korb si simbol të Shqipërisë së lirë. (Ah ta kishte bërë Shqipërinë Syria beu, ankohej ai,- tani do të kishim në flamur syret e bukura të kuranit. Po ç’mund të presësh tjetër nga Ismail beu, që ka e kaluar të gjithë jetën në vendin e frëngjve?)! Kur ia rrëfeva historinë Ismail beut, ai qeshi me të madhe, por edhe më kërcënoi me gisht se do t’i tregonte hoxhës që flamurin nuk e kishte gjetur ai, por unë! Qeveria Kryetar Shteti, kryeministër dhe ministër i Punëve të Jashtme: Ismail Qemal bej Vlora Zëvendëskryeministër: dom Nikollë Kaçorri Ministër i Brendshëm: Myfit bej Libohova dhe Asllan Pashali Ministër i Drejtësisë: Dr. Petro Poga Ministër i Bujqësisë: Pandeli Cale Ministër i Financave: Abdi bej Toptani Ministër i Arsimit: Dr. Luigj Gurakuqi Ministër i Luftës: Gjeneral Mehmet pashë Dralla Ministër i Punëve Botërore: Mitat Dume Frashëri Ministër i Postëtelegrafës: Lef Nosi Vazhdon polemika rreth flamurit kombëtar që u ngrit më 28 nëntor 1912 në Vlorë Flamuri i Skënderbeut në shtëpinë e VlorajveNë këtë shtëpi ka lindur dhe Ismail Qemali, emblema e PavarësisëBardhosh Gaçe Dita e 28 Nëntorit është një festë mbarë kombëtare e shqiptarëve, brenda kësaj dite historike përmblidhen kujtimet e shkruara e të pashkruara të shqiptarëve.Tek ajo ditë historike ringjallet jeta, luftërat dhe përpjekjet e brezave të tërë shqiptarësh për lirinë dhe pavarësinë e atdheut të tyre. Rrënjët e kësaj dite historike duhen kërkuar thellë në kohërat e gjëmimeve të Skënderbeut dhe trimave të tij, të cilët u bënë mbrojtës dhe emërmëdhenj në Evropë kundër invazionit osman. Kur kujtojmë 28 Nëntorin apo lexojmë studime e shkrime për këtë kohë të bekuar, ne shqiptarët ende duhet të reflektojmë në përmasat dhe vendin që duhet të zërë ajo në historiografi, pasi mjaft shkrime dhe studime janë të zbehta dhe nuk japin një tablo të plotë të këtij akti historik. Vitet e fundit janë bërë mjaft përpjekje që akti i shpalljes së Pavarësisë Kombëtare të lidhet ngushtë me tërë ato lëvizje kombëtare që zhvilloi Rilindja Shqiptare, e sidomos Lidhja Shqiptare e Prizrenit që ishte një nga vatrat që e ngriti në kushte të reja këtë lëvizje për çlirimin nga zgjedha otomane dhe përcaktimin e programit polizoik të saj. Është shumë domethënëse që Vlora u bë një nga vatrat e zjarrta të Lidhjes Shqiptare të Prizrenit. Në këtë qytet, Mustafa Pashë Vlora, që Ismail Qemali e quante "mësuesi im i kombëtarizmës", ishte nënkryetar i Lidhjes Shqiptare të Prizrenit, ashtu si edhe Abdyl Frashëri. Roli i tij në mjaft dokumente angleze, turke, franceze e austriake, tregon qartë se ishte jo vetëm një personalitet i Rilindjes Kombëtare, por edhe promotorr i gjithë asaj lëvizje në jug të Shqipërisë, në Vlorë, Janinë, Prevezë e Gjirokastër. Vetë Abdyl Frashëri pati ardhur në Vlorë në vitin 1879 dhe organizoi një kuvend të madh për atdhetarët për realizimin e kërkesave themelore të Lidhjes Shqiptare të Prizrenit. Kjo ngjarje e madhe historike la gjurmë të thella në ndërgjegjen kombëtare të Vlorës dhe të mbarë Shqipërisë së Jugut. Në Vlorë dhe në krahinat e saj veprimtarët më të shquar ishin figura të njohura luftarake e intelektuale si: Odhise Kasneci, Zerbin Cakalli, Sulejman Aliko, Musa Bodo, Beqir Hallkokondi, Xhemil Vlora etj. Pavarësia dhe Ismail QemaliSigurisht, në këtë ngjarje madhore, shpalljen e Pavarësisë shqiptare dhe ngritjen e flamurit në Vlorë, figura kryesore ishte Ismail Qemali si politikan, atdhetar dhe njohës i thellë i Fuqisë së Madhe, i gjendjes së brendshme e të jashtme të Perandorisë osmane dhe Ballkanit. Por, Shpallja e Pavarësisë kombëtare nuk mund të kuptohet pa atë plejadë intelektualësh, luftëtarësh e diplomatësh shqiptarë, të cilët luftuan e qëndruan në krah të njëri-tjetrit si: Hasan Prishtina, Isa Boletini, Rasif bej Dino, Luigj Gurakuqi, Aqif Pashë Elbasani, Mehmet Pashë Dërralla, Vehbi Dibra, Syrja Vlora, Mitat Frashëri, Petro Poga, Pandeli Cala, Murat Toptani, Nikollë Kaçorri, Jani Minga, Dhimitër Berati, Sali Gjoka etj. Qeveria e Përkohshme e Vlorës i kushtoi një rëndësi të veçantë, krahas organizimit të shtetit shqiptar, edhe njohjes së Pavarësisë Kombëtare në Evropë e në vende të tjera. Siç shkruan edhe profesori i të Drejtës Kombëtare baroni Dekamp dhe studiuesi i njohur italian, Antonio Baldaçi, në mjaft shkrime e studime të tyre e japin të qartë Shpalljen e Pavarësisë së Shqipërisë dhe marrëdhëniet e qeverisë së Vlorës me faktorin ndërkombëtar. Mbi të gjitha në mjaft dokumente dhe vendime të qeverisë së Vlorës, vihet re përpjekja e saj për të organizuar administartën dhe jetën politike, shoqërore e ushtrake, sipas modeleve të shteteve evropiane. Edhe Kanuni i përtashëm ishte një akt juridik i mbështetur në këto parime evropiane. Flamuri i Skënderbeut në ballkonin e shtëpisë së Xhemil bej VlorësDo të dëshiroja të ndalesha edhe në dy momente të kësaj ngjarjeje në organizimin e Kuvendit të Vlorës, kësaj ngjarjeje madhore. Ismail Qemali me atdhetarët shqiptarë, pas takimit me diplomatët anglezë, italianë dhe ata të Vjenës, shkuan në Trieste ku i prisnin bashkatdhetarët e tjerë. Atë kohë në Shqipëri u krijua një situatë dramatike, ushtria serbe kishte pushtuar Shqipërinë Veriore dhe nga Shkodra po marshonte për në Durrës. Në këtë moment Ismail Qemali i dërgon telegram parisë së Vlorës, ku u ngrit një komision përgatitor për Shpalljen e Pavarësisë Kombëtare. Në këtë telegram thuhej: "Mbledhja e përfaqësuesve në Durrës apo Vlorë është shumë e rëndësishme. I thirrni të gjithë. Gjersa të arrij unë, mbani qetësinë e ruani bashkimin. Çështja jonë politike u sigurua…". Ky komision përgatitor luajti një rol të madh në përgatitjen e shpalljes së Pavarësisë Kombëtare, ata ishin nga atdhetarët më të shquar si: Qazim Kokoshi, Hasan Sharra, Ibrahim Abdullhu, Syrja bej Vlora, Abaz Mezini, dom Mark Vasa, Elmaz Xhaferri, Haziz Xhyheri, Leonidha Bezhani, Bektash Cakrani, Ethem bej Vlora, etj. Disa prej tyre nuk përmenden në tubimet që bëhen, por mendoj që veprimtaria e tyre kombëtare duhet të ndriçohet. Pa momentin e ngritjes së Flamurit Kombëtar, pas fjalimit të zjarrtë të Ismail Qemalit dhe shpalosjes së flamurit të Skënderbeut në ballkonin e shtëpisë së Xhemil bej Vlorës, në atë shtëpi që kishte lindur dhe Ismail Qemali, e cila ka qenë në vendin ku sot është Monumenti i Pavarësisë, e quaj një akt të madh shpirtëror edhe faktin që, klerikët më të mëdhenj të kohës si: prifti ortodoks Marko Mocka, prifti katolik dom Mark Vasa, dhe kleriku mysliman Haxhi Muhameti, bekuan me fjalët e zotit flamurin kombëtar. Kohët e fundit në disa artikuj vazhdon polemika që është zhvilluar edhe më parë rreth flamurit kombëtar. Në mjegullat e kohës të pushtimit osman u harrua edhe forma dhe ngjyra e flamurit shqiptar. Rilindasit tanë, siç mësojmë prej Spiro Dines, e dinin që flamuri i Skënderbeut ishte me një shqiponjë të bardhë. Anëtarët e shoqërisë së Stambollit vunë në stamën e tyre një shqiponjë me kokë të ulur mbi një shkëmb. Ndërmjet viteve 1880-1895, Zef Skiroi e mbas tij edhe Anselmo Lorekio, në botimin e gazetës së tyre, mbanin si emblemë flamurin e Skënderbeut. Mbas vitit 1900, këtë emblemë e mbante edhe Faik Konica, në revistën "Albania" që botohej në Bruksel. Po në Bruksel, më 1899 u prodhua flamuri i parë shqiptar, i cili ishte zhdukur që në kohën e Skënderbeut. Më 1907, me flamurin e Skënderbeut parakaloi një grup shqiptarësh në rrugët e Bostonit. Një flamur të tillë qëndisi edhe Said Najdeni në burgun e Edmesë. Dervish Hima, më 1908 solli një flamur në vendin tonë me fushë të kuqe. Dritë të plotë mbi flamurin tonë kombëtar hodhi Faik Konica, në artikullin "Flamuri i Shqipërisë" në vitin 1909, në revistën "Albania", i cili thotë se: "Flamuri ynë, i cili është një nga më të lavdëruerit në botë, është padyshim edhe një nga më të vjetrit".

Gjergj Kastrioti Skender Beu (1405-1468)

2005-12-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

Gjergj (Albanian: George) Kastrioti was born in Kruja from Gjon Kastrioti, lord of Middle Albania, who was obliged by the Ottomans to pay tribute to the Empire. To assure the fidelity of local rulers the Sultan used to take their sons as hostage and bring them up in his court. Gjergj Kastrioti attended military school in the Ottoman Empire and was named Iskander Bey which in Turkish means Lord Alexandre.
He was distinguished as one of the best officers in several Ottoman campaigns both in Asia Minor and in Europe, and the Sultan appointed him General. He even fought against Greeks, Serbs and Hungarians, and some sources says that he used to maintain secret links with Raguse, Venice, Vladislas of Hungary et Alphonse V of Naples. Sultan Murat II gave him the title Vali which made him the General Governor of some provinces in central Albania. He was respected everywhere but he missed his country.

In 1443, during the battle against the Hungarians of Hunyadi in Nish (in present day Serbia), he abandoned the Ottoman Army and captured Kruja, his father's seat in middle Albania. Above the castle he rose the Albanian flag, a red flag with the black double-headed eagle, the present-day Albanian flag, and pronounced to his countrymen the famous words: "I have not brought you liberty, I found it here, among you". He managed to unite all Albanian princes at the town of Lezha (League of Lezha, 1444) and united them under his command to fight against the Turks.
During the next 25 years he fought, with forces rarely exceeding 20,000 against the most powerful army of that time and defeated it for 25 years. In 1450 the Turkish army was led by the Sultan Murad II in person, who died after his defeat in the way back. Two other times, in 1466 and 1467, Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, led the Turkish army himself against Skenderbeg and failed too. The Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer Kruja 24 times and failed all 24 of them.
Skenderbeg's military successes evoked a good deal of interest and admiration of the Papal state, Venice and Naples, themselves threatened by the growing Ottoman power across the Adriatic. The Albanian warrior played his hand with a good deal of political and diplomatic skill in his dealings with the three Italian states. Hoping to strengthen and expand the last Christian bridgehead in the Balkans, they provided Skenderbeg with money, supplies and occasionally with troops. One of his most powerful and consistent supporters was Alfonso the Magnanimous (1416-1458), the Aragone king of Naples, who decided to take Skenderbeg under his protection as vassal in 1451, shortly after the latter had scored his second victory against Murad II. In addition to financial assistance, the King of Naples undertook to supply the Albanian leader with troops, military equipment as well as with sanctuary for himself and his family if such a need should arise. As an active defender of the Christian cause in the Balkans, Skenderbeg was also closely involved with the politics of four Popes, one of them being Pius II (1458-1464) or Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, the Renaissance humanist, writer and diplomat.
Profoundly shaken by the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Pius II tried to organise a new crusade against the Turks; consequently he did his best to come to Skenderbeg's aid, as two of his predecessors Nicholas V and Calixtus III, had done before him. This policy was continued by his successor, Paul II,(1464-1473).They gave him the title Athleta Christi.
For a quarter of a century he and his country prevented Turks from invading Catholic Western Europe.

After his death from natural causes in 1468 in Lezha, his soldiers resisted the Turks for the next 12 years. In 1480 Albania was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire. When the Turks found the grave of Skenderbeg in Saint Nicholas church of Lezha, they opened it and held his bones like talismans for luck. In 1480 the Turks invaded Italy and conquered the City of Otranto.
Skenderbeg's posthumous renown was by no means confined to his own country. Voltaire thought the Byzantine Empire would have survived had it possesed a leader of his quality. A number of poets and composers have also drawn inspiration from his military career. The French sixteenth-century poet Ronsard wrote a poem about him and so did the nineteenth-century American poet Longfellow. Antonio Vivaldi, too, composed an opera entitled Scanderbeg.
Skenderbeg today is the National Hero of Albania. Many museums and monuments are raised in his honour around Albania, and among them the Museum of Skenderbeg in his famous castle in Kruja

Ne Shqip

I pari autor i jetëshkrimit të Skënderbeut ka qenë Martin Barleti, i cili jetonte në nji kohë me fatosin tone kombëtar. Barleti ishte nji prift katolik nga Shkodra që pat rastin me njoftë disa nga prijësit luftarak t'asaj kohe, të cilët I kallzuen gjithçka dinin mbi trimnit dhe fitoret e të parit të tyne, Gjergj Kastriotit. Ai kishte pasë gjithashtu mundësin me studjue dokumentet zyrtare të arkivit të Venedikut, ku kishte shkue me jetue mbas pushtimit të Shkodrës prej Turqve. Biografin e Skënderbeut ai e shkrojti në gjuhën latine dhe e botoi në Romë në fillim të shekullit të XVI. Nji shekull ma vonë, G.Bienuni, nji prift italian nga Brescia, gjeti nji tjetër biografi të Skënderbeut të shkrojtun prej nji auktori anonim prej Tivari, të cilin Imzot Fan Noli e pagësoi Tivarasi. Dorëshkrimi origjinal i veprës së Tivarasit, që mbante datën 1480, ka humbë përjetë dhe njifet vetëm nga referencat dhe citatat që përmban libri i Biemmit "Istoria di Giorgio Castrioto Scander-Begh".
Nji burim i tretë origjinal mbi jetën e Skënderbeut asht Gjin Muzaka, i cili ishte nga familja sunduese feodale e Beratit dhe luftoi krahpërkrah me Skënderbeun. Ai jetoi në Shqipni edhe 11 vjet mbas vdekjes së heroit t'onë dhe mandej u vendos në Napoli. Atje shkrojti "Historin dhe trashëgimin brez mbas brezi të familjes së Muzakëve", ku kallzon historin e Skënderbeut si nji gja që ka dishmue ai vet.
Në shekullin e XIX, dijetarë të kombësive të ndryshme, tue lanë menjianë veprat e shumta që ishin shkruejtë gjatë dy shekujve të maparshëm, u kthyen përsëri në burimet origjinale që ishin mbyllë në
arkivat e Vatikanit, Venedikut, Raguzës dhe Stambollit. Zbulimet e tyne kanë shtie nji dritë të re mbi jetën dhe veprat e Skënderbeut. Disa e përmendin në vepra të përgjithëshme dhe fort të gjata që shkruejtën mbi shekullin e zaptimit të Balkanit nga Turqët. Disa të tjerë si Anglezi Clement Moors, Francezi Camille Paganel, Gjermani Z. Pisko, shkruejtën biografi të gjata të Skënderbeut. Por punën ma të madhe dhe ma të vlefshme e bane eruditët Thalloczy, Jireçek dhe Shufflay, të cilët mblodhën së bashku dhe botuen nji koleksion dokumentash që përbajnë nji vepër monumentale mbi Shqipnin e asaj kohe. Ma në fund, iu erdhi radha Shqiptarve. Mbas luftës së parë botnore, Imzot Fan Noli botoi "Historin e Skënderbeut", e cila gëzoi menjiherë nji popularitet të jashtëzakonshëm dhe u mësue gadi përmendsh nga nxanësit e shkollave në atdheun e lirë. At Martin Sirdani mblodhi dhe botoi gojëdhanat e popullit mbi Skënderbeun. Më 1937 Thanas Gegaj i parashtroi Universitetit të Louvain në Belgjikë nji thezë doktorati në gjuhën frengjishte me titullin "L'Albanie et l'invasion turque au XVëme siëcle". Kjo u botue në formë libri me shpenximet e Universitetit. Mbas luftës së dytë botnore, pikërisht më 1947, Fan Noli botoi nji histori të Skënderbeut në gjuhën anglishte. Kjo asht nji vepër shkencore e nji niveli shum të naltë, sidomos për shënimet kritike mbi veprat e auktorve të shumtë që kanë shkruejtë mbi Skënderbeun, ashtu edhe mbi personalitetet dhe ngjarjet historike që kanë pasë lidhje me epopën tone kombëtare. Dobija ma e çmueshme e kësaj vepre qëndron në orvatjen e auktorit me dallue faktet nga legjendat dhe paragjykimet. Mjerisht, tue dashtë me interpretue ngjarjet historike mbas theoris marksiste, Imzot Noli sikur mundohet me e futë Skënderbeun në kallëpin e nji shefi gueriljesh të kohës sonë. Nga ana tjetër tue dashtë me korrigjue nji tregim të Barletit që i duket i gabuem, ai jep nji versjon të tijën që prish ndoshta nji legjendë, por nuk duket ma i bindëshëm.
Sidoqoftë, unë nuk kam pasë, as mjetet, as kohën me i studjue vet burimet origjinale. Prandaj e them menjiherë se ky kapitull asht bazue në veprat e Imzot Fan Nolit dhe të Thanas Gegajt me farë pak shtesa ose ndryshime nga burime të tjera.Kthimi ne Kruje
Gjergj Kastrioti, që muer famë me mbiemrin Skënderbe, ishte djali ma i vogël i Gjon Kastriotit, kryetari i nji prej familjeve princore ma të fuqishme të Shqipnis së Mesme. Gjergj Kastrioti lindi në Kruje më 1405, mbas biografis së Barletit, më 1412 mbas mendimit të Fan Nolit. Legjenda popullore, që u thur mbas gojëdhanës, thotë se e ama, Princesha Vojsava, kur priste fëmijën pa në andërr se i dha jetë nji dragoi që ishte i madh sa e tanë Shqipnija dhe përpinte Turqët me shumicë. Gjergji kishte, kur lindi, shenjën e nji shpatë në krahun e djathtë. Që i vogël ai tregoi nji interesim të çuditshëm për armët e luftës dhe i pëlqente me luejtë si ushtar me vllaznit dhe me djemt e tjerë të moshës së tij.

Mbas disfatës që pësoi nga dora e Turqve më 1423, Gjon Kastrioti u detyrue me i dërgue Sulltanit si peng të katër djemt e tij. Barleti shkruen se Gjergji ishte vetëm 6 vjeç. Kurse shifrat që dhamë ma sipër tregojnë se duhet të kenë qenë 18, domethanë nji djal që kuptonte nga bota dhe që nuk mund të asimilohej* krejt në ambjentin e ri të Oborrit të Sulltanit. Biografët ma të vjetër janë dakord se Skënderbeu kaloi gadi 20 vjet si peng në duert e Turqve para kthimit të tij dramatik në Krujë më 1443. Domethanë se ishte nji burrë i pjekun 38 vjeç kur ngriti flamurin e luftës së shenjtë kundër shkelësit otoman. Tue shkelë zotimin që kishte dhanë, Sulltan Murati detyroi të katër djemt e Kastriotit të pranojnë fën muhamedane. Mandej, iu ndërroi emnat tur quejtë Gjergjin Isqender-Bej, që u kthye shqip në Skënderbe. Ky asht një emën simbolik që iu dha Skënderbeut për kujtim të Lekës së Madh, tue qenë se nuk ekziston ndër emnat muslimane.
Në oborrin e Sulltanit Skënderbeu u vue në shkollën e kadetve të Pallatit. Përveç truqishtes ai mësoi edhe disa gjuhë të tjea dhe sidomos italishten. Arti i luftës zgjoi interesimin e tij ma të madh. Porsa ishte në moshë me përdorë armët, ai u çque në lojnat ushtarake në mes të gjith vërsnikve të tij. Shpata ishte arma e tij ma e preferueme, dhe vrapimi maj kalit sporti që i pëlqente ma tepër. Nga pamja fizike ishte i gjatë, me nji trup të derdhun prej statuje, me sy që shkëlqenin nga gjallnija dhe zgjuetija dhe nji hijeshim burrnor të mahnitshëm. Sulltan Muratit i kishte ba përshtypje shkathtësia e tij mendore dhe mjeshtërija e përsosun në garat me armë. Ai e muer me simpathi dhe e la të jetonte, ndërsa vllaznit e tij duket se u mbytën në nji mënyrë që nuk dihet mirë.
Skënderbeu u ba komandant kavalerije në ushtërin otomane dhe muer pjesë në disa luftra të Sulltanit n'Evropë dhe n'Azi. "Në rrethimin e nji fortese n'Anadoll, - shkruen Fan Noli, - Skënderbeu, si Leka I Madh, u ngjit majë murit, ngriti sanxhakun dhe hyni i pari në qytet". Mbas çdo spedite Skënderbeu kthehej ngadhnjyes dhe sillte n'Edrenë robër dhe plaçkë pa masë. Fama e tij rritej dita-ditës; ushtërija e adhuronte; komandantët e tjerë e kishin zili.
Ndërsa Skënderbeu ishte në oborrin e Sulltanit, lufta kundër Turqve vazhdonte akoma në Shqipni. Sikur e pamë, më 1432, Andreja Topija korri nji fitore të madhe, e cila pat si pasojë nji kryengritje të përgjithëshme prej Shkodre në Gjinokastër. Tri ushtëri të tjera që Sulltani dërgoi kundër Shqipnis tre vjet me radhë u shkatërruen dhe u kthyen në Edrenë pa e krye qëllimin. Suksesi ua shtoi guximin Shqiptarve, të cilët sulmuen garnizonin turk të Gjinokastrës. Atëherë Sulltani dërgoi nji ushtëri të zgjedhun ndën komandën e Isak Beut nga Shkupi. Shqiptarët u kapën në mes të dy zjarreve dhe pësuen nji disfatë të plotë. Megjithatë, orvatja e Turqve me zaptue Beratin me 1438' u përpoq në nji rezistencë shqiptare të pathyeshme.
Duket sikur Gjon Kastrioti kishte qendrue larg këtyne luftrave tue respektue detyrimet që kishte marrë kundrejt Sulltanit. Prapseprap, kur vdiq në vitin 1443, Sulltan Murati nuk ia dijti për nder qëndrimin e tij korrekt dhe të paanshëm, por aneksoi menjiherë principatën e tij dhe dërgoi nji guvernator turk në kështjellën e Krujës. Skënderbeu, i cili kishte mbetë si I vetnu trashëgimtar i shtëpis së Kastriotve, u helmue fort nga kjo pabesi. Ai u betue me vehte se nuk do të linte që kjo grabitje të kalonte pa dënim dhe se do të çkëpuste pronat e familjes nga thonjtë e uzurpatorit. Rastin e volitshëm për të prue betimin e tij në vend Skënderbeu e gjeti më 1443. Ai ishte tue marrë pjesë në nji speditë ushtarake drejtue kundër Kristianve t'Evropës, të primun prej Vojvodës së Hungaris, Jonash Hunjadi. Beteja ndërmjet të dy ushtërive u zhvillue në Konovicë afër Nishit. Skënderbeu, i cili komandonte nji krah të ushtëris turke, pushoi së luftuemi dhe Hunjadi duel fitues. Skënderbeu, i cili kishte ba mend me u kthye në atdhe për të librue tokat arbnore, detyroi qatipin e Sulltanit me i dhanë nji ferman për guvernatorin e Krujës që t'i dorzonte kështjellën. Porsa mërrijti në Krujë, Gjergj Kastrioti u kthye në fen e të parve dhe proklamoi luftën e shenjtë kundër invaduesve muhamedan. Ky epizod dramatik i kthimit të Skënderbeut në Krujë, asht përshkrue në historin e Barletit dhe asht përjetsue në vjershën "Skanderbeg" të poetit amerikan Longfellow. Peshkop Fan Noli shpall se epizodi i kthimit të Skënderbeut në kështjellën historike asht pjella e imagjinatës së Barletit. Pikpamja e tij asht se, mbas kapitullimit të Gjon Kastriotit, Skënderbeu qëndroi pranë babes së tij dhe vetëm kohëmbaskohe shkonte me luftue për Sulltanin në krye të nji fuqije shqiptare.
Kët thezë të rë Imzot Fan Noli e zhvillon në historin anglishte të Skënderbeut që botoi mbas lufte. Po të jet e vërtetë kjo, atëherë del se Skënderbeu nuk u muer peng nga Sulltan Murati. Kurse të gjith auktorët e asaj kohe thonë me siguri se Skënderbeu kaloi disa yjet në oborrin e Sulltanit. Vet Fan Noli nuk e mohon drejtpërsëdrejti kët fakt. Them fakt, sepse përdryshe nuk shpjegohet se si Gjergj Kastrioti muer mbiemnin Isqender dhe titullin bej që ishte atëherë nji gradë në hjerarkin e ushtëris otomane. Nji tjetër pike që mbetet e pashpjegueshme në thezën e Imzot N.olit asht se si Skënderbeu kaloi njizet vjet në Shqipni mbas mundjes së Gjon Kastriotit dhe nuk muer pjesë në luftrat që u zhvilluen në tokën arbnore. 1 vetmi korrigjim me vënd që Fan Noli i ka ba historis së Barletit asht se, kur u muer peng nga Sulltani, Skënderbeu nuk ishte nji çilimi i vogël, por nji djal i rritun në votrën atnore, i cili kishte kuptue tragjedin e atdheut të sulmuen dhe të mposhtun nga nji fuqi e huej.

Asht rasti me theksue se qysh kur shkrojti historin e Skënderbeut në gjuhën amtare, Fan Noli u ba dishepulli I doktrinës së Karl Marksit. 1 hutuem nga enthuzjazmi për kët fë të rë politike dhe shoqnore, Peshkop Noli mundohet me futë historin në kallëpin e dogmave të thata marksiste mbi luftën e klasave, determinizmin ekonomik, etj. Në konceptin materialist të historis që predikojnë dishepujt e Marksit nuk ka vënd për ndjenja patriotike dhe për heronj kombëtar, jeta e të cilve asht përzie me legjendë, mbasi për marksistët historin e bajnë "masat". Por derisa Imzot Noli nuk ep prova ma bindëse, na do të preferojmë kallzimin e Barletit mbi kthimin e Skënderbeut në Krujë.

Skënderbeu në mes të Turqve dhe Venedikut

Mbasi ngriti flamurin kuq e zi mbi kështjellën e Krujës dhe shpalli luftën e shenjtë kundër invaduesve mysliman, Skënderbeu shtini në dorë pikat e forta të principatës së Kastriotve ku Sulltani kishte vendosë garnizone ushtarake të përhershme. Randësin ma të madhe në mes të tyne e kishte Stefigradi, në kufinin linduer të Shqipnisë, që shërbente si nji kullë vëshgimi për të diktue afrimin e ordhive anmike, të cilat aviteshin gjithnji nga ai drejtim. Të gjith Turqët dhe Shqiptarët që ishin kthye muhamedanë u ftuen të pranojnë fen Kristjane. Ata që refuzuen Skënderbeu urdhnoi që të griheshin pa mëshirë. Kjo ishte e para gjakderdhje që i dha shkëndijë luftës 25 vjeçare që Skënderbeu bani kundër dy Sulltanve osmanlli. Nji valë e bujshme enthuzjasmi në tanë Shqipnin shoqnoi kthimin e Skënderbeut në Krujë. Fama e tij si nji prijës i madh ushtarak kishte ra në veshin e çdo Shqiptari, malcor a fusharak, i madh a I vogël, i pasun a i vorfën. Kjo ishte arma e tij ma e fortë, mbasi ai kuptonte se nji bashkim i ngushtë i të gjith Shqiptarve ishte i domosdoshëm për me iu ba ballë me sukses hyryshit të ordhive turke që nuk do të vonoheshin mbas gjith atyne që ndodhën. Gjergj Kastrioti iu bani nji thime të parve të kombit për të bashkue fuqit për nji qëllim dhe ndën nji komandë të vetme. Kushtrimi i tij u ndigjue dhe nji kuvend kombëtar u mblodh në Llesh, që ishte ndën sundimin e Venedikut. Në kuvënd muerën pjesë krenët e familjeve ma të fuqishme shqiptare, ndër të cilët ma të çquemit ishin: Pal Dugjakini, Pjetër Shpati, Gjergj Ballsha, Andrea Topija, Theodor Muzaka, ashtu edhe Stefan Cërnojeviç i Malit të Zi. Ata u mblodhën më 2 Mars 1444 në kathedralën e Shën Kollit dhe formuen Lidhjen e Princave Shqiptar, tue zgjedhë njizanit Skënderbeun si kryekomandant. Çdo antar i Lidhjes rezervoi të drejtën me caktue numrin e ushtarve që do t'epte si kontribut drejt qëllimit të përbashkët. Ndërsa Skënderbeu kishte likuidue garnizonet turke në tokat e principatës së Kastriotve, kështjella dhe qytete të tjerë të Shqipnis ndodheshin akoma ndën okupatën e anmikut. Kjo bahej sambas rregullave të luftës mesjetare, kur nji prijës lokal, i cili kapitullonte përpara Sulltanit, detyrohej me pague nji haraç të përvitshëm, me i dhanë peng nji a ma tepër pjestarë të familjes së tij dhe me pranue vendosjen e nji garnizoni turk në nji qytet ose kështjellë të principatës së tij. Kur Gjergj Kastrioti proklamoi luftën e shenjtë kundër Sulltan Muratit, garnizone turke kishte në Vlonë, Kaninë, Gjinokastër, Berat dhe Elbasan. Ndërsa në Shqipni u organizuen fuqit për ndeshjen supreme me nji anmik që nuk dinte me u ndale, ne shtetet fqinj kishte marre fund gadi krejt çdo rezistence e orgamzueme Qysh me 1389, Serbia ishte ba nji provincje otomane me Despotin Gjergj Brankoviç si vasal te Sulltamt, te cilit i ishte dhane dy djem si peng dhe te bijen si grue.

Bullgaria kishte pushue me qene nji mbretni e pamvarun qysh me 1393, kur kryeqyteti i saj Ternova kishte ra ne duert e Turqve Stambolli vet ishte nji qytet gadi I rrethuem Nga Oborn i tij ne Edrene Sulltam i diktonte Perandont se çfare politike me ndjeke Kur perandon Jani I Vin Paleologu zgjodhi si trashegimtar te mpin Kostandin, Sulltam u informue dhe çfaqi pelqimin e tij Kostandinit, i cili u ba Perandori i fundit i Bizantit, ishte ne at kohe Despoti i Morës, ku memzi po qendronte ne fuqi, ndersa po e sulmomn Turqet nga nji ane dhe Pnncet latin te Greqis nga ana tjeter

I vetmi udheheqes kristian qe luftonte kunder Turqve ishte Jan Hunjadi I Hungaris Ai kishte perkrah kandidaturen e Mbretit Ladislav i III te Polonis, me qene edhe mbret i Hungaris Mbas instalimit tetij ne fronin e Shen Stefanit, Ladislavi kishte emnue Hunjadin Vojvode te Transilvanis dhe komandant te forteses se Belgradit Pikerisht gjate nji lufte te Hunjadit kunder Turqve, Skenderbeu gjeti rastin, sikunder e pame ma nalt, me u kthye kunder Sulltanit.

Boten Kristiane te Perendimit e perfaqesonte ne Shqipni Venediku qe okupcnte skelat e Tivarit, Ulqinit, Lleshit dhe Durresit Qysh diten e pare qe Turqet shkelen kambe n'Evrope, venedikasit filluen me ba nji politike me dy faqe mbas tradites se Dandolos, tue synue vetem e vetem mteresat e tyne egoiste Qendrimi I Republikes se Shen-Markut gjate Kuvendit te Lleshit ilustron ma se mirit ket politike oportuniste qe kishte per parim me i la duert kur punet shkonin keq.

Venedikasit lejuen qe Kuvendi te mbahej ne toke te tyne per te dhane pershtypjen se ishin ne favor te luftes kunder Turqve Ata derguen observues per te pa se ç'u vendos gjate Kuvendit, por refuzuen me marre ndonji detyrim konkret per me lu ndihmue Shqiptarve Pa u trondite nga qendrimi i dyshimte I Venedikut, Skenderbeu u kthye ne Kruje dhe filloi menjehere pregatitjet ushtarake per sulmet nga lindja qe priteshin or'e cast.

Sulltan Murati e priti lajmin e "dezerhmit" te Skenderbeut si nji ofeze personale qe duhej ndeshkue pa vonese. Ai ishte i bindun se nji spedite ushtarake nden komanden e gjeneralit te tij ma te zotin do te mjaftonte per te likuidue "rebelin Isqender" qe i kishte shpalle lufte me nji guxim te marre.

Ne Qershor te vitit 1444 nji ushten turke prej 25 000 vetesh, shumica kalores, u nis nden gjeneralin Ali Pasha per me I dhane fund "rebelizmit" te Shqiptarve Por pa kalue shum kohe, Sulltan Murati muer haberin se ushteria e Ali Pashes ishte sulmue befas dhe shpartallue nga trimat e Skenderbeut ne nji lugine te Dibres se Poshtme Beteja, sado e shkurte, kishte qene e rrepte tue i shkaktue anmikut 7000 te vrame Nga ana e Shqiptarve te vramit ishin afro 2000 dhe po ai numur te plagosumsh Si thote Barleti, ne at shesh lufte luanet u ndeshen me luane Kjo fitore e pare e Skenderbeut pati nji oshetime te madhe ne mbare Evropen Knstiane Papa Eugjen i IV, Mbreti Ladislav i Hungans e Poloms dhe Duka i Burgonjes Filip le Bon e brohonten me enthuziasem NjI I derguem fuqiplote i Hungaris u nis per ne Kruje me lidhe nji aleance me mbretin pa kunore te Shqipnis. Rasti ma i pare per bashkepunim ne luftë të forcave kristiane u paraqit para mbarimit të vitit 1444. Jani Hunjadi dhe Mbreti Ladislav i III ishin tue luftue me Turqët në skelën Varna të Detit të Zi. Skënderbeu u ba gadi me u shkue në ndihmë aleatve të tij, mirpo Despoti I Sërbis, Gjergj Brankoviç, ndaloi kalimin e ushtëris shqiptare nëpër tokat e tij. Ai vuni si shkak armëpushimin për dhjet vjet që ishte nënshkrue në mes të Hungaris dhe Sulltanit në Czegedin më 12 Korrik 1444. Në bazë të atij traktati Murati i II i kishte njoftë si sundimtar në principatën e tij. Kurse i dërguemi i Papës Kardinal Cesarini e kishte bindë mbretin Ladislav me e shkelë armëpushimin. Atëhere Polonija dhe Hungarija i shpallën luftë Perandoris Otomane. Sulltan Murati, i cili ishte tërheqë nga jeta aktive, u kthye me vrap në Edrenë dhe muer komandën e ushtëris turke. Beteja u zhvillue afër Varnës. Armata Kristiane pësoi nji disfatë dërrmuese dhe Kardinali Cesarini bashkë me mbretin Ladislav mbetën të vramë në sheshin e betejës. 1 pikëlluem nga pamundësijë me mbajtë premtimin, Skënderbeu i dha nji mësim Despotit Brankoviç tue ba kërdin në tokat serbe pranë kufinit. Të vetnut në botën kristiane t'Evropës që e muerën me sy të keq fitoren e Skënderbeut qenë Venedikasit. Ata u trembën se mos Gjergj Kastrioti bahej prijës i gjith Kristianve të Perëndimit dhe kërcënonte ma tepër se vet Sulltani dallaverat dhe kombinacjonet* e tyre tregtare jo shum të pastra. Për të evitue nji gja të tillë Doga I Venedikut filloi negocjata me Turqët për të shtie në dorë Vlonën dhe Gjinokastrën. Sikur nuk mjaftoi kjo, Venedikasit gjetën sebep nga një përleshje ndërmjet dy familjeve princore shqiptare për me I shpallë luftë Skënderbeut, i cili iu dha nji dackë të shëndoshë në betejën e Drinit më 23 Korrik 1448. Doge i banë apel Sulltanit, i cili dërgoi menjiherë nji armatë në Shqipni. Kësaj Skënderbeu ia ndreqi hesapin në gusht po t'atij viti. Nji paqe e mballosun u nënshkrue vitin tjetër, kurse për pak Venediku do të kishte humbë të gjitha posedimet e tij në Shqipni. Skënderbeu muer premtimin se Republika e Shën Markut do t'i paguente nji subvencjon të përvitshëm prej 1400 dukatë dhe nji hua prej 1500 dukatë për të marrë pjesë me Hunjadin në luftën kundër Turqve. Ky farë armëpushimi, jo shum I sigurtë, vazhdoi deri më 1463 kur Venediku vet ishte në luftë me Turqët dhe, tue pasë nevojë për krahun e pathyeshëm të Skënderbeut, vrapoi me firmue nji aleancë me të.

Aleanca me Mbretin e Napolit

Prej vitit 1444 e tutje Sulltani dërgoi mot për mot kundër Skënderbeut nji ushtëri turke ndën komandën e njanit apo tjetrit prej gjeneralve të tij ma të mirë. Te gjith u mundën me nji rregullsi të pagabueshme para se me mërrijtë deri në Krujë. Ma në fund, më 1450 Murati i II vendosi me u nisë vet në krye të ushtëris për me i hanger kryet këtij kapiteni të nji populli malcorësh që guxonte me i ba luftë sundimtarit ma të fuqishëm t'asaj kohe. Kështu u ba rrethimi i parë i Krujës ndën komandën e vet Sulltanit të perandoris Otomane. Ai kishte prue me vehte metalin për të shkrie topa në vënd. Gjylet treqind kilshe ranë si breshër kundër mureve të kështjellës, mbasi komandanti, kont Urani, refuzoi me përbuzje nji ultimatum* me u dorzue. Bombardimi i furishëm bani efektin dhe muri i kalas u çpue në nji vend. Yryshi I ushtëris turke me u futë mbrenda u ndal përpara murit të krahnorve Shqiptare.

Muej me radhë Sulltan Murati nxiti ushtarët e tij me zaptue reduktin e fundit të rezistencës shqiptare, por më kot. Turqët duhej të mbronin vehten nga sulmet e trimave të Skënderbeut që kishin zanë pozitë në malet përmbi kështjellën dhe nuk e linin anmikun të merrte frymë, të gruponte fuqit, të sillte ushtëri dhe material dhe të pregatiste mësymjen. Nërkaq, Venedikasit banin pare tue iu shitë Turqve ushqim dhe municjon. Në dëshpërim e sipër, Skënderbeu ofroi me iu dhanë Krujën po të vinin me i ndihmue atij në vend që me ndihmue anmikun. Por ata thanë se tregtija me Turqët iu leverdiste ma tepër. Prapseprap ndihma e venedikasve nuk e shpëtoi Sulltanin nga disfata. Mbas pes muej orvatjesh të pafrytëshme Sulltan Murati ngriti rrethimin e Krujës dhe u kthye në kryeqytetin e tij. "Kështu mbaroi, shkruen Falmrayer, - akti i parë i tragjedis shqiptare".

Tue ndjekë gjurma-gjurmës Turqët që po tërhiqeshin, Skënderbeu u kthye triumfalisht në Krujë. Ishte e para here qysh prej kohës së Sulltan Osmanit, që nji ushtëri turke thyhej në luftë tue pasë në krye vet shefin e Perandoris. Skënderbeu muer famë si gjenerah ma i madh i botës kristiane. Ai kishte dalë fitues kundër nji ushtërije dhjet herë ma të madhe dhe që ishte pajosë me artilerin ma të mirë t'asaj kohe. Triumfi i Shqiptarve kishte kunorëzue gjashtë vjet luftime të parreshtuna, por humbjet në njerëz ishin shum të mëdha. Me mija Shqiptarë ishin vra në luftë ose masakrue, shum krahina ishin shkretue nga anmiku që tërhiqej. Skënderbeu kishte nevojë të ngutëshme për ndihma, për me iu ba ballë sulmeve të tjerë që nuk kishin për të vonue. Pikërisht n'at kohë të kritikëshme disa nga pjestarët ma të fuqishëm të Lidhjes Shqiptare e lanë në baltë fatosin kombëtar, tue dezertue kush në Turqët, kush me Venedikasit. Vetëm pjestarët ma të ngushtë të familjes i qëndruen besnik Skënderbeut. Gjergj Kastriotit nuk i mbetej rrugë tjetër veçse me gjetë aleatë të tjerë jashtë Shqipnis. Ai iu drejtue Mbretit të Napolit, Alfonsit të V, i cili ishte anmik I Osmanllive dhe i Venedikut. Kësisoj, Italija e Jugut u përzie edhe nji herë në historin e Shqipnis. Në nji kapitull të maparshëm kallzova se si Papa Urban i IV ftoi të vëllan e mbretit të Francës, Karlin Anjou (Anzhu), me i shkue në ndihmë kundër mbretit të Siçiljes dhe Napolit, Manfred, që ishte prej shtëpis mbretnore gjermane Hohenstaufen. Në Kallnuer 1266, Papa Klement i IV, pasardhësi i Urbanit të IV, kunorzoi në Bazilikën* e Shën-Pjetrit Karlin Anjou si mbret të Siçiljes. Ai kishte ardhë n'Itali në krye të nji ushtërije franceze, e cila mundi forcat mercenare të Manfredit në betejën e Beneventos. Karli hyni triumfalisht në Napoli dhe u suell si nji zaptues pa shkrupulla kundrejt popullatës vendase.

Anmiqsija kundër tij shkoi tue u shtue. Në Siçilje, që ishte qendra e rezistencës, u organizue nji komplot për të prue në fuqi nji nga nipat e mbretit Manfred. Ky ishte mbreti i Aragonës*, Don Pedro, i cili ishte martue me të bijën e trashëgimtaren e mbretit Manfred dhe ishte afrue me Perandorin e Bizantit, Mihail Paleologun, kundër Karlit Anjou, i cili kishte dalë si eksponenti i dinanstis latine të Stambollit. Sikur e pamë ma nalt, Karli kishte marrë titullin Mbret i Shqiptarve dhe po gatitej me debarkue në Shqipni. Pikërisht në at kohë Don Pedro, me ndihmën financjare të Paleologut, kurdisi planin e nji spedite ushtarake kundër Siçiljes, mirpo para se flota aragonase të nisej prej Barçelonës, populli i Palermos bani vet nji kryengritje që njifet në histori si "Vesprat Siçiljane", mbasi ndodhi më 31 Mars 1282.

Duka I Palermos u çue peshë tue pa nji grup francezësh që mundoheshin me rrëmbye nji nuse që shkonte në Kishën e Santo-Spirito, jashtë mureve të qytetit. Kupa e vuejtjeve dhe e poshtnimeve ishte mbushë deri në buzë. Ata që panë sqenën e keqpërdorimit të nji vajze të rë me duvak të bardhë bërtitën "vdekje Francezve". I gjith qyteti vrapoi si nji sahat i kurdisun, kështjella u zaptue dhe para mbarimit të ditës 2000 francezët e Palermos ishin masakrue. Kryengritja u përhap në krahina dhe, me pushtimin e Messinës më 28 Prill, e gjith Siçilja ishte librue nga sundimi i huej. Tue pasë frikën e nji kundërsulmi hakmarrës të Karlit Anjou, Siçiljanët ftuen Don Pedron me marrë kunorën si trashëgimtar i Manfredit. N'at mes, i biri i madh i Don Pedros, Jaku, hypi në fronin e Aragonës, dhe ai dërgoi të vëllan Frederikun të mbretnonte në Siçilje. Dinastija Aragoneze mbajti vetëm kunorën e Siçiljes gjatë tanë nji shekulli, ndërsa dinastija e Karlit Anzhu vazhdonte me sundue mbretnin e Napolit. Më 1421 mbretnesha e Napolit, Joanna e II, e cila nuk kishte fëmijë, adoptoi si trashëgimtar rnbretin Alfons t'Aragonës dhe Siçiljes. Por ndën presjonin e Papës dhe të princave t'Italis, ajo ndërroi mendjen dhe preferoi Ludovikun e II-të të dinastis Angjevine. Mbasi ky i fundit vdiq para Joannës, ajo emnoi si trashëgimtar të fronit vllan e tij, Renë de Provence. Por mbreti Alfons i Aragonës vazhdoi me e quejtë vehten trashëgimtar të mbretnis së Napolit dhe, mbas vdekjes së Joannes, u nisë për me e shtie në dorë. Halli asht se, tue dashtë me prue në vënd ambicjen e tij, Alfonsi ra në luftë me Genovezët, të cilët e zunë rob dhe e prunë në Milano. Filipi, Duka i Milanos, u bind nga argumentat e Alfonsit se ishte marrëzi për të me lidhë aleancë me Francezët për të prue dinastin Angjevine në krye të mbretnis së Napolit. Kështu që Filipi e la Alfonsin të lirë dhe e ndihmoi me vazhdue luftën. Kaluen gjashtë vjet lufte dhe përpjekjesh para se Alfonsi i V bashkoi përsëri mbretnit e Napolit dhe të Siçiljes ndën shpatën e tij. Ky ishte Alfons Shpirtmadhi, të cilit Skënderbeu iu drejtue për ndihmë mbas fitores së tij të kushtueshme kundër Sulltan Muratit. Nji traktat aleance u nënshkrue në Gaeta më 26 Mars 1451. Mbas sistemit feodal t'asaj kohe, Skënderbeu u proklamue sa për formë vasali i Alfonsit të V dhe u angazhue t'i paguente nji shumë të hollash vit për vit. Mbreti i Naplit, nga ana e tij, muer përsipër t'i dërgonte Lidhjes Shqiptare nji fuqi ushtarake të caktueme dhe ndihmë financjare për të vazhdue luftën kundër Osmanllive. Në krye të trupave aragoneze u emnue nji gjeneral luftëtar, i cili u vendos në Krujë. Traktatin e nënshkruen edhe princat shqiptar të tjerë dhe Lidhja e Lleshit u riorganizue me Skënderbeun si kryekomandant i kunorës së Aragonës, me nji pensjon prej 1500 dukatë në vit. Nji fuqi simbolike prej 100 ushtarësh katalanë zuni vend në kështjellën e Krujës dhe qëndroi atje deri mbas vdekjes së Skënderbeut. Mbas çdo fitoreje që korrte kundër Turqve, Skënderbeu i dërgonte Alfonsit nji pjesë tëplaçkës që mbetej në duert e Shqiptarve, por asnji haraç në të holla. Traktati I Gaetas ishte sajue si guri themeltar I kryqëzatës kundër Sulltanit, tue ndjekë gjurmat e prijësit norman Robert Guiscard . Por kjo ndërmarrje dështoi dhe ushtërija aragoneze nuk debarkoi në Durrës. Skënderbeu vazhdoi të jet zot në tokën e vet dhe u trajtue nga mbreti i Napolit si aleat me të drejta të barabarta. Mjerisht, disa nga bashkëpuntorët ma të ngushtë të Skënderbeut e interpretuen traktatin e Gaetas si prammin e nji zgjedhe te huej. Intngat e anmikut nga Edrenja dhe te Venedikut shfrytzuen sa mujten ket vale pakenaqesije dhe Shqipnija u kercenue nga rrebeshi i vellavrasjes. Vendi i yne shpetoi nga kjo katastrofe* e tille me nderhymjen e Kryepeshkopit te Durresit Imzot Engjellit, i cili u ngarkue nga Papa Nikolla i V me pajtue grindjen ne mes te Shqiptarve.

Viti 1451 u shenue me nji ngjarje te hareshme qe ishte martesa e Skenderbeut. Mbretnesha e Shqiptarve u ba Andronika ose Donika, e cila ishte e bija e Gjergj Arianitit, princit te Vlones dhe Kanines. Kjo mertese prum me vehte pajtimin e Skenderbeut me shtepin e Arianitve qe kishte marre anen e Venedikut mbas krizes se vitit 1450. Nusja pruni nji paje te çmueshme mbi te cilen auktoret e asaj kohe nuk japin hollesina. Martesa politike e Skenderbeut bani disa te pakenaqun ne mes te krenve Shqiptar, dhe sidomos te kater djemt' e Arianitit, nipin e Skenderbeut Hamze Kastriotin, i cili ishte rtite ne fë muhamedane, dhe parin e Dukagjinit. Kta te fundit, Venediku mundohej me i nxite me nji menyre ose me nji tjeter, ta luftonin poziten e Gjergj Kastriotit si mbretin pa kunore te kombit Shqiptar. Kur u zbulue nji komplot per vrasien e Skenderbeut dhe dyshimi ra mbi Dukagjinet, Shqipnija ment u zhyte ne vllavrasje. Papa ngarkoi Peshkopin e Drishtit me prue pajtimin ne mes te pans shqiptare. Misjoni i tij u kunorzue me sukses kur Dukagjinet provuen se nuk kishin gisht ne komplot. Auktoret e vertetete komplotit nuk u zbuluen kurr ose emnat e tyne nuk u shpallen botmsht. E vetemja disfate serjoze qe pesoi Skenderbeu gjate karrjeres se tij ngadhnjimtare ishte ne rrethimin e Beratit te okupuem nga nji garnizon i ushteris turke. NJI kontigjent napoletan prej 200 vetesh ishte dergue per te forcue ushten e Skenderbeut pre) 12 000 trimash. Berati u rrethue nga te kater anet, u vune ne vepnim aparatet e atehershem per te rrafe muret e kalas dhe ma ne fund u çel nji vend per kalimin e ushteris. Komandanti I garnizonit turk ofroi me u dorzue mbrenda 11 ditve po te mos i vinte den atehere ndonji ndihme nga jashte. Keshilli i luftes vendosi me e pranue ket dorzim me kushte. Skenderbeu la kampin e ushteris shqiptare dhe u nis per nji fushate tjeter. Kalimi i ditve te gjata pa asnji veprim çthun disiplinen ne radhet e kreshnikeve te Kastriotit. Kur, pa prite e pa kujtue, 40.000 kalores Turq nden komanden e Isa Bej Evrenozit plakosen ushterin Shqiptare dhe grine me shpate sa muejten, tue mos lane gjalle as komandantin, Muzake Topija.

Si rezultat i kesaj katastrofe, filluen dezertimet ne anen e armikut. Ai qe shkaktoi idhnimin, dhe asht e vertete me thane, pikllimin ma te madh ishte Moisiu I Dibres, gienerali ma i afte i Gjergj Kastriotit. Bashke me Moisin, u hudhen me Turqet edhe Hamze Kastrioti dhe dy Dukagjinet. Gjergj Araniti shkoi me Venedikasit. Gjin Muzaka i shpjegon kto dezertime tue thane se Skenderbeu kishte fillue politiken e centralizimit te shtetit, tue aneksue krahinat qe ata sundomn ne baze te sistemit feodal Gjergj Kastriotin e detyruen rrethanat historike me ndjeke at politike, mbasi ishte e vetemja menyre per me iu ba balle sulmeve turke. Densa Shqipnija ishte e ndame ne principata te vogla autonome, Skenderbeu ishte ne rrezik qe te mbetej vetem ne diten ma te keqe. Urtesija dhe larkpamja e herojt tone te pavdekshem u provue aty per aty kur Moisi Dibrani marshoi kunder Shqipnis ne krye te nji ushterije turke, e cila u derrmue para se te shkelte ne token arbnore.

Moisiu u kthye në Krujë i penduem dhe i kërkoi ndjesë prijësit të kombit. Skënderbeu zemërluani u tregue burrë shteti i vërtetë dhe e fali dezertuesin që i kishte ra ndër kambë. Prej asaj kohe Moisiu luftoi trimnisht për kauzën kombtare deri ditën që pësoi vdekjen e martirit nga dora e anmikut.

Gjergj Kastrioti muer hakun e disfatës së Beratit më 1457, kur Sulltani dërgoi nji ushtëri prej 80.000 vetësh për me i dhanë grushtin e vdekjes. Skënderbeu manevroi në mënyrë që t'u linte Turqve përshtypjen se nuk guxonte me iu dalë përpara dhe u vërsul përmbi ta si shqiponja kur nuk e prisnin. Humbjet e anmikut besohet të ken arrijtë 15.000 deri 30.000 të vramë. Hamzë Kastrioti kishte ardhë me ushtërin turke për me u ba sundimtar i Shqipnis ndën hijen e Sulltanit. Ai u zue rob dhe u mbyll në kështjellën e Krujës. Skënderbeu tregoi edhe nji herë shpirtmadhësin e tij tue falë tradhëtin e të nipit, të cilin e kishte dashtë aq shumë. Mbas kësaj fitorje të rë që habiti botën, aq ma tepër sepse ishte e papritun, Papa Kalikst i III emnoi Gjergj Kastriotin si kryekapedan të Selis së Shenjtë. Në nji letër drejtue Perandorit të Gjermanis, Frederikut të III, Shefi suprem* i Krishtenimit e cilson Skënderbeun si luftëtar të palodhun dhe si Ushtar të Krishtit me krahun e pathyeshëm. Në nji rast tjetër, Papa Kalikst i III flet për "birin tonë të shtrenjtë Skënderbeun fisnik, mbretin e Shqipnis". Më 1460 Gjergj Kastrioti pat rastin me I shpërblye trashëgimtarit të Alfonsit të V, mbretit Ferdinand të Napolit, ndihmën bujare që i kishte dhanë i ati. Alfons Shpirtmadhi vdiq me 1458 tue lanë si trashëgimtar Ferdinandin, birin e tij pa kunorë. Papa Kalikst i III, i cili ishte prej origjine spanjolle, e kishte marrë mbretin e Napolit në gazep për shkak se ai nuk deshi me marrë pjesë në Kryqzatën kundër Turqve dhe dërgoi flotën kundër Gjenovezve. Anmiqsija e papajtueshme e Alfonsit e kishte nxitë Republikën detare të Gjenovës me u afrue me dinastin angjevine. Në vitin e vdekjes së Alfonsit, Gjon Anjou u proklamue mbreti protektor* i Gjenovës. Nji mot ma vonë ai organizoi speditën ushtarake për të zaptue Napolin. Lufta vazhdoi dy vjet por Napoli nuk ra në duert e Gjonit. Megjithatë Ferdinandi nuk e ndjente vehten të sigurtë mbi fron, mbasi ishte i kërcënuem nga baronët feodal t'Italis së Jugut. Papa Piu i II, i cili kishte zanë vendin e Kaliksit të III, duel përkrahës i Ferdinandit dhe ftoi Gjergj Kastriotin me i ardhë në ndihmë. Para se me u nisë për n'Itali, Skënderbeu stabilizoi marrëdhanjet me Venedikun, tue nënshkrue nji traktat aleance të vërtetë. Me porosin e Shenjtëris të tij Piu i n, Kryepeshkopi i Durrësit Imzot Pal Engjëlli bani pajtimin me Dukagjinët. Ma në fund, u nënshkrue edhe nji armëpushim dy vjetësh me Sulltan Muratin.

Kur u bindë se Shqipnija ishte sigurue kundër anmiqve të jashtëm dhe ngatërresave të mbrendshme, Skënderbeu bani pregatitjet për speditën e Italis. Princi i Tarantos, i cili ishte në krye të lidhjes së Baronve t'Italis, u mundue ta bante Skënderbeun me heqë dorë nga kjo punë, tue i tregue se Ferdinandi nuk i kishte të gjata si Mbret i Napolit. Skënderbeu e kishte kuptue pozitën e tij të pashpresë, por nuk donte me lanë në baltë në ditën e rrezikut trashëgimtarin e aleatit të tij ma të nderuem. 1 shkroi princit të Tarantos për të hudhë poshtë propozimet e tij dhe mbaroi tue thanë: "Jam mik i virtytit dhe nuk lakmoj begatin". Në verën e vitit 1461 Skënderbeu u nis me det në krye të speditës shqiptare për në Raguzë ku banonte nji koloni e fortë shqiptare. Senati i qytetit i bani nji pritje madhështore. Mbasi pushoi disa dit, Skënderbeu u nis për në Barletta, ku debarkoi me nji fuqi prej 3000 kalorësh dhe ushtarë të zgjedhun. Nënkomandant I kësaj fuqije ishte i nipi i Gjergj Kastriotit, Gjon Ballsha. Pozita e Ferdinandit ishte gadi e pashpresë. Pa bjerrun asnji minutë, Skëndebeu filloi veprimin për të shpëtue Barletlën që kishin rrethue anmiqt e Ferdinandit me Princin e Tarantos në krye. Me sulmin e vrullshëm të fuqive shqiptare rrethimi i Barlettës u thye dhe Skënderbeu bani kërdin në mes të ushtëris anmike, ndërsa ajo po tërhiqej e demoralizueme. Shpejtësia e rrufeshme e manevrimit dhe dora e sigurtë në drejtimin e sulmeve I fituen Skënderbeut admirimin e mahnitun të gjith atyne që e vëzhguen. "Emni dhe lajmi i ardhjes së tij, - shkruen nji historian i asaj kohe, - jo vetëm që shkatërroi gjith planet e anmikut, por mbushi tanë Italin me famën dhe ngadhnjimin e tij". Mirënjoftja e mbretit Ferdinand nuk kishte ma kufi. Ai e quejti Skënderbeun "Babë" dhe i dha në posedim të përhershëm Tranin dhe San Giovanni Rotondon n'Italin e Jugut. Fitoret e Gjergj Kastriotit në Barletta dhe mandej në Trani e kthyen fatin e luftës në favor të mbretit lë Napolit. Ushtërija e Ferdinandit kaloi në ofensivë dhe, ma në fund, rezistenca e Baronëve t'Italis u dërrmue. N'at kohë Skënderbeu vrapoi me u kthye në Shqipni, mbasi ishte dukë në horizont rreziku i nji ofensive të re turke.

Karakteri i Skënderbeut dhe cilsit e tij si prijës luftarak

Gjergj Kastrioti ishte gadi 40 vjeç kur u ba prijësi i kombit shqiptar në luftën kundër invaduesit otoman. Fuqija e tij fizike dhe shkathtësija mendore ishin në kulm. I gjatë, i hijshëm, me shtat të derdhun si nji statujë, me tipare të skalituna dhe nji pamjf- madhështore, Skënderbeut i kishte dhanë Zoti nji fuqi vigani dhe shpejtësin e nji atleti te përsosun në lëvizje. Ishte nji gjeni i lindun përsa i përket artit të luftës dhe nji luftëtar I pashoq për trimnin dhe aftësin e tij më iu prie të tjerve. Asnji armë lufte e atij shekulli nuk kishte sekrete për Skënderbeun, por ai çquhej sidomos në përdorimin e shpatës së tij të gjatë dhe të përkulun, nji shpatë që çdo njeri tjetër memzi e ngrinte me të dy duert. Mbasi ishte aq i fortë dhe I shëndoshë, i pëlqente me hangër dhe me pi boll, por kënaqej me pak orë gjumë, tue mos e pasë për gja me fjetë atje ku të qëllonte. Dëfrimet e zakonshëm të jetës nuk i interesonin fort dhe ai gjente prehje në sportin e njeriut të aksjonit si gjueti, vrapim kuejsh dhe ojnat ushtarake që I ndihmonin me mbajtë trupin në formë të mirë dhe me ushqye burimet e energjis të tij të pashterueshme. Guximi i tij në sheshin e luftës mund të dukej krejt i çmendun sikur të mos ishte shoqnue nga gjakftotësija dhe gjykinu i mprefet që e vinin gjithmonë në gjendje me e dominue situatën dhe me sigurue fitoren. Hypun mbi kalin e tij të bardhë dhe me shpatën gadi për të prë kryet e anmikut, Skënderbeu u printe trimave shqiptar dhe ndodhej gjithnji në vendin e rrezikut ma të madh, tue përbuzë vdekjen me nji qetësi shpirtnore që nuk mund të përfytyrohej. Kishte shpëtue gjallë gadi për nji fije kaq shpesh saqë njerzija kujtonin se ishte efekti i nji mrekullije të Zotit. Skënderbeu muer vetëm nji herë nji varrë në shpatull, tue u rrëzue prej kalit ndërsa e rrethuen trimat shqiptar. Mbrenda pak sekondave e mblodhi vehten dhe vazhdoi luftën. Gjergj Kastrioti ishte i pamëshirshëm me anmiqtë por gjithmonë i gatshëm me falë ata që i kishin ba keq dhe që i kërkonin ndjesë. Besa shqiptare ishte parimi i kodit tonë moral që ai çmonte ma tepër, dhe nuk ishte punë që t'i shmangej edhe sikur të rrezikonte me bjerrë gjithçka. Në përgjigjen që i dërgoi Princit të Tarantos, i cili e ftonte me braktisë mbretin e Napolit në fatin e tij, Skënderbeu thoshte: "Na që kemi pa kaq të mira nga Naltmadhnija e Tij, i ndjeri mbret Alfons, do të baheshim me turp dhe do të na nxihej faqja si njerëz të pabesë dhe pa mirënjoftje sikur të mos i shtrinim dorën të birit në ditën që ka nevojë". Gjergj Kastrioti i kishte kushtue vehten liris dhe mirëqenjes së popullit me nji vetmohim të plotë. Qëllimi i tij ishte jo vetëm t'i mbronte nga sulmet e anmikut të huej por edhe t'i bashkonte si nji komb të pamvarun. Tue dashtë me veprue si nji prijës kombëtar dhe jo si nji shef feodal Skënderbeu shkaktoi anmiqsin e disa nga krenët ma të fuqishëm të Shqipnis, të cilët donin të ushtronin nji pushtet absolut në krahinat e tyne dhe nuk ngurruen të dezertonin në fazën ma të kritikëshme të luftës kundër Turqve. Gjergj Kastrioti ishte nji Katolik i divotshëm dhe i frymëzuem nga forca morale që ngriti valën e Kryqzatave në shekujt e maparshëm. Në çdo rast të jetës së tij ai u mundue të vepronte simbas urdhnave të fes kristiane. Dëshiri i tij ma i flakët ishte me fitue zemrat e njerzve me mirësin, drejtësin dhe bujarin e tij, se me i dominue me anë të frikës dhe të interesit material. Tue iu drejtue nji dit trimave shqiptar Skënderbeu u tha (simbas tekstit të Barletit përkthye nga Fan Noli):

“Kapedanë dhe ushtarë trima". S'është as e re, as e papritun pamja që kam sot përpara syve. Ashtu si ju kujtonja, ashtu ju gjeta, stërnipër të thjeshtë të një race të vjetër dhe bujare, trima dhe besnikë të patronditur të vendit dhe të mbretit tuaj. Edhe jam i lumtur tani që mund t'ju hap zemrën time. Ju thom pa u mburrur që, sa kam rrojtur, kam patur gjithnjë këtë mall për atdhenë dhe këtë dëshirë për lirinë. Kur më ftuat për këtë vepër nga shërbimi I Sulltanit, kisha në zemër atë dëshirë që kishit edhe Ju. Juve ndofta ju shkoi nga mëndja që e kisha harruar vëndin, edhe nderin, edhe lirinë, kur ju ktheva prapa të helmuar, pa ju dhënë asnjë shpresë dhe pa ju treguar asnjë ndjenjë bujare dhe shpirtmadhe. Po unë sillesha me atë mënyrë, se ashtu e deshte shpëtimi i juaj dhe i imi, se puna ish e tillë se duhej bërë dhe jo thënë, se e shikonja që kishit më tepër nevojë për frë sesa për shtyrje. Jua fsheha planet e mia dhe s'jua çfaqa dëshirën që kisha në zemër aq vjet, jo se s'u kisha besim, jo se s'jua dinja shpirtin, po se ju ishit të parët që e hothtë zjarrin dhe u futtë në këtë valle; po se puna duhej mejtuar thellë, se duheshin gjetur mjetet, se duhej zgjedhur koha e mirë. Ndryshe do të derdhej gjak më kotë dhe përfundimi do t'ish nji robëri me e keqe se e para. Dhe ahere çdo shpresë për të nesërmen fluturonte; se nji punë si kjo niset njiherë e mirë; dhe në mos vaftë mbarë, rasja dhe mjetet për ta nisur ikin e s'kthehen kurrë prapë. Prandaj s'ja tregonja planin tim as vetes sime dhe ruhesha mos me shkiste gjuha dhe më dëgjonin muret. Kam për dëshmor Hamzën, tim nip, që e kam pasur këshilltar, përkrahës dhe shok armësh, me ca të tjerë të pakë, me besnikërin e të cilve e vumë këtë plan në vepërim. Tani, ndonëse rronim e hanim bashkë dhe kishim një zemër dhe një shpirt, me gjithë këtë asnjë nga këta s'më kish dëgjuar kurrë të zë n'gojë atdhenë, lirinë dhe krishtërimin, gjersa ardhi rasa në betejë të Nishit. Lirinë mund ta kishit fituar me trimërinë tuaj nuk i mungojnë burrat, po ju pëlqeu ta prisni nga dora e ime, ndonëse vonë, se kështu ndofta desh vet i madhi Zot. Se është me të vërtetë çudi që trima kryelartë si ju, të rritur në liri, duruat kaq kohë robërin e barbarve, duke pritur të më shikoni një ditë në krye tuaj. Po vallë, a e meritonj këtë titull të bukur të çlironjësit që kini mirësinë të më jipni? Lirinë s'jua solla unë, po e gjeta këtu, në mes tuaj. Posa shkela këmbën këtu, posa dëgjuat emrin, renttë që të gjithë, më dualtë përpara kush e kush më shpejtë, sikur t'ishin ngritur nga varret atërit, vëllezërit, bijtë tuaj, sikur të kishte zbritë nga qielli vetë Perëndia. Më prittë me aq dashuri dhe gëzim, më sualltë aq shërbime të çmuara e pa numër, sa më bëtë më tepër ju robin tuaj sesa unë të lirë ju. Këtë mbretëri, këtë qytet nuk jua dhashë unë, po ju gjeta t'armatosur, lirinë e kishit kudo, në krahërore, në ballë, në shpata e në ushtat; si gardjan besnikë t'emëruar prej tim eti, ja ma vutë mbi krye këtë kunorë, ju ma dhatë në dorë këtë shpatë, ju më bëtë zot të kësaj mbretërije, të cilën ma ruajtët me aq besë, me aqë kujdes, me aq mundime. Shpjermëni tani, me ndihmën e perëndisë, që ta çlirojmë tërë Shqipërinë. Pjesën më të madhe, pothuaj tërë punën, e mbaruat: Kruja dhe tërë krahina e saj u fitua; Dibra dhe Malësitë u bashkuan me ne; anmikut s'i mbeti as emëri, as shënjat në fushat tona; qëndrojnë vetëm fortesat. Kam shpresë t'i marrim edhe këto me hir a me pahir, me dhelpëri a me trimëri, ndonëse garnizonet turke janë më të forta dhe kështjellat janë vendosur si shkëmbenj të ashpër dhe të paafruarshëm. Armiku është i rrethuar, i dëshpëruar, dhe s'i kanë mbetur veçse muret e fortesave. Po për këto do të këshillohemi e do të përfundojmë më nurë kur të vemi në vënt e kur të kemi armët në dorë dhe anmikun përpara, sesa tani për së largu dhe pa ditur se ç'kemi përballë. Do të nisim nga Petrela më parë, jo se kjo është më e lehtë për t'u fituar - përkundër është një fortesë prej natyre dhe ka një garnizon të fortë - po se ndodhet më afër kryeqytetit, dhe jam I sigurt që lajma e mirë e ngjarjeve në Krujë ua ka ngrirë gjakun armiqve. Të tmerruar nga trimërija e juaj dhe nga çkatërrimi I garnizonit të Krujës, ndofta do të na lëshojnë fortesën më të mirë; në mos, po do t'i shtrëngojmë të na e japin me të keq. Një gjë vetëm duhet të keni nër mënt: në mos e marrshim Petrellën, asnjë nga ne s' duhet të kthehet prapë i gjallë. Ngrehni pra flamurin përpara, dhe rrëfehuni burra si ngahera. Perëndia, si gjer tani, ashtu edhe paskëtaj, do të na ndilnmojë dhe do të na nxjerrë faqebardhë. 0 Burrani!"

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Kujdesja për ushtërin ishte kasaveti ma i madh i Skënderbeut. Ai dijti me përfitue nga eksperjenca e vet pranë Sulltanit, tue krijue nji ushtëri të zgjedhun dhe të përhershme mbas modelit të Jeniçerve. Por ai nuk kishte nevojë me përdorë metodën barbare të grabitjes së djemve të mitun nga gjiu i familjes për me i mbyllë në kazermat, mbasi çdo Shqiptar lakmonte me shërbye si ushtar i përhershëm i prijësit t'adhuruem të kombit. Kjo ushtëri kombtare, që ishte rekrutue mbas listave të hartueme nga Skënderbeu vet, nuk kapërcente të dhjetmijët. N'at kohë nuk kishte as kazerma dhe ushtarët banonin nëpër shtëpijat e tyne. Kur vinte lajmi se nji ushtëri turke po i afrohej kufinit epej kushtrimi nga kështjella e Krujës dhe trimat e Kastriotit vraponin nëpër vendet që iu ishin caktue. Kryetarët e familjeve sunduese shqiptare, që kishin aderue në kombëtare në krye të forcave armate të tyne. Por faktori vendimtar në fitoret e Skënderbeut ishte garda e tij personale, e cila përbahej nga dy a tre mijë kalorës. Kjo ishte e vetëmja armë që mund t'iu bante ballë Turqve, të cilët ishin kalorës të lindun. Tue përdorë taktikën e sulmeve të befta me trimat e hypun në kuaj që shkonin si vetëtima, Skënderbeu shkaktonte rrëmujën dhe panikun në mes të kambsoris anmike, qoftë në marshim e sipër, qoftë kur kishte rrethue nji kështjellë. Në fushë të hapët ai manevronte në mënyrë që me drejtue ushtërin anmike në nji tokë të përshtatun, ku mund t'i vërsulej me kalorësit si shkaba dhe t'i grinte copë-copë. Gjithmonë në ballë të ushtëris gjatë këtyne betejave legjendare, Gjergj Kastrioti korrte fitoren vetëm me prezencën e tij, tue u futë tmerrin ushtarve t'anmikut. Turqët kishin të drejtë me i pasë frikën, mbasi Skënderbeu nuk njifte mëshirë kur ishte tue luftue. Kjo shpjegohet me faktin se anmiku ishte i tillë jo vetëm nga kombsija, por edhe nga feja, dhe kodi moral I Mesjetës nuk u vinte asnji kufizim kristjanve që luftonin kundër muhamedanve. Tue mos lypë nga të tjerët ma shum sesa ishte gadi të bante vet, Skënderbeu adhurohej nga ushtarët e tij, të cilët I bindeshin me nji vetmohim të plotë. Ai vet kujdesej mbas çdo fitoreje që seicili të merrte pjesën që i takonte nga plaçka e zanun prej anmikut. Ai u epte shpërblimin moral, që ishte ma i çmueshëm, atyne oficerve dhe ushtarve që ishin dallue ma tepër për guxim dhe trimni, tue i ftue në tryezën e tij dhe tue pi për shëndetin e tyne. Rrallë iu desht të përdorte autoritetin e tij si kryetar kundrejt misave të paris shqiptare, që luftonin ndën komandën e tij për kauzën kombtare. Ai imponohej gadi gjithnji me forcën e karakterit të tij, me gjykimin e pagabueshëm, me aftësin e tij si mjeshtër në artin e luftës dhe me shembullin që epte, t'ue dalë gjithmonë vet përpara. Por Gjergj Kastrioti nuk përbuzte kurr mendimin e prijësve të tjerë të luftës kombëtare. Para çdo beteje me randësi ai mblidhte këshillin e luftës që përbahej nga gjeneralët e ushtëris dhe pjestarët e Lidhjes Shqiptare dhe vendosnin së bashku planet strategjike mbas nji bisedimi të hapët dhe të imtë. Në rastin e rrethimit të Beratit më 1455, Skënderbeu iu përulë vendimit të shumicës me pranue ofertën për armëpushim të garnizonit turk megjithqë vet ishte i bindun se po bahej nji gabim fatal. Faktet e provuen se kishte pasë të drejtë dhe Skënderbeu e pagoi tue pësue të vetmen disfatë të karrjerës së tij. Fama e Gjergj Kastriotit ishte përhapë në tanë botën Kristiane. Ndërsa mbretën dhe krenë feodal t'Evropës ishin zhytë në grindje dhe rivalitete personale sa mos me pa rrezikun që kërcënonte mbarë Krishtenimin, shum 'njerëz të thjeshtë të atyne viseve ishin enthuzjasmue nga qindresa heroike e Shqiptarve ndën udhëheqjen gjenjale të fatosit kombtar. Shum qytetarë t'Evropës Kristiane, e tue përfshie edhe Anglezë, kishin vrapue në kështjellën e Krujës për të luftue si ushtarë të Gjergj Kastriotit. Nuk asht nji ekzagjerim me thanë se Skënderbeu ishte nga klasa e heronjve legjendar, të cilët penda e Plutarkut i ka ba të pavdekshëm. Kësaj i duhet shtue se Skënderbeu ishte pjestar i fundit i kësaj falange që nuk dinte se ç'asht frika dhe që jetonte për të luftue për idealin e liris dhe të mirën e nji populli që e kishte zgjedhë si prijës. Merita e tij ma e madhe asht se ai jetoi në praku i shoqnis moderne dhe se u frymzue nga feja kristiane. Gjatë nji çerek shekull, ai luftoi për të mos lanë që Shqipnija dhe Gadishulli Balkanik të ckeputeshin nga vathi I qytetnimit perendimor per disa shekuj.

Triumfi i fundit dhe vdekja e Skënderbeut
Sulltan Murati i II vdiq nji mot mbas orvatjes së tij me zaptue Krujën dhe në fronin e Perandoris hypi Sulltan Mehmet I 11. Si nji djalosh njizet vjeçar Mehmeti i nuk kishte shoqnue të jatin në speditën kundër Shqipnis dhe kishte vuejtë në sedrën e tij nga disfata. Kujtimin e ritiratës nga Shqipnija Mehmeti i II e kishte në zemër si plagë dhe nuk duronte që Gjergj Kastrioti të nderohej si gjenerali ma i madh i botës Kristiane, i cili kishte thye Turqët në luftë, tue prishë kësisoj famën e tyne si nji popull luftëtar që nuk dinte deri atëhere se ç'domethanë me humbë nji betejë. Përveç kësaj, Shqipnija e pamvarun ishte nji pengesë e padurueshme për ambicjen e tij me zaptue Romën dhe me e proklamue kryeqytet të Perandoris otomane.

Sulmin e parë Sulltan Mehmeti e drejtoi kundër Stambollit, të cilin e zaptoi me 1453. Kur u përhap lajmi se kryeqyteti lavdiplotë i Perandoris Bizantine u shkel nga Turqët, nji valë tmerri dhe pikëllinu shpërtheu nëpër Evropën. Bota Kristiane priste me ankth në zemër se ku do të ndalej hovi i këtij rrebeshi që kërcënonte me perla qytetnimin perëndimuer. Skënderbeu me nji grusht trimash Shqiptar kishte mbet si I vetmi prijës Kristian i Evropës lindore që nuk kishte lëshue armët. Prej vitit 1455 e deri më 1462, Sulltan Mehmeti dërgoi njimbasnji disa armata turke ndën komandën e gjeneralëve të tij ma të mire për të zaptue Shqipnin. Skënderbeu nuk I la as t'i afroheshin Krujës, por i shpartalloi të gjttha në luginat dhe rrypinat në mes të Dibrës dhe Ohrit.

Ndërsa presjoni i Turqve bahej gjithnji ma i randë me u përballue, Skënderbeu kishte ra në hall edhe nga intrigat dhe manevrat e Venedikut. Logjikisht, Republika e Shën-Markut duhej të formonte nji front të përbashkët me mbretin e Shqiptarve, mbasi Turqët sigurisht do të vërsuleshin kundër saj ditën që të kishin shtië Krujën në dorë. Kurse Skënderbeu u shtrëngue ta detyronte Venedikun me lidhë nji aleancë me të, tue krijue përshtypjen sikur kishte ba paqe me Sulltanin.

Më 1463 Mehmeti i II kishte fillue nji fushatë kundër Bosnjës në krye të ushtëris së tij. Lidhja Shqiptare vendosi me i dhanë fund luftës kundër Turqve tue nënshkrue më Sulltanin nji paqe fiktive me kushte që nuk dihen. Por, njikohësisht Skënderbeu lajmëroi Papën se ishte gadi me rifillue luftën kurdoherë që ta shifte të nevojshme. Venedikasit u alarmuen dhe aleanca e tyne me Gjergj Kastriotin u nënshkrue po at vit. Në bazë të këtij traktati Skënderbeu u angazhue t'i shpallte luftë Turqis, ndërsa Venediku u zotue t'i jepte nji ndihmë të përshtatun. Nji kontigjent venecjan I përbamë nga 1300 ushtarë dhe kalorës u dërgue në Shqipni bashkë me 2000 dukatë për të mbulue shpenximet e luftës. Djali I Skënderbeut, Gjon Kastrioti, muer privilegjin e trashëguem të nji qytetari të Venedikut dhe u ba antar i Këshillit të Madh të paris venecjane.

Fill mbas nënshkrimit të marrëveshjes në mes të Venedikut dhe Skënderbeut, Papa Piu i II u bani nji thirrje të gjith Kristianve me marrë kryqin kundër Turqve. Mjerisht apeli i tij ra në veshë të shurdhën. Dukej sikur asnjeri nuk ishte I interesuem me mbrojtë Krishtenimin. Deri edhe Ferdinandi i Napolit, për të cilin Gjergj Kastrioti shkoi vet me luftue, nuk muer pjesë në Kryqzatë. Piu i II, tue vue gjith besimin e tij ne Skënderbeun dhe në mbretin e Hungaris Mathias Korvin, u nis për në Ragusë që ishte caktue si piknisja e shefave kristian për të lançue Kryqzatën. Fati i zi e deshi që ai të vdiste rrugës dhe,bashkë me të, u varros shpresa e fundit e nji fronti të përbashkët kundër anmikut otoman. 1 goditun deri në thelbin e zemrës nga kjo vdekje e papritun, Skënderbeu ndaloi menjiherë pregatitjet për me shkue në Raguzë. Por ai i kishte shpallë luftë Sulltanit të nesërmen e ditës kur Papa bani thirrje për Kryqzatën kundër Turqve. Kështu që Shqipnija kishte ngelë vetëm përballë sunduesit otoman të ndezun pishë, tue pasë si aleatë Venedikun, që pak mund t'i besohej. Pa bjerrun kohë, Sulltan Mehmeti nisi Ballaban Pashën në krye të ushtëris turke për të shembë reduktin e fundit të rezistencës kristiane në kët anë të Andriatikut. Ballaban Pasha ishte nji renegat* Shqiptar, i cili e njifte taktikën luftarake të Skënderbeut dhe reflekset* e tij në sheshin e betejës. Nji dyluftim për vdekje në mes të këtyne dy prijësve vazhdoi katër vjet pa nji fitore të plotë për asnjanën palë. Ishte pikërisht gjatë fushatës së pare kundër Ballaban Pashës që Skënderbeu muer varrën e parë dhe të vetme. Të dy ushtërit ishin perleshë afër kështjellës së Stefigradit. Skënderbeu si gjithmonë iu printe trimave Shqiptarë atje ku lozej fati I luftës. Kali i tij u plagos randë dhe heroj kombëtar u përplas në tokë dhe vrau supin tue u përpjekë mbas cungut të nji peme. Për nji minutë i ra të fikët nga dhimbja e madhe. Roja e tij e rrethoi nga çdo anë, ndërsa Turqët sulmonin me rrëmbim. Me nji përpjekje gadi mbinjerzore luani I Arbnis u çue në kambë, hypi mbi nji kale tjetër dhe u vërsul kundër anmikut të mahnitun dhe të tmerruem. Në ndeshjen e dytë me Ballaban Pashën, Turqët zunë rob disa nga gjeneralët ma të mirë të Skënderbeut, ndër të cilët edhe vet Moisiun e Dibrës. Me urdhën të Sulltanit ata pësuen nji vdekje të llahtarshme tue iu rrjepë lëkura për së gjalli. Mbarë kombi shqiptar i vajtoi si martirë të atdheut. Në betejat e mapastajme, Shqiptarët e xhindosun nga zemrimi, nuk lanë ma gjallë asnji Turk që ra në duert e tyne. Sulltan Mehmetin, që kishte zaptue Stambollin, nuk e nxinte ma vendi. Ai u nis vet në krye të nji ushtërije prej 200.000 vetësh për me i dhanë nji mësim të fundit këtij kombi të vogël që nuk ndigjonte me iu përulë. Sa muer lajmin, Gjergj Kastrioti vrapoi për me u kapë me fuqin invaduese sa ma larg kah lindja. Mbrojtja e kështjellës së Krujës i ishte besue Tanush Topijës. Me gjith pengesat që I vuni fuqija e lehtë shetitëse e Skënderbeut, ushtërija turke mërrijti para mureve të Krujës dhe topat filluen me vjellë gjylet e tyne prej guri. Mbrojtësit e fortesës simbolike nuk i tronditën topat dhe as që I tërhoqi ari i Sulltanit. Ky i fundit, tue pa se fitorja nuk ishte as për sot, as për nesër, u largue nga Shqipnija tue lanë Ballaban Pashën me vazhdue rrethimin e Krujës. Ai kuptoi nji gja: me mundë Shqiptarët nuk ishte punë aq e lehtë sa me zaptue Stambollin, prandaj u kthye në kryqytetin e tij për të pregatitë nji speditë në shkallë edhe ma të gjanë. Po në at kohë, Skënderbeut nuk i kishte mbetë ma veçse trimnija dhe vullneti mos me u përulë derisa kishte fuqi të luftonte. 1 dishpruem nga apathija dhe verbnimi që mbretnonin në botën Kristiane, ai u vesh si ushtar i thjeshtë dhe shkoi vetëm në Romë për me kërkue ndihmë. Peshkopë dhe Kardinalë duelën me e pritë dhe nji turmë e madhe Romakësh e brohoriti me enthuzjasmë. Në nji ceremoni të shkëlqyeshme që u mbajtë në Bazilikën e Shën-Pjetrit, Papa Piu i n i dha me dorë të vet nji shpatë nderi dhe nji qylahe të bekueme. Por si ndihmë financjare për të vazhdue luftën, u mblodhën vetëm 7000 dukatë. Prej Rome, Gjergj Kastrioti shkoi në Napoli, ku mbreti i dha nji shumë të hollash dhe, aq sa kishte, armë dhe pajime lufte. Ndërkaq, rrethimi i Krujës vazhdonte dhe gjëndja e të rrethuemve ishte ba e padurueshme. Skënderbeu porsa u kthye në atdhe nxuer shpatën dhe u turr kundër anmikut nga malet përmbi Krujën që mbajnë sot emnin e tij. Ballaban Pasha u zue në pritë dhe vdiq nga plagët që muer n'atë ndeshje. Armata turke mbeti pa udhëheqës dhe u shkatërrue. Shumica e ushtarve të Sulltanit u vranë dhe fare pak muejtën me dalë gjallë nga Shqipnija. Shqiptarët nuk patën kohë me marrë frymë, kur nji tjetër ushtëri turke u çfaq përsëri para mureve të Krujës. Por edhe kët herë fortesa legjendare nuk u dorzue. Sulltani i tërbuem i dha urdhën ushtëris me djegë e shkretue viset e Shqipnis ku arrinte dora e saj. Por falangat e vetëtimta të Gjergj Kastriotit e ndoqën anmikun kamba-kambës tue ba kërdin në radhët e tij. Mbas dy javë që kaluen me plaçkitje dhe shfarime, Turqët me Sulltanin në krye u kthyen në Stamboll të brengosun nga pikëllimi i disfatës. Ky ishte triumfi i fundit i Skënderbeut. Nji mot ma vonë, me 17 Kallnuer 1468, heroi i ynë kombëtar, që kishte dalë I pacënuem nga gjith ato beteja, u mposhtë nga nji ethe e mallkueme që nuk i gjindej dermani. Ai kishte shkue në Llesh me kryesue nji kuvënd të Lidhjes Shqiptare për të shestue plane që të nxirrej anmiku prej Shqipnis. Prijësi i pazëvëndësueshëm la kët botë para se Kuvendi të merrte ndonji vendim. Akti i tretë i tragjedisë shqiptare u luejtë pa të, dhe epilogu ishte ai që mund të pritej.

Gjergj Kastrioti u varros në Kathedralen e Shën Kollit në Llesh, të cilën e kishte rindërtue pak vjet ma parë. Kombi shqiptar derdhi lotët çurk, tue vajtue mbretin e adhuruem që i kishte shërbye gjatë nji çerek shekullin si mburojë e pathyeshme, dhe që kishte fitue respekt dhe admirim në çdo skaj t'Evropës me fitoret e tij të habitëshme që dukeshin gadi si nji mrekulli e Zotit. Nji gojdhanë thotë se Sulltani Mehmeti i 11, kur muer lajmin e vdekjes së fatosit shqiptar bërtiti: "Mjer Krishtënimi që ka bjerrë shpatën dhe mburojën e tij. Tash, ma në fund, Evropëa dhe Azija janë për mue. Ruejna Zot që të kemi anmik nji tjetër luan si ai". Dhjetë vjet mbas vdekjes së Skënderbeut, Turqët hynë në Llesh, çelën varrin e tij dhe bane hajmali me copa nga eshtnat e tij, tue besue se nuk do t'i vriste as shpata, as shigjeta, mbasi ishte përhapë kudo besimi se ai vet nuk mund të vritej nga nji armë e dorës së njeriut. Kjo asht aq e vërtetë saqë, pak kohë mbas vdekjes së Skënderbeut, nji ushtëri turke që ishte tue invadue krahinat e Shkodrës, muer arratin në panik e sipër kur u përhapë lajnu se Skënderbeu po iu printe Shqiptarve. Donika dhe Gjon kastrioti shkuen në Napoli. Për dhjetë vjetë të tjerë flamuri me shkabën dykrenore valoi mbi kështjellën e Krujës. Mbrojtjen e siguronin trimat Shqiptarë ndën Lek Dukagjinin dhe nji kontigjent venecjan ndën komandën e Kontarinit. Fortesa krenare e Gjergj Kastriotit ra në duert e Turqve me 16 Qershuer 1478 mbas nji rrethimi të gjatë që kërcënonte me shfarue banorët nga urija dhe lëngatat, ndërsa Kontarini ishte vra dhe Lek Dukagjini kishte zanë shtratin, I pazoti me lëvizë. Me gjith premtinun solemn të Sulltan Mehmetit me shpëtue jetën e trimave shqiptarë, asnji burrë nuk mbet gjallë dhe gratë dhe fëmijt u zvarrisen në skllavëri. Ky ishte fundi tragjik i luftës epike që heroi legjendar i Shqiptarve bani për nji çerek shekulli kundër invazionit otoman. Fjalën e fundit mbi vëndin e Skënderbeut e kanë thanë dy Papë, Kalikst i III dhe Piu i II, dhe verdiktin e tyne e ka konfirmue historija. Piu i II shkruen kështu në Komentarët e tij: "Ai kaloi gadi gjith jetën e tij tue luftue për kauzën Kristjane. Asht zor me gjetë nji prijës Kryqzate që mund të krahasohet me të". Papa Kalikst I II ka përmbledhë me kët fjali të goditun randësinë historike të luftës së Skënderbeut: "Si nji pendë e patundëshme, ai ndaloi furin e sulmeve turke dhe I pengoi të zaptonin Evropën Kristjane". Mandej e tanë Evropa shprehu admirimin e saj me nji rast ose me nji tjetër edhe për disa shekuj me radhë. Në librin e lutjeve të Mbretneshës Elizabeth të Anglis botue më 1559, dita e vdekjes së Skënderbeut mban kët shënim: "17 Kallnuer. Si sot vdiq princi i mire Skënderbeu, Mbret i Epirit dhe shfarues I Turqve". Më 1597, fisniku francez Jacques de Lavardin (Zhak dë Lavardin) shkroi biografin e plotë të Skënderbeut. Vepra e tij, bazue kryesisht në Barletin, asht frymëzue nga dashurija dhe admirimi i kulluet për heroin tonë kombëtar. Në Parathanjen e tij, Lavardini i drejtohet aristokracis franceze me kto fjalë: "Kjo asht jeta e Gjergj Kastriotit, i quejtun Skënderbe nga Turqët, Mbreti i Shqiptarve, emni i pavdekshëm I të cilit meriton pa fjalë të përmendet në tempullin e Kujtimit". Vepra e Lavardinit inspiroi poetin francez Ronsard me shkruejtë nji vjershë kushtue Skënderbeut. Mbasi kujton ngadhnjimet e lashta të Epirit, poeti vazhdon:

"... Dhe Skmderbeu mundës i SkithveQë prej gjith Azis, Ungjillin kanë dëbueO ti, nder i këtij shekulliOshqipiar i shënuem prej FatitDora jote mundi Turcjët njizet e dy herëShtine tmerrin në rradhët e tyne,I bane me lanë eshtnat në muret e Kështjellës.Por ti do të kishe vdekë, i harruem nga njerzimi,Sikur përpjekja e devotëshme e të ditunit LavardinTë mos kishte përjetësue betejat e tua..."

Sir William Temple, burrë shteti dhe shkrimtar politik anglez i shekullit të XVII, e ven Gjergj Kastriotin në rradhën e prijësve luftarak dhe Perandorve luftëtar ma të mëdhenj të historis. Në nji vepër mbi Virtytet Heroike, ai shkruen: "Gjergj Kastrioti, Princi i Epirit, i njoftun zakonisht me emnin Skënderbe, si dhe Hunjadi, nënmbret i Hungaris, janë dy gjenerala ngadhnjimtarë dhe burra me karakter të naltë që luftuen sa qenë gjallë si çempjonë të Krishtenimit. Ata ishin ba tmerri i Turqve dhe, tue pasë vetëm nji fuqi të vogël ushtarake, u banë ballë me sukses për kaq vjet sulmeve të përsëritun të gjith ushtëris otomane". Voltaire shkrojti më 1754: "Sikur Perandorët e Bizantit të kishin qenë si Skënderbeu, Perandorija Romake e Lindjes nuk do t'ishte çdukë". Gjenerali kanadez VVolfe, nji ekspert mbi historin e luftrave shkrojti me 1756: "Skënderbeu ua kalon të gjith prijësve ushtarakë të lashtë dhe modernë si udhëheqës i nji armate të vogël defensive". Historiani i famshëm Eduard Gibbon që ka shkruejtë veprën klasike mbi "Dekadencën dhe Çdukjen e Perandoris Romake" dënon Skënderbeun pse dezertoi Sulltanin, mohoi fen muhamedane dhe I bani luftë bamirësit të tij. Ai e gjykon Skënderbeun mbas parimeve morale të shekullit të XVIII, tue harrue se tre shekuj ma parë bahej nji luftë për vdekje në mes të dy koncepteve* të papajtueshëm moraliteti dhe marrëdhaniesh njerzore. Me kto mëndje ai duhet të kishte denue gjithashtu edhe mbretin Vladislav të IV të Polonis dhe Hungaris, i cili shkeli, ndën nxitjen e Nuncit papal Kardinal Cesarini, armëpushimin prej dhjetë vjetësh që kishte nënshkrue me Sulltanin më 1444 në qytetin Szegedin. Në ditët tona, Peshkopi Fan Noli asht mundue të çmojë rolin e Skënderbeut me kriterin objektiv të historianit dhe herë-herë, tue u çveshun krejt prej ngroftësis së ndjenjës patriotike. Ai e përfundon kështu librin e tij: "Skënderbeu bani për 25 vjet nji luftë të mraparojes së Krishtënimit dhe kësisoj ia prishi planet Muratit dhe sidomos Mehmetit të II me organizue speditën kundër Romës. Dihet si fakt se më 1489, domethanë nji mot para se të vdiste, Sulltan Mehmeti kishte lançue fushatën e Italis, tue shkelë kambë në Otranto. Por mbas vdekjes së tij erdhë në fuqi Sulltan Bajazidi, i cili nuk çante kryet për zaptime tokash. Suksesori* i tij Sulltan Selimi drejtoi ushtërin kah lindja dhe Evropa Perëndimore shpëtoi nga rreziku I invazjonit otoman".1

Historianët modernë e çmojnë Skënderbeun si nji nga shefat ushtarak ma të mëdhenj të gjithë kohëve. Ata e njofin se mbreti i Shqiptarve mbet vetëm për me përballue fuqin kolosale të Sulltanit dhe se bani të pavdekshëm emnin e Krujës, tue detyrue Sulltan Mehmetin e II me u kthye mbrapa dy herë mbas disfatave që pësoi nga dora e Skënderbeut.

Cuisine of Albania

2005-12-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

Albanian Cuisine

Margarita's RecipesKofta, small ground-meat patties fried or grilled,

Fried Mint Meatballs are a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine. There are as many variations on this basic dish as ways to spell its name in the Roman alphabet. Given the extent of Turkish influence in Albania, I was not surprised to find them here as well. Qofte të fërguara seems to be a common dish in Albania, I found several slightly different recipes for it, and the one I made was a combination of them all. All my guests liked them very much, specially dipped in yougurt (this Afghani recipe is actually very common in the Middle East and I'm pretty sure they eat it in Albania as well). I thought they were tasty, though I've liked other versions (such as Armenian and Lebanese ones) better.

Albanian cuisine consists of local dishes from around the country of Albania. Many of these dishes are typical of the Balkans and indeed the Mediterranean, but some are local specialties. The main meal of the Albanians is lunch and it is usually accompanied by a salad of fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, olives, olive oil, vinegar and salt.

Albanian dishes
Albanian vegetable pie
Baked lamb and yogurt
Baked leeks
Bean Jahni soup
Byrek
Elli's veal or chicken with walnuts
Fërgesë of Tirana with peppers
Fërgesë of Tirana with veal
Fried meatballs (Qofte të fërguara)
Garlic dressings
Korce Kolloface
Mixed vegetables
Potato and cabbage soup
Stewed dry figs dessert
Veal with large lima beans

Desserts
The desserts most common in Albania are made throughout the Balkans and are probably of Greek, Turkish or Arabic origin. Some of these include:
Bakllava
Hallva
Hasude
Llokume
Kadaif
Muhalebi
Revani
Sultjash

Soft drinks
Mineral water is among the most preferred non-alcoholic drinks in Albania along with carbonated beverages. Some of these are produced locally and some are imported from abroad.
Carbonated and mineral waters
Mil
Various fruit juices and soft drinks

Alcoholic beverages
Alcoholic beverages are vastly consumed in Albania. Most of these are produced locally, and even by private citizens.
Beer (see Birra Tirana for a local brand)
Brandy - the Albanian brandy Skanderbeg is renowned in Europe
Raki
Red and white wines

See also

Culture of Albania
List of recipes
Meze

Albanian Literature

2005-12-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

Although Albanian is an ancient tongue, the oldest known document in the language is from November 8, 1462, a formula of baptism (Albanian: Formula e Pagëzimit) by the bishop of Durrës, Pal Engjëlli. There is also a German-Albanian dictionary by Arnold Von Harf from 1497, and the oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari or missal that was written by Gjon Buzuku, a Catholic cleric, in 1555.
Compared to other Balkan literatures, very little Albanian writing has ever been translated into English. There are several reasons for this. Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Macedonian and Slovene literatures have profited by interest from devotees and experts in Slavic studies; modern Greek literature has been dealt with at least on a marginal basis by academics and specialists in the Classics and Byzantine studies; and Romanian literature has been translated by scholars and aficionados of Romance languages and cultures.
However, Albanian has remained to a certain extent beyond the pale - somewhat of an exception - as it does not fall into any of these convenient categories. Another factor which has undoubtedly had a major influence on the lack of interest in Albanian literature has been the traditional isolation of the Albanians and their culture from the world around them. The Republic of Albania was kept sealed off for almost half a century, from 1944 to 1990, by its Stalinist leaders, as if it were a planet of its own. Few outsiders were allowed in, and even fewer Albanians were allowed out. For many years, it was politically dangerous for Albanians to learn foreign languages.
Kosova, then part of the Yugoslav federation, was less hermetically segregated than Albania itself, but the Serb authorities in Belgrade, fearful of any challenge to their rule, kept the province under wraps and never encouraged outsiders to visit. As a result, few cultural contacts were made until Kosova was finally liberated in the spring of 1999. In addition to the historical and political factors, Albanian is not an easy language to learn, and there are few foreigners who have managed to master it sufficiently to be able to translate literary texts.
The scarcity of translations of Albanian literature has, thus, nothing to do with a lack of quality in the original (although there are admittedly many works of dubious merit which would be better left untranslated), but simply rather with a lack of literary translators from Albanian into English. It is to be hoped that the situation will improve in the future.

Albanian holidays

2005-12-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

The Albanian Riviera is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and unspoiled regions in Albania. The Adriatic and Ioanian coast of Albania are of a dramatic beauty. The coastline stretches for over 450 km.
The Adriatic coast, about 300 km long has shallow water and long sandy beaches. The Ionian coast about 150 km is rugged and dramatic, with steep backdrops to fine white sandy beaches.

The nature is there original yet. The Alpet - Albanian Alps , the high mountains without damages from the civilisation, the Adria-coast with ancient pinewoods and huge lagunes, the Albanian Riviera is like the French .
Clearwater lakes in West Albania and the large and unknown stalactite caves are waiting for their explorers around the world.
The Ionian coast about 150 km is rugged and dramatic, with steep backdrops to fine white sandy beaches. These beaches are smaller and rockier.

Citrus, fig and olive trees dominate the landscape, giving it a classical Mediterranean beauty.The southern coastline remains unspoilt.
Situated opposite Corfu (Greece), city of Saranda is now visited by day trippers who come to enjoy this beautifull city . The city of SARANDA is the pearl of the Albanian riviera at the Ionian sea.

A town with a rich past, a multifaceted present and a promising future.
The sea panorama, the variety of flora, favoured by the soft climate, make Saranda the preferred centre for rest and recreation and an importanttourist town.

Saranda is rapidly developing into the southern gateway for tourism into Albania. Near Saranda stood the ancient Illyrian city of Onchesmos, mentioned as a port in the 1st century B.C.
Inside the city walls have been excavated the remains of dwellings, water cisterns and an early Christian Basilica of the 5th and 6th century, containing a beautiful multicolored floor mosaic.
18km south of Saranda are the ancient ruins of Butrint,suprisingly extensive and interesting.Virgil claimed that the Trojans founded Butrint.

Although Butrint has been inhabited long before , Greeks,Romans settled later on Butrint. Butrint´s prosperity continued throughout the Roman and Byzantines periode.
There are buses daily to Butrint leaving the city of Saranda. In year 2000 Butrint was visited by about 30thousand foreigners.
The ancient city of Butrint is one of the best attractions of Albanian Riviera .

Vlora,Saranda,Dhermi,Qeparo,Vuno,Himara,Borsh etc, are located where the attraction from the deep, clean, blue Ioanian sea is combined with the clear and healthy air of the mountains.
Those places are certainly most attractive locations in Albania, reported as such in all tourist- and guide-books of Albania.
The village's and cities presents a particularly beauty with their characteristic Southern architecture amidst the traditional Mediterranean greenness.

The Pirate's cave by village of Dhermyi is an interesting natural cave made famous by the book written by Petro Marko and the movie of the same title.
It can be reached both from the sea and the land. The sea view is unique and very particular. Located in perpendicular rocks, in very deep waters it is one of most valuable tourist attraction, that brings you back in the Medieval history of Albania.

Albanian Dialects

2005-12-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

There are two principal dialects, Tosk (Toskërishte) and Gheg (Gegërishte), which have been diverging for at least a millennium, and their less extreme forms are mutually intelligible. The geographical border of the two dialects has traditionally been the Shkumbin River in Albania, with Gheg being spoken north of the river, and Tosk south of the river. The two dialects have phonological as well as lexicological differences.

Tosk is furthermore divided into many mutually intelligible sub-dialects, which either belong to the Labërishte sub-group or the Çamërishte sub-group, including north-western Greece, but not to be confused with the Arvanites or the Greek-Albanians. This dialect is spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities that have recently arrived in these two countries, and in smaller Albanian communities in Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and United States.

Gheg (or Geg) is divided into many mutually intelligible sub-dialects, which either belong to the Northern Gheg sub-group or the Southern-Gheg sub-group, the traditional border between the two being the Mati River in northern Albania. This dialect is spoken in northern Albania and by the Albanians of Serbia and Montenegro (Southern Montenegro and Southern Serbia), the UN protectorate of Kosovo, as well as those of the Republic of Macedonia.

Since after World War II there have been efforts to create a Standard or Literary Albanian that borrows most heavily from the Tosk dialect (at the behest of the dictator Enver Hoxha, himself a Tosk speaker). The Congress on the Orthography of Albanian, held in 1972 with the additional participation of delegates from the Yugoslav territories of Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro and Calabria (Italy), established a unified literary language. The resulting orthographic rules were codified in such tomes as Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe (1973) (The Orthography of the Albanian Language) and Fjalori drejtshkrimor i gjuhës shqipe (1976) (The Orthographic Dictionary of the Albanian Language). [source]

Albanian Language

2005-12-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by about 6,400,000 inhabitants of the eastern Adriatic coast in Albania and also in neighbouring Yugoslavia, principally in Kosova and Macedonia, west of a line from near Leskovac to Lake Ohri. There are perhaps 300,000 more speakers in isolated villages in southern Italy (Abruzzi, Molise, Basilicata, Puglia, and Calabria), and Sicily, and southern Greece (in Voiot'a, Attica, fvvoia, çndros, and the Pelop-nnesos) The origins of the general name Albanian, which traditionally referred to a restricted area in central Albania, and of the current official name Shqip or Shqip'ri, which may well be derived from a term meaning "pronounce clearly, intelligibly," are still disputed. The name Albanian has been found in records since the time of Ptolemy. In Calabrian Albanian the name is Arbresh, in Modern Greek Arvan'tis, and in Turkish Arnaut; the name must have been transmitted early through Greek speech.

Albanian language is the only Indo European language that has preserved the archaic structure of proto Aryan language. Albanian adjectives and ordinals come after the stressed nouns unlike any other European tongue.
The law formulated in 1892 by J. Wackernagel, according to which unstressed parts of the sentence tend to occupy a position after the first stressed word normally situated at the beginning of a sentence makes Albanian the oldest living Indo European language.

Albanian Connection

2005-12-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Find here information and latest news about Albania and albanians. This blog is your connection to everything albanian and about albanians.

The Albanian connection

An examination of the extent of organised crime in Albania and some possible solutions to it.
Dr Mark Galeotti reports
In the past 10 years, the once-reclusive country of Albania has experienced two inter-connected problems: a steady and often explosive process of state collapse and the rise of increasingly organised crime.
With the death of the neo-Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha in 1985, the Albanian Communist Party found its rule under increasing challenge. In 1991-92, it collapsed amid an explosion of violence, looting and economic chaos. Inflation had reached 100 per cent, unemployment 50 per cent and many public services had all but broken down.
The north-east and south of the country are only nominally under government control, while towns such as Fier, Sarande, Vlorë, Gjirokastër and Shkoder have become virtual strongholds of organised crime.
In part, Albania's problems are by-products of the collapse of Yugoslavia. The ensuing civil war disrupted existing
Balkan drug routes, through which Turkish narcotics clans brought some 90 per cent of the heroin reaching Europe. The Turks were looking for new routes, and the Albanian gangs were happy to oblige in concert with their cousins, the ethnic Albanians, of Serbian Kosovo and western Macedonia. The Albanians provide the Turks with both couriers and distributors, with the ethnic Turkish minority in western Macedonia providing ideal intermediaries.
Albanian trucks and drivers transport narcotics through Korçe and Elbasan or Gjirokastër to the Albanian ports of Vlorë, Durrës and Sarande. They are then taken by small boat either to Italy or north, up the Dalmatian coast.
There are also reportedly two Albanian-run heroin processing facilities in Macedonia. Ethnic Albanian communities in Europe provide street-level distribution networks. This is especially important in Belgium (with a concentration in Brussels), Germany, Switzerland and Greece (which has absorbed an estimated 300,000 illegal Albanian immigrants since 1991). Some 70 per cent of the heroin reaching Germany and Switzerland is now reckoned to have been transported through Albania and/or by Albanian groups, and the figure for Greece may be closer to 85 per cent.
The collapse of Yugoslavia also offered Albanian gangs a further opportunity both to make a profit and win some degree of popular legitimacy. Ethnic Albanian 'Kosovars' represent a 90 per cent majority in the Serbian-controlled Kosovo region and are engaged in a guerrilla war for independence. Albanian gangs have established a lucrative trade smuggling guns to the Kosovo Liberation Army. There are an estimated million guns illegally circulating in this country of three and a quarter million people. With an Albanian-built Kalashnikov selling in Tirana's black market at $60-100, and the Kosovars prepared to pay up to $500, there is margin for profit. Kosovo is not the only market, and that same rifle will fetch around $1,000 in Western Europe.
The links between Albanian gangs and their Italian counterparts are strong. Albanian émigrés have been working with the Mafia in the United States since the late 1980s, and Italian gangs especially La Rosa (The Rose) and the Sacra Corona Unita (United Holy Crown) combines of Apulia moved quickly to take advantage of the collapse of Albania.
Albanian and Italian gangs together run a series of lucrative back-and-forth smuggling runs across the hard-to-police Adriatic Sea. Drugs, guns, contraband cigarettes and illegal immigrants are brought into Italy, while stolen goods go back to the Balkans.
Access to the 'tradecraft' of established Italian and Turkish gangs and the resources provided by these new opportunities has begun to revolutionise Albanian organised crime, in three main ways:
Organisation. Traditionally, Albanian criminal organisations were little more than bandit gangs, built around the fis (an extended family unit) and steeped in a culture of patriarchy, machismo and family loyalty. Increasingly, Albanian gangs are developing more sophisticated organisations, in some cases resembling businesses, in others based around terrorist-style cells or 'crews'. This last feature reflects the rise within the gangs of fugitive members of Sigurimi, the Hoxha regime's brutal secret police
Internationalisation. The most advanced Albanian gangs are building networks across Europe, largely through expatriate communities. They have formed circles dealing drugs and running prostitutes. More than 14,000 Albanian women are currently working as prostitutes across Europe: perhaps 8,000 in Italy and 5,000 in Germany. An estimated 14 per cent of them are under-age
Diversification. Albanian organised crime is moving into new fields, from money laundering and fraudulent pyramid investment schemes to the illegal acquisition of privatised assets and forgery. The Albanians are also beginning to produce cannabis and, according to some reports, even coca.
The Albanian authorities have had some successes against the gangs, with the launch of an anti-crime pact initiative in January. They are, however, hamstrung by lack of resources and deep internal divisions.
The World Bank rates Albania as the most corrupt country in Europe and this also applies to some within the police. In March, President Rexhep Meidani announced an official war on corruption but numerous arrests within the police have led to mutinies and internal conflicts. In January, allegations of corruption led to a firefight within the Shkoder police, which special forces had to quell.
The international community is anxious to prevent the consolidation of transnational Albanian organised crime. It represents a new ethnic criminal threat and acts as a 'force multiplier' to existing organisations. The Italian police, for example, are concerned by the weapons and money-laundering services the Albanians can provide to the Apulian gangs.
Some look to the success of deployments of foreign forces, notably Operation Alba (see box) and advocate a direct approach, possibly even a multinational force, to interdict smuggling routes. The alternative is for enhanced police-to-police contact and the provision of know-how and material aid. Along with others, the Italians have provided equipment to the Albanian police.
Albania's new organised crime investigation team, established in January, is based on the Italian Direzione Anti-Mafia. Albanian officers are also being trained in Italy and there is increasing direct co-operation. In February Albanian and Italian coastguards arrested a gang escaping from Albania by boat with $350,000 stolen from a bank in Shkoder.
But already, some opposition politicians have complained that government co-operation in international law-enforcement is little more than 'hidden colonialism'. If it begins to look as if the international community is interfering in Albania's domestic affairs, this will alienate local public opinion. An unstable state and a police force still seen widely as corrupt and ineffective will need popular legitimacy if they are to have any successes in curbing this most recent member of the European underworld.