Ferhat Bey Draga
Ferhat Bey Draga | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1880 |
| Died | December 2, 1944 Kralan, Djakovica |
| Nationality | Ottoman, Serbian, Yugoslav |
| Other names | Ferhat Draga |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Known for | Džemijet Party |
Ferhat Bey Draga (1880-1944) was a noted Kosovar Albanian politician during the Balkan Wars and WWI.
Biography
Ferhat Draga was born in Mitroviça, Ottoman Empire. He was the brother of Nexhip Draga, another politician mostly known as co-founder of the Džemijet party. Ferhat was educated in Istambul, where he was active together with his brother Nexhip in the movement for the Albanian writings and schools. He supported the Latin script for writing the Albanian language.
During WWI, he cooperated with the Austro-Hungarian Empire force which controlled most of Kosovo. In 1915, he raised around 1,000 volunteers to assist the Austrians in the eastern front.
In 1915, he became an important figure inside Džemijet, and after the death of his brother Nexhip in 1921 he became leader. The party managed to win 14 seats in the elections of 1923. In January 1925, the Dzemijet party came to conflict with the People's Radical Party of Nikola Pašić (1845-1926), and several Albanian leaders including Ferhat Draga were arrested and imprisoned. On the eve of the general elections of the same month he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was however released soon and invited to Belgrade to reach a deal with Pašić, unsuccessfully.
In 1927, in the eve of next general elections, he was arrested again and sentenced to another 20 years. Draga still managed to avoid the imprisonment. In the '30s, he was active with the Muslim Religious Community of the southern Serbia. There he did what he could to oppose the deportation of Albanian Muslims to Turkey. Draga served as well as Mayor of Mitrovica.[1]
In 1941, he welcomed the Italian invasion and the accommodation of most of Kosovo into the Albanian state. Meanwhile the Germans would consider him unreliable and too Italophile. Involved in fights against the Yugoslav partisans during the Albanian resistance by the end of the WWII, he was wounded and died near Kralan village of Gjakova.
See also
References
- ^ Andrej Mitrović (1991). Srbi i Albanci u XX veku: ciklus predavanja 7-10. maj 1990. Beograd: Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti. p. 118. ISBN 9788670251410.