Albanian Vilayet

The four Ottoman Vilayets Kosovo, Shkodra, Manastir and Ioannina, which should be united to the Albanian Vilayet.

The Albanian Vilayet or Wilajet Albania ( Ottoman ولايت ارناود İA Vilâyet-i Arnavid , Albanian Vilajeti shqiptar ) was a long-planned, but never founded regional body ( Vilâyet or Wilajet) of the Ottoman Empire in the Western Balkans , which was to be formed from the four Albanian Vilayets (katër vilajetët) . These were the four Vilayets Kosovo , Shkodra , Manastir, and Ioannina , all of which had large Albanian populations . At times the Vilayet Saloniki should have been part of it. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the plans for the construction of the Vilayets were ruined.

In 1864, in the course of the Tanzimat reforms under Sultan Abdülaziz, the independent Eyâlets were transformed into the Vilâyets with the character of an administrative district. A coherent Albanian “super vilayet” has been part of the agenda of numerous Albanian associations and societies in the Rilindja movement since 1877 . This merger was first officially called for in 1877 by Sami Frashëri , Vaso Pascha and Abdyl Frashëri in the Constantinople newspaper Tercüman-i Hakikat . This demand came up again at the League of Prizren in 1878 and the League of Peja in 1889. In 1877 the Vilâyet Prizren was integrated into the Vilâyet Kosovo.

In 1909, leaflets were distributed in Ioannina calling on Albanians of all religions to form alliances and demand autonomy within a large Albanian vilayet. The demand occasionally reappeared elsewhere, for example in a newspaper published by Dervish Hima in 1910 .

In the years after 1900 there were riots in the Albanian Vilayets almost every year. The formation of the Albanian vilayet was not one of the demands that Albanian leaders had formulated against the Ottoman government in 1910, 1911 or 1912. The 14-point catalog drawn up by Hasan Bej Prishtina in August was approved by the majority of the Ottoman government. Other Albanian leaders - including Isa Boletini , Riza Bey Gjakova and Bajram Curri - wanted to continue the uprising, but were then able to change their mind. The demands officially accepted by the government in Constantinople on September 4, 1912, did not include any autonomy or unification of Albanian territories, as Isa Boletini explicitly confirmed.

"Although Albanians failed to gain autonomy for a single province of Albania, the Albanian gains proved troublesome enough to neighboring Balkan states to help lead to a major war."

"Although the Albanians had not gained autonomy for a united province of Albania, their successes were disruptive enough for the neighboring Balkan states to lead to a major war."

- George Gawrych : The Crescent and the Eagle

Shortly after this agreement, the First Balkan War broke out and a large part of the European territory of the Ottoman Empire was taken by the member states of the Balkan Federation. After the Kingdom of Serbia Üsküb had conquered, invited Ismail Qemali a group Albanians from all four Ottoman vilayets to a total Albanian Congress in Vlora hold. On November 28, 1912, they proclaimed the independence of Albania and the amalgamation of these four Albanian vilayets and formed the provisional government of Albania .

Individual evidence

↑ Nathalie Clayer: Aux origines du nationalisme albanais: la naissance d'une nation majoritairement musulmane on Europe . Karthala, 2007, ISBN 978-2-84586-816-8 , pp. 463 ( limited preview in Google book search [accessed on January 19, 2011]): "Contrairement à ce qui est souvent affirmé, la revendication d'un territoire englobant le vilayet de Salonique fut assez fréquente"
^ Dušan T. Bataković : The Kosovo Chronicles . Knižara Plato, Belgrade, Serbia, ISBN 86-447-0006-5 , The Albanian League ( rastko.rs [accessed on 19 January 2011]): "Plans were then already voiced for including even the Salonika vilayet"
↑ Charles Jelavich, Barbara Jelavich: The establishment of the Balkan national states, 1804-1920 . University of Washington Press, 1986, ISBN 978-0-295-96413-3 , pp. 86 ( limited preview in Google Book Search): "The first, more moderate, wanted the five vilayets (this would include Thessaloniki) that were inhabited by Albanians to be united in a single province ... plan receives support of the conservatives. The more radical group desired unification of just four vilayets, but with full administrative autonomy "
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e George Gawrych: The crescent and the eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913 . IB Tauris, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-84511-287-5 .
↑ George Gawrych: The crescent and the eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913 . IB Tauris, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-84511-287-5 , pp. 196 .
↑ Josef Redlich , Baron d'Estournelles, M. Justin Godart, Walter Shucking, Francis W. Hirst, HN Brailsford, Paul Milioukov , Samuel T. Dutton: Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and the Conduct of the Balkan Wars . Carnegie Endowment for International Piece, Washington DC, 1914, p. 49 , accessed on January 10, 2011 : "In a few weeks the territories of Turkey in Europe .. by the Balkan allies ... in their hands as condominium"

[1] Nathalie Clayer: Aux origines du nationalisme albanais: la naissance d'une nation majoritairement musulmane on Europe . Karthala, 2007, ISBN 978-2-84586-816-8 , pp. 463 ( limited preview in Google book search [accessed on January 19, 2011]): "Contrairement à ce qui est souvent affirmé, la revendication d'un territoire englobant le vilayet de Salonique fut assez fréquente"

[2] Dušan T. Bataković : The Kosovo Chronicles . Knižara Plato, Belgrade, Serbia, ISBN 86-447-0006-5 , The Albanian League ( rastko.rs [accessed on 19 January 2011]): "Plans were then already voiced for including even the Salonika vilayet"

[3] Charles Jelavich, Barbara Jelavich: The establishment of the Balkan national states, 1804-1920 . University of Washington Press, 1986, ISBN 978-0-295-96413-3 , pp. 86 ( limited preview in Google Book Search): "The first, more moderate, wanted the five vilayets (this would include Thessaloniki) that were inhabited by Albanians to be united in a single province ... plan receives support of the conservatives. The more radical group desired unification of just four vilayets, but with full administrative autonomy "

[:0-4] George Gawrych: The crescent and the eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913 . IB Tauris, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-84511-287-5 .

[5] George Gawrych: The crescent and the eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913 . IB Tauris, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-84511-287-5 , pp. 196 .

[6] Josef Redlich , Baron d'Estournelles, M. Justin Godart, Walter Shucking, Francis W. Hirst, HN Brailsford, Paul Milioukov , Samuel T. Dutton: Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and the Conduct of the Balkan Wars . Carnegie Endowment for International Piece, Washington DC, 1914, p. 49 , accessed on January 10, 2011 : "In a few weeks the territories of Turkey in Europe .. by the Balkan allies ... in their hands as condominium"