Faik Konica

Faik Konica

Faik Bey Konica (born March 15, 1875 in Konitsa , † December 15, 1942 in Washington, DC ) was an active publicist in the Albanian national movement Rilindja . After the Albanian declaration of independence in 1912, he worked as a diplomat for his country.

Life

Faik Konica attended the Ottoman elementary school in his Epirotian birthplace, after which he continued his education at the Jesuit high school in Shkodra . It was there that he first came into contact with Western culture and European ideas. Similarly, the young learned Toske the neat from the Shkodraner Catholics Gheg dialect know literature. Konica later switched to the French-speaking Galatasaray grammar school in the Galata district of Istanbul . In 1890 he went to France, finished high school in Carcassonne in 1892 and then studied Romance studies at the University of Dijon . After graduating, he moved on to Paris, where he studied ancient languages. Konica finished his studies in 1896 with a stay at Harvard University in the United States.

After his training, the young Konica was a polyglot man. He not only mastered written and spoken Albanian and French, but also knew how to express himself well in Turkish, English, German and Italian. Studying in the West also had a major impact on Konica's political and philosophical thinking. The Albanologist Robert Elsie describes him as the first modern Albanian intellectual influenced by the West.

From 1895 Konica wrote articles about Albania for French newspapers. In September 1897 he moved to Brussels , where he founded the monthly magazine Albania . This magazine quickly became one of the most important titles among the early Albanian press releases. The bilingual Albania not only served the Albanian diaspora in Western and Central Europe, but was also an important source of information about the conditions in Albania for the diplomats of the great powers. Even after moving to London in 1902, Konica continued to publish the magazine until 1909. That year he went to the United States.

Konica first settled in Boston , a center for Albanian emigrants. There he became editor of the Albanian newspaper Dielli founded by Fan Noli , which was the organ of the Vatra cultural association . In 1912 Konica also became general secretary of this important association for the Albanian national movement.

In 1912 Konica traveled to London to lobby the Ambassadors' Conference on behalf of Vatra for Albanian independence . He was able to make good use of the contacts he had previously made in the British capital. On December 17, 1912, the Conference of Ambassadors initially recognized Albania only as an autonomous country under the suzerainty of the Sultan.

Konica, who fell out with the first Albanian head of government Ismail Qemal Bey Vlora in March 1913 , supported Essad Pascha Toptani , who was also an opponent of Wilhelm zu Wied , in the following period . In May 1913 Konica addressed the delegates of the Albanian National Congress in Trieste. More and more he became an opponent of the Austro-Hungarian Albania policy, which viewed the new state as a bulwark against Serbs and Montenegrins and, at least Konica thought, did not do enough for the Albanian cause on the still unclear border with Greece.

When the First World War broke out, Konica was in Austria. He was suspected of being an Italian spy and therefore had to leave the country. He settled in Lausanne , where he also met Mehdi Bej Frashëri . In November 1915 he published there a pamphlet directed against Germany. He accused German diplomacy of wanting to sacrifice Albania's independence in favor of its war aims. (Of course, all the belligerent powers were ready to do this. The writing directed against Germany was therefore also due to the sympathy for Esat Pascha, who leaned towards the Entente .) Konica was in Sofia in March 1916 and again in July in Austria. It is unclear what political game he played on these trips. In any case, the Germans and Austrians declared Konica an undesirable person, and he returned to Switzerland.

Back in the United States in 1921, Konica was elected President of the Vatra and he resumed his journalistic activities. In 1926 Ahmet Zogu appointed him Albanian ambassador to Washington. He stayed at this post until Albania was occupied by Italy in April 1939. Konica died in Washington in December 1942. He was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston. After the end of communism, his bones were transferred to Tirana.

Faik Konica appeared less as an author than as an organizer and promoter of Albanian literary life. He campaigned for a uniform written Albanian language and for the collection and publication of older texts. In the magazine Albania and later in Dielli he introduced the Albanians and interested foreigners to a number of writers such as Thimi Mitko , Kostandin Kristoforidhi , Andon Zako Çajupi and Gjergj Fishta . He worked in his newspapers as a knowledgeable literary critic. He mockingly commented on works that were characterized by national pathos rather than literary quality, just as he was critical of the naive nationalism of many of his Albanian compatriots. With this, as well as with his political orientation, first as a sympathizer of Essad Pasha and later Ahmet Zogu, he had made many enemies.

literature

• Faik Konica: Vepra . Edited by Nasho Jorgaqi. 4 volumes. Botimet Dudaj, Tirana 2001, ISBN 99927-750-4-1 , (work edition. The first two volumes contain more extensive writings, volume 3: newspaper articles, volume 4: letters.)

Web links

Commons : Faik Konica  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Robert Elsie's biography (PDF file; 77 kB)