Ismail Qemali

Ismail Qemali

Ismail Qemali  [ ismaˈil tɕɛmaːli ] (real name Ismail Qemali Bej Vlora ; born January 16, 1844 in Vlora , Ottoman Empire , † January 24, 1919 in Perugia , Kingdom of Italy ) was an Albanian politician and publicist. He is considered the most important figure in Albania's political independence. He proclaimed the independence of Albania on November 28, 1912 in Vlora at the Albanian National Congress and became its first Prime Minister.

Life

Ismail Qemali came from a wealthy family belonging to the Muslim upper class in southern Albania; his cousin Mehmed Ferid Pascha was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. His parents were Mahmud Bej Vlora and Hedije Libohova. Qemali attended the Greek grammar school "Zosimea" in Janina for a few years before his family moved to Istanbul in 1859 . There he entered the public service of the Ottoman Empire at the age of 19; he held various positions there until 1900. Most of the time he worked in Istanbul. There he also took part in cultural and political activities of Albanian patriots under the direction of the Frashëri brothers . When the Ottoman government at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries began to pursue the minorities' strivings for autonomy, Qemali was also targeted by the police. He therefore went into exile in Western Europe for a few years, where he drew attention to the situation of the Albanians through lectures and newspaper articles, but with little success.

In the course of the Young Turkish Revolution he returned and was elected to the Ottoman Parliament in 1908 as a member of Berat . There he campaigned for the decentralization of the administration and an autonomous district for the Albanians within the empire. When the Young Turkish regime changed into a military regime with Turkish nationalist features after 1909, Qemali joined the Albanian independence movement, which turned into an open armed uprising against Ottoman rule in 1910/11. When the First Balkan War broke out , Qemali traveled to Austria-Hungary via Bucharest . In Budapest he received a promise from Foreign Minister Leopold Graf Berchthold that the Danube Monarchy would support the establishment of an independent Albanian state.

Independence monument in Vlora with Qemali as the central figure

On an Austrian ship, Ismail Qemali returned to Albania on November 19, 1912 and headed the National Assembly in Vlora. As chairman, he played a central role in the proclamation of Albania's independence . Together with Isa Boletini and Luigj Gurakuqi , he hoisted the red flag with Skanderbeg's double-headed eagle on a balcony in Vlora as a symbol of the national independence of the Albanians.

Qemali became chairman of the first Albanian government, which had to grapple with great difficulties, but above all had to fight for recognition of the country. After the great powers the German Prince Wilhelm zu Wied to Prince of Albania had appointed Qemali resigned on 22 January 1914th He left Albania and died five years later in Italy . After his death Qemali body was returned to Vlora and in the local Tekke of the Bektashi buried.

literature

• Sommerville Story (Ed.): The Memoirs of Ismail Kemal Bey. Constable and Company, London 1920. online at Archive.org .

Web links

Commons : Ismail Qemali  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

1. ↑ Mehmet Hacısalihoğlu: The Young Turks and the Macedonian Question (1890-1918) . Oldenbourg 2003, including dissertation (LMU Munich, 2000), ISBN 978-3486567458 , p. 372f.
2. ^ Müfid Şemsi Paşa: Arnavutluk İttihad ve Terakki. (edited by Ahmed Nezih Galitekin) Constantinople 1995, p. 209.

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Prime Minister of Albania 1912–1914	Fejzi Alizoti