By Mid'hat Abdyl Frashëri
Memorie.al/ The year 1928 represents for us a historical fiftieth anniversary of great importance, the beginning of movements that would leave their deep impression with the name of the League of Prizren, a movement that awakened and caused the creation of the Albanian Society of Istanbul. The lack of publications in the Albanian language, as well as the fact that we do not have in our hands today any memories and written notes from that time, as well as the fact that Albania was then visited and could be visited by foreigners, make us not have the complete material for the reconstruction of those events. For any historical study on this point, we are, therefore, forced to base ourselves on personal memory and on the few aids that some very limited publications give us.
The League of Prizren was born from the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. The victorious Russia was preparing the dismemberment of Turkey, imposing its conditions on it, cutting off pieces of land, some directly in its favor (south of the Caucasus), others for the small Balkan states, its clients and agents. And, if it took for itself the roots of the body of Asiatic Turkey, from the Balkans it also encroached on Albanian land, for a newly created state and only the Albanian land for the three directly neighboring states.
This suddenly opened raft under the feet of the Albanians was awakening a physiological reaction, so to speak, it was causing a commotion and a commotion, according to the vital habit of the people, a practice always repeated, in every case: The League of Prizren was perhaps at the forefront, also a local manifestation against the secession of the land in favor of Serbia and Bulgaria.
Here it is time to mention that, with the word that appears as the title of this article, we do not want to indicate only the efforts that were made at the foot of the Shar, but also the patriotic displays of Ioannina and Shkodra. There is no doubt that the change that was projected in the territorial statute of Albania, awakened an identical reaction, an instinctive defense in those two other centers: on the one hand, Russia was bringing New Bulgaria up to Devoll and the Drin, on the other hand, it was giving Serbia Nish, Vranje, Kursumli, Leskovca, as well as Montenegro - Podgorica, Shpuza, Guci, Plava; also foreseeing for Greece a gift from Epirus.
The three fronts of danger created three centers of opposition, of which, of course, the two in the north would have the material superiority, with the majority of the population, the strategic strength of the position and a certain relative independence against Turkey. On the other hand, the moral and intellectual power would fall to the center that was in the south.
Indeed, when the north was to some extent ignoring the maneuvers of the Greeks, being far from their centers, that is, not seeing them with their eyes (because at that time propaganda and politics were played out in Petersburg and not in Belgrade), Ioannina was a free place of Greek actions and the aspirations of Hellenism saw no need to hide or disguise themselves. Only Shkodra directly felt the oppression of Montenegro from the incessant wars between the two nations.
The Russo-Turkish war was reminiscent of the struggles of Germany and Italy for their national unity according to the principles of nationality that had begun to be seen as a preponderant element in the life of peoples and states. Thus, both Russia, which pursued a purely selfish policy for its own growth, and that Russia, let us say, which took up arms more for religious principles, as a struggle between the Cross and the Koran, were forced at the end of the war to manifest national ideas, to seek the dismemberment of Turkey for the gain of the various nations of Russia, in the name of humanity, of nations, of law and not only of power.
New ideas were not at all unknown in Lower Albania: there the patriotic epic of Garibaldi had found a voice, a forum for discussion, the humanitarian ideas of Mazzini. In Ioannina, the war of 1870 had again aroused great interest, and it was natural that every movement, every new principle, would be followed with practical curiosity in those centers, in which intellectualism was not lacking.
The day after the war, the Russians marching to the gates of Istanbul and imposing their will with the Treaty of Saint Stephen, was making evident the danger that threatened Turkey, whose survival in Rumelia was becoming very doubtful. This threat was even more particular for Albania: if the Ottoman Empire was being sidelined as a state, the Albanian land was being put in danger as a race, as a nation, even at a time when the rights of peoples and the principles of humanity were at stake. It was therefore necessary that the Albanians, in their opposition and complaints, also rely on arguments from the modern mentality.
Here too, the influence of the southern branch appears for us: In Prizren, the compact people with weapons in hand, conscious of their material power and supremacy over the ethnic element, based their hopes on the strength of numbers and the right to property. The south, less strong, but more aware of its rights as a race and a nation, gave weight to the new principles that had overthrown old systems.
This influence of the southern delegate was also manifested in a more definitive way, giving the movement a common, general, pan-Albanian character, taking out of the form of local claims for the small homeland, for the vilayet and the kazan; now the thoughts were for the whole of Albania, for the motherland, for the south as well as for the north, for Muslims and Christians, for every piece of land and for every individual who spoke the Albanian language.
It was, perhaps, the first time that the flower of the meaning of nationality was taking root in the cliffs of Arbëria and it was understood that the new plant would develop with all its colors: from today to the future there was a single step to be taken. And the next day began to preoccupy the League and its branches more than the bad situation of the day: the life of the nation and the motherland had to be ensured, by making this nation and this motherland have their rights recognized, respected in a manner equal to the rights of those peoples in whose favor the Albanian soil was sought to be torn apart.
The construction and demolition of old customs was being transformed into a diplomatic action; the simple and instinctive concern of the village was taking the form of a national and patriotic aspiration, with a higher and, of course, more distant goal.
To many people, the League of Prizren can be seen as one of those uprisings that our people have always had within themselves, especially in the nineteenth century, with Ali Tepelena and Bushatllina, as well as after them. But the difference lies in the fact that, in these movements, the initial impetus was the activity of a single man, relying on local tendencies necessitated by the circumstances of the day; this time the initiative was taken by the people and the goal was focused on the whole of ethnographic Albania, on the day of action, as well as on the future.
The League wanted to prevent the division of Albania; but it also demanded that the Arbënore land be recognized as Albania, that its rights be determined, that its life be respected; in a word, an autonomous country, with an adapted administration and rule. It was a colossal enterprise, with countless difficulties, both internal and external, in the body of the people and even more so, on the part of the ruler of Istanbul. Turkey, at the beginning of the movement, showed a pleasure in seeing in the Albanians a defender of the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.
But the nationalist and autonomist aspirations of the Albanians, perhaps more than anything else - the collaboration of all of Albania and all religious elements, made Turkey see in the awakening of our people a greater enemy than the Russian armies or the greed of the Balkan states. Even the brutal Turkish power did not fail to manifest itself in Ulcinj as well as in Kaçanik.
The Turkish mentality at that time did not accept a nationalist idea, a common aspiration and a unity of the Albanians; the sultan's policy was based on division and rift. The hope of rule was built on the antagonism between Tosks and Ghegs, Christians and Muslims. He accepted that our highlanders would fight for their home and pastures, but not for a moral ethnicity that they call motherland.
Undoubtedly, there will be no shortage of people who are unaware of the flow of events, or who have been swept up in the torrent of statements from interested neighbors and believe or have believed that the League is a creation of the Turkish government. What I said above is a response to such.
Can it be said that the League's action remained fruitless?
An action, an effort is always fruitful; it is the birth and beginning of a new existence, even if it does not claim an immediate result. In this world, the effort to achieve a goal has perhaps a greater importance and value than the goal itself. A struggle today is capital stored for the future, a power left alive is exercised every minute and appears with force in days of need.
Even so, the League, while having as its fruit the delay in determining the border in Epirus in favor of Greece and then the salvation of that large piece of Albania, had the greatest gain yet in preparing our common life, in giving a new meaning to the aspirations of the people.
From that day on, the hope of salvation, of a happier life, in a certain form, truly begins; then the idea embodied by the word Albania takes on a clear form; aspirations for a marked region are nurtured and cooked. Localism and cantonism give way to patriotism; divisive and exile tendencies begin to weigh towards a single point; the regions and elements that had considered themselves separate and alien from each other begin to unite and feel solidarity. In a word, the tribes become a nation.
This protection of the soul and desires, the creation of this new character, could not be done without a persevering and long education, based on moral and intellectual training. Another no less precious fruit of the Prizren League was for us the creation of the "Society of Albanian Letter Printing".
Forgotten, despised, like a patois, seen not as a tool of civilization, but perhaps as a hindrance to progress, Albanian, with the founding of the Istanbul Society, begins to become alive and soul-giving, to be an organ to convey ideas and aspirations, to awaken feelings and inspire thoughts.
What we see today, what we expect from the future, what we have the right to demand from the future, stems from the Literary Society, born from the movement of the League of Prizren./ Memorie.al
