The Founding Father of the Albanian Nation
The Founding Father of the Albanian Nation
Elton Varfi
On May 30, 1913, a year after the proclamation of Albanian independence, the Treaty of London was signed, marking a precarious peace. Serbia aimed to finally acquire Durres, securing an outlet to the sea. Montenegro coveted the territory of Shkodër, up to the Drin River. Bulgaria hoped to gain at least part of the region around Lake Ohrid and a portion of Macedonian territory. Greece, naturally, desired possession of southern Albania, up to the border marked by the Seman River. However, in the end, the Turks were pushed out of Europe, except for Constantinople, ceding to the four victorious countries "the territories of its Empire on the European continent west of the line drawn from Enos on the Aegean Sea to Midia on the Black Sea, with the exception of Albania." Precisely that: with the exception of Albania.
But let's step back for a moment.
On November 28, 1912, with the proclamation of Albania's independence, the efforts and struggles of many brave men were rewarded. Foremost among them was Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora, the founding father of the nation. But who was Ismail Vlora, and where did he come from? What had he done before that fateful November 28, 1912?
Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora, a portrait by the painter Vera Bloshmi Mellet
Both his birth and death are shrouded in mystery. During the period of communist dictatorship, texts describing him indicated the year 1844 as his birth year, without any reference to the day or month. Was it really so difficult to find the exact date of his birth? A Turkish historian, Negip Alpan, in his book "The Albanians in the Ottoman Empire," writes about Ismail Bey Vlora: "He was born on October 16, 1846." This revelation clears up the mystery surrounding the lack of precise birth data. October 16, the birthday of the dictator Enver Hoxha, was not marked by celebrations except for Hoxha himself. It's probably just a legend, as Ismail Vlora himself admitted his birth date was January 16, 1844[1]. Even on the tomb of Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora, the birth date is marked as "January 1844."
Further confusion, generated by the communists, arises with the attribution of his name. His full name was Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora. "Kemal" is a Turkish term meaning "mature, wise," Bey was a title of nobility - comparable to the English title "Sir" - and Vlora was his surname. Due to propaganda, most Albanians know him simply as Ismail Kemal. The omission of the surname began with the self-proclaimed King of Albania, Ahmet Zogu.
The communists could not accept the Ottoman title "Bey" for the father of the nation. The surname Vlora, however, evoked one of the country's most powerful, wealthy, and patriotic families. After World War II, the descendants of this family were persecuted. The son of Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora fled Albania during the reign of Zogu due to various disagreements with him, and upon his return after the war, he was arrested for trivial reasons by Hoxha's regime and died in prison.
Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora passed away on January 26, 1919, in Perugia, at the Brufani Hotel. The "Sage of Vlorë" was in Italy at the invitation of the Italian Government, scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino. However, this meeting never took place because the Italian Government was preparing for the Paris Peace Conference. Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora found himself in a sort of gilded cage within the hotel in Perugia. He was like a caged lion, as his intention was to participate in the Paris Peace Conference to defend the Albanian cause. He never achieved this due to being "betrayed" by the Italians, the very people who had been his allies and supporters in 1912, including the Foreign Minister Antonino Paternò Castello, Marquis of San Giuliano.
In February 1918, he was appointed by an assembly of the "National Party of Albania" that had taken place two months earlier in Worcester, Massachusetts. This assembly conferred upon him the credentials to represent the Albanian colony in the United States, with a clear mandate to ensure the complete political and economic independence of Albania and to obtain the necessary alterations of the Albanian borders. These alterations were to include those lands and provinces inhabited almost exclusively by the Albanian people, which, during the years 1912 and 1913, the London Ambassadors' Conferences had divided hastily and unjustly, attributing them to Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro.
These were the issues he wanted to address at the press conference organized on January 24, 1919, in the hall of the Brufani Hotel, due to his inability and disappointment at not participating in the Paris Peace Conference[2]. The press conference lasted only a couple of minutes because the elderly statesman suffered a health crisis and had to withdraw. He died two days later, on January 26, due to an acute myocardial infarction. He was 75 years old. Even in this case, conspiracy theories gained traction. Many believed that Ismail Vlora was poisoned. Without concrete evidence, these theories remained just that.
But what was the journey that led Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora to Perugia in 1919?
After proclaiming the independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire on November 28, 1912, Ismail Vlora was appointed Prime Minister in a provisional government. Despite the efforts of Albanian patriots to elect their own government and establish the borders of the newly born Albanian state, they faced the indifference of the Great Powers, the invasion and devastation caused by Serbia, and the bombardment of Vlorë by Greece. Albania had just been born but was already at risk of dying. From the beginning of October 1913, a new factor entered the country's internal politics: the International Control Commission and the international commissions for the delimitation of borders, namely the one for the north and northeast border starting from Shkodër to Luma, and the one for the south and southeast border beginning its work in Monastir.
Despite the Great Powers recognizing Albania's independence on July 29, 1913, the creation of the International Control Commission managed to limit the sovereign rights of the Albanian State. This is why Ismail Kemal declared on October 21:
“The purpose of Europe cannot be just our welfare, but a control, however mild and sweetened it may be considered, since it stems from the world's opinion about the inability of Albanians to govern themselves, provokes unpleasant feelings in every Albanian who wants the moral happiness of his Homeland.”
The International Control Commission did not recognize the government of Vlorë as a national government, but merely as a local authority under its control.
In December 1913, after the Second Balkan War, which had resulted in further territorial expansion of Greece and Serbia, the Young Turks thought of establishing a revanchist alliance with Sofia against Athens and Belgrade, deciding to make Albania a military base behind their opponents. The first step towards this goal was to create favorable conditions for the appointment of a Turkish prince on the throne of Albania. Since a prince had not yet been chosen by the great powers, the emissaries of the Young Turks, led by Beqir Grebene and supported by their Albanian sympathizers, started a movement in favor of the Turkish prince Izet Pasha.
Beqir Grebene also entered into negotiations with Ismail Kemal, asking him to participate in the military plan against Serbia and Greece, offering as a reward the promise that, in case of a Turkish victory, Kosovo and Chameria would be returned to Albania. The head of the Government of Vlorë, convinced of the seriousness of the Turkish-Bulgarian venture, gave his approval for the entry into Albania of arms and men of the Turkish army, which were to act as bands on the Serbian border, leaving the issue of the Turkish prince undefined.
However, the project was discovered by the International Control Commission, Beqir Grebene and his followers were arrested. In the military court that sat behind closed doors in Vlorë, the connections of Esad Pasha Toptani as well as those of Ismail Kemal with Beqir Grebene emerged. The political opponents of the Government of Vlorë took the opportunity to discredit Ismail Kemal and his companions as participants in a conspiracy directed at the Albanian State against the decision of the great powers which in the meantime had appointed Wilhelm de Wied as Prince of Albania.
Essad Pasha Toptani, President of the Albanian Senate during the transitional period before the arrival of Prince Wied.
Essad Pasha Toptani, who in the provisional government had the role of President of the Albanian Senate, immediately turned his back on Ismail Kemal, trying to bring down the same government. He was the sworn enemy of Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora; in the military court, he mobilized his bands attempting several times to forcibly occupy Elbasan. In these conditions, Ismail Kemal decided that the time had come to resign and hand over power to the International Control Commission even though Prince Wied had not yet arrived in Albania.
Thus, on January 22, 1914, the Provisional Government of Vlorë resigned, persuaded that "the only way to end separatism and anarchy in the country was the formation of a single government for the whole of Albania."
Ismail Kemal left Albania, but continued his efforts abroad for the good of the country. After Esad Toptani also resigned, the International Control Commission took over all power. Ismail Vlora first went to Barcelona, then settled in Nice, and only after four months, just before the start of World War I, returned to Albania due to the severe crisis the newly installed king was going through. Ismail Kemal initially issued declarations of loyalty to the Prince, also expressing optimism about the possibility that, "with good and prudent government," the crisis could be overcome. In a meeting held on July 9 in Durres, with a group of notables, he proposed to the Prince, as a way out of the crisis, a cantonal solution under the authority of the Control Commission, which would have left him more nominal powers. The Prince refused and Ismail Kemal, returning to Vlora, formed a “public health committee” for the province.
With the onset of World War II, he settled in Paris. Despite being in great economic difficulty as he had a large family, France not only denied him financial aid but also "invited" him to leave. The reason was linked to the presence of Esat Toptani in Paris, Ismail Vlora's sworn enemy. The French, like the British, had bet precisely on Esat Toptani as an interlocutor for the Albanian issue in the decisions that would be made at the 1919 Peace Conference.
While preparing to participate in the Peace Conference, Ismail Vlora received an invitation from Italy from Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, so he set off for Perugia convinced that he would once again have the support of the Italians. He thus undertook what would become the last journey of his life.
Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora completed his primary education in his hometown. He attended the “Zosimeia” secondary school in Janina and moved to Istanbul in May 1860 where he worked as a translator for the Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later for the district administrations of Janina (1862-1864) and Bulgaria (1866-ca.1877).
As a supporter of the Turkish reformist politician Midhat Pasha, he was interned in Asia Minor from 1877 to early 1884, immediately after which he became governor of Bolu. In the following years, he served as the governor of Gallipoli (1890), Beirut (1891), and a member of the State Council in the late '90s.
He left for Italy in the summer of 1900, where he accidentally met the Albanian-origin statesman Francesco Crispi at the Hotel de l’Europe. By his own admission, Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora said they “spoke in Albanian”. He visited France and Belgium, where he met Faik Bey Konica, owner of the newspaper Albania.
Ismail Vlora took over the publication's direction and at the same time prepared a brief work on the Transvaal War, aiming to explain the reasons for his departure from Istanbul and to expose the Muslim world's feelings towards the civilizing work of Great Britain.
His relations with Faik Bey Konica did not last long. Soon after, he was forced to found another newspaper, printed in Albanian, Turkish, and Greek, which he titled le Salut de Albanie.
Finally, he visited England. He returned to the Ottoman Empire only after the Young Turks' revolution in 1908, when he represented Berat as a member of the opposition in the Turkish parliament.
In the spring of 1909, he participated in the counterrevolution against the Young Turks and founded the “Ahrar” (liberal) party with the aim of decentralizing the empire.
In March 1911, the revolt of the Catholic Malisors in the north of Shkodra, aided by Montenegrins and Serbs in an anti-Turkish function, coincided with scattered agitations that broke out in the south of the country.
Clashes with the Ottoman troops became fierce and violent, especially again in Kosovo.
By mid-May, the rebels had captured various cities, and in June, the Catholic Mirdites also demonstrated. The Ottoman repression continued mercilessly.
Ismail Kemal, along with Luigj Gurakuqi, went to Cetinje to meet the insurgents. Several Albanian leaders, gathered in Montenegro around Ismail Kemal, agreed on June 23, 1911, on a common program contained in the “Gerche memorandum”, the “red book”, a document of great significance that, along with immediate demands for amnesty and reparations, envisioned for the first time and in an organized manner the autonomy of all Albania.
Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora with Isa Boletini, leader of the Kosovar insurrection against the Turks.
In June, the presence of Sultan Mehmet V in Kosovo and his ideas of openness did not stop the insurrection.
On September 29, Italy declared war on Turkey. Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora realized that the end of the Ottoman Empire was imminent. The survival of Albania, which should not succumb along with the now dying Ottoman Empire, was at stake. The time for action had come.
In October, the First Balkan War broke out.
With the defeat of the Turkish armies, the neighboring ultra-nationalists began to implement their plans of annexation at the expense of Albania. The Albanians strove to defend their territory with arms against the invaders, but they could not stop the march of the Balkan allies. Albania went through very difficult times, especially since the neighboring great powers, which initially declared they would not allow any change to the status quo in the Balkans, by the end of October were forced to accept the necessity of territorial changes in favor of the Balkan Quadruple Alliance.
However, the Albanian patriots managed to take advantage of these circumstances and skillfully exploited the existing divergences among the imperialist powers.
The Triple Alliance - Germany, Italy, and especially Austria-Hungary - was decidedly opposed to Serbia, behind which Russia was lurking, gaining access to the Adriatic through Albania.
Events were developing so rapidly that the Albanian patriots were forced to act with energetic firmness.
Firstly, it was necessary to build a political platform from which the Albanian national movement should emerge, in relation to the new conditions created by the First Balkan War.
In the country, since mid-October, an initiative in this sense was taken by the Black Association of Salvation (the most developed patriotic clandestine organization in Albania), which decided that the Albanian people should take up arms, not to support the Turkish occupation in the Balkans, but for the emancipation and unification of the entire Albanian territory.
Abroad, the initiative for the corresponding political action was taken by Ismail Kemal along with his close collaborator Luigj Gurakuqi. At the end of October, both left Istanbul, heading to Bucharest, where they organized, with the representatives of the Albanian colony in Romania, the conference of November 5.
Meanwhile, inside Albania, the patriots were organizing connections among themselves with the aim of organizing a national convention so that, at the beginning of November, a special commission was established in Vlora to which, on November 18, Ismail Kemal sent the first telegram highlighting the necessity of convening a meeting of national representatives, in Durres or Vlora.
The Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary) with its support ensured the advance of the armies of the Balkan allies aimed at the expulsion of Turkey from the Balkans and finally, after the interruption of territorial continuity between Albania and Istanbul, induced Ismail Kemal and his companions to determine that, in the new circumstance brought about by the war, the only favorable action for the Albanian cause was no longer the request for territorial-administrative autonomy, but the proclamation of independence.
This decision of the Albanian patriots to declare independence was first made known to the world through an interview Ismail Kemal gave to the Austrian newspaper "Neue Freie Presse" in Trieste.
The skilled diplomat stated that he intended to reach Durrës before the Serbian occupiers and that immediately after his arrival, Albania's independence would be proclaimed with the aim of establishing a provisional government, thereby presenting Europe with a fait accompli. The idea of declaring independence and convening a national convention had captured the hearts of the Albanian people, who finally saw their centuries-old aspirations coming to fruition.
As delegations from various regions were making their way to Vlorë, in this city, facing the imminent threat of Serbian occupation, a group of citizens gathered around Ismail Kemal and decided to declare independence without delay, intending to confront the foreign occupiers with a new scenario.
Thus, on November 28, 1912, the National Assembly convened and from Vlorë proclaimed the independence of Albania, electing a Provisional Government headed by Ismail Kemal and a group of 18 elders representing the functions of a Control Organ and State Council, led by Vehbi Dibra.
The assembly of nationalists gathered in Vlorë that proclaimed the nation's independence. In the center, Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora.
The creation of the independent Albanian state appeared as an essential prerequisite for achieving a reorganization based on more advanced foundations of the country's internal life and for its more rapid economic development.
The Provisional Government of Vlorë changed its members several times during its existence, but at its head always remained, until the end, Ismail Kemal, the main organizer.
This government did not fare well from the very first moments of its establishment. The Greek fleet, during its bombardments on Vlorë, had cut the communication cable that was the only channel of connection with the outside world, leaving the government completely isolated and unaware of what was happening beyond the border.
In March 1913, Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora took advantage of the arrival of the British-flagged yacht of the Duke of Montpensier in Vlorë, who had come to submit his candidacy for the throne of Albania, and left with him.
On April 1st, he disembarked in Brindisi. The purpose of the journey undertaken by the prime minister of the new Albanian state was to fight for Albania's territorial integrity with the powers, especially in London, where the Conference was deliberating on the Balkan settlement.
In Vienna, Chancellor von Berchtold, from the first conversation, hinted at how slim the hope was for Albania to maintain its territorial integrity, despite its rights and despite the efforts made for its liberation.
For Ismail Kemal, it was a heavy blow, but the worst was yet to come, as on the day of his departure from Paris to London, he learned of the surrender of the city of Shkodra to the Montenegrins by Essad Pasha Toptani.
This disaster, which occurred just as the fleet of the six great powers was maneuvering to force King Nikola to end the siege, jeopardized the integrity and perhaps even the very existence of Albania.
The return to Vlorë happened in June 1913.
Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora, so old, tired, and disheartened, was forced to appeal to the powers to proceed with the appointment and installation of a king.
It was March 7, 1914, when Prince Wilhelm of Wied, a man in the prime of his maturity, chosen by the great powers as king for the throne of Albania, set foot for the first time on Albanian soil, in the port of Durrës, but that is another story.
[1]I was born on January 16, 1844, in
Vlorë, the Albanian city where many years later I would proclaim the
independence of my homeland. My father was Mahmud Bey Vlora, and my mother was
Hedié Hanëm from Gjirokastër.
Ismail
Kemal Bey Vlora, Memoirs (Edited by Nermin Falaschi - Rome 1978)
[2] The Paris Peace Conference of 1919
was a peace conference organized by the victorious countries of World War I,
committed to outlining a new geopolitical situation in Europe and drafting
peace treaties with the Central Powers defeated in the war. The conference
opened on January 18, 1919, and lasted until January 21, 1920, with some intervals.
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