Today marks the 106th anniversary of the death of the father of Albania’s independence, the great Albanian Ismail Qemali. He was allegedly poisoned.
He was born in Vlora in 1844 as the son of Mahmut Nedim Bey. He completed elementary school in his hometown. He then attended Zosime High School in Ioannina, where he learned ancient Greek, Latin and French. In 1860, due to his language skills, he started working at the High Gate translation agency in Istanbul at a very young age, only 16 years old.
Until 1900, Ismail Qemali worked in various positions in the Ottoman administration, in the province of Ioannina (1862), in the Danube province (1866–1876), in Filibe (1876), in Mardin 1883), in Bollu (1884–1876). 1889). ), in Beirut (1889).
In 1900, when he headed the Kajmakam in Kesrije, due to the persecution caused by collaboration with the Young Turks and the ideas of achieving an organization of the Albanians, he left his position, fled to Greece and from there went to Europe. In the trial, which took place in absentia, he was sentenced to death.
According to Kosovapress, in 1902, Ismail Qemali took part in the Congress of Young Turks organized in Paris under the leadership of Prince Sabahedin and Lutfullah. Only after the new constitution was promulgated (1908) did Ismail Qemali return from Europe. In the elections that took place after the new constitution was promulgated, Ismail Qemali was elected deputy of Berat and joined the opposition party “Osmanlı Ahrar Fırkası”.
During the period of Albanian uprisings against the violence of the Young Turk government, Ismail Qemali tried to gain the support of European states for the creation of an autonomous administration within the Ottoman Empire.
During the Great Highlands Uprising (1911), he went to Cetinje in Montenegro, where, on his initiative, the 12-point memorandum of the Greek Parliament was signed. With the uprising of 1912, Albanian autonomy within the Ottoman Empire was achieved, but the beginning of the Balkan War not only interrupted the formation of such a structure, but also brought with it the conquest and fragmentation of the Albanian territories. Ismail Qemali led the movement and the meeting that took place in the Vlora family palaces, where on November 28, 1912 the independence of Albania was proclaimed and he was elected chairman of the Provisional Government of Vlora.
In March 1913 he traveled to Brindisi via the Duke of Montpensier and then visited the capitals of European states in order to secure support for the Albanian cause at the ambassadorial conference in London. On January 22, 1914, Ismail Qemali resigned from the Provisional Government of Vlora, handed over power to the International Commission and traveled to France with his family.
He died on January 24, 1919 in Perugia and was buried on February 12 in the courtyard of Teqe in Kanina, above Vlora.
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