The Albanian national issue as a reaction to other national issues in the Balkans

From: Daut Dauti

– Introduction of the book Britain, the Albanian issue during the fall of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1914) –

"Albanians passionately wanted a prince or a king. The Great Powers promised them one. They wanted an Englishman because they believed that England, the only one of the Great Powers, had no great interests in the Balkans. – Margaret Fitzherbert.

In May 1913, the work of the Conference of Ambassadors in London was still going on, but an important decision had already been made: Albania's independence. This decision led to speculations about the appointment of the monarch for Albania. Therefore, many names of European monarchs were mentioned as potential candidates. At that time, a delegation of the Provisional Government of Albania had come to London, in order to influence the decision-making process of the Conference and to get the support of the British public and government.

Ismail bey Qemali, also known as Ismail Kemal, head of the delegation of the Provisional Government, asked the British politician and diplomat, Aubrey Herbert, how he would respond if he was offered the throne of Albania. "Obviously, the prime minister and others considered (not seriously) this issue for a long time, but I don't know if I will have their support if it comes to this," Herbert wrote and added that " Albanians do not like any of the present candidates.'

Herbert was, in many ways, the right man for the Albanian throne, but he could not accept the offer without the approval of the British Government. Herbert took the matter to the British Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey. An Englishman on the throne of Albania meant assuming duties and responsibilities, which the British Government was not ready to accept.

The desire of the Albanian leaders to gain the support of the British public and Government is a theme that will appear frequently in this book which aims to examine the development of the Albanian issue and British policy during the period 1876-1914. This study sheds light on the goals of British policy, but also sifting through the reaction of Albanians to the position of British diplomacy. In other words, the British position towards the Ottoman Empire, within the context of the relationship with the Great Powers, will be explored as well.

This book argues that the Albanian national question grew as a reaction to other national questions in the Balkans, the Macedonian crisis of 1890 and the weakening of the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, it is argued that the British Government has shown only limited interest in the Albanian national issue, due to the lack of direct interest in the Balkans. The fact that Britain had no major or vital interests in the Balkans was precisely the reason why the Albanians wanted the help and protection of the British.

This lack of interest has been reflected in British opinion and academic circles and is demonstrated by the fact that during the periods discussed here, and even today, Albania remained largely an unknown country. Those who express a desire to research and study this field are faced with a relative lack of books or secondary sources in the English language. The number of scholars and experts who dealt with the Albanian issue in the 1863th century and the beginning of the 1944th century was small, while their works today in Britain have remained almost unknown. One such scholar is Edith Durham (XNUMX-XNUMX), a Balkan specialist and rare expert on the Albanian National Movement, politics and ethnographic composition, whose work will be explored at length in this book. Recently there has been a revival of interest in Durham's life and works. A number of her letters and writings have been published and provide assistance to those interested in the subject. Albania's Mountain Queen, is an important work by Marcus Tanner, which is actually the only published biography of Edith Durham to date. Therefore, this book in your hands examines Durham's work in greater breadth and depth, explores her assistance to the Albanian national cause, her influence on the British Government and the role she played among members of the Balkan Committee which was an organization founded and operating on the principles of Gladstonian liberalism.

In most history books, including secondary sources on the Balkans of this period, Albanians are described as a people who played a minor role in major historical events. For this reason, when it comes to national consciousness, Albanians are always characterized as late starters and considered the last in the creation of their state. In reality, studies on the role of Albanians in the history of the Ottoman Empire prove that this issue has been largely neglected and underestimated. James Tallon, in his research on the Albanian Uprisings of 1909-1912, points out that the Albanians have played a major role in the history of the Balkans. He has given several reasons why Albanians and their history today are significantly undervalued and receive little interest compared to their Balkan neighbors. According to Tallon, the early works of Balkan (non-Albanian) authors imposed their views on Anglophone scholars. These authors tend to minimize the role of Albanians, presenting the Slavs and Greeks as 'main actors in the general narrative of the Balkans'. Therefore, in this framework, Albanians are presented as 'secondary actors'. An additional factor is that most schoolchildren do not know how to read or write Albanian or the Ottoman-Turkish language. The third reason, as Tallon points out, is that the Albanians, most of whom are Muslims, have not easily conformed to the mold of any 'scheme, which has often been laid out in the monographs of the history of the Balkans'. Therefore, notions such as 'Turkish yoke', 'turcocracy', or 'long Turkish nights' have not necessarily been applied to the Muslim population of the Balkans, that is. that there was an attempt for Albanians to fall into the category of 'oppressors' and not the 'oppressed', a term reserved exclusively for the Christian population.

Until 1998, when Noel Malcolm's book was published Kosovo, A Short History, the only solid scholarly work on history was Stavro Skendi's book, published in 1967. However, in these two publications, the British involvement in the Albanian issue was studied only partially, superficially or in isolated fragments. Skandi's work covers the historical period of this book and offers the view of the Great Powers on the Albanian issue in general. His book also concentrates on the topic of the Albanian issue and cultural renaissance, while the British position towards the Albanian issue is addressed superficially. Noel Malcolm's book is another serious scholarly work on the subject. However, as the title suggests, this work covers the territory of Kosovo and does not deal with the study of British foreign policy. Therefore, the purpose of this book that you have in your hand is to deepen our knowledge and understanding on this topic, being enriched with new sources and with deeper reviews.

After the fall of communism and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Federation, among historians and scholars of other fields, Albania and Kosovo have attracted some attention. As a result, several valuable works have been presented that study specific segments of Albanian history. George Gawrychi's book titled The Crescent and the Eagle is one of these works. Gawrych has accepted the existence of the Albanian ethnic identity, which was presented at the beginning of the XIX century, which identity continued to develop into nationalism during the period of the activities of the Albanian League (1878) and the uprisings of the years 1908-1912. By juxtaposing the efforts of Albanian nationalists, who aimed to gain national rights, and the attempts of conservatives to preserve their privileges under Ottoman rule, Gawrych has offered a new and important perspective of the development of Albanian nationalism. Emiddio Licursi in his doctoral thesis claims that Albanian nationalism was active from 1878 to 1913, a period similar to that laid out by Gawrych and many others. Licursi has described Albanian nationalism as 'multi-vocal' and presents it as different from other national movements in the Balkans. In addition, he claims that Albanian nationalism developed as a reaction to Turkish nationalism.

This book, to an extent, accepts this model and, in addition, argues that the embryo of Albanian nationalism should be sought at the beginning of the 1878th century, which continued to develop with higher intensity between the years 1912-XNUMX. Further, it is argued that the efforts of Albanian intellectuals to develop the Albanian language and the issue of Macedonia have been the driving force behind the development of Albanian nationalism in the late XNUMXth and early XNUMXth centuries.

The Albanian issue has attracted limited attention even in recent publications, which are primarily dedicated to Macedonia or the Balkans of the first decade of the 1908th century. In this aspect, several authors have studied the Macedonian issue, the Young Turk Movement and Revolution of XNUMX from different points of view and have provided a broad narrative of these events. However, all these researchers have left aside the role of Albanian nationalism that played in the conflict with the Xhonturke Movement and Turkism. In the doctoral thesis of Christopher Psilos, the role of Albanians in the Young Turk Revolution is acknowledged, but the Albanian issue in Macedonia does not receive due attention. Ahsene Gül Tokay, in her doctoral thesis, has shown considerable interest in the role of Albanians in the Young Turk Movement and the Revolution, but the Albanian issue and Albanian nationalism is missing since it presents the Macedonian issue as a Muslim-Christian problem. Şükrü Hanioglu, in his very valuable studies on the Young Turks, has pointed out the importance of the Albanian nationalists who participated in the Young Turk Movement and Revolution.

However, none of these researchers have focused on the Albanian issue in Macedonia and in all these studies, almost entirely, the British commitment is missing. Furthermore, none of these authors have sought the reason that led Albanian nationalists to give high-level support to the Young Turk Movement, and they have not addressed the question of why these Albanian leaders later became so disillusioned with the Revolution and why they became involved. in the organization of the counter-Revolution, which took place only a few months later. The deterioration of relations between the leaders of the Albanian nationalists and those of the Young Turks will be examined in this book through the issue of language, which has served as the object of confrontation between the Albanian nationalists and Turkish nationalism, which emerged in the ranks of Young Turks. This confrontation, which ended in armed conflict, also heralded the end of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Albanian state. Therefore, Chapters V and VI of this book try to find the explanations that have been missing, in order to close this gap in the existing literature.

This study aims to find the reason behind the lack of British interest in the Albanian issue. In this regard, the question of how the image of Albania was created in Great Britain during the 19th century and how it developed during the beginning of the 20th century is raised. In some cases, the formation of the image of Albania will be compared with that of Greece, Serbia and Montenegro. Chapter I of this book presents two views that have contributed to the process of creating the image, the foundations of which were laid by British diplomats and guidebooks. The first point of view was established by the travel writers, who described the Balkans and Albania without any consideration for religion. This view was later adopted by the British Conservative Party and its leader, Benjamin Disraeli, and played an important role in British political and diplomatic life. The second point of view, which is also established by travel writers and diplomats, considers religion as an important element in the creation of British policy and the image of Albania. Among the members of this group, William Gladstone played an important role in the creation of liberal politics. His idea also became known as Gladstonian Liberalism. The first non-religious point of view of the conservatives has favored the Albanian national cause, while the second, the liberal religious one, has ignored the Albanians, most of whom were Muslims, and has given priority to the Christians in the Balkans, in almost all aspects.

Autonomy, as the main demand of Albanian nationalists, occupies an important place in this study and this will be demonstrated by analyzing the conservative and liberal approaches to the Albanian national issue. The issue of Albanian autonomy will be examined as an object that stands between British and Ottoman politics. In this sense, a significant part of this study covers the action of the Congress of Berlin (1878), but also the political and military actions of Albanians who were led by the Albanian League (League of Prizren) from 1878 to 1881. This activity is explored in chapter II, which aims to analyze the Albanian issue and the British interest in this issue. Although the Albanians proved with the activity of their League that they had the ability of autonomous government, their demand for autonomy was rejected. The Congress of Berlin had a great impact on the Albanian nationalists, who had marked the (four) vilayets (Ottoman administrative provinces) of Kosovo, Shkodra, Manastir and Ioannina, as territories that had to enter the future state of Albania. The importance of the Congress of Berlin can also be seen in its consequences today as the boundaries established then still retain the potential to create new conflicts and revive old ones.

At the Congress of Berlin, the Great Powers, including Britain, paid little attention to the principle of nationality when deciding on the new borders. Since then, because of this neglect, many wars have been fought. The Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and the First World War (1914-1918) came as a result of efforts to change borders. At the Conference of Ambassadors in London (1912-1913), at the Peace Conference in Paris (1919) that resulted in the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Powers continued with the position they expressed at the Congress of Berlin and did not show respect for the principle of nationality when decided on the borders of the Balkan countries. As a result, more than half of the territories inhabited by Albanians were incorporated into Greece and the new state that became known as the Kingdom of Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian and later Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia, again, did not fulfill the duty of the principle of nationality and was violently dissolved at the end of the century. XX that ended with the War in Kosovo in 1999.

Therefore, the purpose of this book is to offer a new interpretation of British policy, arguing that the British Government, due to the lack of interest in the Balkans, did not create a separate policy for the Albanian issue and considered this issue within the broader framework. of the issue of birth. The Albanian issue came into consideration of the British Government only during the international crises, which occurred in the Ottoman part of the Balkans. Such crises were addressed during the period of the Congress of Berlin, the Macedonian crisis (1903-1908) and the London Conference that came as a result of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913).

The debate between the liberals and the conservatives, the two parties in the British Parliament, and in the press regarding the Albanian issue, continued during the Berlin Congress. However, eventually there was not much difference between these two parties in terms of the main goal of British politics. Even Gladstone admitted that supporting the existence of the Ottoman Empire meant protecting the route to India. Also, both political parties had declared that the Balkans, as a region, was outside of vital British interests. However, after Disraeli and the conservatives had accepted the existence of the Albanian nationality, for the Albanian leaders there was hope that in the future Britain would find support for their national cause.

The opportunities for Albanian leaders to find British support diminished with the development of Gladstonian liberal politics. After the Macedonian crisis (1903), British public opinion and liberal organizations, such as the Balkan Committee, pressured the government for greater engagement in the Balkans. In order to explain these developments of the beginning of the century. XX in the Balkans and Albania, this study poses several questions: Why and how did the Macedonian issue contribute to the development of Albanian nationalism? Inevitably, the answer raises new questions: why did the Albanians, who were learning about the creation of their state, engage in the Young Turk Movement and Revolution?

The last part of this book (chapters VII and VIII) focuses on analyzing the British liberal political power and its effect on the creation of the independent Albanian state. How did Gladstonian liberal ideas manifest in British public opinion? Why was such a British policy adopted and why did it only offer help to the Christians of the Balkans? For this reason, Edith Durham, Aubrey Herbert and a group of British intellectuals who formed the Albanian Committee in 1912, were committed to rejecting such an opinion and a policy which, according to them, was not in favor of Albania. of the application of the principle of nationality.

The approach applied in this study is chronological, analytical, empirical and narrative. The main areas of research are primary and published archival. Archival sources include documents from the British Foreign Office, other government departments, consular and diplomatic reports, personal or private correspondence held at the National Archives at Kew, London, as well as 'Hansard' held at the House of Commons of the British Parliament.

Other diplomatic and consular reports that have been explored are those of Başbakanlik Osmanli Arşivi (Otoman Archive of the Prime Minister's Office) in Istanbul, the Albanian State Archive in Tirana and the Kosovo Archive in Pristina. Most of these archival sources have been used to explain important events for Albanians, but also the role and position of the High Gate, as well as the position that other Powers and Balkan states had on the Albanian issue.

Also, the collections of Aubrey Herbert's documents found in the Somerset Archive (Heritage Centre, Taunton) have been used, which until now, in the studies of this field, have rarely been used. Included here are a number of documents that are used in this study to explain the activities of Herbert, who in 1912 formed the Albanian Committee, which aimed to influence British opinion and policy in favor of the Albanian cause (chapter VIII).

Although Herbert was a prominent British diplomat, military (colonel) and member of parliament, he has remained almost unknown in British and Albanian history. Herbert, in particular, was known for the reason that the Albanian leaders offered him the throne of the Albanian kingdom. Documents (personal correspondence, speeches and newspaper articles) found in the Somerset Archives and Herbert's published works are used in this study to explain this omission, which is important for British and Albanian history.

Special support for Chapter VII of this book is the 'Edward Boyle Collection' which is correspondence and other documents deposited in 1976 at the University of Leeds Library (Brotherton Library – Special Collections). This valuable collection is used for the first time in this study. It is about the correspondence between Edward Boyle and Edith Durham and documents related to the Balkan Committee that are also part of this collection. This correspondence sheds light on aspects of Durham's role and contribution to the Albanian national cause, British involvement in Albania, as well as some activities of the Balkan Committee, which, until now, have been unknown. This correspondence shows the importance of the influence that Liberal views had on British politics, diplomacy and on Liberal intellectual circles. Other documents that have been used less often are those of the 'Surrey History Center Archives' and the 'Archives of the Royal Anthropological Institute' in London, which have been used for this study.

The reports of British diplomats and consuls have provided great help, being more than important sources for this study. These reports are used here to describe situations and events, even if they were not of direct British connection or interest in Albania. These British reports from the field or the place of the event have covered almost every important event that had to do with Albanian events in Albania, Istanbul and neighboring countries. A considerable number of documents for the first time shed light on the developments of Albanian nationalism and other important events.

Of course, this study is also based on secondary literature in the form of books, memoirs, pamphlets and newspaper articles. /Telegraph/