The story of the murder of Çerçiz Topulli

By: Roland Qafoku

Çerçiz Topulli could also be the symbol of the unknown soldier who fell in the war for independence. There is no second person in the history of Albania who has never taken the weapon from his shoulder, but at the same time had such a sad end, killed treacherously and, moreover, without receiving the fame and appreciation he deserved.

Chained head to toe by Montenegrin soldiers, on the morning of Saturday July 17, 1915, he lost the last battle of his life even though he fought them like a lion. While 15 people in uniform shot him with bullets and pierced his body with bayonets, Çerçiz Topulli became one of Albania's first martyrs. Just a few minutes ago, his friend Mustafa Qulli, a journalist who, unlike Çerçizi who had the rifle with the symbol of freedom, was killed in front of his eyes, was holding a pen.

CRIME SCENE

Çerçiz Topulli had made dozens of maneuvers in his life against those who wanted to capture and destroy him. But on the morning of July 17, 1915, for the first and last time, he failed.

A team of Montenegrin soldiers appeared at the gate of the house where he was staying in Shkodër and, without any written order, put him in handcuffs. Along with him, his friend, Mustafa Qulli, a well-known journalist at that time in Shkodër, was arrested.

Without much explanation, the foreign soldiers tied both of them with chains on their hands and feet and sent them to the barracks. After 10 days of staying in a room in scandalous conditions, they were both put in a cart and told that they would be sent to Cetinje.

As soon as the caravan made a few kilometers in the Field of Shtoij, the clock marked 04.00 and as soon as it started to get light, the soldiers disembarked them and started shooting them one by two. Mustafai died on the spot, while Çerçizi, so chained, fights with the Montenegrin soldiers, but they, being in large numbers, managed to shoot him to death with bullets and piercing his body with bayonets.

When they saw that both had given up, they quickly dug two not very deep pits, put both bodies inside, covered them with surrounding bushes and trees and left.

HOW THE MURDER WAS COMMITTED

The treacherous and secret murder of Çerçiz Topulli was accompanied by the rule that even the most sophisticated crime leaves traces. Even though they thought that they erased their tracks by burying the corpses, none of the 15 killers knew that behind the bushes, a person happened to have seen the whole event. His name was Mahmut Golemi and his story six months after the event is unique:

"On Friday night, (at dawn on Saturday) the night of Ramadan, before the light comes out, I went out with a load of hay from the meadow, in the cool, when from afar I saw two people coming, escorted by about 15 soldiers, who when saw, they ordered me to leave, and I hid behind the cart. When they came to a place, they stopped there and the soldiers took position with arrows on the two people in question.

The one who was wearing the dyed clothes that I had given him because he was left without a jacket (Muço Qulli) shouted in an alarming way, and a tall and full man shouted to your friend: "Don't be afraid that the patriots like this they have it".

The soldiers fired; the one with the dyed clothes fell on the deck, while the other, tue sha, with a lion's voice and with lightning speed, learns the soldiers and without leaving them time to laugh a second time, he enters among them and came facing them to take a rifle from them. This fight went on for about a minute. In that fight, after they found an opportunity, they attacked him a second time and killed him".

Organized crime was done, then it was just a matter of covering the tracks. An action the murderous soldiers did swiftly and secretly. At least according to them, they dug two pits and threw the two victims inside. Bushes were thrown. Witness Mahmut Golemi continues the story:

"The next day I went to the place of the incident, where I saw that they were completely covered with thorns. As the Muslims that they were, for sevap, I covered them deeper. In checking the pit, we found many signs that belonged to Muço Qulli, since the body of Çerçiz, which was covered deeper, we did not touch."

GREEKS IN MURDER

The murder of Çerçiz Topulli showed once again the Slavic-Greek alliances against the Albanians.

According to the data, testimonies and reports of the time, it turns out that the Montenegrins killed Cherchizi at the expense of the Greeks. It was a revenge for the fact that Çerçizi had killed the Greek bishop, as a response to the murder of Spiro Kosturi, in Thessaloniki, in 1907. There were times when the Greek circles were looking for the Albanian committee, which was killed through an intrigue.

But who were the Greeks who ordered the killing of the Montenegrins? There are three people who were implicated in this murder: Alush Lohja, Spiro Tozhli, Mihalaki Kulumburi, who were based in the Greek consulate in Shkodër. Tozhli was a merchant in the area who is believed to have made the money available for murder. The first testimony and statement that proves this is that of Kol Bjanku, secretary of the Cadastre in Shkodër. In an article of number 18 dated June 9, 1919 in the newspaper "Kuvendi" he wrote:

"Now, don't bother me from the grave of my heart, I am informing my brothers that in the year 1915, Mihalaki Kambuluri, with his own tricks, killed (drowned) two of my most honorable patriots, the enlightened Mustafa Qulli and Çerçiz Topulli, whom Albania mourns today".

This testimony seriously shocked the public. In the July 16 issue of the "Kuvendi" newspaper, Mihalaki Kambuluri responded to Bjanku, calling what he wrote a slander. But the justification leaves you speechless as it implicates Fejzi Alizoti:

"Fejzi Bey Alizoti knows very well the alleged perpetrators of that murder, as he himself saw me many times here in Shkodër, when we used to see each other and spend time together...".

How true it is that Alizoti knew, this has not been proven, but after so many years a written testimony is worth a thousand proofs.

Meanwhile, the reason and circumstances for the elimination of journalist Mustafa Qulli changed. The data show that he was killed as an Austrophile and this was openly felt in his writings in the newspaper "Populli" published in Shkodër, in which he was the director. This had angered the Montenegrins, but especially the Serbs and, from the created situation, it was a chance that, by doing it together with Mustafana Çerçiz, they eliminated at once two Albanians who were fighting with a pen and a rifle.

FOUR BURIALS

The remains of Çerçiz Topulli did not find an easy rest. Four times the Albanian underground has accepted his dead body as if it were a reaction. The first burial was carried out by the Montenegrins, who, after killing him, put him in the ground, still with warm blood. The second burial was performed on November 27, 1936, in Gjirokastër, in a state ceremony, while the exhumation was performed on September 14, 1936 in Shkodër, and this was accompanied by a follow-up ceremony that has remained in history, because this was also the exit Enver Hoxha's first public appearance with a speech he delivered on the balcony of the city hall.

In 1945, the third burial was carried out, placing the remains in the Martyrs' Cemetery in Gjirokastër. In the 70s, the remains were placed on the hill of the city of Gjirokastra together with the graves of Bajo Topulli, Koto Hoxhi and Pandeli Sotiri accompanied by a memorial.

Taken from the book "100 most sensational murders in the history of the Albanian state 1912-2017". /Taken from the book "The 100 most sensational murders in the history of the Albanian state 1912-2017"/