The 105th anniversary of the death of Ismail Qemali is commemorated today

Today marks 105 years since the death of the father of Albania's Independence, the great Albanian Ismail Qemali.

"Albania will forever respect Ismail Qemali as the father of the nation. May wisdom guide us, the Western vision for state formation and the work of this statesman!", wrote the President of Albania, Ismail Qemali.

Born in Vlora, in 1844, the son of Mahmut Nedim bey, he completed primary school in his hometown. He then continued to Zosime High School in Ioannina, where he learned ancient Greek, Latin and French.

In 1860, at a very young age, only when he was 16 years old, because of the languages ​​he possessed, he started working in the Translation Office of the High Gate, in Istanbul. Until 1900, Ismail Qemali worked in various tasks in the Ottoman administration, in the Province of Ioannina (1862), in the Province of Danube (1866-1876), in Filibe (1876), in Mardin 1883), in Bollu (1884-1889), in Beirut (1889).

In 1900, when he was in charge of the kajmakam in Kesrije, due to persecution from cooperation with the Young Turks and ideas to achieve an organization of the Albanians, he left his position, escaped to Greece and from there went to Europe. In the trial that took place in absentia, he was sentenced to death.

In 1902, Ismail Qemali participated in the congress of Young Turks that was organized under the leadership of Prince Sabahedin and Lutfullah, in Paris. Only after the re-promulgation of the Constitution (1908) did Ismail Qemali return from Europe.

In the elections that took place after the re-promulgation of the Constitution, Ismail Qemali was elected deputy of Berat and became part of the opposition party "Osmanlı Ahrar Fırkası". During the period of Albanian uprisings against the violence exercised by the administration of the Young Turks who were in government, Ismail Qemali tried to secure support from European countries to create an autonomous administration within the Ottoman Empire. In the uprising of the Great Highlands (1911) he went to Cetinje in Montenegro, where the 12-point memorandum of the Assembly was signed on his initiative. of Greece.

With the uprising of 1912, an autonomy of the Albanians was achieved within the Ottoman Empire, but the beginning of the Balkan War not only interrupted the formation of such a structure, but also brought about the conquest and fragmentation of the Albanian territories. Ismail Qemali led the movement and the meeting that was held in the palaces of the Vlora family, where on November 28, 1912, the Independence of Albania was proclaimed and he was elected president of the Provisional Government of Vlora. In March 1913, through the Duke de Monpensier, he went to Brindizi and on after he visited the capital of the European states to ensure support for the issue of Albania at the Conference of Ambassadors in London.

On January 22, 1914, Ismail Qemali resigned from the Provisional Government of Vlora, handed over power to the International Commission and left with his family for France. He died on January 24, 1919, in Perugia and on February 12 he was buried in the yard of Teqe. in Kanina, above Vlora. /Telegraph/