By Zylyftar Hoxha
Frashëri, the village that gave Albania its name, but which itself remained nameless!
Memorie.al / I have been to Frashëri several times, by chance or by chance, for a reason or for no reason, as they say. Although it is far away and with one road, the worst in Albania, I have never been tired. I have felt good, “full”, even a few days later. That, to wear in Frashër, is like wearing in the most sacred Albanian place, which, with a very beautiful language and metaphor, the great poet of those parts, Xhevahir Spahiu, has called “Albanian Mecca” and which is and will remain, without a doubt, in the hearts of Albanians, as the soul of our National Renaissance, the most complete pantheon of knowledge and the future of Albanians, the cradle of the pure Albanian language, a shining star and the main stone placed in the foundations of Albanian culture.
A dome of heaven among the mountains is Frashër, but which gave so much light and knowledge to Albania, that there cannot be a university in the world, to do what it did in the minds of Albanians. In a way, Frashër has made Albania; it is the breathing of Albania. Bring to mind all that colossal work of the three Frashër brothers, Abdyl, as an ideologist and statesman; Naim, as a national poet and Sami as a philosopher, all in the interest of the Albanian nation and the conception of the Albanian state and you will see how little we do for them.
But Frashëri does not have only them. Here, a little further on, 500 m. from the Frashërllinjve house, you have another monument of our national history, just as important as the museum house that you visited a little earlier, just as famous, a godly house, which has made ferk (fame) in all times, both in the religious, religious, and patriotic side, the Bektashi tekke of Frashëri. In this tekke Baba Alushi, a friend of the large family, kept Naim Frashëri for several months, after a serious illness of tuberculosis, to cure him, but more to calm the troubled soul of the great poet.
It was this same Baba Alush, who a few years later, together with Abdyl Frashëri, turned the tekke into the headquarters and center of the branch of the Prizren League for the South. The song is still sung about him today: “Who loves Albania, who,/ The best Baba Alush”. While for the delegates who had come on foot from Prizren, time has consumed the other verses of a folk song, which who knows what a gem it was, of which only two remain: “What brought you from the south, / seven days made the way…”!
The Frashëri tekke, like a spark, lit a mountain, the teaching of the Albanian language. It was the fathers, dervishes, and myhibs of this tekke and that of Backa, who, together with other patriots, established the first schools in Dangëlli and Skrapar in 1908. Under the auspices of this tekke in 1908, the patriotic club “Pellazg” was founded in Koprënckë and a large rally was held, attended by over 1000 people from all over the South, not to mention the fact that the tekke of Frashëri was the center of the fighters’ groups, such as; Çerçis Topulli, Mihal Grameno, Themistokli Gërmenji, Sali Butka and others.
But Frashëri also has a later history, especially of wise and knowledgeable people, the suckers of the Frashërllinjve door, Mehdi and Mit’hat Frashëri, of other intellectuals, scientists and scholars, which this area has in abundance. Under Kokojë, where the famous firdas begin, there is a large stone. They say that Naimi would come and stay there for hours, when he came to Frashëri for a short time, to heal his sick lungs. Now that stone is called; “Naimit’s Stone”. Perhaps it was from this stone, from this place, that he derived the motifs of the long poem, “Livestock and Agriculture”. Perhaps it is precisely this stone, to which he added the other half of the 16-syllable verse, “I sang to you to stay a while”!…
Looking from this height at the current Frashëri, deserted, with courtyards where thorns and birds flourished, we are reminded of Sami Frashëri’s statement, in his major work “Kamus-Ul-Alam”, in 1898, about his birthplace: “It is a mountainous and high place, not very fruitful, but there are brave and wise men”…
The former mayor of Frashëri, when Frashëri was a municipality, Tomorr Kotorri, a man of culture, friend of many poets and writers, with a sensitive soul, is honored to be a son of this region and the guardian of the museum house, the reborn house of the renascences. He helps in the development of annual activities with a national character with festive decor, where writers, poets and artists from all over Albania, but more from Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and the diaspora, come.
With the support of prominent intellectuals from all over Albania, he has organized on May 25 of each year, which falls on the birthday of our National Poet, “Naimiane Days”, interesting activities with scientific conferences, pilgrimages, visits to historical sites and cultural activities in Frashër. These activities of Tomorri and the “Vëllezërit Frashëri” association, of which he is the chairman, more than the memoir side, serve as a call to preserve and exalt the name of Frashër, to raise awareness among Albanians, the state and the nation, so that, with special projects, they can strongly support and help Frashër, so that it can become a historical, health, tourist, museum center for Albanians who live and work inside and outside Albania, but also for foreign tourists.
As a host, Tomorri “goes to pieces”, these days so that his friends can feel as good as possible, enjoy themselves, but, above all, receive what they have come all the way here for. Don’t forget that no one in Tirana knows what is happening in Frashër, what Tomorri and a group of poets led by the well-known Xhevahir Spahiu are doing for Frashër’s “Naimiane Days”.
I regret to say that in Përmet, and not only there, but also above, in Tirana, people and organizations operate in the shadows who carry out the orders of certain circles of those across the border, or who are servile to those who do not want the best for Frashër with that total abandonment, just for a piece of road; they do not want the best for Përmet, remember the infamous story of the “bones of Kosina” and the legend of the church-cultural palace in the city center, which is not returning to its identity, even though there has been a final court decision for years; who do not wish the best for Këlcyra, with those gloomy and meaningless cemeteries and memorials, exactly where they should not be, in the most wonderful place of its fantastic gorge; who do not wish the best for Bënja and the thermal baths, but leave them with stones and mud, in the most primitive, most scandalous and most shameful conditions, which, now, through the internet, the whole world sees.
Why should Përmet, one of the calmest and most civilized cities in Albania, have so many “problems”?!… Why should Frashëri, the most famous village in Albania, be reduced to rubble, without a single house, without a single human soul, where a wolf has made a nest and a bear has torn it apart? And who does that?! That Frashër that was once called a town and that Sami Frashëri, in his great encyclopedic work “Kamus al Alam”, describes as one of the largest of the 48 villages of Dangëlli: it had 22 neighborhoods, with a mixed Bektashi and Christian population, there were manufacturing shops, shajak workshops, tool workshops and there was a big market.
How, for almost 30 years, no one thought about the road that leads to the village, to make it not with asphalt, but simply, even with “shovel maintenance”!?… How, for almost 30 years, no minister of culture set foot once in this village among the mountains of Dangëlli, with a special name and historical status, which has given Albania a colossus of political, social and cultural thought. How could no high-ranking official have been brought here by simple curiosity and the most elementary conscience, having encountered the name of Frashëri and the Frashërllinjve since the first grade of elementary school!?…
Yes, the prime minister leaves no stone unturned, but he never found the time in so many years to go to this cradle of Albanian culture and history, to the Frashëri Brothers’ museum house (already covered in dust and spider webs), or to the historic Frashëri Tekke (also on the other side, as dilapidated as the museum house), to give a message of continuity between the first National Renaissance, with his “second party Renaissance” or, simply, to “rest for a while”, as Naimi said, in the Hotova spruce, one of the most famous and beautiful in the Balkans!
They don’t come to Frashër, because Frashër, with its famous historical treasures, now erased from the map of Albania, “has opened up great opportunities”!… Wasn’t that entire great name, that history so bright, that symbolism of the national level enough for Frashër to have priority and state care!? 100 villages were included in a government project, for the development of tourism throughout the country, Frashër not. Why? Because Frashër wants a hand from above, from the government. Frashër cannot be supported today by the Municipality of Përmet, the Prefecture or the Gjirokastra Region, even if they didn’t have the “sticks in their feet”, as we said above.
It belongs to the Nation and should be appreciated as such. It is unique and demands that the Albanian state and society see it as unique, as a separate voice in the development and progress of the country. To take bold and encouraging initiatives, to make policies and fiscal facilities for those who will invest in Frashër. We are talking in vain, if she had the will and wanted to, she knows for herself that she can do anything and everything!…
Who forgets Frashëri, responsible for the history of Albania
To overlook Frashëri, or to ignore him, is the same as ignoring the most vital parts of history and the history of Albania, is the same as leaving the mosaic of Albanian culture, without its emblem and without its most precious stone.
This is the reason why prominent academics and intellectuals, who have never been absent from Frashëri, but also its former residents, scattered throughout Albania and organized in various patriotic and cultural associations, such as “Vëllezërit Frashëri”, “Përmeti”, “Dangëllia”, “Tomorri”, “Dëshnica”, the “Zëri Dardan” Association in Rahovec, the World Patriarchate of Bektashis in Kosovo, on May 25 of this year, on “Naimiane Day”, addressed the government with a concrete proposal for the rehabilitation and development of Frashëri.
Of course, the highest local authorities of the Municipality of Përmeti and the Gjirokastra District also participated and signed this initiative. What does the proposal in question contain, which is in fact a not unachievable dream? It calls for the revival and development of Frashëri as a Historical – Museum – Health and Tourist Center.
But to do this, they write in the request, the first thing to do is the road. There are 30 km. that connect Frashëri with Përmet. If the road is built, the others will follow.
Secondly, three historical buildings of this village must be reconstructed: the Frashëri Brothers’ House Museum, the first Albanian school in the Përmet district in Frashëri, and the Frashëri Tekke as a Cultural Monument.
Thirdly, there is the possibility of rebuilding former houses and making them available for annual tourism, in every season. A project has been made for the urban preservation of the old town of Frashëri, of former dwellings, of roads, Bektashi and Christian works and buildings, which will be restored according to the architectural and constructional appearance they had in those years.
Fourth, Frashëri has rich environmental reserves, with irreplaceable flora and fauna of the Hotoves Fir, Ogren Fir, where a park for controlled hunting could be established, coordinating it with summer and winter tourism, skiing in winter and tourist excursions in summer, which would necessitate the construction of a sports complex, hotels, bar-restaurants, etc.
Fifth, due to the mountainous climate and proximity to the fir forest, a rehabilitation health center for people suffering from lung diseases could be built. For this center, the former high school building, which is currently empty, could be used.
Sixth, in and around Frashëri there are many fruit and livestock products, which would enable the construction of a complex for processing these products.
Seventh, the road to Frashër, the national axis of the Sadrandë – Gjirokastër – Përmet – Korçë road, could pass through Frashër and not through Leskovik, as it does today, many kilometers of road would be shortened and the road would become more functional. In this case, the entire Dangëlli area would receive the development it deserves, they write in their memorandum addressed to the government.
The memorandum closes with these words:
The destruction of Frashër, its abandonment, and its oblivion will burden all of us with a heavy responsibility before the history of the nation and the generations to come. The opposite will happen: those who will develop and preserve Frashër will enter the honored national history, along with its great, historical and national name.
After these wonderful words, we have nothing left but to wish: Their word, in the ears of God!… Memorie.al
