-The testimonies of Daut Kraja on the life of the nationalist Mehmet Ali Bajraktari-
Memorie.al / The writer Daut Kraja wrote about the life of the Hasjan nationalist, Mehmet Ali Bajraktari. Kraja passed away in 2014, while in one of his books, which was awaiting publication, he gives the profile of the well-known nationalist, focusing not only on his contribution in the field of nationalism, but also on other aspects, such as his relationship with his fellow villagers or the people of the village. In his notes, Daut Kraja describes Bajraktari as a very peaceful and very nationalist man, who never tolerated nor made agreements to the detriment of his country. The information coming from the testimony of the Hasjan writer about the fighter Bajraktari is as follows: continuous resistance of Mehmet Ali Bajraktari against Serbian intentions, resistance against the fascist and Nazi occupier, and simultaneously rebellion against the post-war communist system.
DAUT KRAJA’S TESTIMONIES:
A sign of respect:
Little has been written about Mehmet Ali Bajraktari, or better to say; only his activity for our ethnic lands has been mentioned. I have seen the notes in various books. Both what was noted about him in Zog’s time and later in Hibbert’s notes, in the book “The Bitter Victory” and in Neshat Bilali’s book. I recently noted with satisfaction also the evaluations given in the book “The Testimony of Hamit Perolli”. Accurate testimonies and determinations about Mehmet Ali Bajraktari, without embellishing that time, but with truths that are valuable to history.
Earlier, the Bajraktar of Vlahna was Rexhë Bajraktari. When economic power began to weaken, the bajraktarlik passed with understanding to Ali Sahit Myha. But Ali was poisoned by the Serbs; they called him to Prizren, and there they poisoned him with coffee. Thus, anti-Serbism passed to his son, Mehmet Ali Bajraktari. It could not be otherwise, because Mehmet Ali Bajraktari’s family was kneaded with the tradition: to love the village, to love Has and Albania, to love Kosovo as it was divided. Even Has was divided in half. Mehmet Ali Bajraktari exercised his influence over 31 villages of Has. The villages multiplied, but in every Hasjan, there was respect for Mehmet Ali.
He was a patriot, hospitable, and had simplicity within himself.
He was a defender of the region and did not allow the mineral resources of the Has region to be exploited, avoiding Serbian interests. This means that he was not broken politically or economically. He was a patriot. The homeland came first for that man, and he gave pride to Has, he gave pride to himself. At all times he was characterized as a nationalist. Even during the communist regime, people characterized him as a nationalist. After the war, the fate of Mehmet Ali Bajraktari and his family was very heavy. His escape with his family in the summer of 1948, on July 3, due to the persecution that the communist regime began against him, had consequences. He, together with his three sons, was eliminated by the UDB (Yugoslav secret police).
But he showed me that his relations with the communist regime in Albania were very strained, but he brings a determination made by the Kukës District Committee in 1945: “Mehmet Alija. – From the village of Vlahën. Reserve officer in Zog’s time and Bajraktar of Has. Collaborator and closely linked to Gani Kryeziu. Ardent Zogist. Close friend of Muharrem Bajraktari, his host and supporter. A wheeler-dealer and exploiter always at the expense of the poor masses of the people. And after liberation, he has not maintained a good stance; he escaped and later was imprisoned. Now he is at home. An element who hates the people’s power with all his soul and does not reconcile with today’s spirit and the new reforms and laws. He does not take the Front membership card, nor does his daughter-in-law, the sister of Muharrem Bajraktari.”
The escape
After the war, after 1944, Rexha, the eldest son of Mehmet Ali, was an educated man. They told him to stay and work in Tirana, at the Ministry of Education, but he did not stay. He came to Kukës as head of the education section. Before Rexha returned to Kukës, Mehmet Ali was arrested twice, with the reasoning: “You have been a bajraktar”. Mehmet Ali was then about 70 years old. When Rexha returns, and Mehmet is called to the Internal Affairs Branch for the third time, Rexha tells him: “Don’t go”! Mehmet Ali replies: “I have no other way”. And so, Mehmet Ali made up his mind not to go to the Internal Affairs Branch.
Preparations begin to escape!
Mehmeti and his three sons: Rexha, Sadria, Shabani. Rexha was married; he had taken a bride from Shalqini. They had no children. Sadria was married to a sister of Muharrem Bajraktari. He took with him also the two children. Shabani was unmarried. They go to Yugoslavia, without surrendering for three weeks, moving through friends and comrades. When they surrendered, they were put in prison. They were betrayed. They were isolated in a prison near Prizren. Sadria’s wife, with the two children, was interned around Kosovo, without knowing the fate of the other relatives. Later, in 1959 they went to Italy and in 1962 they went to Brussels. While Mehmet Ali and his three sons were eliminated by the UDB. We learned later about the killing of Mehmet Ali and his sons. There was an escapee from Vlahna, Ali Mic Sokoli. He had learned of the event and found a way to tell. Ali Sokoli died in Kukës in 1998.
Non-compromise
The King of Serbia sent him a gift around 1917, a silk cloth, with the aim of moving the border to other villages as well. Mehmet Ali opened the cloth, looked at it, tied it back at the four corners and raised his voice: “I do not sell the homeland for money”. He performed the duty of bajraktar peacefully; he was very peaceful.
Friendship with Bajram Curri
He had friendship with Bajram Curri. Like patriot with patriot.
And Bajram Curri was respected in Vlahna and throughout the Has region. When the events of the spring of 1924 happened, Mehmet Ali Bajraktari sheltered Bajram Curri in a house that no one would suspect. For several days he kept and sheltered him. Bajram Curri is said to have killed himself; perhaps this is the most accurate, because for a long time, words were circulated like that. Bajram Curri’s body was brought by horse from Dragobia to Qarr i Hasit. Night overtook the people while traveling. The gendarmes, in the yard of Sali Qarri, forced the owner of the house to give coffee to the “death” of Bajram Curri. The aim: “He is gone, Bajram Curri is finished.” But immediately one of the gendarmes intervened: “That is not right!” And they left that ugly act. The order was withdrawn. The plaque was changed quickly. Bajram Curri was buried with honors, by order of Zog’s Government.
Against Zog and reconciliation with the King
In the events of June 1924, Mehmet Ali Bajraktari was against Zog. In December of 1924, when Zog won, Mehmet Ali Bajraktari escaped and remained in escape until April 1925, when Zog pardoned his political opponents with an amnesty. It was a measured act by Zog. Nevertheless, Zog sent word to Mehmet Ali: – “I have sent you word, not to get involved in these matters.” Mehmet Ali replies: – “I saw it as the right way.” Zog gave him the rank of major, reserve officer, attached a salary and gave him the right to keep three gendarmes.
At the Tower of Ngjeç and the killing of his brother
In Zog’s time, people gathered at the Tower of Ngjeç. The notables of Has were there too. They were surrounded by Serbian forces. They were eating bread. After some time, they bring the tray with pies. He takes the cloth from his belt and puts the pie in it. He says: Who is a man to follow me! He goes out of the house, puts his revolver to the Serbian commander’s throat. He did not kill him and released him. Things worked out somehow, they dispersed. Before the creation of the band, a war against the Germans was organized by Mehmet Ali Bajraktari and other nationalists in the Highlands of Gjakova. His brother Sahit Ali was killed. And Mehmet Ali Bajraktari, when he came to the village, was with many others. I saw their return. Because the road was near our houses. I saw when they brought the lifeless body of Sahit Ali.
The break with Fadil Hoxha
Fadil Hoxha was connected with the Has band and also with Mehmet Ali Bajraktari. The route that Fadili took was like this: Gjakova – Demjan – Kushnin – Qafa e Mullarëve and entered the territory of Vlahna, passed through Kishaj and met with the band leaders. On his return he went to Mehmet Ali Bajraktari. Fadil Hoxha, after some time, broke away; he no longer stopped at Mehmet Ali Bajraktari’s. This matter has an explanation, it has a reason. It was learned later that it had been recommended to Fadil Hoxha that Mehmet Ali Bajraktari had other ideas, different from communist ones. Mehmet Ali Bajraktari had great authority and did not flatten his own ideas for anyone’s sake; he served only his own idea and this is related to his own nationalist ideas. He sends word to Fadil Hoxha: “You have deviated; we no longer have a connection together”. And after this, Mehmet Ali Bajraktari remained indifferent, no longer involved in political matters.
The killings of the Karakush family
A nephew of the Karakush family had committed a murder out of blood feud in Kushnin. He comes and takes shelter at his uncle’s, in Vlahna. The family member of the victim connects with Ram Maloku, the commune chairman at that time in Zym. He gives him a bribe, to take the blood of his brother. It is said that Ram Maloku, for profit, immediately notifies the German command in Gjakova. On April 14, 1944, German forces, with leaders from Gjakova, surround and assault the village of Vlahna. They make three encirclements according to neighborhoods: Karakush, Gradica, Kraja. Ram Maloku sent the German forces, putting forward a justification that in Vlahna, at Karakush, there was a communist base and that neighborhood was from top to bottom supportive of the communists.
The tradition of Vlahna has been that the refugee is never betrayed. It was a tradition ingrained from ages past. Even more so as the refugee was a nephew of the Karakush family, whatever he might have done. There were unwritten rules. There is also a proverb: “The uncle fires a gun for the nephew, but the nephew does not fire for the uncle”! At Karakush, the encirclement is reinforced. Initially they thought they had come to collect taxes. Before morning broke, before the light came. The nephew was sheltered at his uncle’s, at Ramadan Avdi Karakushi. Ramadan called out to his people: “Get up quickly, send the livestock to the mountain so you are not noticed!”.
And so they did. And Ramadan’s nephew, while sending the livestock. He comes face to face with the Germans. They recognize Ramadan’s nephew. Their leader from Gjakova had known him. “He is a communist,” – they had told the Germans. They kill him. They also kill Rama’s two brothers, Muharrem and Velia. Shaqir Karakushi resisted. He wounded two Germans and killed one. Mehmeti was also killed. Rustemi, a child, 13 years old, the Germans took him from his mother’s lap and killed him. Rustemi was the son of Ibrahim, Ibrahim brother of Ramadan Karakushi. Maxhun Halil Sokoli was also killed along the way.
The killing of Ram Maloku, for revenge
The Germans withdrew. The information may be incomplete – there may have been 30 or 40 Germans. They took the village’s horses and some of the Karakush family; they took them with them and interned them in Prishtina. This is an event told many times, in the past as well, and it is told like this even today. At the burial of those killed by the Germans, I also participated, with my mother. We were relatives. My father had died in 1939. The Has band, after this happened, for revenge because the village, Karakush, was damaged, surrounded the Zym commune. Ram Maloku had been asleep. At the commune was Ahmet Lamallari, from Vasija e Lumës. They asked him where Ram Maloku was. “On the second floor,” – he told them. They killed Ram Maloku. They also burned down the Zym commune. And so, Ahmet Lamallari joined the band. He was sometime later, head of the Military Branch in Kukës.
The village of Vlahna
Until 1944, Has had 37 villages, 19 in Albania and 18 in Kosovo. These, according also to the observations of the well-known researcher Mark Krasniqi. Vlahna until 1950 had 10 lineages: Kraja, Gradica, Karakushi, Pervana, Muhadri, Sokoli, Duraku, Kovaçi (now, some keep the surname Kovaçi, some Bajraktari), Ahmati, Goçaj. In 1957, the village of Vlahna reached 58 houses, while in the years 1988-‘89, to 200 and so houses. From Vlahna, many families left before Zog’s time, but also during Zog’s time, to Gjakova, to the Has beyond, such as in Demjan, but also to Prizren.
While today in Vlahna about 150 houses remain. Even Halim Spahija is of the Kraja lineage, and Xhafer Spahija (former minister, secretary of the Central Committee of the PPSH and secretary of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly), who attended school at the Krumë Boarding School. Halim Spahija was a well-known merchant, and was executed by the communist regime after the war. It was mentioned for a long time that Mehmet Ali Bajraktari expressed open anger at the execution of Halim Spahija. The honor today for Mehmet Ali Bajraktari is the sign of the respect that he did for the region and for the nation as a whole. The bust of Mehmet Ali Bajraktari, right in the center of Krumë, is a sign of respect, that Has has ingrained in its consciousness the respect for the patriotic man. Memorie.al
