Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of November 28, 1912, when the Kurbin patriot, Gjin Pjetër Pervizi, by order of Dom Nikoll Kaçorri raised the flag in Milot of Kurbin, in the presence of all the people of that area, an event which is reflected in a letter that Gjin Pjetri sends to the Archbishop of Durrës, Preng Bianki, where among other things it is written: “The brilliant Emzot Preng Bianki, Archbishop of Durc-Kurbin. I had gathered the villages of Kurbin, Turks and Christians and we are one word: then I went the fourth myself, both Muslims and Christians, and I had the proud mountaineers of the Coast of Mata with vedi, I went to Mirdita: and there were gathered the parsimis of 12 bajraks, and the parish of 7 bajraks of Puka, we tied a tifaka from the bridge of Droes and the water of Drini i Bardhe towards The people of Prezren, as if caught by Vau i Dejës and Plav and Guci, are also connected with us: Hot e Grudë, Kastrat e Shkrel have taken and given to the bayraks who are close to them and have sent us a letter to the Assembly that I gather what you have to do, we have to do it too, they have said that we have heard about the mountains of Epra and they also have these words. Again, Matja, as if we are connected, is connected to us. After Ismail Qemali and D. Nikoll Kaçorri who are our peculiarities of Shqypnia, we are following them, we are tying the knot to stay and we are fat and those who have raised the flag of Shqypnia in Durrc and also for us flag to fight.
108 years ago on November 28, 1912, while the old patriot Ismail bej Qemali raised the flag in Vlora and declared the Independence of Albania, at the same hour of that day, another Albanian patriot raised the national flag in Milot of Kurbin, where they were gathered representatives and delegates from all the northern provinces of Albania. He was Gjin Pjetër Pervizi from Skuraj i Kurbinit and the flag he raised that day in Milot was by order of Dom Nikoll Kaçorri, the right wing of Ismail Qemali, who on November 28, 1912 was elected deputy prime minister of Vlora.
This great event in the history of the Albanian people, which has been preserved in the historical memory of the Kurbin area, throughout the period of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, has been completely forgotten and in all the history books of that time has never been mentioned…
Letter to the Archbishop of Durrës
The event of November 28, 1912 where the old patriot Gjin Pjetër Pervizi raised the national flag in Milot of Kurbin, in addition to the memory of the people which did not let it disappear from the historical memory, is best reflected in an archival document which is made public for the first time seen exclusively from Memorie.al. Although in this document that we are publishing in full below, very little is written about what happened in Milot 108 years ago, it creates a clear picture of the patriotic work of the patriot Gjin Pjetër Pervizi.
That document states:
Copy of Gjin Pjetri’s letter to Preng Bianki, Archbishop of Durrës:
The people of Milot say that Gjin Pjetri raised the flag in Milot at the same time as Ismail Qemali in Vlora.
Skuraj 21 Dhetuer 1912
Bright Emperor Preng Bianki, Archbishop of Durc-Kurbin
I had gathered the villages of Kurbin, Turks and Christians and we are one word: then I went the fourth myself, both Muslims and Christians, and I had the proud mountaineers of the Coast of Mata with vedi, I went to Mirdita: and there were gathered the parsimis of 12 bajraks, and the parish of 7 bajraks of Puka, we tied a tifaka from the bridge of Droes and the water of Drini i Bardhe towards The people of Prezren, as if caught by Vau i Dejës and Plav and Guci, are also connected with us: Hot e Grudë, Kastrat e Shkrel have taken and given to the bayraks who are close to them and have sent us a letter to the Assembly that I gather what you have to do, we have to do it too, they have said that we have heard about the mountains of Epra and they also have these words.
Again, Matja, as if we are connected, is connected to us. After Ismail Qemali and D. Nikoll Kaçorri who are our peculiarities of Shqypnia, we are following them, we are tying the knot to stay and we are fat and those who have raised the flag of Shqypnia in Durrc and also for us flag to fight.
That is why we have made a firm trust with the companions.
If I make you a rigja, qi any gjvapi qi that has played on that side, write me a letter and take it to me.
Take your hand and kiss your myrrh, you are closing the letter more love and your forgiveness with good health I love you. (your humble servant God) John Peter. “Let the beggars know that they will tie the tifaq as I have tied it to us.”
(A.Q.SH. Fund 143 Years 1912 File 975 sheets 1)
Evaluation of Gjin Pjetrit by King Zog in 1937
Since that time and throughout the period of the Zog Monarchy, the patriotic old man from the village of Skuraj of Kurbin, Gjin Pjetër Pervizi, has been one of the most appreciated patriotic figures by the people of the province of Kurbin, as well as by the current regime of that time. This is best seen from the unpublished archival documents which belong to the period of the Zog Monarchy, or more precisely to 1937, when on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania, Flag Day was commemorated with an official ceremony. all over the place. On the eve of November 28, 1937, a day which was celebrated with great fanfare according to the Royal decree of King Zog, from all the provinces of Albania were proposed for decorations many patriots who over the years had fought with weapons in hand or had given the contribution of them for the benefit of the Albanian cause.
In most of the proposals for decorations that were made at that time for the patriots of the district of Kruja, (which administratively depended on the city of Durrës) it was written, among other things: “He participated with Gjin Pjetrin e Kurbinit in raising the Flag in Milot on November 28, 1912 ”,“ He was with Gjin Pjetr in the War of the Mata Coast against the Turkish camp in 1911 ”, etc., etc. In one of those documents of that period where the patriot Seid Selim Aga from Kruja (1853-1929) was proposed for decoration, it is written, among others:
“In 1912 he distributed Albanian books together with Baba Meleq Shëmbërdhenji in the villages and conveyed this together with Zejnel Kalana and Gjin Pjetërin, then sent him to Ulcinj”.
It is confirmed as after the decision no. 10 dt. 27. 7. 937 of the Commission for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the self-government formed in Krue.
Member and Secretary of the Commission
(Hysen Kalaja) Chairman of the Commission, Deputy Prefect (Ramadan Minzalli)
(A.Q.SH. Fund 143 Years 1937 File 47 Page 42)
As can be seen in these archival documents that are made public for the first time, in most of the proposals for decorations, the patriotic elder Gjin Pjetër Pervizi, is taken as a reference point for other patriots who were said to have fought or had been collaborators. his. In addition to these documents belonging to 1937, the name of the Kurbin patriot is often mentioned in the historical records of the famous Catholic clergyman, Father Bernardin Palaj, who together with his colleague, Father Donat Kurti, have collected and published “Visaret e Kombit “. Among other things, in Palaj’s notes, it is written:
“This is what all of them say, the abbot tells all of Catholic Albania of the gathering of Shpal: Ded Gjo Luli, Mehmet Shpend, Prel Tuli, Gjin Pjetri, Padër Pal Doda, the Speaker of the Assembly of Rrbig (Rubik), Gjo Shkurt Lufi t ‘Selitës etc etc’.
Unlike all Albanian governments before 1944, which have commemorated and honored the work of the patriot Gjin Pjetër Pervizi, the communist regime left it completely in oblivion to mention it very rarely.
The communist regime forgot the patriot Gjin Pjetër Përvizi, from the general, Prenk Pervizit, former Minister of Defense in 1943- ‘44!
The patriotic elder Gjin Pjetër Pervizi from Skuraj i Kurbinit and the event of November 28, 1912, where in the presence of delegates and representatives from all parts of Northern Albania, he raised the national flag in Milot, is mentioned very little during the years of the communist regime. Although for the official historiography of that period that event was not unknown, it was rarely commemorated only in the small town of Milot on the jubilee of Flag Day.
The reason for forgetting the figure of the patriot Gjin Pjetër Pervizi and his devotional work as the leader of the Kurbin villagers in the wars against the Turks for freedom and independence, became some of his nephews and great-grandchildren, who after 1945, fought with weapons in hand against the communist regime. But the most important who “darkened” the biography of the old patriot from Kurbin, were General Prenk Pervizi, Minister of Defense in 1943-’44 and Ndue Gjergji, who until 1951, led the anti-communist resistance in the Kurbin area.
But although the official historiography of the communist regime for years left in silence the work of the patriot Gjin Pjetër Pervizi, it could not erase it completely from the historical memory. At the beginning of the ’80s, his name was given to an 8-year school in the city of Laç, where with the private initiative of a teacher, a small bust of him was placed in her yard./ Memorie.al
