By Prof. Dr. Sabile Keçmezi-Basha
Part Two
Memorie.al / Based on the political spirit of the authentic writings of the participants in the founding Assembly, on September 16-19, 1943, the Second League of Prizren is a national democratic Albanian political-military organization. According to Tahir Zajmi, the founding Assembly also worked on September 20[1]. Since then, this date has been mistakenly entered into historiography. The opinion of many publicists that “the initiative for the League of Prizren was taken by Xhafer Deva after the capitulation of fascist Italy” is not true! This has some support in Ali Hadri’s findings that; “the main person in the initiative group for calling the founding Assembly of the Second League of Prizren was Xhafer Deva, a great support of the German intelligence service”!
Continued from the previous issue
While the Second Session of the Prizren Congress was in session, representatives of the General Executive Committee of Tirana arrived: Bedri bey Pejani, Rexhep Mitrovica and Xhafer Deva, accompanied by Rrok Maloku and “many other delegates”. According to Tahir Zajmi, the most prominent Albanian publicists of the time were also with them: Dr. Xhelal Mitrovica and Maz’har Sopoti, the only delegate of the Albanian area in London, participant in the founding Assembly of the Second Prizren League.
The first was the editor of the organ “Kombi” and the second the director of the organ “Kosova”, therefore the information in these organs is authentic, first-hand sources, from the stenograms of the assembly. The entire Assembly welcomed the Delegation from Tirana with cheers: “Long live the National Union”! while Bedri bej Pejani, greeting the delegates, among other things, emphasized: “After the capitulation of Italy, in our Capital, in Tirana, a General Executive Committee, consisting of six people, was formed, which temporarily performs the duties of the Government, pending the meeting of a National Assembly, from whose ranks the permanent Government will emerge and the determination of the form of the regime that will be given to the State”.
And, here, Bedri bej Pejani’s statement at the end of his speech must be strongly underlined, as a bequest to the Albanian generations: “Italy, which violated Albanian freedom and independence in 1939, suffered the punishment it deserved. Every foreigner who comes to subjugate the Albanian Nation has a certain fate: he comes out with red shoes. So does Italy!” This meant the oath that the fate of Italy would be suffered by any occupier who might aim to occupy Albanian lands.
Meanwhile, Rexhep Mitrovica’s speech would lay the political, diplomatic and military platform of the Albanian Government in the process of formation. “Our national rights will be strengthened, with all our might. The Albanian nation, this time, will not allow the injustices of the past to be committed on its own account. Albanians, all united with one desire and for one purpose, without considering any regional, religious or ideological differences, will be, tomorrow, if we find ourselves faced with a possibility of a new injustice, a single bloc against any imperialist trickery”.
The statesman Rexhep Mitrovica, from the rostrum of the founding Assembly of the Second League of Prizren, emphasized to the Albanian nation that the end of the German-Hitler occupation was near and invited it to prepare for the inevitable epilogue of the Second World War. He emphasized: “We must prepare, all together, for another effort: the political and diplomatic one. Tomorrow, when the peace table is laid, the Albanian nation must appear before it, with our documents that will prove its rights from every point of view. Our nation must be able, at once, as soon as the conversation about the fate of the peoples begins, to master itself in this field as well, and even mainly in this field”.
As a preventive measure to await the end of World War II, he proposed the following urgent activities: Registration of residents in all Albanian areas outside of London Albania and the collection of documents that would prove the autochthonous nature and ethnic and historical rights of Albanians, in those lands divided by diplomatic treaties: in 1878, 1913, 1919, 1941. Mitrovica clearly specified: “Documents that prove our forced displacements, unjust colonizations, plunder of lands and wealth, persecutions, murders, massacres, burnings, tortures, terrorism and massacres. With these documents in hand, the Albanian Nation can come out, completely fraternal, proud before the next Peace Conference and demand all those rights that, to be documented and proven, studied and ascertained by a true justice, from which we hope to be inspired by tomorrow’s gathering of world peace, they cannot be denied, they will not be denied”.
The founding assembly of the Second League of Prizren held its third session on September 18, 1943, with this agenda: “Union of Mitrovica with Albania”, namely “Discussion on the issue of the union of Mitrovica, Podujeva, Vučiterna, Pazar i Ri, Senica and the Neutral Zone with Albania”. The representative of Besiana (formerly Podjevo), the patriot Jahja Fusha, strongly confirmed the desire and request of the Llapi visit to unite with Mother Albania: “I am the Delegate of Llapi, of that Country which, although it suffered for centuries under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire, although it removed a thousand and one blacks, under the trampling of the imperialist Military Clique of Belgrade, does not speak, nor does it know how to speak, from one end of its vastness to the other, any other language than our native language; immortal Albanian; I am the Delegate of Llapi, of that one hundred percent Albanian country, which the injustices of the imperialist Powers of Europe had condemned, like many other purely Albanian countries, with a grave injustice.”
In the end, the martyr of the nation, Fusha, invited “the Assembly to decide to take all the measures that will be deemed appropriate to ensure the connection and unification of Mitrovica, Vučiterna, Podujeva, Tregu i Ri and Senica with Albania”. And, in particular, the messages of the Speech of the delegate from “Tregu i Ri”, Aqif Bluta, are historic even for the life of Ethnic Albania: “I am very happy that I have the white fortune, after thirty years of continuous efforts, to be, for the first time, as representatives of ‘Tregu i Ri’ and Senica, in the bosom of a National Assembly like the current one (…) with the common Homeland of all Albanians: with Mother Albania”.
The unquenchable volcanic fire patriot for the freedom of Ethnic Albania, Aqif Bluta, would state, boldly and clearly: “‘Tregu i Ri’, or ‘Jeni Pazari’, as it was called until yesterday, as well as Senica and its surrounding areas, are purely Albanian regions, because the population that inhabits them is entirely Albanian; every person, among them, knows what Albanian tribe he comes from, so with the insistent demand of the people ‘we are uniting with Albania, with our common Mother, for which we have been burned and charred, we have been killed and devastated until today”.
Here, as if the historical moment requires it, we bring another fragment from the Speech of Bluta, due to the fact that since the period of the socialist-communist regime, “Albanian science” and official Albanian politics have clearly renounced a part of historical and ethnic Albania, namely the Sandzak of the Vilayet of Kosovo: “During these two and a half years, these regions, which I have the honor to represent in this meeting, have proven, with the blood they shed generously, how much they love and how they cherish their national individuality, their union with Albania and their national freedom and independence; hundreds and thousands sacrificed on the field of honor, in battles with powers many times more numerous, many times greater and many times less equipped with modern means, have been bravely repelled by our brave populations.”
And, it should be noted that in support of Aqif Bluta’s demands, Rugova’s representative, the patriot Salih Rama, would strongly stand up, who would emphasize: “I, too, as a mountaineer, want to speak in this Assembly, to speak for the good of the Country, to speak, to say, to beg our Government in Tirana, to try to save those completely Albanian lands from us, which are from there, from Mitrovica, in ‘Pazar’ and in Senica. Those are our lands because the people there are Albanian, with hearts and customs, like us here. I know those places, because I have had to fight, together with my comrades, against the Albanians, who wanted to go there to kill and slaughter, except that they are and want to be Albanians like us here.”
Likewise, for the unification of the former German Interest Zone in the north of Ethnic Albania with the Kingdom of Albania, the representative of the Sub-Prefecture of Vushtrri, the martyr Adem Voca, will engage with dignity: “Now our task is clear: we must unite in an unbreakable bond, to gather all our powers for the fulfillment of our sacred aspirations and researches, for the creation of Ethnic Albania. We do not want anything that is not ours; but, what is ours must be returned to us without fail. Mitrovica, ‘Tregu i Ri’ and Senica are also Albanian. Therefore, they belong to us. The Government of Tirana, therefore, must be invited to commit itself to the work, for today and for tomorrow, to ensure, by every means and means, our rights. It will have, in this effort, the entire Albanian Nation behind it and in the years to come first, if necessary, all of Kosovo”.
Meanwhile, the representative of Gjakova, Sulejman Kryeziu, made a comparison on the importance that the Albanian League of Prizren had, for the protection of the entirety of Ethnic Albania and the Second League of Prizren that was being established, for the unification of the entirety of what had been preserved from the entirety of historical and ethnic Albania. The patriot, among other things, emphasized: “The then League of Prizren, decided and saved the Country. Today’s League must also, master our ethnic unity: to complete and strengthen it. A step towards the completion of our ethnic unity will be, without any other, the unification of Mitrovica, ‘Pazari i Ri’ and Senica with Albania”.
After a comprehensive debate of the delegates, the founding Assembly of the Second League of Prizren formulated and approved these conclusions: “The Second Assembly of Prizren, convened on September 16, 1943, having discussed, in its third meeting, on September 18, 1943, at length the problem of the Mitrovica Prefecture, examining it from all points of view: from the historical, geographical and ethnographic, a discussion in which all the Delegates of the regions represented in the Congress participated enthusiastically;
States
All the areas encompassed by the Mitrovica Prefecture, that is to say; Mitrovica, Vučiterna, ‘New Market’ and Podujeva, are areas inhabited entirely by a population of purely Albanian blood, language and customs and where by an overwhelming percentage, all Albanians, which is up to 95 and 99% and, as such, belong to all of Albania;
Invites
All Albanians, inside or outside Albania, wherever they are and wherever they are located, that, among their patriotic efforts, they have, as one of the fundamental goals of the holy war for Freedom, independence and unity of all the sons of the common Mother: Mother Albania, also the Prefecture of Mitrovica, whose people, as we have made known during this meeting, are ready to unite to see their dream of unification with Albania become a reality” etc. The decision to unite the areas of the former German Interest Zone with the Kingdom of Albania was signed by the representatives: Delegates of Mitrovica, Vučiterna, ‘Pazari i Ri’ and Podujeva (Llap)”.
The founding assembly that brought to light the Second League of Prizren was greeted by the publicist Maz’har Sopoti, as he was called: a veteran of the efforts for the integrity and state independence of Ethnic Albania, director of the organ “Kosova”, who specified: “We do not want a small or a large Albania: we want an Albania that is, both from a historical and ethnographic point of view, with an Albanian people, with customs, with traditions, with a dock and language and, as such, a completely complementary part of Modern Albania; we want, in short, only everything is ours”.
Sopot’s speech was the longest delivered at the founding Assembly of the Second League of Prizren. He, among other things, manfully stated: “Ensuring our ethnic unity, in a completely free State, in a completely independent State, in a State that is completely of the Albanian Nation (…). Ethnic unity or death (…). Let us, therefore, gather all our energies and, as an indestructible bloc, across the borders of 1913, aim for a single goal: securing our Freedom within the borders that encompass our own ethnic unit…”.
Following the third session, on the afternoon of September 18, 1943, the Founding Assembly of the Second League of Prizren discussed the ways of “Political and Military Organization of the Country”. The first to speak on these issues was the Prizren teacher, Sylejman Aliu – Drini, and invited the nation to make an effort to avoid the possibility of a repetition of London (1913) and Versailles (1919) to the detriment of Ethnic Albania. He strongly emphasized that; “Today we must think about organizing a defense that is capable of gathering all men under the flags of war in case of danger (…).
To achieve this goal, it is requested that, at the head of this organization, honest men, patriots proven in every race and element, be placed who are capable of gathering around this organization all categories of the people, without any distinction”. The militant political option of Sylejman Aliu – Drini, was strongly supported by Tahir Zajmi, who, among other things, stated: “As for protection, we are convinced that the entire Albanian Nation will think, because Kosovo, Dibra and Struga are nothing but purely Albanian provinces and, as such, inseparable parts of Albania. The protection, that is, of these places, is not an indispensable need only for them, but for the entire Nation (…).
With all this, we, Kosovo, Dibra and Struga, who are more exposed to future dangers, must think, further and more strongly than other regions of Albania, for any unexpected event that time may hold for us. Such a preparation was thought of, even further in advance; but unfortunately, the circumstances in which we found ourselves did not allow it. Therefore, now that these obstacles have disappeared, we must devote ourselves, with all our might, to this preparation.”
Furthermore, the veteran of the war for Ethnic Albania, highlighted the damage caused by Albanian inattention in January 1943, in Bihor, when the Serbo-Montenegrin Chetniks slaughtered and burned, in their homes, “a terrible number of victims of four thousand seven hundred people, mostly women, children, the elderly and the elderly” and, with the force of arguments, highlighted:
“Dangers are expected only with readiness to face any unexpected. So, we must arm ourselves, arm ourselves to the teeth; strengthen ourselves for every eventuality, in every way and by every means. The complete political and military organization must rely mainly on our own powers, according to the will of the people; The sources from which this preparation will come, both from a financial and all other points of view, must be ourselves: citizens and villagers; all our movable wealth must be placed at the disposal of the organization that will result from this meeting. Organized in this way, we will be able to protect ourselves, save ourselves and win our battle”.
The short speech, but completely with a testamentary message, of Bedri bej Pejani, of the neighborhood of the elders of the nation, followed: “The point that is now under discussion in this Assembly is of fundamental importance: it is the defense of the Country and, as defense, our tomorrow will depend on it: loss or gain. Therefore, this point, like all the others, must be given our greatest attention. It is an incredible truth that every movement, in order to move forward, to achieve its goals, needs organization, because without organization, nothing is accomplished. But even with organization, we must have people, people who work day and night, with all their might, towards the designated goal. So, we also need, mainly, to achieve our common goal, men, and men like those who distinguished themselves for the good of Albania 65 years ago, in the League of Prizren”.
Furthermore, Pejani, stated and concluded clearly and comprehensively: “In my opinion, the organization that appears in our case as the most appropriate is the one that has, in Prizren, a Central Committee, which, then, has its branches in all Prefectures, Sub-Prefectures and Municipalities of all Regions of Kosovo, Dibra and Struga and possibly, in all regions of Albania”.
In the continuation of the third session, the chairman of the Congress presented the proposal of the Presidency of the Assembly for the members of the Central Committee of the Second League of Prizren, namely the men who, with long political activity, had passed the test before the Fatherland: Rexhep Mitrovica (chairman), Sheh Musa Shehzade and professor Kolë Margjini (vice-chairmen), Sheh Hasani, Asllan Boletini, Tahir Zajmi and Qazim Bllaca. He further pointed out that; “The Central Committee will have its collaborators in every Prefecture, Sub-Prefecture and commune center (…) and will have full powers; it will discuss and decide by majority vote (…), in short, we can say that everything should flow from it and the branches, in cooperation with it, will be charged with the implementation of the measures taken”.
The Congress approved by acclamation the proposal of the Presidency and approved the proposal of the delegate of Peja Qerim Begolli, that the prefectures, sub-prefectures and municipalities would determine themselves for the heads of the Branches of the Second League of Prizren. The chairman of the sessions, dr. Rexhep Krasniqi, declared the Founding Assembly of the Second League of Prizren closed, with this statement: “During these talks, the foundations of an organization were laid that, from the outset, will be the leading organization of our entire protection and regulation in all fields. We wish that our work will have excellent successes”. Memorie.al
Continued in the next issue
