Abdyl Frashëri was born in the village of Frashër, the capital of the Dangëllia province in Përmet, and was a prominent politician, diplomat, and creator of the Albanian League of Prizren. He was the son of Halid Frashëri and the older brother of Naim and Sami Frashëri. Abdyl spent his childhood and early youth in his native village until the age of 18, when he moved to Ioannina. He was fluent in Turkish, Greek, and French and also had knowledge of Arabic and Persian. He emerged as a political figure during the Eastern Crisis in 1877 when he became the chairman of the Albanian Committee of Ioannina, formed that same year. He drafted a project for the Declaration of Independence of Albania, advocating for an anti-Ottoman liberation uprising. In July and December 1877, he held discussions with representatives of Greece regarding a possible alliance, but these talks failed as Athens did not accept the notion of an independent Albania within its ethnic borders. In late 1877, as a deputy from Ioannina in the second Ottoman parliament, he was elected chairman of the Central Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Albanian Nationality, established in Istanbul. During his tenure, he contributed significantly to developing the political platform adopted by the national movement after Russia’s victory over the Ottoman Empire and the signing of the Treaty of Saint Stephen in 1878. Frashëri believed that, in light of Russia’s expansionist tendencies, the most viable solution was the establishment of an autonomous Albanian state under the Sultan’s sovereignty. He envisioned creating a united Albanian vilayet within the Ottoman Empire as a transitional phase towards full independence. Abdyl Frashëri was an active participant in founding the Albanian League of Prizren in 1878 and was recognized as its leader, organizer, and diplomat. He was influential in the provinces of Ioannina and Kosovo, participating in nearly all the major assemblies organized by the General Council of the Albanian League or its interprovincial committees. He led the autonomist wing of the movement and was elected chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the founding assembly of the League. He represented Tuscany at the First Assembly of Dibra on November 1, 1878, where they officially requested the High Gate to create a united autonomous vilayet of Albania. Frashëri was the main organizer of the Assembly of Preveza in January 1879, which successfully prevented the annexation of Cameria by Greece. In spring 1879, alongside Mehmet Vrioni, he organized a diplomatic campaign in the capitals of the Great Powers. He also headed the National Assembly of Gjirokastra in 1880, advocating for the establishment of an autonomous Albanian state through armed movement. He became a member of the provisional government formed in Prizren in early 1881, but after the suppression of the League, he was arrested and sentenced to death by a special Ottoman court, a sentence later commuted to life imprisonment. Abdyl Frashëri passed away in Istanbul in 1892, and his remains were brought to Tirana in 1978. (Photo: Abdyl Frashëri)
Text: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. I, Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 461-462.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdyl_Frash%C3%ABri
Graphic processing: AHCF
