Hodo Sokoli, activist of the Albanian League of Prizren (1878), was born in Shkodër, who made a special contribution to the fight for the protection of the territorial integrity of the homeland, as one of the military leaders of the League and chairman of the Committee of the branch of the League of Shkodra. After completing the military school in Istanbul, he was appointed to military leadership positions in the province of Shkodra. He successfully climbed the ranks of the military hierarchy accompanied by prestigious titles, ranks and decorations; received the rank of colonel and the post of commander of the vilayet gendarmerie. In 1880, he openly opposed the decision of the Congress of Berlin (1878) and the order of the Sublime Porte, to hand over the Albanian provinces of Hoti and Gruda to Montenegro; demonstratively in a popular rally in the central square of the city he removed and rejected the Ottoman military ranks and uniform and announced the union with the League. His example was followed by about 150 other Albanian officers who served in the Ottoman army. In April-July 1880, he gathered and organized the League’s volunteer forces in the province of Shkodra, he was appointed commander of the military headquarters of the League’s forces in Shkodra. Hodo Sokoli led them with special military skills in the battles for the defense of Hoti and Gruda against the Montenegrin army. After the suppression of the Albanian League of Prizren, Hodo Sokoli, together with other Albanian activists, was arrested by Marshal Dervish Pasha and exiled to Anatolia, from where he never returned to Albania. (In the photo: Hodo Sokoli)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, pages 2368-2369.
Photo: © National History Museum
Graphic processing: AHCF
