Bajram (Bajo) Topulli, National Renaissance activist, organizer and leader of armed detachments for independence in the years 1906-1908, Hero of the People, passed away in Saranda. He was born in Gjirokastër, in 1873. He completed primary school in his hometown, while his secondary school in the Higher Normal in Istanbul, in 1895. That year he was appointed a high school teacher in Trabzon and, a year later, in Erzurum. He worked as a high school teacher in Thessaloniki, and in 1904 he was appointed vice-director of the high school in Bitola. Here, he devoted himself entirely to patriotic activities and, along with Gjergj Qiriazi, Halit Berzeshta, Ferit Zavalani, etc., founded the “Për lirinë e Shqipërisë” committee in 1905. The committee, led by Bajo Topulli, established its branches in the main centers of the four Albanian vilayets. In 1906, he led the first armed group that operated in the districts of Korça. The group conducted actions against the Ottoman occupiers and opposed the terrorist actions of Greek bands in Albanian lands. He organized the action of the Cap’s Rock with his group, in Bradvicë of Korça, in September 1906, where the Bishop of Korça, Foti, was killed as revenge for the massacre by Greek guerillas of the patriot and writer Papa Kristo Negovani and his collaborators. Due to the persecution by Ottoman forces against members of the Committee, in 1906 Bajo Topulli, together with his brother Çerçiz, went to Sofia and Bucharest, where they found support from Albanian colonies, which provided financial assistance for the continuation of the armed struggle of the groups. Also for these purposes, in 1907 Bajo Topulli went to the United States of America, where he was supported and financially assisted by the Albanian community there. He participated as a delegate in the Congress of Bitola (1908). From 1908 to 1910, he worked for the establishment of Albanian clubs and schools in Gjirokastër, Ioannina, Korça, and other centers of the Albanian vilayets. In 1910, he was appointed inspector of the Ministry of Education and later prefect in Izmir, Bursa, etc. He had personal acquaintances with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In 1925, he returned to Albania and was appointed mayor of the municipality in Gjirokastër by the Albanian government. (In the photo: Bajo Topulli)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2729-2730.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajo_Topulli
Graphic processing: AHCF
