On April 9, 1931 , in Saranda, Muharrem Rushiti (1856-1931), a fighter of the Albanian League of Prizren (1878), leader of insurgent groups against the Ottoman rulers, the Greek and Italian invaders, passed away. He was born in the village of Koskë in Chameria. He participated early in the national movement. In 1902, he led the anti-Ottoman uprising in Filat. In the years 1908-1912, he was a member of the presidency of the national society (club) “Vëllazëria” of Filat for the military side. In 1909, he created his detachment, which fought without interruption against the Greek anarchist gangs and against the Ottoman and Greek armies, for the liberation of the country and for the protection of territorial integrity. During the uprisings of 1911-1912, he cooperated with the detachments of Labëria and Mallakastra, and next to them, on September 9-10, 1912, his detachment defeated the Greek gangs in Çuka of Saranda. In 1913-1914, he fought against the Greek invaders on the Kolonjë-Fushëbardhë (Kurvelesh) line and against the esadist insurgents in the area of Vjosa, between Fieri and Vlora. In 1919, Alush Taka and other Cham patriots sent a memorandum on behalf of the Chams to the Peace Conference in Paris, opposing the separation of Chams from the Albanian national trunk. In 1920, he participated in the Battle of Vlora with his detachment. (In the photo: Muharrem Rushiti)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2270.
Photo: © Maliqi B., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
