The “Albanian League of Prizren”, the first and most important pan-Albanian organization with a political and military character, which aimed to implement the political program of the Albanian National Renaissance, began its work. The League of Prizren was founded in the conditions of the deep crisis that engulfed the Ottoman Empire, which, after losing the war with Russia, under the pressure of the Great Powers, was forced to make a series of concessions to the Balkan states, Russia’s allies. After the Treaty of Saint Stephen (March 3, 1878), with the organization of the Istanbul Committee, numerous protests broke out throughout the Albanian countries. Even before the League of Prizren was formed, the Albanians had organized uprisings. They made demands for more political rights, but they had not been taken into account by the High Gate. On the other hand, the Great Powers had not accepted to recognize the Albanians’ right to form an independent state. This attitude of the Great Powers was repeated in the Congress of Berlin (June 13, 1878), in which the Istanbul Committee took the initiative of holding the National Assembly with delegates from all the Albanian provinces. The program, which prominent personalities had approved before the holding of the General Assembly, led by Ymer Prizren, Abdyl Frashër, Sulejman Vokshin, Haxhi Zeka, etc., contained three main points: 1) “Albanian Leagie” was formed in Prizren to preserve the national political character and did not serve the state interests of the Gate; 2) The League opposed by any means the secession of the Albanian lands; 3) The League demanded the unification of the Albanian provinces into a single vilayet. The Assembly decided that using a popular petition, it would inform the Congress of Berlin not to give a single inch of land from their homeland to any foreign country. The political program of the League was then supplemented with new, clearer demands, which further expanded the degree of autonomy. The Albanian National Movement, which the Albanian League of Prizren led, marked a great qualitative step from the point of view of the ideological platform, the political demands and the combat front, compared to the liberation movement of the past decades. The League of Prizren was the first liberation movement with a national character, because all the provinces of Albania participated in it. The activity of the Albanian League of Prizren showed the great importance of the education of the Albanian people with national consciousness through the Albanian school, Albanian literature, and patriotic journalism for the future liberation struggles. (In the photo: The house where the Assembly of Prizren met, 1878.)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, pages 975–977
Photo: © Albanian Telegraphic Agency
Graphic processing: AHCF
