Ismail Qemali
Ismail Qemali, or Ismail Kemal Bey Vlora, was an Albanian politician and statesman who is regarded as the founder of modern Albania. He served as the first prime minister of Albania from December 1912 until his resignation in January 1914.
Born in Vlorë to an Albanian noble family, Qemali developed an early interest in languages and later studied law in Istanbul. He travelled across Europe and returned to Albania after the Young Turk Revolution. He took part in the Congress of Ottoman Opposition and played a major role in the Albanian revolt of 1912.
The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Qemali was elected leader of the Provisional Government of Albania by the All-Albanian Congress in November 1912. He became prime minister and foreign minister of Albania. He died in exile in Italy in 1919.
Early life
Ismail Qemali was born to an Albanian muslim family on 16 January 1844 in the city of Vlorë, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He completed his primary education in his hometown. Later he attended the Zosimaia School in Ioannina and graduated from Ottoman law school in Istanbul. Qemali married a Greek woman Kleoniki Sourmeli and sent his children to receive an education in Greece.Political career
Qemali embarked on a career as an Ottoman civil servant reaching high government positions in European and Asian parts of the empire after he moved to Istanbul in May 1860. He identified with the reform wing of Midhat Pasha, the author of the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire with whom Qemali was a close collaborator, and he became governor of several towns in the Balkans. During these years he took part in efforts for the standardization of the Albanian alphabet supporting the use of Latin characters for writing Albanian and the establishment of an Albanian cultural association.By 1877, Qemali seemed to be on the brink of important functions in the Ottoman administration, but when Ottoman sultan Abdulhamid II dismissed Midhat as prime minister, Ismail Qemali was sent into exile in western Anatolia, though the Sultan later recalled him and made him governor of Beirut. Qemali in 1892 presented the Sultan with a plan for a Balkan Confederation. It involved an entente between Balkan states and the empire eventually bound by mutual defense and economic development of resources agreements within a unified Great Eastern state with the Ottoman Empire as its centre and return of old borders. In this framework, Albania like North Macedonia was not treated as a separate state but as part of the Ottoman state. In time his liberal policy recommendations caused him to fall out of favour with the Sultan again. Qemali was aware that the empire came close to intervention from the Great Powers due to the Armenian crisis of 1895. Abdulhamid II awarded Qemali the position of governor of Tripoli, however he viewed the high post as exile.
Exile
In May 1900 Ismail Qemali boarded the British ambassador's yacht, claimed asylum and was conveyed out of the empire where for the next eight years he lived in exile. Qemali left for Athens and issued proclamations explaining his abandonment of service to the empire while Ottoman authorities were upset with his flight. His interest toward the Albanian question was limited until these events and Qemali's participation in the Albanian national movement was seen as an asset among Albanian circles who would bring prestige and influence Albanians Muslims to support the cause. He also worked to promote constitutional rule in the Ottoman Empire.In Paris he met Faik Konica and the two leaders worked together for a short time on Albanian issues through newspaper publications where Qemali called for Albanian unity, economic development, progress and to warn of future dangers of subjugation by Balkan states. The pair fell out as Qemali found Konica difficult to work with while Konica found his focus of being a politician overwhelming and disapproved of his pro-Greek policy. Qemali went on to found the newspaper Selamet published in Ottoman Turkish, Albanian and Greek which called for cooperation between Albanians and Greeks, due to both peoples having the same geopolitical interests. Some Albanian activists involved in the national movement considered those views as suspicious and an instrument of Greek policy causing his popularity to wane among Albanians.
At first Qemali made overtures to Austria-Hungary as the great power to assist Albanians in developing a more unified national opinion about their future, founding of more laic Albanian schools and cultivating their language and attaining autonomy. Later, he became close with Italo-Albanians, shifted his leanings toward Italy and supported Italian policy for Albania to counter Austro-Hungarian territorial ambitions in the Balkans. The Ottoman government initiated a crackdown of members and sympathisers of the Young Turk movement with Qemali's son Mahmud, a Council of State official being dismissed.
Qemali in Paris participated in the Congress of Ottoman Opposition organised by Prince Mehmed Sabahaddin and backed his faction calling for reforms, minority rights, revolution and European intervention in the empire. The 1902 Congress resulted in no organisations being established in the Balkans and an unknown individual impersonating Qemali travelled to various cities in Bulgaria and succeeded in duping many Muslims. The aftermath of the 1902 Congress did result in the formation of the new central committee with attempts for the creation of a "permanent committee", however Qemali and the Ottoman princes Sabahaddin and Lutfullah failed to get support from the Armenians. Later at a gathering of the permanent members of the new committee at the princes' house Qemali was installed as chairman. Control of the official CUP newspaper Osmanli was given by the old members of the central committee to Prince Sabahaddin and Qemali of the new central committee.
The new committee attempted to get Armenian endorsement through niceties about a lack of ethnic differences while Armenian organisations responded favorably toward figures like Qemali. Due to Qemali's prominent role Albanians were targeted by the new committee through articles published in the newspaper Osmanli warning of partition by Balkan and Western countries of Albanian inhabited lands within the empire. These publications were distributed secretly in Albania through known associates such as Xhemil Vlora who worked for Qemali. Qemali supported the leadership of the Albanian movement such as preparing appeals for Jup Kastrati or creating in Paris an Albanian Council.
Journals supported by Qemali promoted Albanian autonomy, however the new committee failed to win support among Albanians to their side. Qemali along with the Ottoman princes compared themselves to the statesmen of the Tanzimat reform era. During this time Qemali's positions swung between overthrow of the sultan and increasingly backing the Albanian national movement. He corresponded over Albania's future with the Prince of Albanian origins, Albert Ghica who had designs on becoming an Albanian monarch and with Preng Doçi about the involvement of Qemali in an administrative role within a future autonomous Albania. Good relations were maintained with Ghica, while Dervish Hima an Albanian politically involved with the Romanian prince was viewed by Ottoman authorities as a pawn of Qemali.
Plot against the sultan
Between 1902 and 1903 a coup d'état plot to overthrow Abdulhamid II was devised by the CUP. Involved were Colonel Shevket Bey and Rexhep Pasha Mati left in charge of organising the military aspects of the plan along with Qemali and Prince Sabaheddin given the task of getting diplomatic and financial support and to buy two ships for the venture. Qemali's task was the most difficult aspect of the plot, he kept a unit in Paris, commenced political activities as a high ranking politician in exile and made many visits to London which annoyed the Ottoman government as they were unable to work out his real aims.Ottoman authorities paid close attention and in some cases court martialed people they thought were associated with Qemali in attempts that were unsuccessful to find out his intentions. In Paris Qemali established close contacts and good relations with journalists such as Stéphane Lauzanne and William Morton Fullerton. During July 1902, Qemali went to London to get British support for the plot and corresponded with and visited people in the British government such as Edmund Monson and Thomas Sanderson. He received responses from the Foreign Office, however Qemali exaggerated the level of British support, being only moral support and ambiguous for the venture. Qemali interactions with the British had managed to raise his profile and notability while he also discussed with them the Ottoman exile of his son to Bitlis. The British were aware of the activities of Qemali and his associates.
Qemali also corresponded with London-based Ottoman diplomats on the plan like Reşid Sadi who secretly worked for the Young Turks. Attempts by Qemali were made to convince Lord Cromer that the "Turkish question" was a pressing matter and he agreed with those sentiments and promised to reply to the Foreign office. He also secretly met Abbas II of Egypt in an attempt to secure funds and the khedive placed £4000 in an English bank for the plot, yet later misgivings about Qemali made the Egyptian leader halt funds and fearing scandal he relented.
An Albanian confidant Xhafer Berxhani from Greece was sent by Qemali to see Rexhep Pasha in Tripoli, Ottoman Libya. Eqrem Vlora, a member of the Vlora family stated that during this time Rexhep Pasha sent £1000 in gold to Qemali and assisted his son Tahir Pasha in exile at Tripoli to escape to Europe. At the end of January 1903, Qemali came back to Paris and found the princes grieving the death of their father Damad Mahmud Pasha, yet they all proceeded to London to make financial arrangements for the plot. Later Qemali and the princes worked to finalise details of their plan. Qemali having the details of tonnage and dimensions left for Athens with £4000 to buy two ships.
While there Qemali was disappointed with the procurement process for the ships and the delay made the central committee members go to Athens. Reşid Sadi arrived and found there was no large ships and that Qemali was residing at the house of an aide-de-camp to the Greek monarch. Qemali informed Reşid Sadi that he was duped and that in Greece it was difficult to find suitable ships. Later Sabaheddin traveled to see the khedive and failed to procure funds and ships where later he returned to Athens and for the last time met with Qemali, Reşid Sadi and Vasileos Musurus Ghikis. Qemali wanted to travel to Naples and get ships from there, however the others decided to abandon the plot.
The failure of the plan was put down to different reasons with Qemali blaming prolonged negotiations about obtaining ships, while Rexhep Pasha viewed Qemali's lukewarm attitude for the venture as reason to change his mind. From within Sabaheddin's inner circle the view was that Qemali took the money to profit for his own purposes. Those sentiments were shared by people such as Haydar Midhat who quit the new central committee after he learned that Qemali worked for Greek interests in Albania and was on their payroll. After the 1908 Young Turk revolution some people who opposed the CUP made allegations against Qemali of being uninterested in the plot, worked for his interests and a "crook" that took money from the prince. Qemali broke ties with the Young Turks and on 16 August 1903 he gave an interview to an Italian newspaper in his role as an "Albanian patriot" and pursued his new preoccupation with Albania's future.