First prime minister of Albania, who proclaimed its independence at Vlorë on 28 November 1912
Born in Vlorë to an Albanian noble family, he studied law in Istanbul and served in the Ottoman administration. Driven into exile by Abdul Hamid II in 1900, he returned after the Young Turk Revolution as deputy for Berat in the Ottoman parliament. He played a major part in the Albanian revolt of 1912, and when the Balkan allies moved to partition Albanian lands he secured Austro-Hungarian backing in Vienna and went to Vlorë, where he led the declaration of independence on 28 November 1912. He headed the provisional government as prime minister and foreign minister until resigning in January 1914, and died in exile at Perugia in Italy in 1919.
Career timeline
- 1900Went into exile from the Ottoman Empire
- 1908Deputy for Berat in the Ottoman parliament
- 1912Proclaimed Albanian independence at the Vlorë assembly
- 1912–1914Prime minister and foreign minister of the provisional government of Albania
Ottoman officer who surrendered Shkodër to Montenegro in 1913 and, allied with Serbia, became prime minister of Albania
Born in Tirana in 1863 to the Toptani landowning family, he served the Ottomans as a kaymakam and gendarmerie commander, joined the Young Turks and the Ottoman parliament in 1908 and in 1909 told Abdul Hamid II that "the nation has deposed you". In the First Balkan War he took over the defence of Shkodër after its commander Hasan Riza Pasha was murdered, a killing he has been accused of, and in April 1913 turned the fortress over to Montenegro, hoping for Montenegrin backing for his rule in central Albania. Expelled in 1914 after resisting Prince Wilhelm, he signed the secret Treaty of Niš with Serbia's Pašić, returned to take Durrës and served as prime minister from 1914 to 1916 at the head of his Republic of Central Albania. Remembered by Albanians as a symbol of treason, he was shot in Paris by Avni Rustemi in 1920.
Career timeline
- 1908Joined the Young Turks; deputy in the Ottoman parliament
- 1912–1913Commanded the defence of Shkodër; surrendered to Montenegro
- 1913Interior minister of the Albanian provisional government
- 1914–1916Prime Minister of Albania
Albanian physician and politician, the people's republic's formal first head of state
The Constituent Assembly opened on 11 January 1946 and proclaimed the people's republic the same day, becoming the People's Assembly on 16 March. Other records give election on 10 or 12 January and departure on 31 July.
Albanian physician and politician. Born on 5 February 1887 in Gjirokastër, Ottoman Empire, he studied medicine in Istanbul, served two weeks in prison over a 1924 attempt on Zogu, backed Fan S. Noli's June Revolution and co-founded the anti-Zogu KONARE in exile in 1925. After the Italian invasion of 1939 he joined the occupation government's Council of State, later regarded it as a mistake, joined the National Liberation Movement and chaired the Anti-Fascist Council at the Congress of Përmet in 1944. In 1946 he became chairman of the Constituent Assembly and served as formal head of state until 1953, though real power lay with Enver Hoxha, first secretary of the Party of Labour.
Career timeline
- 1914–1920According to Albanian Wikipedia, he served in the Gjirokastër battalion and in Vlorë in 1914 and was sent to Vienna; municipal physician in Ballsh 1915–1918 and physician at Tirana hospital in 1920
- 1923–1924Municipal physician in Durrës
- 1924Imprisoned two weeks over an assassination attempt on Zogu; backed Fan S. Noli's June Revolution, fled abroad and was sentenced to death in absentia
- 1925–1932Helped found the anti-Zogu KONARE and edited its newspaper Liria Kombëtare in Geneva (editor from 1926)
- 1933–1939Political emigrant in Zante, Greece; returned after the Italian invasion of 1939
- 1940–1943Member of the occupation government's Council of State, listed until 13 January 1944, joining the Front in August 1943; later joined the National Liberation Movement
- 1943.09Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Liberation General Council
- 1944.05Chairman of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council at the Congress of Përmet, in charge of foreign affairs
- 1944.10–1946Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Committee chaired by Enver Hoxha (until 9 February or 22 March 1946 according to different sources)
- 1946–1954Deputy for Gjirokastër (elected in the 2 December 1945 and 28 May 1950 elections)
- 1946.01–1953Chairman of the Constituent Assembly and then of the Presidium of the People's Assembly as formal head of state (English Wikipedia records the Constituent Assembly chairmanship; ShtetiWeb dates election to 12 January and service to 31 July)
- 1952–1953His brother Besim Nishani was arrested for propaganda against the people's government (arrested 1 October 1952, eight months in pre-trial detention) and his wife separated from him; a 1953 right-wing press report described her forced eviction and house arrest and his own virtual captivity
- 1953.07Officially requested to resign citing health on 24 July, with Haxhi Lleshi succeeding on 1 August; other records say Hoxha forced the resignation
Albanian communist activist and diplomat
At the Constituent Assembly's session on 11 January 1946, he was elected chair of a 20-member mandate verification commission, closing its first session; at midday of that day, at the second session, the Assembly proclaimed Albania a People's Republic.
Albanian communist activist and diplomat. Born in Faiyum, Egypt, into a national-movement family, he studied in Beirut and at Harvard, served as Albanian consul in New York in 1923-24, and taught at the Comintern school in Moscow. Sent to Albania in 1938, he took part in the party's founding in 1941, served as secretary of the General National Liberation Council in 1943 and of the Constituent Assembly in 1945, was ambassador to Moscow in 1946-47, Deputy Foreign Minister and ambassador to Sofia in 1954-55, and chaired the Party Control and Revision Commission until 1960, when he was purged: eight years of internment, ten years in Burrel prison, released in 1980, dead in 1984.
Career timeline
- 1923–1924Albanian consul in New York
- late 1920sTaught in the Comintern school's Anglo-American section, Moscow
- 1938Sent to Albania
- 1941Participant in the founding of the Communist Party of Albania
- 1943Secretary of the General National Liberation Council
- 1945Secretary of the Constituent Assembly
- 1946–1947Ambassador to Moscow
- 1954–1955Ambassador to Sofia
- 1955–1960Chair of the Party Control and Revision Commission
- 1960Purged: expelled from the party, interned and imprisoned
- 1969–1980Held in Burrel prison as its oldest prisoner
