Petrit Latif

Uc Turku was born in Selce, Kelmendi, in 1860, into a noble family with authority in Malësia e Madhe. His father was Turk Shabi, leader and tribal leader of the Kelmendi tribe, a duty which, according to the kanun and tradition, he inherited to his son, Uc Turku, who successfully carried out by leading the people of Kelmendi and Malësia in all the historical events and turmoil that Malësia e Madhe went through in those times, when the fate of the homeland was at a crossroads.

Prek Cali and Uc Turku (right)

Turk Shabi, Uc Turku’s father, was a participant in the Albanian League of Prizren and a member of the Branch of the League for the Vilayet of Shkodra. And in this duty, according to Fishta, Turk Shabi, stands out in mobilizing the people in the war to protect the Albanian lands from fragmentation.

He fights with weapons in hand, together with his 19-year-old son, Uc Turku, but also as the leader of Kelmendi, for the defense of Plavë and Gucië as well as Hoti and Gruda. For this activity, the great poet Gjergj Fishta in “Lahuta e Malësia” praises the heroism of Turk Shabi in songs 19, 21 and 25, in the bloodiest battle of Nokshiq, in January 1880. With this patriotic spirit of the triumph of the highlands, under the leadership of the Albanian League of Prizren, Kelmendi’s leader Uc Turku was raised, educated and tested, who from a young age was forced to fight for the defense of Albanian lands from the Montenegrin invaders.

Uc Turku with Dutch officers near Berat, 1913 November.

Battle of Dobrij in 1880

Historical documents speak of Uc Turku as the popular leader of Kelmendi. He fights with weapons in hand against Montenegrin military forces such as; in the “Dobrija war”, which took place in June 1880.

It was an unequal war, where the Montenegrin forces turned back, after a bloody battle, without realizing their goal of conquering Kelmend. There were many killed and wounded by the Selians, while their leader Uc Turku was seriously injured in these fierce battles, as the people at that time sang to the brave: “You Uc Turku, what are you saying/ you buried your own cartridges”.

Battle of Selca in 1908 against Montenegrins

The next attempt with the regular Montenegrin forces, in the war for the defense of Selca was made in 1908, also in the Dobrija valley, the only path where the enemy could enter Kelmend, but this time too, after a sublime resistance by the Selians, the enemy was forced to retreat. In these battles there were killed and buried, among whom the Kelmendi leader, the leader of the battle, Uc Turku, was wounded.

In 1902, after the death of Turk Shabi, Uc Turku replaced his father in the institution of the jibal, becoming a member of the Mountain Court, next to the Vali of Shkodra. Uc Turku, with this function, did a devoted job for the protection of the mountaineers’ venoms won through war. As the leader of Kelmendi, Uc Turku became the right wing of Ded Gjo’Luli, in the anti-Ottoman uprising of 1911.

For this Dr.Luigj Martini, in his book “Prek Cali, Kelmendi dhe kelmendasit”, Shkodra 2005, p.50-51; writes that: ‘while Turgut Pasha stopped the advance,…on April 24, 1911, the Kelmendi people led by Uc Turku and Prek Cali fell to the Turkish army of Ethem Pasha in the valleys of Kelmendi. The peak of Golish became an unparalleled battle. There, the brave Kelmendi people killed 150 soldiers, eight tents and hundreds of weapons were taken. The Turks who escaped returned to Guci”.

And further the document emphasizes that: “Uc Turku with the other leaders of Kelmendi, gave a maximum contribution to the progress of the historic Assembly of Greece”, where our 12 national demands were drafted and approved. He participated in the raising of the national flag in Deçiç on May 6, 1911 as well as the raising of the independence flag on December 4, 1912 in Lezha.

Uc Turku, with the establishment of the Regional Government of Lezha, was elected a member of the Commission in the Local Government Council for the Kola and Velipoja regions. He was even decisive in the appointment of Ded Coku, on October 13, 1913, chairman of this government.

With his authority he managed to avoid the provincial separatism of the council members. For this, Franc Nopçe, the special envoy of the KNK for the establishment of the local government of Lezha, who participated in this meeting, in his memoirs; in the book “Journey through the Balkans” (p.448-454) he explains that; “I achieved this (the creation of the government of Lezha) because I promised Uc Turku, who had a great influence on Llan Turku, that in the event of election (of the government of Ded Coku as mayor), I would give him a Mannlicher carbine with binoculars.

He received this after Sunday, when Deda was elected almost unanimously, “head of the government of Lezha. When the International Border Commission came to Shkodra, Uc Turku was very active with this commission, with the sole purpose of protecting the Albanian lands by marking them within the state border of the Fatherland. There are many documents and memories of that time that speak of this.

As; Andrea Ordion, “A French officer in the Balkans”, among other things, explains “… In Vermosh I always saw the leaders of the Kelmend tribe, Uc Turku and Prek Cal, with whom I had established a true friendship. Illiterate but very patriotic, both defended their goods and that of the tribe with unprecedented severity, giving arguments convincing and that had made me think for a long time”.- “The Kelmends had a head that guided them and no one acted without his permission and approval”.

And further Andrea Ordioni, the French Commissioner in the Border Commission recalls: “The leaders of the Kelmend tribe, Uc Turku and Prek Cali, were very energetic and very clear in their depositions, while the Kuçës and the Montenegrins were not so affirmative”. While Mehdi Frashëri, in “Kujtime” defines the leader of Kelmend thus; “Uc Turku voivode of Kelmend, an old man with clear and patriotic understanding”. Likewise Gjon Karma, in the magazine “Ndër malet tona, folklore, Shkodër 1940” would write: “The Vermoshi mountains would have been taken by Montenegro, if not for Uc Turku, Prek Cali and others”.

Source: Koha Jone