Discovery by Saqet Vejseli. Translation Petrit Latifi

This letter, published in the newspaper “Përlindja e Shipënies” on Mars 14, 1914, page 2, is quite interesting to read.

Cited:

“Patriotic brothers, open your eyes! Honest Mr. Director,
Thanking you, please publish this in your honest newspaper, what I have to say to understand the poor people who are mostly asleep and ignorant, and not to become the tool of traitors.

I ask everyone to know that for us Albanians, nationality is before religion and faith, etc., nationality never really bothers us, so we should look at nationality and not the priests and imams who made us worse, oh my God! Don’t listen to the Halldupas, they think that Ramadan lasts forever and that’s why they beat the drum.

Not even those Halldupos Albanians like Hamit Zhandari and Dervish Beg the thief with his friends, who have not had enough of this time robbing and stealing the world, but even now they continue. You are doing it and you are doing it for a few hours, because the time has come when you will do nothing more, because the people have managed to understand your betrayal and I will repay you even more.

Why, Halldupë Effendi, why don’t you come here to Anatolia, find your dudum Arkadash and pray as many times as you want? Come here, come, because here the Turkish government has the rope and soap ready for you. Osman Pasha, who was in Ioannina, is the president of the military court here and he cuts you open-mouthed like a lubja, you are ordering.

Here we are and we are seeing what they are doing to the Albanians, who shout that we were members of the “Ittihat ve Terakki” mosque, here we are and we see with our own eyes all those walled Albanians who carry books and sheets of Ioannina in their pockets; not only do they pursue them, they imprison them and no one even lets them see, as if they were the greatest evildoers.

You should understand well and beautifully what an Albanian name is, four hundred thousand times he has gone to Kolimvitha John the Turk, and a thousand books and certificates he has with him, still prison and the rope is ready for him.

Not long ago a ship arrived from Salonika with the French flag, full of Albanians, and the Turkish police allowed them to disembark, and then they began to ask their nationality, their citizenship? They answered, “Arnaut is my lord.”

As soon as he heard these words he immediately began to curse like this… dirty the clothes… and ordered the policemen to drag them into the boats, and among those unfortunate people were many babies and women. One man threw himself into the sea out of despair, but fortunately some Christian boatmen were there and saved him. A woman from Rika fell ill.

We went and begged the Turkish commissioner to let this woman out, and take her to the hospital, but even though we begged him, what did he answer us? “Gjehersën brakmam!” (Let her die, I won’t let her!). The black woman died on the steamer two hours later. The French ship left with all the Albanians for Beirut and I don’t know what happened to these people.

They didn’t tell us about the evils we are doing here. These days we have accompanied many Albanians from Dibra who went to Durrës, ask them when they get there and they will tell you. Those gendarmes there who come out with the Quran and a cross in their hands to make the people love a Muslim prince, put us in the shade as they put Turkey in the shade.

The people who don’t care what they do, they think that Turkey and the Turkomans gave Albania freedom, and how they look at the Adriatic Sea. Albania was first made by Albanian patriots and by millions of bayonets of Austria and Italy. The Sultan’s gendarmes always strike twelve.
Yes, we know it very well and those who are soon to be expelled and praise Turkey from Albania should know it too.

Those who laugh at the Albanian people and tell them that Turkey came close to saving them with Macedonia, are lying to them in broad daylight because they should know that life with this head that is also in Anatolia is short. But sorry, we are not interested in this. Whether it loses or lives, we will watch our homeland progress and rise from its heavy sleep, throw the ghost down, and sow the seed of love among us, to love each other, to be all Albanians indivisible, and not to break the oaths given for politics.

Let us work with our hearts and souls for our beloved homeland, because the greatness of man is in his homeland. And so, Albanian brothers, with great love, let us all pray for a long and prosperous life for our Prince, for free Albania, let us pray for his greatness because he is our greatness.

Long live free Albania! Long live its Prince!..
Izmir, January 25, 1914
Written by A. A. G. Borshi”.

Source

Newspaper “Përlindja e Shipënies” 14 Mars 1914, p 2.