Written by: Ali Daci. Published by Ismet Azizi. Translation Petrit Latifi

Jakup Ahmet Kombi (Kardoviq), commander of the Albanian Volunteer Forces in Tregovishte has fallen into historical oblivion. Mulla Jakup Kombi in Albanian history will be ranked alongside Aqif Blyta, Ahmet Daci, Sak Fazlis, Mulla Zekë Bërdynë, Shaban Polluzhe, Adem Najë Kurtagiqi, Mehmet Gradica, Bajram Gashi, Mustafa Kruja, Kurt Abazi, and many of his compatriots who gave their most precious thing, their lives, to Ethnic Albania and their homeland. Pazari i Ri, Peja, Tutina, Sjenica, Tregovishte (Rozaja), Tirana and Prishtina owe this man a great debt.

Albanian institutions should declare Jakup Kombi a national martyr. This humanitarian and humane act should be officially decreed by the President of Albania, His Excellency Mr. Ilir Meta. Only in this way will this man and his comrades be brought to justice.

Mulla Jakup Kombi was born in Tregovishte in 1869. He is the son of the imam Ahmeti. He received his first lessons from his father and then completed the Skopje Madrasah. The Kuçi Mosque in the lower quarter of Rozhaja is on the land of Mulla Jakup Kombi, which his father Ahmeti had leased for the construction of this object of worship. After graduating from the madrasah, Jakup Kombi was equipped with knowledge and tempered with patriotism.

He knew many oriental languages ​​such as Persian, Arabic, Turkish, but also German and Italian. This polyglot spoke Bosnian with his wife at home, while with his children he spoke his native Albanian. Since he was on the move all over Albania, he was widely familiar with the political situation of the country. He knew and was known by many people in the territory of Sandzak, Kosovo and Albania.

Montenegrin atrocities in Tregovishtë

For a time he served as a soldier in the Turkish army in Berane until 1912, when the Turkish army withdrew and Jakupi returned to daily work in Tregovishte. After the Balkan Wars, Montenegro and Serbia occupied Albanian territories, on this occasion the Sandzak was occupied and Tregovishte fell under Montenegrin rule. The occupying Montenegrin government had set itself the task of exterminating Albanians from these territories.

This it did during the savage Montenegrin rule. After this tyranny, almost half of the population was forcibly moved to Anatolia, while the other half was subjected to an unprecedented genocide. Forced assimilation knocked on almost every Albanian home. To come to the aid of their homeland, Albanian patriots took up arms and organized themselves into groups of committees.

Tregovishta was under constant pressure from the Montenegrins and Mulla Jakup Kombi was forced to abandon his homeland with his wife and children and seek refuge in the city of Peja, where he lived and served as an imam for eight years. During his stay in Kosovo, he met many patriots and leaders of the Albanian people, such as Isa Boletini, Hasan Prishtina and Bajram Curri.

In the Kosovar Albanian odes, he learned about history and was tempered in patriotism, and the struggle for national liberation took root in his soul. He was tempered in the joys and sorrows of the people of Kosovo. After the establishment of the Judeo-Slavic kingdom, we find Jakup Kombi in Bishevo as an imam in the mosque of the then municipality. At that time, Bishevo, the birthplace of Shemsi Pasha and Mujko Mukovic, had the status of a municipality.

Serbian Chetnik paramilitary Kosta Pecanacs atrocities in Sanxhak

On August 19, 1919, the Albanians of Sandzak sent a Memorandum to the head of the Serbian government, Lubo Davidović, in which they informed the government about the terror of the Chetniks of Kosta Pečanci (Kosta Pecanac) against the local Albanian population. Among other things, they wrote to the Serbian government that in Sandzak, the Chetniks had killed 1,300 Albanians and had burned and looted 194 Albanian houses.

Montenegrins killed 21 people on December 12, 1924, in the villages of Sahkovic and Tregovishtë (Rozhaje) carried out by Zarija Joksimović, Simon Çukić, and other Chetniks

During 1924, the Montenegrins in the Sandzak region had carried out two attacks on the Albanian population. The first in Šahović (today Tomashevë) and the second in Besnik of Tregovishtë (Rožajë) on December 12, 1924. The death toll reached 21 people.

This massacre was carried out by the Montenegrin Chetnik leader Zarija Joksimović, accompanied by Simon Çukić from Berani and other Chetniks. Jakup Kombi strongly condemned this criminal act and reacted to the then Montenegrin government. The reactions were strong, but the Montenegrin government did not heed the request to stop the violence. Mulla Jakupi, with his wisdom and courage, proved to be a patriot and a good organizer.

Thus, the people had great admiration for his personality. Jakup Kombi, on the eve of World War II, formed the Albanian police formations and was elected their commander, these formations that gathered many Albanian volunteers in their bosom. With the Nazi-fascist invasion, Rozaja belongs to the Italian-occupied zone and was under the administration of the Albanian state as a Sub-prefecture of the Peja Prefecture.

The people of Tregovishte elected the patriot and the unyielding fighter for the national cause, Adem Najë Kurtagë (Kurtagić), as the prefect of the sub-prefecture, while the commander of the gendarmerie appointed Qazim Kurpejë (Kurpejović), while the command The commander of the Albanian volunteer forces is named Mulla Jakup Kombi.

On July 2, 1941, he, together with Zhujë Selman Daci, Adem Naje, Mehë Kallaqin and Avdi Brahim Brala and many volunteers from the Rizhajë Highlands, from Husaj, Bukeli, Peshkaj, Buxhovi, Ballotiqi, Besniku and Kolena, received the battalion of the military forces “Korata” led by Lieutenant Colonel Sali Sylë Bushati.

After the arrival of the Albanian Army, this army which had the sole purpose of protecting the territorial integrity of the Albanian lands, the people of Tregovishte received them with great generosity. The Albanian Flag waved loudly and the people received this act with great joy and tears in their eyes, from this cry for freedom, the brave took the oath before the Albanian Flag and were shot by firearms from all sides. They proudly sang the national anthem and bowed respectfully to the flag, welcoming the Albanian Army with respect.

After the soldiers had taken shelter in Albanian homes in Tregovishte, in front of this army and numerous volunteers, Mulla Jakupi Kombi gave a speech in which he ignited the hearts of the Albanian soldiers and volunteers for the heroic war that awaited them for the defense of Albanian lands.

The next day they would position themselves on the border line, namely in Livadhet e Gjakut, Çakorr, Mokna in Kacubërre and in Bjeshkën e Turjakut. Jakup Kombi, together with his volunteers, was concentrated in Kacubërre and in Turjak, where he had set up outposts and systematized his volunteers.

In September 1943, the representative of Upper Bihar, Osman Rastoderi, informed Mulla Jakup Kombi in a letter about the massacre caused by the Chetniks in Bihar, suggesting that these forces had prepared the same fate for Tregovishte. Since it was Friday and a market day, Jakup Kombi called on the people to a general uprising to defend the city and its surroundings from the numerous Chetnik forces, simultaneously declaring a state of emergency throughout the Tregovishte region.

Those with weapons and those without responded to the call to defend the homeland. The point of deployment of the defense forces was Kacuberri. Mulla Jakup’s speech raised the morale of the gathered crowd and increased the strength to defend Tregovishte from the numerous Chetnik detachments.

It was the holy month of Ramadan. Mulla Jakupi Kombi, before the big meal, drank a glass of water and broke his fast, telling the crowd that it was time for war and the homeland was above all else, and called for a comprehensive mobilization.

That same day, Jakup Kombi sent Zhujë Selman Daci from Dacaj to Pejë to invite Albanian leaders to come to the aid of the Albanian people of Tregovishtë. Albanian volunteer forces from Rugova and the Dukagjini Plain came to the rescue. Since the Albanian forces were deployed in the Turjak mountain area, in Livadhet e Gjakut and in Kacubë, those prepared and under the command of Jakupi and Rugova’s flag bearer Sak Fazlis, Kurt Abazi from Radac and other brave men from the Dukagjini Plain had set up positions to receive the Chetnik bands.

Thus, in August 1943, the Albanian volunteer forces commanded by Mulla Jakup Kombi, Sak Fasli and the Albanian formations successfully defended the Rozhaja and Malësia regions from the Chetnik massacres. This defense aimed, in addition to protecting Tregovishte, to also prevent the Chetnik forces from marching towards Pazar i Ri. During this time, Jakup Kombi went to Albania, to Tirana, and met with Xhafer Deva, where he asked the head of the Albanian Government for help in terms of men and weapons.

Xhafer Deva offered this help immediately, without hesitation. Mulla Jakup Kombi was one of those who invited Shaban Poluzha to fight for the defense of Pazar i Ri. Together with Mujë Mukovići from Bishevo, he led the Rozhaja and Bishevo volunteers to the front of Pazar i Ri and Sjenica. After the defeat that the Chetnik forces suffered in August 1943, they no longer tried to militarily break through Tregovishte, much less to conquer Turjak, Katuberri and Livadhet e Gjakut.

Communism was advancing with its partisan forces. The political situation was always going to the disadvantage of the Albanians. Slavo-communism through the partisan war was taking on greater proportions and the spread of communism was also covering this Albanian territory. The partisans were adding more Albanian and Bishnjak fighters to their ranks.

Thus, Rozaja and its surroundings were losing their national center day by day. The Albanian administration was getting tired and its place was being taken by a new army with an almost anti-Albanian ideology. With the capitulation of the Italian and German forces, the Slavo-communists came to power. When the communists came to power, the Albanian patriotic forces were declared enemies of the people and the leaders of these forces were targeted by the partisan-communists.

The pursuit and elimination of the leaders of the volunteer forces was a top priority for the partisans. At that time, some volunteer groups had not yet surrendered their weapons and were in hiding. In the foothills of Hajla, in Buxhov, Kulla, Zhleb, at the sources of the Ibar and other places, they were making their last resistance.

It was said about Mulla Jakup Kombi that he was taking refuge in his house in Rozhaja. His comrades in the war had suggested that he leave Tregovishte, but Jakupi, now in his old age, did not want to leave his house. Some partisans, among whom there were no Albanians from this area but some Bosniaks, were planning to capture the commander of the volunteer forces Mulla Jakup.

Many partisan forces had been organized for his assassination and that his physical liquidation was necessary, since this man enjoyed great authority among the people. The partisans followed Jakup foot by foot and that they wanted to capture him alive and hand him over to the “justice” bodies. After these forces surrounded Mulla Jakup’s house on a winter night in January 1945.

They treacherously called him to the door and there they caught him, tied his hands and first informed him that he was wanted by the new administration for questioning. After they had put him in front of the barrels of rifles on the way to the partisan building, one of the partisans treacherously shot Mulla Jakupi in the back, taking his life with a hail of bullets from an automatic rifle. He was buried in Rozhaja with great honors in the absence of his rifle comrades, who were still in the mountains.

His murder was the most painful and a great loss for the Albanian people. This patriot and fighter should have been rehabilitated by Albanian historians and politicians in time. Mulla Jakup Kombi in Albanian history will be ranked alongside Aqif Bluta, Ahmet Daci, Sak Fazlis, Mulla Zekë Bërdynë, Shaban Polluzhe, Bajram Gashi, Adem Najë Kurtagiqi Avdyl Bralen, Mehë Kallaqi and many of his compatriots who gave their most precious thing to their homeland, their lives.

Pazari i Ri, Peja, Tutina, Sjenica, Tregovishta, Tirana and Pristina owe this man a lot. Albanian institutions should soon declare Mulla Jakup Kombi a martyr of the nation. Only in this way will this man be given justice. He, alongside Sak Fazlis, the standard bearer of Rugova, Kurt Abazi, the standard bearer of Radac and many other patriots who took an active part with rifles in hand in the defense of Albanian lands, deserves a place on the highest pedestal of freedom. The streets and institutions of Kosovo should proudly bear the name of the martyr and patriot Mulla Jakup Kombi.

Reference

Ismet Azizi. TREGOVISHTA E DIKURSHME SHQIPTARE – ROZHAJA ( IV ). https://kosovapersanxhakun.org/tregovishta-e-dikurshme-shqiptare-rozhaja-iv/