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Essad Pasha Toptani
Essad Pasha Toptani
3rd Prime Minister of Albania

In office
October 5, 1914 – February 23, 1916
Preceded by Fejzi Bej Alizoti
Succeeded by Turhan Pashë Përmeti
Personal details
Born ca. 1863
Tirana, Ottoman Empire
Died June 13, 1920
Paris, France
Religion Islam

Essad Pasha Toptani or Esad Pasha Toptani (Albanian language: Esad Pashë Toptani, ca. 1863 – June 13, 1920), primarily known as Essad Pasha, was Ottoman army officer, Albanian deputy in Ottoman parliament and politician in the early twentieth century in Albania. He was cooperating with the Balkan League after the Balkan Wars[1] and established a state in central Albania, based in Durrës, called the Republic of Central Albania.[2]

Life[]

Essad Pasha was born in 1863 in Tirana, Ottoman Empire (today Republic of Albania). He belonged to prominent landowning family Toptani which founded contemporary Tirana.[3] He became a supporter of the Young Turks following the assassination of his brother (Gani Bey Toptani) by forces loyal to Sultan Abdul Hamit II.[citation needed] He served as deputy for Albania in the Ottoman parliament and was proclaimed as Albanian king in Absentia for a few days in June 1920, before his assassination.

During the Albanian Revolt of 1912 Essad Pasha Toptani obliged himself to organize the uprising in Central Albania and Mirdita.[4] He was one of the commanders of the Ottoman forces at Scutari, until the city surrendered to Montenegro in 1913 in the First Balkan War. Essad Pasha was allowed in return to leave the town with his army and all their weaponry to become involved in the struggle over power in central Albania.[1] Official Serbia simultaneously helped a number of other small tribal chiefs who resisted Ismail Qemali's government, directing them towards cooperation with Essad Pasha.[1] He was accused of fomenting a Peasant Revolt in Albania against William of Wied.[5] Essad Pasha was exiled to Italy, without trial,[6][7] but returned to Albania following the ouster of William in September by the movement of the Peasant Revolt in Albania. In autumn 1914 he decided to accept invitation of Senate of the Central Albania to return to Albania to take over the power.[8] First, he had to provide financial backing for his government. Therefore he travelled to Niš, Kingdom of Serbia, where he and Serbian prime minister Pašić signed the secret Treaty of Serbian-Albanian Alliance on September 17, 1914.[9] In October 1914 Essad Pasha returned to Albania. With Italian and Serbian financial backing he established armed forces in Dibër and captured interior of Albania and Dures. Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić ordered that his followers be aided with money and arms.[1]

Though his rule was not stable because of the First World War. In the end of 1914, Essad secretly agreed with the Greek government to support the annexation of the southern provinces, known to Greeks as Northern Epirus, to the Kingdom of Greece.[10] He also succeeded in controlling much of central Albania until 1916, when he left for Serbia and Greece to help them in their war against Austria-Hungary. After the war, he travelled to France, to represent Albania at the Paris Peace Conference.

For the next two years, Essad Pasha remained in Paris, attempting to organize recognition for Albania from the Great Powers and reject the secret pact of London, which planned the division of Albania. During this time Tirana and much of central Albania was controlled by his Field Commander, Osman Bali.[citation needed]

Death[]

Avni Rustemi

Avni Rustemi

On June 13, 1920, Avni Rustemi assassinated Essad Pasha in Paris when he left Hotel Continental. Although living in Paris and away from legislative governing of Albania, Essad Pasha claimed to still be the ruler of the state and attempted to represent Albania in the Paris Peace Conference. The governmental delegation didn't permit him to do so as they were going to represent Albania themselves.[citation needed] The assassination was largely seen as a heroic act as it has historically been seen as a signal of a new bourgeois revolution against the feudal traditions of Albania and a crossing bridge in the newly democratic-bourgeois values.[11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Serbian government and Essad Pasha Toptani
  2. Robert Elsie, Essad Pasha Toptani
  3. Pettifer, James. "Ihsan Bey Toptani". http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ihsan-bey-toptani-729177.html. Retrieved January 25, 2011. "The Toptani family were in many ways the founders of contemporary Tirana" 
  4. Prishtina, Hasan (in Albanian, translated on English by Robert Elsie). Nji shkurtim kujtimesh mbi kryengritjen shqiptare të vjetit 1912. Shkrue prej Hassan Prishtinës [Hasan Bey Prishtina: Brief Memoir on the Albanian Uprising of 1912]. Shkodra: Shtypshkroja Franciskane. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.albanianhistory.net%2Ftexts20_1%2FAH1921_3.html&date=2011-01-10. Retrieved January 10, 2011. "Essad Pasha assured us that he could manage things in Central Albania and Mirdita." 
  5. Elsie, Robert. "Albania under prince Wied". Archived from the original on January 25, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.albanianphotography.net%2Fen%2Fdmm.html&date=2011-01-25. Retrieved January 25, 2011. "It was obvious to Wied and the Dutch officers that Essad Pasha had his hand in the unrest." 
  6. Heaton-Armstrong, Duncan (2005). "An Uprising in the Six-Month Kingdom". Gervase Belfield and Bejtullah Destani (I.B. Tauris, in association with the Centre for Albanian Studies). Archived from the original on January 25, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.albanianhistory.net%2Ftexts20_1%2FAH1914_2.html&date=2011-01-25. Retrieved January 25, 2011. "Essad would be sent into exile, without a trial." 
  7. Elsie, Robert. "Albania under prince Wied". Archived from the original on January 25, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.albanianphotography.net%2Fen%2Fdmm.html&date=2011-01-25. Retrieved January 25, 2011. "to exile Essad Pasha to Italy" 
  8. Bataković, Dušan T. "The Kosovo Chronicles" Belgrade, Serbia: Knižara Plato ISBN 86-447-0006-5 archived from the original on January 19, 2011 http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rastko.rs%2Fkosovo%2Fistorija%2Fkosovo_chronicles%2Findex.html&date=2011-01-18. Retrieved January 19, 2011 "The senate of free towns in central Albania invited Essad Pasha to take over power." 
  9. Bataković, Dušan T. "The Kosovo Chronicles" Belgrade, Serbia: Knižara Plato ISBN 86-447-0006-5 archived from the original on January 19, 2011 http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rastko.rs%2Fkosovo%2Fistorija%2Fkosovo_chronicles%2Findex.html&date=2011-01-18. Retrieved January 19, 2011 "Essad Pasha signed a secret alliance treaty with Pasic on September 17." 
  10. George B. Leon. Greece and the First World War: from neutrality to intervention, 1917-1918. East European Monographs, 1990, ISBN 978-0-88033-181-4, p358: "In return, Essad reconfirmed a promise he had made in the fall of 1914 to support Greece's annexation of North Epirus. However, while he was willing to come to a secret agreement with the Greek government on this question, he indicated that in order to be able to counterbalance the weight of the common adversary, that "is Italy, and to stabilize his influence in Albania he could not recognize publicly Greece's claim."
  11. Miranda Vickers The Albanians: a modern history IB Tauris (2006) page 96 [1]

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
Turhan Pashë Përmeti
Prime Minister of Albania
October 5, 1914 – February 24, 1916
Succeeded by
Turhan Pashë Përmeti
Essad Pasha Toptani
House of Toptani
Born: c. 1863 Died: 13 June 1920
Regnal titles
Preceded by
New title
King of the Albanians
27 April 1913 – 7 March 1914
Succeeded by
Vidi I
Preceded by
?
King of the Albanians
early June 1920 – 13 June 1920
Succeeded by
?
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