The Congress of Dibër (original name promoted by the Ottoman authorities: Ottoman-Albanian Joint Constitutional Congress) was a congress held by members of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

committee in

Debar Debar ( ; , sq-definite, Dibra or Dibra e Madhe) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ethnic Albanian majorit ...

(then part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, now part of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

) from July 23 to July 29, 1909. The congress was chaired by

Vehbi Dibra Abdyl Aziz Vehbi Dibra Agolli (12 March 186724 March 1937) was an Albanian Islamic scholar and politician. He served as the first Grand Mufti, grand mufti of the Muslim Community of Albania. He was a delegate of Dibër at the Albanian Declaratio ...

Grand Mufti A Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is a title for the leading Faqīh, Islamic jurist of a country, typically Sunni, who may oversee other muftis. Not all countries with large Sunni Muslim populations have Gra ...

of the

Sanjak of Dibra The Sanjak of Dibra, Debar, or Dibër (, , ) was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. Its capital was Debar, Macedonia (modern-day North Macedonia). Today, the western part of its territory belongs to Albania ( Lower Dibra and Mat) and the ...

and was sponsored by the government of the

Young Turks The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...

. It was held on the first anniversary of the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

and was a countermeasure on the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

based Albanian alphabet which came out of the

Congress of Manastir The Congress of Manastir () was an academic conference held in the city of Manastir (now Bitola) from November 14 to 22, 1908, with the goal of standardizing the Albanian alphabet. November 22 is now a commemorative day in Albania, Kosovo and ...

Background

In 1908, an alphabet congress in Manastir agreed to adopt a Latin character-based Albanian alphabet and the move was considered an important step for Albanian unification.. Some conservative

Albanian Muslims Islam arrived in Albania mainly during the Ottoman period when the majority of Albanians over time converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. Following the Albanian National Awakening (Rilindja) tenets and the de-emphasis of religious tradit ...

and clerics opposed the Latin alphabet and preferred an Arabic-based Albanian one because they were concerned that a Latin script undermined ties with the

Muslim world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

.. For the Ottoman government the situation was alarming because the Albanians were the largest Muslim community in the European part of the empire (Istanbul excluded). The Albanian national movement was a proof that not only Christians had national feelings and Islam could not keep Ottoman Muslims united. In these circumstances the Ottoman state organised a congress in Debar in 1909 with the intention that Albanians there declare themselves as Ottomans, promise to defend its territorial sovereignty and adopt an Albanian Arabic character script.. The initiative for the congress was superficially taken by an Ottoman Albanian Constitutional Committee (Osmanli arnaut meşrutiyet komisioni) in Debar. However the entire organization was formed by the Young Turks. Invitations were first sent to Albanians so as to give the impression that the congress was an Albanian assembly. Gradually all other nationalities of the Albanian and Macedonian vilayets, excluding the

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

, were welcomed to send delegates. The reason of the congress was not unveiled producing suppositions. Two days before beginning of proceedings, Fahri Pasha,

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

of Manastir told consuls in Manastir that with the organization of congress was aimed at persuading Albanians to abandon independence ideals..

Proceedings

Most of the delegates were Muslim Albanians, others included 95 Christians. Some of the Young Turks present were officers dressed in civilian clothes. The Young Turks wanted, through Vehbi Dibra to force the attendees to agree with the program. Among other issues the Young Turks had prepared for discussion was the geopolitical question of Crete and military service for all subjects of the Ottoman Empire while they tried to neglect those related to Albanianism. Strong opposition toward the Young Turks came from nationally minded Albanians including Abdul Ypi who delivered a fiery speech. The differences produced clashes and the meeting was temporarily suspended. Later a committee was formed to decide on the program. The main goal of the Young Turks was to show the European and Ottoman public that Albanians were ready to protect the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and did not have separatist aims. Additionally the Young Turks wanted to force acceptance of the Arabic alphabet by the Albanians. Support for the positions of the Young Turks came from many delegates. The Albanian element however took total control of the proceedings and rejected the request of the Young Turks to declare themselves Ottomans, promise to fight for the empire and write with Arabic letters. The final compromise decision of the congress was that the Albanian language should taught freely, the Albanians could write with any alphabet they wanted and elementary, secondary and commercial schools and lyćees should be opened in every part of Albania... Additional demands adopted were for justice in the courts, tax reforms, infrastructure, permission to keep their weapons, the delineations of frontiers and military service only within Albanian territory. In the end of proceedings, it was decided that other similar congresses would be held each coming year in other settlements across the European part of the Empire.

Aftermath

While the congress was on progress people of CUP in Tirane orchestrated a demonstration aimed at Latin alphabet and the local branch of Bashkimi club, the organizer of the Manastir congress. Talat Bey, the interior minister, claimed that the Albanian population supported use of the Turkish alphabet and stayed against the Latin one. However the Bashkimi club organized a congress with 120 attendees in Elbasan. Its decisions included the establishment of a school for teachers, foundation of Society of Albanian Schools, propagation of Albanian written with Latin letters in every school throughout Albania and selection of the Elbasan dialect as the standard literary language for all Albanians. An open meeting was organized in Monastir on 6 February 1910 by Rexhep Voka from

Tetovo Tetovo (, ; , sq-definite, Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena (river), Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, wit ...

and Arif Hikmet of

Kumanovo Kumanovo ( ; , sq-definite, Kumanova; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is the second-largest city in North Macedonia after the capital Skopje and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the List of municipalities in the Republic ...

, where it was demanded the introduction of an Arabic-scripts based alphabet for the Muslim population. Similar meetings were organized in Elbasan and

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

soon after. As a countermeasure, the Albanian nationalists organized on 27 February another meeting at Shën Ilia near

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

in support of the Latin-script alphabet, such meeting would be known later in the Albanian historiography as the "Albanian alphabet meeting". At the point, it was decided that another follow up congress should be held in order to bring a final end to the oppositions affirming the decisions of the first Manastir Congress.

Importance

Even with Albanian patriots' efforts, the congress, as an event organized by the Young Turks, failed to become a manifestation of all Albanian ideals for independence and cultural expression. The decision to allow every school to choose its alphabet was intended to open conflicts among Albanians, and derail the achievements towards a single alphabet. However, Albanian patriots were successful in the context of forcing some of their requests on the delegates of the Young Turks. The approval of those requests confronted the policies of cultural repression and assimilation. Moreover, it did not prevent Albanian patriots from the organization of the Congress of Elbasan, that was a strong expression of the national aspirations of the Albanians.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * {{Albanians under the Ottoman Empire Modern history of Albania Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire Manastir vilayet 1909 in the Ottoman Empire Debar Municipality Ottoman Albania 1909 conferences Albanian National Awakening 1909+