The Convention of Mat was organized on November 7, 1594 by

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 ...

leaders fighting against the Ottoman Empire. Mat was chosen as the place of the meeting due to its role in Albanian revolts of the 16th century. The aim was a better organization of the revolts to achieve independence from the Ottoman Empire. The convention decided that help should be sought from the Pope, and for negotiations were chosen Tom Plezha,

Mark Gjini Mark Gjini was an Albanian leader chosen at the Convention of Mat to negotiate with the Pope an alliance against the Ottoman Empire. Life Mark Gjini held the title of Stradiot captain serving the Republic of Venice. His service to Venetians include ...

and Nikollë Mekajshi. However, the Pope refused to give help, claiming that it was not the right time to fight the Ottoman Empire. Another decision of Albanian leaders was to not let the Republic of Venice know about their plans as the latter did not want to open a new conflict with the Ottomans. The news came out and Venetians managed to divide the organizers of the convention between themselves. In the following two years, Albanian leaders continued their work to get help from Christian powers, taking heart from geopolitical circumstances. In 1596, 10,000 men marched towards Vlora in hope of receiving arms from Spain but the arms sent were confiscated by Venetians. The events damaged the relations between Albanian leaders and Christian powers but did not weaken the efforts for independence.

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