Mihal Turtulli Bey (1856–3 January 1935), also known as Michail Tourtoulis or Dr. Turtulli, was an Albanian oculist, politician, member of the High Council of State (Jan - Dec 1920), and representative of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Biography

M. Turtulli was born in

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 ...

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 ...

. His family originated in

Vithkuq Vithkuq () is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Korçë. The population at the 2011 census was 1,519. The municipal uni ...

and had settled in Korçë circa 1823. He was practically raised in El-Fayyūm,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

being part of the Albanian colony there. He graduated from the Lycée Al-Horreya of Alexandria. During the period 1876–1885, he studied medicine in Greece and later in France, where he became an oculist. He returned to Egypt in 1885 and worked as a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

's hospitals until 1912. Following the

Albanian Declaration of Independence The Albanian Declaration of Independence (Albanian language, Albanian: ''Deklarata e Pavarësisë'') was the declaration of independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire. Independent Albania was proclaimed in Vlorë on 28 November 1912. Six da ...

from the Ottoman Empire in November 1912, he returned to Albania.
Turtulli was a supporter of Prince Wied for the Albanian throne. He was part of the delegation that went to

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to offer the crown to Wied.
He was elected Minister of Health and Education in the provisional government of Turhan Pasha Përmeti on May 20, 1914. He spent most of the period until 1918 in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. During this time, he was active in the Albanian patriotic press where he advocated total unity between social and regional communities of Albania. While in Switzerland, together with Pandeli Cale and Sotir Kolea, he published the periodical ''L'Albanie'', which went out during 1915–1919.
On June 3, 1917, with his initiative,

Vatra, the Pan-Albanian Federation of America Vatra (') is an association of Albanian Americans, created in 1912, that has historically protected the rights of the Albanians in the United States, as well as has endeavored in lobbying with the United States Congress about the rights of the Alb ...

held a fundraising congress in order to support the diplomatic activities of Albania in the processes following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Turtulli was the first to donate, with an amount of $1,000. In his telegram, he urged all members of Albanian-American diaspora to donate $10. This was the first fundraising event of Vatra, for this purpose.
In 1918, he was elected Representative of Vatra to establish contacts with the Albanian community of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and Italian authorities, in the eve of Congress of Durrës. Due to his non pro-Italian stance, he was substituted by Mehmed Konica. Turtulli participated in the Congress of Durres (Dec 25–27, 1918), and was elected

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in the government that came out of it. In 1919, he represented Albania in the Paris Peace Conference. He strongly advocated the unity of Albanian nation against the stance of Alexandros Karapanos who represented the Greeks of

Northern Epirus Northern Epirus (, ; ) is a term used for specific parts of southern Albania which were first claimed by the Kingdom of Greece in the Balkan Wars and later were associated with the Greek minority in Albania and Greece-Albania diplomatic relation ...

(South Albania) claiming that the region should be ceased to Greece and that was the will of the Orthodox population, by stating: "I am from Korça. I have worked as a doctor in that town. I say there are no Greeks in Korça, not even in Korça area. Greece stirs things up. They think that the Christians, like me, are Greek. This is not correct. It is pretended that all the Orthodox people are Greek. Why? Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, even being Orthodox they are not Greek". Turtulli was a delegate at the Congress of Lushnja of 1920, and was elected member of the High Council of State as representative of the Albanian Orthodox population, along with Luigj Bumçi for the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Aqif Pasha Elbasani for the

Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...

, and Abdi Bey Toptani for the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. In April 1921, he stopped participating in the Council's activities, and retired completely in 1922, following the allegations that Bumçi and Aqif Pasha Elbasani were involved in a '' coup d'etat'' against Ahmet Zogu's government. He left Albania in December 1924 after the suppression of the June Revolution. Though he went back to Egypt, unlike most of the anti-Zogist personalities who fled the country, he affiliated himself with KONARE (The National Revolutionary Committee) founded by

Fan Noli Theofan Stilian Noli, known as Fan Noli (6 January 1882 – 13 March 1965), was an Albanian Americans, Albanian-American writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, bishop, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the Albania ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Meanwhile, Zogu's government had him on the black list, and he was sentenced in absentia to 101 years, but he was included in an amnesty of 1927.
Turtulli returned shortly to Albania, and thenwent back to Egypt where he spent the final years of his life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turtulli, Mihal People from Korçë 20th-century Albanian politicians 19th-century Albanian politicians Albanian people from the Ottoman Empire Politicians from the Ottoman Empire Physicians from the Ottoman Empire People from Manastir vilayet Expatriates in Egypt Expatriates in France 1847 births 1935 deaths Eastern Orthodox Christians from Albania Members of the Albanian Orthodox Church Albanian diplomats Albanian ophthalmologists Government of Durrës

Biography

See also

References