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Idriz Seferi

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Idriz Seferi
Nickname(s)İdriz Bey
Born(1847-03-14)14 March 1847
Sefer, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died25 March 1927(1927-03-25) (aged 80)
AllegianceLeague of Prizren
League of Peja
Service / branchKachak
Years of service1878–1918
RankCommander
CommandsGnjilane nahia
Ferizovik area (1912)
Battles / warsAlbanian Revolt of 1910
Albanian Revolt of 1912
Balkan Wars
AwardsHero of Kosovo (posthumously)

Idriz Seferi (Template:Lang-tr; 14 March 1847 – 25 March 1927) was an Albanian nationalist figure and guerrilla fighter (rebel). A member of the nationalist League of Prizren and League of Peja, he was the right-hand man of Isa Boletini, with whom he organized the 1910 Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in the Kosovo Vilayet. After the suppression of the uprising, Seferi continued warfare, in the 1912 Uprising. In the First Balkan War, Boletini and Seferi rose up against Serbia, with whom they had previously been allies to during the 1910 and 1912 Uprisings, and continued to attack Serbian posts in the subsequent occupation and initial phase of World War I (1913-1915). In the second phase of the war (1916-1918), he led troops against Bulgarian forces.

Life

Early life

Idriz Seferi was born in the village of Sefer in the north of the Skopska Crna Gora[1] (in modern-day Preševo, south Serbia), at the time part of the Ottoman Kosovo Vilayet. He joined the Albanian national movements at an early age,[2] being a member of the League of Prizren (est. 1878) and the League of Peja (est. 1899).[1]

Prelude to revolt

Before the general Albanian uprisings in the Ottoman Empire, Seferi had wanted to establish relations with the Serbian government; this was also done by Albanian chiefs in Yakova (Gjakova), Ipek (Peć) and in Montenegro.[3][unreliable source?] In 1909, the Serbian government aided the Albanian rebels with money and weapons.[verification needed]

1910 Uprising

Idriz Seferi and his guerrillas entering Ferizaj.

In early April 1910, twelve Albanian tribes of the Kosovo Vilayet led by Isa Boletini and Idriz Seferi rose up against the Ottomans.[4] 5,000 rebels under Seferi cut off the Pristina-Üsküp railway at Kaçanik,[4] managing to resist the Ottoman forces at the gorge of the Kaçanik Pass.[1] Seferi's men stopped a train carrying soldiers and supplies bound for Pristina, carried off the supplies and disarmed the soldiers.[1][5] Boletini at the same time had led 2,000 rebels onto Ferizovik (Ferizaj) and Prizren.[4] Seferi held the pass for more than a fortnight and inflicted heavy losses on the Turkish army despite the fact that they were without artillery. The rebels were only driven out after a desperate battle lasting thirteen hours, for they were greatly outnumbered.[6] The uprising was quelled by the 16,000 Ottoman troops under Shefket Turgut Pasha, however not without difficulty.[4] Under Seferi's command, some 2,000 Ottoman soldiers around Gnjilane were killed.[7] By August, the Ottomans had reinstated order, and now the government took harsh measures to maintain suzerainty in the Kosovo Vilayet: all men aged 15–60 were registered (for conscription); Albanian men were disarmed and those eligible were conscripted into the Ottoman army.[4] Boletini had given up arms after he and a Vıçıtırın state ambassador went to the Kosovo vali, who promised to meet his requests. Idriz Seferi then followed suit.[8]

1912 Uprising

On April 23, Hasan Prishtina's rebels revolted in the Yakova mountains, and the revolt then spread within the Kosovo Vilayet.[9] On May 20, Albanian chiefs Bajram Curri, Isa Boletini, Riza Gjakova, Seferi, Hasan Prishtina, Nexhib Draga, and others, decided on a general armed insurrection throughout the Kosovo Vilayet.[9] Seferi organized the rebels in the Ferizovik area, where fiercest fighting took place.[1]

On 12 August, unable to wait any longer for the Turkish acceptance of all the demands of the League, 30,000 Albanian irregulars, the forces of chieftains Bajram Curri, Hasan Prishtina, Mehmet Pashë Dërralla, Riza bej Gjakova and Idriz Seferi, united among themselves under the command of Isa Boletini and advanced towards Üsküp (Skopje), the capital of the Vilayet of Kosovo, which they entered without encountering any resistance and took possession.[6] As the national uprising spread throughout Kosovo and most of the north, troops were sent against the rebels, who retired to the mountains but continued to protest against the government, and in the whole region between Ipek and Mitrovica they plundered military depots, opened prisons and collected taxes from the inhabitants for the Albanian chiefs.[6] Isa Boletini and Idriz Seferi had established friendly relations with Serbia during the latest Albanian uprisings, though they were about to switch sides, unbeknownst to the Serbians.[verification needed]

Balkan Wars

One day ahead of the Balkan War, at noon, Seferi had 1,000 men attacking the Serbian frontier posts. They were armed with Martinis and Serbian rapid-fire guns that had been supplied by Serbia during the 1909 Albanian Uprising.[10] The Albanians did this after realising that Albanian-inhabited regions would possibly be divided between Serbia and Greece; the notion of using Serbian weapons and money against Serbia enraged the army.[10] Serbian companies hurried to the frontier and charged back the Albanians, then the Serbian guerrilla fighters (Chetniks) destroyed their foremost post with hand-thrown bombs, after which the Albanians left.[11] In the next period, atrocities were made against the Albanian populace, most often by the Chetniks that were left behind by the Serbian army.[12]

He continued his struggle for the liberation of the Kosovo Vilayet in 1913–15 after the Serbian occupation, and in 1916–18 against Bulgarian forces. Idriz Seferi died peacefully in his bed, on 25 March 1927.[1]

Legacy

He was posthumously awarded the Hero of Kosovo-award by the Republic of Kosovo. There is a bust of him in Kaçanik.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Elsie 2012, p. 403
  2. ^ Bep Jubani et al., Historia e popullit shqiptar: për shkollat e mesme (Libri Shkollor: Prishtinë, 2002) 191-198.
  3. ^ Vladimir Stojančević (1991). Prvi balkanski rat: okrugli sto povodom 75. godišnjice 1912-1987, 28. i 29. oktobar 1987. Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti. pp. 11–14.

    Са српским властима у Србији хтео је да успостави везе и чувени Гиљанац Идрис Сефер. Ослањање главних вођа арбанашког устанка на Србију (а не- ких из Ђаковице и Пећи и на Црну Гору) указивало је на озбиљну политичку ...
  4. ^ a b c d e Kedourie 2013, p. 26–
  5. ^ Pearsons 2004, p. 11
  6. ^ a b c Pearsons 2004, p. 24
  7. ^ Ljubodrag Dimić; Đorđe Borozan (1998). Југословенска држава и Албанци. Službeni list SRJ. p. 317.

    Идрис Сефери који је воЬа у Карадагу, а ратовао је и противу Турака и убио више од 2000 турских војника око Гнл>ана у 1909-10 год
  8. ^ Bogdan Popović; Jovan Skerlić (1911). Srpski književni glasnik. p. 219.
  9. ^ a b Pearson 2004, p. 24
  10. ^ a b Trotsky 1980, p. 117
  11. ^ Trotsky 1980, p. 118
  12. ^ Trotsky 1980, p. 120

Sources

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