Dervish Hima

Dervish Hima
Personal details
Born 1872
Struga, Ottoman Albania (now Republic of Macedonia)
Died 13 April 1928(1928-04-13) (aged 56)
Albania
Nationality Albania Albanian
Occupation Publisher, Politician

Dervish Hima (1872–1928), born Ibrahim Mehmet Naxhi, was a 19th-century Albanian politician and one of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence. A publisher, he travelled from country to country, promoting Albania with articles and pamphlets.[1]

Biography

Early life

Dervish Hima was born in Struga to a landowning family.[1] He attended school in Monastir (Bitola) and Salonika (Thessaloniki), and studied medicine for two years in Istanbul, where he initially supported the Young Turk movement and began to reflect on the Albanian question.[1] In August 1908 Hima left his studies unfinished and devoted himself to the Albanian national movement.[2]

Late Ottoman period and Albanian independence

Dervish Hima was an extreme opponent of Ottoman rule in Albania and author of a number of radical manifestos calling for an all-out struggle against the Ottoman Porte.[2][3] His movements were carefully observed by the Ottoman authorities, and he was imprisoned on several occasions.[1][2] As a known Albanian literary man, he returned from Shkodër after a long absence in Europe and was arrested for speaking of the hopes of Albania and thrown into prison.[4] Hima also gave speeches to enthusiastic audiences against pan-Islamic influences coming from the Young Turks and called for Albanian national unity, which resulted in an attempted assassination in Korçë by the Ottoman government.[2]

In Bucharest, Hima edited the short-lived periodical Pavarësia e Shqipërisë (The Independence of Albania), which appeared in 1898 in Albanian, French, and Romanian. In October of the following year, he was obliged to leave Romania for Rome, where he collaborated with Mehmed bey Frashëri on the fortnightly Zën’i Shqipënisë or Arnavudluk Sadası (Voice of Albania), which was issued in French and Albanian. Hima writing in the fortnightly called for the unification of the Albanian vilayets and autonomy for Albania within the Ottoman Empire.[5] In 1903, Dervish Hima published the fortnightly periodical L’Albanie in Geneva, which he continued as a monthly from 1905 to 1906 in Brussels. The restoration in 1908 of the Ottoman constitution allowed for political exiles like Hima to return home.[6]

In 1909, he was in Istanbul, where he ran the weekly Shqipëtari-Arnavud (The Albanian) with Hilë Mosi and Eqrem Vlora, a periodical in Turkish and Albanian subsidized by Austria–Hungary.[1][7] In his newspaper Hima stressed the importance of Albanian identity and language by viewing them as being two sides of the same coin.[7] He outlined that the publication was aimed at enlightening Albanians, raising their levels of intellect and culture along with encouraging cooperation and an understanding of Ottomanism, the Ottoman system, empire and its peoples in relation to them toward improving their situation.[8] Arnavud was used by Hima to address the Ottoman government and keep Albanian issues within the public sphere while his newspaper printed petitions and letters by Albanians and Albanian deputies of the Ottoman parliament on matters such as the Albanian alphabet question.[9] Hima also highlighted Albanian sacrifices and contributions to the empire, claimed that Albania was "the cradle of freedom" and defended use of the tribal law of Dukagjin among Albanian highlanders.[10] He advocated for a unitary province of Albania, Albanian-Turkish language schools, and locals undertaking military service within five provinces in the Ottoman Balkans.[10] On 13 December 1910 Hima raised concerns in Arnavud about Ottoman "militarization" of placing army officers into civil administration positions in Albania instead of qualified bureaucrats and protesting the use of force to resolve local problems.[11] The newspaper was shut down at the end of 1910, part of the wider campaign by the Ottoman government against the Albanian Latin character alphabet and schools.[1][10]

In 1911 he published a book Musaver Arnavud (The Illustrated Albanian) in Ottoman Turkish and it was an edited work containing chapters by Hima and other Albanians on history and other topics like the geopolitical situation of Albanians.[10] Hima's book highlighted the narrative of Albanian loyalty and sacrifice to the empire and he stressed the development of an "Albanian national literature" as important for Albanians.[12] During the Albanian revolt of 1912, the vali of Yanina, Mehmed Ali singled him out as being a bad influence on people in the region and Hima wired the Porte with complaints about the behavior of the governor.[13] In the late Ottoman period, Hima supported Austro-Hungarian assistance toward Albanian geopolitical interests in the Balkans.[14] Hima was one of the signatories of the Albanian Declaration of Independence.[15]

Later life

Dervish Hima took an active interest in public life even after Albanian independence in November 1912. In the autumn of 1917, he was appointed school inspector for the Tirana district by the Austro–Hungarian authorities, and in 1920, he became the first director of the Albanian press office.[1] Hima died in 1928.

Literature

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Robert Elsie. "Historical dictionary of Albania" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Skendi 1967, p. 363, 397.
  3. ↑ Gawrych 2006, p. 205.
  4. ↑ Miranda Vickers. The Albanians: A Modern History. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  5. ↑ Gawrych 2006, p. 144.
  6. ↑ Gawrych 2006, p. 155.
  7. 1 2 Gawrych 2006, p. 183.
  8. ↑ Gawrych 2006, pp. 183, 209.
  9. ↑ Gawrych 2006, pp. 184, 202, 207.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Gawrych 2006, p. 184.
  11. ↑ Gawrych 2006, p. 172.
  12. ↑ Gawrych 2006, p. 185.
  13. ↑ Gawrych, George (2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913. London: IB Tauris. p. 194. ISBN 9781845112875.
  14. ↑ Skendi, Stavro (1967). The Albanian national awakening. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 268. ISBN 9781400847761.
  15. ↑ "History of Albanian People" Albanian Academy of Science. ISBN 99927-1-623-1


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