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(see Jacques 1995; 287, Malcom 2002: 72). In 1878 during the Congress held in Berlin 58 , the
Albanian representatives of the League of Prizren 59 , Abdyl Frashëri and Mehmed Ali Vrioni,
proposed the declaration of the Albanian nation-state. Their proposal was dissmised with
Bismark commenting that “there is no such thing as a nation without a written language”
(Grameno 1925: 58, Jacques 1995: 257). The Frashëri brothers (Abdyl, Sami in Naim) 60 took
Bismark’s comment seriously and began to spread the written word by establishing the
Albanian language in schools. Frashëri and other intellectuals, Fan Noli 61 , Faik Konica,
Konstandin Çerekezi and Kristo Dako 62 who lived in emigration, decided to develop the
Albanian language and justify it as the language of their independent nation-state (see Polo
and Puto 1981: 118-121, Jacques 1995: 258, Winnifrith 2002: 122-123, Malcom 2002: 71).
On 28 November, 1912 Ismael Qemali announced Albanian independence in Vlorë, his natal
town. Because the first Balkan War was still in progress and the Turkish rule in Ioannina on
the south and in Shkodra on the north of Albania was still prevailing and finally because of
58 The Congress in Berlin took part in the period of formation of the nation-states. On 13 June 1878 the members
of “The European Powers” met, lead under the presidency of Bismarck (ministerial president of Prussia 1862-
1890) in order to discuss about the reduction of the Russian influence in the Southern Europe and declaration of
nationhoods for Serbia, Montenegro and Romania.
59
On 10 June 1878 under the presidency of Abdyl Frashëri 300 delegates met in Prizren to discus Albanian
national issues. They agreed that their nationality should be based on the autonomous self-government, the
official use of the Albanian language, the establishment of the Albanian language in schools, and the formation
of the national milita for self-defence. The league representatives were immediately dispatched to the Congress
in Berlin (see Jacques 1995: 256-257).
60
Whilst the first brother Abdyl was a prominent politician, the second brother Sami was a linguist and the
director of a periodical Drita (Light) that was published in Turkey since 1884. Third brother Naim Frashëri was
a literate, poet and promoter of Bektashism (see Jacques 1995: 290, Winnifrith 2002: 122-123). Naim’s poems
still occupy an important part in the Albanian text books at the primary school level (for example, Naim
Frashëri’s poem Shqipëri, o jetëgjatë, Albania, long life is published on the first pages of Leximi 4, Readingbook
4).
61 Fan S. Noli (1882-1965) was born near Adrianople, Turkey, to the parents originating from the present
Albanian territory (see Jacques 1995: 304). He had an important role in the foundation of the Orthodox Church
in Albania. It was founded on 10 September 1922 during the Clergy-Lay Congress in Berat (see Kondis and
Manda 1994: 19). On 24 June 1924 Bishop Fan Noli was declared the prime minister of Albania. His
democratically oriented party overthrew previous government of autocratic Ahmed Zogu. An American
Evangelical missionary and historian Jacques notes that Noli’s democratic program proved to be too radical for
those times. In his goal to eradicate the feudal system he proposed an agrarian reform and sharp reduction of
bureaucracy. Noli’s reign did not last long as he was in a couple of months overthrown by the Zogu government.
On 26 December 1924 Noli fled to Italy. Soon he moved to Germany where he lived until 1932. In his writings
and translations of the classics into Albanian language he promoted the Albanian literary renaissance. In 1932 he
returned to Boston where he resumed his duties as the leader of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America.
There he began to publish a newspaper Republic (see Jacques 1995: 380-381, Winnifrith 2002: 134-135). An
Albanian historian Peter Prifti marked Fan Noli as an “Apostle of the Albanian Renaissance; he was a
clergymen, writer, historian, poet, translator, journalist, orator, statesman, diplomat, musician, and outstanding in
each of these roles” (Liria 26 November 1976, 9 in Jacques 1995: 381).
62 Besides the Frashëri brothers and Fan Noli, Faik Konica, and Konstandin Çerekezi also had important roles in
disseminating the idea of the nation-state. Both scholars lived in the United States, where they got a degree from
Harvard and lived in Boston for most of their lives (see Malcom 2002: 71). Kristo Dako, the chief editor of the
Vatra newspaper, lived in Boston too (The Pan Albanian Federation of America in Dielli (The Sun), 1913).
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