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schools and churches in Albania. He was one of the leading founders of the autocephalous
Orthodox Church of Albania, which was declared by the Clerical-Lay Congress in Berat in
September 10, 1922 and finally approved by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in April 12, 1937
(see Kondis and Manda 1994: 17-18, Jacques 1995: 397). Noli’s government did not last long.
On December 14, 1924 Zogu entered Tirana with his army. Five days later Noli announced a
state of siege and in December 26 he fled to Italy together with his closest political colleagues
(see Jacques 1995: 380).
Winnifrith (2002: 134) writes that the Greek historiographers sympathised neither with Zogu
as he was Muslim nor with Noli who was fighting for Albanian independence during his stay
in America. The Albanian historiographers of the communist era, however, represented Noli
as a positive figure in spite of his attitude towards religion. Unlike Noli, who in the period of
communism received a better treatment because he supported Hoxha’s regime, Zogu was
represented as the leader of the evil regime (ibid.).
In the contemporary historiography relating to Himarë/Himara area both Noli and Zogu are
represented in a rather negative manner. The local author Bixhili, whose work is closer to the
pro-Albanian position, describes the reforms of Noli as the core reason for the revolt in
Himarë/Himara in 1924:
In these years two men had played the key role in the destiny of the area, Theofan
Stelian Noli (Mavromati) and Ahmed Zogu. In the year of Noli’s presidency the
people of Himarë and of some other areas in Southern Albania revolted. The first
revolt, which took place between August and September in 1924, was against the
Noli’s control and taxation of income and outcome. The same revolts repeated in 1932
and 1934-1937[…]. All the revolts broke out because the people of Himarë demanded
the same privileges as they enjoyed under the Ottoman legacy and later as the Greekspeaking
population. They demanded to be declared a part of the Greek minority
(Bixhili 2004: 267-268, translations mine)
The local author Rusha gives more detailed account on the revolt in Himarë/Himara:
After democratic revolution in June 1924, when Ahmed Zogu fled to Yugoslavia, the
government of the patriot Avni Rustemi introduced democracy led by Fan S. Noli. But
the government of F. Noli was not that clean although it was promising to bring
democracy. When Noli was the right hand of the parliament he caused an incident in
the area [of Himarë/Himara] and suppressed democracy what gradually led to the fall
of his government. One of these incidents was caused by the legal authorities Azis
Çami and Qazim Koculli who were the commandants of the Vlorë region (Rusha
2001: 123, translations mine).
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