FLASH NEWS
Myths and lies about the relationship between Albanians and the Empire
2025-11-28 19:33:01 / IDE
From the late 14th century until 1912, the vast majority of Albanian lands were an organic part of the Ottoman Empire, known in Ottoman documents as Arnavutluq.
Around 1430, the Albanian geographical area was divided between the Venetian sphere in the North and direct Ottoman control in the South, a control that was later expanded. After the death of Skanderbeg and the fall of Shkodra in 1479, organized resistance ended, leading to the full integration of the territories into the Ottoman system.
Albanians were not simply "ruled" during these five centuries. They were an active part of the imperial apparatus: officers, janissaries, pashas, grand viziers, up to dynasties of Albanian origin such as the Qyprilli family or Mehmet Ali Pasha, founder of modern Egypt, who created a 150-year-old dynasty. Many dozens of grand viziers were of Albanian origin. (You were not members of the Empire, but its rulers were warned by Eqerem Bey Vlora, the Ottoman Interior Minister in 1908). This created an imbalance: Albanians were overrepresented in the Ottoman elite, while their territory remained on the edge of the Empire and undeveloped.
Myth 1. The barbaric Ottomans
The historiography of the communist period presented the Ottoman conquest as a savage military act, without any local implications or "game". For communism we only have "Ottomans falling from the sky". Contemporary studies challenge this narrative: many Balkan princes, including Albanians, invited Ottoman troops as allies in their dynastic and local conflicts. The classic case of opening the back door is the Battle of Savra in 1385, where the Ottomans entered as allies of one Albanian side against the other.
Local elites often retained their holdings by integrating into the Ottoman timar system. The conquest was real, but it was not a "black and white" story (100% victims versus 100% barbarians), but a process of calculations, interests, alliances, and betrayals.
Myth 2. Unrelenting resistance
The version taught in schools promotes the idea of a continuous national resistance from Skanderbeg until 1912. (400 uprisings in 500 years). In fact, after 1479, there were about three centuries where Albanian elites were largely part of the Ottoman system. The later rebellions (Pashas, Ali Pasha, Bushatllinjtë) were struggles for power, taxes and privileges, and not "national" uprisings in the modern sense.
Myth 3: Islamization came by the sword
Narrativa komuniste theksonte se feja "na u ndërrua me zjarr e hekur": Historianët bashkëkohorë (Oliver Jens Schmitt, Noel Malcolm, Nathalie Clayer) argumentojnë se Islamizimi zgjati rreth 4-5 shekuj.
Konvertimi nisi shpesh nga lart-poshtë, kryesisht te elitat që synonin ruajtjen e pasurisë dhe bërjen e karrierës ushtarake ose administrative. Për shumëkënd, ishte një akt politik besnikërie, jo përjetim mistik.
Feja Islame shërbente edhe si shenjë statusi, pasi vetëm myslimanët gëzonin paketën e plotë të të drejtave politike. Edhe pse pati presion dhe diskriminim ndaj të krishterëve, tabloja është shumë më komplekse.
Miti 4: Shqiptarët vetëm vuajtën
Në versionin komunist shqiptarët janë vetëm viktima.
Në fakt nga shek. XVII e më tej, shumica e garnizoneve osmane në disa pika kyçe perandorie kishin kontingjent të madh shqiptar, deri te mbrojtja e Budës në 1688 ku burimet europiane theksojnë se mbrojtësit myslimanë ishin kryesisht shqiptarë.
Dhjetëra vezirë të mëdhenj dhe pashallarë të fuqishëm janë me origjinë shqiptare
Si individë shqiptarët kanë përfituar nga "kullotat e pafundme të perandorisë" siç i thoshte me 1908 ministri i Brendshëm Eqerem Bej Vlorës.
Miti 5: Shqiptarët më të shtypurit
Ne jemi më të varfërit se grekët, serbët etj sepse ishim "halë në sy" për osmanet.
Studimet flasin ndryshe: prapambetja erdhi sepse pjesa më e madhe e trojeve shqiptare ishte zonë malore, e vështirë për t’u integruar në qendrat tregtare. Perandoria investonte atje ku kishte interes ekonomik dhe ushtarak (p.sh., Selaniku, Vojvodina)
Elitat shqiptare bënin karrierë në qendra si Stambolli, Kajro apo Siria, dhe jo domosdoshmërisht kanalizonin burimet në qytetet e origjinës.Nuk është se ne "hëngrëm më shumë dajak" se popujt e tjerë, por raporti elitë-territor ishte i deformuar:
Miti 6: Shqipëria e gjitha myslimane
Ideologjia komuniste e trajtoi Islamin thuajse si "fe shtetërore osmane të shqiptarëve". Deri në shekullin XIX ekzistonte një mozaik: Veriu dypalësh (katolikë/myslimanë), Qendra/Lindja me shumicë sunite, Jugu tri-fetar (ortodoksë/myslimanë/bektashinj).
Shqiptarët nuk kanë qenë as "komb mysliman", as "komb martir i krishterë". Ky mozaik u kthye në forcë të nacionalizmit, kur Rilindasit ndërtuan me sukses identitetin mbi gjuhën: "Feja e shqiptarit është shqiptaria." (Pashko Vasa).
Miti 7: Identiteti kombëtar i pastër që nga Mesjeta
Komunizmi hoqi një vijë të drejtë: nga ilirët te Skënderbeu, te Rilindja, te Partia Komuniste.
Ndërkohë, sipas shumë studiuesve ne shekujt. XVI–XVIII: shumë shqiptarë identifikohen më fort me fenë, fshatin, klanin, rrethin e pashait se me "kombin" në kuptimin modern.
Vetë emërtimi shqiptar dhe Shqipëri që zëvendësoi Arbër / Arbëri erdhi relativisht vonë.
Elitë e pasur, Shqipëri e varfër
The empire was designed to feed the military and bureaucratic machinery, not to develop the peripheries. Careers were made in Istanbul, Cairo, or Thessaloniki. Albanian elites were "Ottomanically globalized" (giving the "Great Besa to the Empire") and rarely returned to invest in their "small country of origin" ("the Little Besa") as Sami Frashëri wrote. Combined with the mountainous terrain and the breakdown of Venetian trade ties, these factors left Albania on the economic periphery.
Finally,
Albania emerged last from the Empire for several reasons:
Lack of a national religious institution: Greece and Serbia had the Orthodox Churches as instruments of nationalism. Albanians, divided into three religions, did not have such an institution.
Part of the Muslim elite enjoyed a privileged status in the Ottoman system and had no reason to wait for "the branch where it sat".
The Declaration of Independence was postponed to the last moment, when the fragmentation of the Empire and the geopolitical interests of the Great Powers (Italy and Austria-Hungary) made the Albanian project a means to prevent Serbia's expansion in the Adriatic.
Ultimately, Albania emerged last from the Empire because its elites were beneficiaries of the system and the national project was delayed.
Happening now...
Karmën nuk e ndalon dot Sali Berisha!
Nga Bato Kosova
ideas
"Topple" Edi Rama by lying to yourself...
Nga Patrik Sadikaj
Only accepting Berisha's truths will save the DP from final extinction!
Nga Neritan Vladi
top
TRENDING 
services
- POLICE129
- STREET POLICE126
- AMBULANCE112
- FIREFIGHTER128