FLASH NEWS
The unknown book of Ismail Qemali
2024-12-05 18:27:30 / JETË
By Evarist Beqiri
The book with "Memories" of Ismail Qemal Bey Vlora, was published in the form of an autobiography edited by the journalist Sommerville Story, and with a foreword by the American journalist and author William Morton Fullerton under the title "The memoirs of Ismail Kemal Bey". That is, the fact that Ismail Qemali is the only prominent figure of the Ottoman Empire, whose memoirs were first published in English.
They were published by the publishing house "Constable and Company Ltd.", in London in 1920, just one year after his death. In the preface, Fullerton states that, during the period of writing in 1917-1918, Ismail Qemali was faced with often serious personal problems and other more serious problems related to patriotic problems for the future of the Albanian Motherland. And precisely as a result of the death of Ismail Qemali, the last part of these memories, which was related to Albania, remained unfinished. In Albanian, his memoirs would first be published in 1968, in Toronto, Canada, translated by the Vlonjat patriot Reshat Agaj. Later, the book would be reprinted in Albanian and translated into Italian and Turkish.
In his memoirs, Ismail Qemal bey Vlora speaks with admirable truthfulness about many important events of the world politics of the time. There, the Ottoman world and the role of Albanians within it are reflected with a special clarity. An extraordinary find from an artistic point of view is the illustration of the complicated relationship between the Albanian and Ottoman chieftains, with the beautiful metaphor of people living near a volcanic mountain; and who are forced to live with his occasional outbursts.
This artistically striking allegory seems to have strongly affected even a genius artistic mind like that of Kadare. Therefore, it was not for nothing that the allegory would be brought back again by the genius of Albanian letters, Ismail Kadare, in the years of the dictatorship in his work "Palace of Dreams", to hit again the dictatorial systems that aim at the absolute control of human minds. With the only difference that the name of Vloraje would be replaced with that of Kyprillinje, as more distant in time...
But this is not the only book written by Ismail Qemali. The next book written by him reveals his outstanding skills as a publicist and intellectual of high caliber. It is a handbook on international relations of the time. In the introduction to the book, Ismail Qemali states that he was not writing his autobiography, but was simply explaining the reasons for his voluntary political asylum. This book is completely unknown to Albanians. It was published in 1900 in Ottoman and was translated into French, English and Arabic in 1901.
The translation into these languages speaks of the importance this publication had at that time. The importance of this publication is also emphasized in the letter dated May 2, 1900, that the British ambassador in Constantinople, Sir Nicholas R. O'Conor, sends to the Prime Minister and at the same time the British Foreign Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury ). The letter is part of the fascicle of the British archives for Ismail Qemali, which we have recently revealed to the Albanian public.
An abridged English version of this book was published in one of the most influential British periodicals of the time, "The Fortnightly Review". The book is another proof of Ismail Qemali's visionary leadership and intellectual, political and diplomatic capacities. It is a genuine political treatise and a guide to international relations. One of the motives for publishing the book entitled "The Transvaal Issue or the Civilizing Role of Great Britain in the Muslim Perspective", is to highlight the role of Great Britain as the largest liberal democracy of the time and its civilizing role in the world.
Meanwhile, Ismail Qemali's other goal in writing the book is related to gaining British support for the Albanian cause. Albanians were the only nation in the Balkans without support from any of the Great Powers in their efforts for freedom. Only after a decade from the writing of this book, the Independence of Albania would be proclaimed by Ismail Qemal Vlora...
The times are not so distant that they do not speak to us with wise advice for our present and future, even more so when it comes to one of the brightest figures not only in Albania, but in the entire international arena. Because as a wise man once wrote: "God does not create great people for the needs of one time and one people, but for the needs of all peoples and all times."
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