Essad Toptani

Essad Pasha Toptani (1863/1875 – 13 June 1920) was an Albanian politician who served as the third prime minister of Albania from 1914 to 1916. He previously established the Republic of Central Albania based in Durrës. An Ottoman army officer, he served as the Albanian deputy in the Ottoman Parliament and later cooperated with the Balkan League after the Balkan Wars.<ref name="Bataković">Serbian government and Essad Pasha Toptani</ref><ref name="Elsie">Robert Elsie, Essad Pasha Toptani Template:Webarchive</ref>

Biography

Early life

File:Delegation to Abdul Hamid II.jpg

Delegation of the Ottoman Parliament to Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Left to right: Rear Admiral Arif Hikmet Pasha, Emanuel Karasu Efendi, Essad Pasha Toptani, Aram Efendi and Colonel Galip Bey (Pasiner), April 1909.

Essad Toptani was born in 1863 in Tirana, Ottoman Empire (modern Republic of Albania), the son of Ali Toptani and Vasfije Alizoti.<ref name=ER>Template:Cite book</ref> He was a member of the Toptani family, a prominent landowning Albanian noble family who helped found the current city of Tirana.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From his mother's side of the family, he was first cousins with Aqif Pasha Biçakçiu as both their mothers were sisters. During Ottoman rule, Toptani served as a kaymakam and had command of the gendarmerie in Tirana.Template:Sfn In 1908 Janina, he joined the Young Turks and the Ottoman parliament.<ref name=ER /><ref name="Skendi361">Template:Cite book</ref> In the aftermath of the 31 March incident, on 27 April 1909 four CUP members went to inform Sultan Abdul Hamid II (Template:Reign) of his dethronement, with Toptani being the main messenger saying "the nation has deposed you".Template:Sfn As a result, the focus of the sultan's rage was toward Toptani whom Abdul Hamid II felt had betrayed him.Template:Sfn The sultan referred to him as a "wicked man", given that the extended Toptani family had benefited from royal patronage in gaining privileges and key positions in the Ottoman government.Template:Sfn

First Balkan War

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Toptani surrendering Shkodra to Montenegrins

In 1912 during the Albanian revolt and aftermath of the Ottoman parliamentary elections, parliamentarians Toptani and Syrja Vlora represented the Albanian side in a parliamentary discussion with the Young Turks.Template:Sfn Both called for the cessation of government force and implementation of good governance to alleviate the situation in Albanian lands.<ref name="Gawrych193">Template:Cite book</ref> Amidst the Albanian Revolt of 1912 Toptani obliged himself to organize the uprising in Central Albania and Mirdita.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On 30 January 1913, Hasan Riza Pasha, commander of Shkodër, was ambushed and killed by unknown men disguised as women,<ref name="IIkonomi">Template:Cite book</ref> thought to be Osman Bali and Mehmet Kavaja,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> two Albanian officers of Toptani.<ref name="IIkonomi" /> Riza Pasha wanted to keep up the defense of the besieged city, and after his death Toptani continued his resistance until April 1913. He turned the fortress of Shkodër over to Montenegro, only in April 1913 after a prolonged war and great heroism of Albanian and Turkish soldiers.

In July 1913, he was persuaded by the Vlora family to accept a position of minister of the interior in the provisional government.

Peasant Revolt

Toptani led a faction of his own in the Peasant Revolt against Prince Wilhelm.

On 19 May 1914, when Toptani refused to lay down his weapons, armed forces under Dutch gendarmerie officer Johan Sluys surrounded and shelled his house in Durrës, forcing him to surrender. He was arrested for conspiracy, though after consultations with Wilhelm, he was not court-martialled but sent to Bari in southern Italy and banned from returning to Albania.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Exile and the Treaty of Niš

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Toptani in Salonika

After the outbreak of the First World War, Toptani travelled to Niš, Kingdom of Serbia, where he and Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić signed the secret Treaty of Niš on 17 September 1914.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> With Italian and Serbian financial backing, he established armed forces, Toptani invaded Dibër on 20 September, and by 3 October 1914 he had taken Durrës without a fight. Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić ordered that his followers be aided with money and arms.<ref name="Bataković" />

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Toptani in London

Toptani's rule was not stable because of the First World War. At the end of 1914, Essad secretly agreed with the Greek government to support the annexation of the southern provinces, known to Greeks as Northern Epirus, to the Kingdom of Greece.<ref>George B. Leon. Greece and the First World War: From Neutrality to Intervention, 1917–1918. East European Monographs, 1990, Template:ISBN, p. 358: "In return, Essad reconfirmed a promise he had made in the fall of 1914 to support Greece's annexation of North Epirus. However, while he was willing to come to a secret agreement with the Greek government on this question, he indicated that in order to be able to counterbalance the weight of the common adversary, that is Italy, and to stabilize his influence in Albania he could not recognize publicly Greece's claim."</ref> During the Serbian army’s retreat through Albania in 1915, troops under Toptani's command gave support and protection to the Serbian column where possible.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Death

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Avni Rustemi

On 13 June 1920, Avni Rustemi shot and killed Toptani in Paris when he left the Hotel Continental. Toptani was buried in the Serbian Military section of the Thiais cemetery in Paris,<ref name="Ikonomi 2016 page=523">Template:Harvnb.</ref><ref name="Elsie" /> after staying for a long time unburied in the mortuary.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Legacy

Awards

For his service in the Greco-Turkish War (1897), the High Porte awarded him with the Order of Osmanieh of 2nd Class and afterwards he was ranked Miralay.<ref name=":3">Template:Harvnb</ref> Furthermore, for his contribution in the Macedonian front as an ally of the Entente, he was awarded with the title Officier of the Legion of Honour and with the Croix de Guerre.<ref name="Ikonomi 2016 page=523"/> He was awarded Order of the White Eagle.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Historical

Edith Durham described Toptani as "a strange relic of the middle ages ... one with the handsome swashbucklers who sold themselves and their services to the rival monarchs, princelings and dukes in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and cheerfully transferred themselves to the enemy if he offered better pay – men in whom the sense of nationality was not developed at all, and whose sense of honor was, to put it mildly, deficient."

Perception

Toptani is remembered among Albanians as one of the most negative historical figures and the symbol of treason.<ref name= "BotaSot">Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Zëri">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2014, the Serbian Minister of Labor, Aleksandar Vulin paid homage at his grave, for his contributions to Serbia.<ref name="Express">Template:Cite web</ref>

In popular culture

Template:Interlanguage link is a drama by Sheri Mita, Pëllumb Kulla with the subject of Essad Toptani murder in Paris and trial of Avni Rustemi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Patrice Najbor, Histoire de l'Albanie et de sa Maison Royale (5 volumes), JePublie, Paris, 2008, (Template:ISBN).
• Patrice Najbor, la dynastye des Zogu, Textes & Prétextes, Paris, 2002
• Biodata on Essad Pasha by O.S. Pearson, who authored Albania and King Zog (Template:ISBN), 2005.Template:Dead link

External links

• Essad Pasha Toptani, Memorandum on Albania, 1919
• Template:Cite EB1922
• Template:In lang Maison royale d'Albanie, site officiel
• Template:In lang Famille royale d'Albanie, site officiel
• Template:PM20