TIRANA, November 14 – On November 14, 1908, delegates opened the Congress of Manastir, also known as the Alphabet Congress, in Manastir (present-day Bitola in North Macedonia). They aimed to create a unified alphabet and launch pan-Albanian literature.

The congress gathered 150 delegates from across Albania and Albanian communities in Romania, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, the United States, and other countries.

Mit’hat Frashëri, the son of Abdyl Frashëri, chaired the congress. At that time, he edited two magazines in Thessaloniki, Liria [The Freedom] and Dituria [The Knowledge]. Parashqevi Qiriazi, a teacher at the Girls’ School in Korça, served as the committee secretary.

Grigori Cilka from Korça acted as vice chairman. Eleven additional members joined the leadership team. Delegates represented all Albanian religious communities, including Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants. They brought intellectual expertise and united around a major national goal.

During the congress, Catholic priest Gjergj Fishta delivered a speech that moved all participants. A cleric publicly embraced him to show solidarity. Fishta urged delegates to write the Albanian language using the Latin alphabet, not Arabic or Greek letters.

The delegates voted unanimously to abandon the Istanbul alphabet. They decided to write Albanian with a 36-letter Latin alphabet, which people still use today.

Moreover, the congress scheduled a second meeting in Janina two years later. Delegates planned to address orthographic and literary issues and to merge the Gheg and Tosk dialects into a unified Albanian language.

The congress also established the Albanian Printing House in Manastir under the leadership of Gjergj Qiriazi. The printing house quickly gained a reputation nationwide as a distributor of Albanian books and newspapers.

Ndre Mjeda, a scholar, poet, and patriot from Shkodër, actively participated in the congress. The congress approved eight of his thirteen proposals. Although he lived in several countries and spoke 13 languages, he devoted himself entirely to the Albanian language.

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