The National History Museum commemorated today May 3, 1877, when the Janina Committee was founded. The aim of the committee was to protect the Albanian lands from the danger of fragmentation by the neighboring countries.

Albanians from the southern parts of the country were included in this nationalist organization under the leadership of Abdyl Frashëri. During the Eastern Crisis of the 1970s, the Committee of Janina presented a memorandum to the Porte, presenting the danger Albanians were in and the request for the unification of all Albanian lands in a single vilayet (Ottoman administrative unit).

The activity of the members of the Janina Committee was focused on two main directions. First, the organization of an Albanian uprising against the Ottoman state with the support of officers of Albanian origin who served in the Ottoman army and secondly, the leaders of the committee entered into talks with representatives of the Greek government to establish a common alliance. The Albanians aimed to achieve the formation of the independent Albanian state in alliance with the Greek state.

In July 1877, Abdyl Frashëri held secret talks in Janina with the representative of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Due to the excessive demands of the Greek representative towards the southern villages inhabited by Albanians and the opposition to the idea of forming an independent Albanian state, the bilateral talks did not reach any conclusion.

/a.p./