June 10, 1878 marks the 144th anniversary of the League of Prizren, held on this day 1878, an organization rare in its kind that made possible the establishmet of a new approach in Albanian politics of the time. 

This is also one of the most organized national political gatherings  after the creation and the establishment of the Assembly of Lezha in March 1444, under the organization of Gjergj Kastriot Skënderbeu and the leaders of the principalities, respectively the Albanian princes in the 15th century.

The Albanian League of Prizren  is the most important Albanian national gathering in modern time history of Albania.

The Istanbul Committee established by the elite of the time, in 1877, with the aim of liberating and preserving the Albanian territories from Slavic and Greek hegemony, after the Turkish Empire after Tanzimat (1848) and the Russo-Turkish wars in 1875/76, was rapidly being hit and shaken by the so-called “Eastern Crisis”, the Albanians who operated and worked within the Empire , in time sensed the danger of fragmentation of their lands, therefore, they quickly established the “Rescue Committee” of ethnic lands.

The Istanbul Committee consisted of a gathering of the nation’s most prominent intellectuals during the time of Eastern crisis, namely Pashko Vasa, Jani vreto, Ymer Prizreni, Zia Prishtina, Sami Frashëri, Ahmet Korenica, Mihal Harito, Iljaz Dibra, Mehmet Ali Vrioni, Seid Toptani, Mustafa Nuri Vlora, Mon Tahiri etc. These intellectuals will be joined by the prominent ideologue and patriot of the famous Frashëri family, Abdyl bej Frashëri.

The Albanian League of Prizren had a nationwide character, while Prizren was not chosen by chance as the capital and headquarters, in which the Albanian National Assembly was held on June 10, 1878.

The delegates who attended the General Assembly had a complete unity of opinion on the main issue of the day; all were determined to oppose at all costs the partition of Albanian lands, to protect the territorial integrity of Albania.

The same opinion was expressed by the delegates belonging to the patriotic circles for the character and political program of the organization, which would be established by the Assembly. They insisted that the Assembly, as envisaged by them, form an Albanian League of national character.

On the first day of the Assembly, delegates from all political groups took the floor. From the speeches that were held on this day, only a fragment of the speech of Abdyl Frashëri, chairman of the Istanbul Committee and delegate of Toskëria, of the vilayet of Ioannina, is preserved.

Defending the patriotic platform of the national movement, he called on all Albanian provinces to unite as a single body to protect the entire homeland from the danger of annihilation. Abdyl Frasheri, among other things, said: “The purpose of the Assembly is to wait for the rush of the heartless enemies, by binding the Albanian faith and swearing to protect with blood the lands left to us by our grandparents and great-grandfathers.”

The delegates of the patriotic group had to face in the Assembly both the harmful attitudes of the pro-Turkish circles and the Ottoman government authorities, represented by the Turkish mayor of Prizren, Qamil Bey, who was present at the rally. They tried to prevent the unification of Albanians into a national union.

However, the Prizren Assembly fulfilled its historic national mission. Its most important act was the decision to establish an organization of a political and military character, of a League with a single governing center and its branches in all the provinces of the country, which would undertake the task of defending by all means the interests of Albania.

On the same day, the National Assembly approved the text of a protest, addressed to the Congress of Berlin, through which the voice was raised against the secession of the Albanian provinces in favor of the neighboring states. According to tradition, along with the formation of the League, a general trust was announced, according to which all acts of blood feuds between the inhabitants of the provinces that were represented in the Assembly of Prizren had to cease immediately.

The decision of the Assembly of Prizren to establish the League was a great victory of the Albanian National Movement, as it dealt the first and powerful blow to Istanbul’s efforts to clothe the League with an Islamic character and lay the foundations of a national organization which, from its first day, had a patriotic character.

Immediately after the establishment of the League its higher bodies were formed. At the head of the League was the General Council with legislative functions and based in Prizren, on which the provincial branches would depend, while Iljaz Pasha Dibra was elected chairman.

The creation of the high bodies of the League of Prizren and their equipping with power functions was another victory that the patriotic forces reaped, as through them the foundations were laid for the creation in Albania of a power separate from that of the Empire. This victory was reinforced by the appointment at the head of high bodies of personalities who militated in the Istanbul Committee, Abdyl Frashëri and Sulejman Vokshi, or who belonged to moderate circles, Iljaz pasha Dibra and Haxhi Shaban Prizreni. For the complete victory of the patriotic wing there was no other step left but to equip the covenant with a statute or canon, as it was called at the time, built on the renaissance platform.