League of Prizren

The League for the Defense of the Rights of the Albanian Nation commonly known as the League of Prizren (Albanian: Lidhja e Prizrenit) was an Albanian political organization founded on 10 June 1878 in Prizren, in the Kosovo province (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire.

The treaties of San Stefano and Berlin both assigned areas that were also inhabited by Albanians to other states. The inability of the Porte to protect the interests of a region that was 70% Muslim and largely loyal forced the Albanian leaders not only to organize their defense, but also to create an autonomous administration, like those Serbia and the other Danubian Principalities had enjoyed before their independence. The League initiated a program of reform along five political grounds: the defense of the claimed lands from the designs of Serbia, Montenegro and Greece; the creation of a single or supra province in the Empire that combined the vilayets of Kosovo, Monastir, Yannina and Scutari; military service confined to Albania in normal times; the establishment of national schools to develop national education in Albanian with a Latin alphabet; and also some control over provincial finances. Prominent figures included Abdyl Frasheri, Sami Frashëri, Pashko Vasa, Ali Beg Shabanagaj and some 80 other delegates that included clan chiefs and religious clergymen.

The league successfully lobbied against the annexation of Ottoman lands by Serbia (which claimed Kosovo) and Montenegro (which claimed Scutari). Greece, for her part, claimed the rich and important vilayet of Yannina, known today as Epirus. Although in the end the three aforementioned states did annex the disputed lands after their successes in the First Balkan War of 1912-1913, the league did succeed in awakening the Albanian national consciousness. In addition to the League of Prizren's activity, the work of the founders of the League such as that of Sami Frasheri was also important for creation of the Rilindja Kombetare. His plays such as Besa Yahud Ahde Vefta, played to Ottoman audiences and his encyclopedia written in Turkish and dedicated to the general history of the world but with specific references to Albanians raised awareness of the contribution Albanians had made to the Ottoman Empire. In addition the distribution of petitions to cities such as London, Paris and Berlin by the League also raised awareness around Europe that the Albanians of the Ottoman Empire were nationally aroused and active, in the position of claiming independence from the crumbling Ottoman giant. The League was disestablished in 1881, and partially reorganized, but unsuccessfully.