National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

Sami Frashëri: Albania, what it was, what it is and what it will be?

SAMI FRASHËRI: ALBANIA, WHAT IT WAS, WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT WILL BE? Title: Shqipëria ç’ka qënë, ç’është e ç’do të bëhet? Mendime për shpëtimt të mëmëdheut nga rreziket që e kanë rrethuarë (Albania, what it was, what it is and what it will be? Thoughts on saving the motherland from the perils that beset it) Originally published: Bucharest, Shoqëria ‘Dituria’ (‘Knowledge’ Society), 1899 Language: Albanian The edition used is Shqipëria ç’ka qënë, ç’është e ç’do të bëhet (Albania, what it was, what it is and what it will be), (Tirana: Sh. B. Luarasi, 1993), p. 96. About the author Sami Bey Frashëri (Şemseddin Sami) [1850, Frashër (Southeast Albania) – 1904, Istanbul]: linguist, lexicographer, novelist and playwright. The multifarous Ottoman/Albanian intellectual was born in the village of Frashër, then in the province of Yanya (Gr. Jannina, Alb. Janina). He is the brother of Abdyl (Abdül) Bey (politician) and Naim Bey (poet), two important names in the formation of the Albanian nationalist movement. In 1868, Sami was sent to Zossimea, a Greek gymnasium in Jannina, where he learned ancient and modern Greek, French and Italian. He also acquired fluency in Arabic and Persian by taking private lessons. In 1871, he moved to Istanbul and started working in the Government Press Office as a translator. In 1876, he started publishing the Sabah (Morning), one of the most prominent newspapers of the period. In 1872, he authored one of the earliest novels in the Ottoman Turkish language, the Ta‛aşşuk-ı Tal‛at ve Fıtnat [The love affair of Tal‛at and Fıtnat ], where traditional male-female relationships in Ottoman Muslim society are addressed critically. At the same time, Sami deserves to be called the most important ideologue of the Albanian nationalist movement. Between 1877 and 1881, along with his brother, Abdyl, and other Albanian-born members of the Ottoman elite, he actively participated in the founding of various Albanian cultural clubs and organizations that promoted the rise of national consciousness among Albanians. He was among the founders and an active member of the Komiteti Shqiptar i Stambollit (The Albanian Committee of Istanbul) and also the founder in chief of Shoqëria e të Shtypurit Shkronja Shqip (The Albanian Printing Association). It was through his inspiration that a new Albanian alphabet was prepared on the basis of Latin and Greek scripts. Sami was indisputably the most competent Ottoman scholar using the Turk- 298 THE NATIONALIZATION OF SPACE ish language. His Turkish Lexicon (Kamus-ı Türki), still a standard reference for studies involving Ottoman Turkish, was a monumental achievement for its time with its technical rigor and its careful deployment of modern linguistic protocols. A vocal advocate of simplification in language, Sami Bey contributed tremendously to the development of a modern, more vernacular form of academic and literary expression in Turkish. Interestingly, due to his diverse intellectual output and multiple cultural /political allegiances as an “Ottoman Albanian,” Şemseddin Sami is venerated as a significant national figure both in Albania and in Republican Turkey. Sami Bey’s multiple ‘national’ persona is sufficient proof to the complex realities of a multicultural empire imperiled by the ordeals of mounting nationalism. Main works: Ta‛aşşuk-ı Tal‛at ve Fıtnat [The love affair of Tal‛at and Fıtnat] (1872); Besa Yahud Ahde Vefa [Pledge of honor, or loyalty to an oath] (1874); Kamus -ı Fransevi/Dictionnaire Français-Turc (1882); Kamus-ı Fransevi/Dictionnaire Turc-Français (1885); Abetare e gjuhës shqipe [Primer of the Albanian language] (1886); Shkronjëtore e gjuhës shqipe [A grammar of the Albanian language], (1886); Kamusü’l-A‛lam/Dictionnaire universel d’histoire et de geographie [Universal dictionary of history and geography] (1889–1896); Shqipëria ç’ka qënë, ç’është e ç’do të bëhët [Albania, what it was, what it is and what it will be?] (1899); Kamus-ı Türki [Turkish Lexicon] (1900). Context The last decade of the nineteenth century was a relatively calm period in the southwest regions of the Balkans. For Albanian activists, though, it was a period of intense agitation. With the opening of the first schools which offered education in Albanian (the first one was established in Korça in 1887), greater efforts were dedicated to education. The Albanian diaspora in Bucharest undertook the important task of supporting these schools materially but also providing a large range of publications. After the founding of Shoqëria...