Mustafa Merlika-Kruja

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Mustafa Merlika-Kruja
16th Prime Minister of Albania
In office
December 4, 1941 – January 19, 1943
MonarchVictor Emmanuel III
Preceded byShefqet Vërlaci
Succeeded byEkrem Libohova
Personal details
BornMarch 15, 1887
Prime Minister
Signature

Mustafa Merlika-Kruja (March 15, 1887,

Italian occupation
from December 4, 1941, to January 19, 1943.

Early life

He was born Mustafa Asim Merlika, son of Mehmed. His family was

Yannina, before going to the today's Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University ("Mekteb-i Mülkiye") which he finished in 1910. According to Turkish author Çankaya, he studied at the local school in Elbasan, then in Mercan idadisi in Istanbul before entering the Mülkiye. There he learned Turkish and French.[3]

Ottoman and Albanian politics (1910–1924)

As a student in the Ottoman capital he joined the Revolutionary League ("Cemiyet-i İnkılabiye") against the autocracy of Sultan

Manastir Vilayet.[3]

After participating as a volunteer in Ottoman army during the Italo-Turkish War in 1912, he joined the Albanian Independence movement. Merlika-Kruja participated in the Assembly of Vlorë of 28 November 1912, and his name appears in the list of signatories of the Independence Act. In 1913 he joined the Ministry of Education and in 1914 became an adviser of the Ministry of Public Education.

In 1918 he participated in the

Myfid Libohova
to stop other delegates from north and south of the country even involving Italian militia.

In 1921 he was elected to the Albanian parliament where he belonged to a progressive trend, openly opposing

Ahmet Zogu's clan, and close with connections to the Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo which would be officially banned by Zogu later. In 1922, he was involved in a coup d'état attempt against the government of Xhafer Ypi together with the north-east Dibra clan of Cen Elezi and Elez Isufi, and had to temporarily flee from Albania to Yugoslavia. He was placed in an internment camp there. Kruja asked permission to visit Vienna for personal reasons and was granted temporary pass-out. He did not return to Yugoslavia, breaking his agreement and placing himself in the "black list" of the Yugoslav authorities. In 1924 he was appointed prefect by Noli
's government.

Exile

As an active participant of the June Revolution in 1924, he had to flee the country and moved to Zadar, Vienna, and later settled in Switzerland. There he joined the KONARE ("Revolutionary National Committee") established by Noli.[3] During these exile years, Kruja would be pro-Italian and prominent Zog opponent, keeping also ties with the "Bashkimi Kombëtar" ("National Union") organization and other exile personalities as Hasan Prishtina, Sejfi Vllamasi, Ali Këlcyra, Qazim Mulleti, Aziz Çami, Rexhep Mitrovica, etc.

World War II

On August 4, 1939, after the

communique of the Greek government in London (in exile) which stated that Britain and US would not recognize any border changes established by the Fascists, and that neighboring countries would have the right to claim parts of Albania at the end of the war.[5]

Following the

Axis occupation of Yugoslavia (in which Kosovo was occupied by Albania), the Albanian authorities under Mustafa Kruja forcibly expelled 70–100,000 Serb colonists who had usurped former Albanian farms and villages.[6] Fascist Italy colonized Kosovo and Macedonia with 70,000 Albanians, who carried out religious persecution in the form of damaging and confascating churches and monasteries, and exilement and murder of Orthodox priests.[7] In June 1942, he held a public speech in which he said that Serbs would be sent to concentration camps or killed.[8]

In the spring of 1944 he escaped by boat from Albania to Italy and from there to

Ahmed Zogu. After World War II he lived in France. During the last exile period he would join the political organization in exile created by Dr. Ismail Verlaci, Kapidan Gjon Markagjoni and Ndue Gjon Marku of which Albanian publicist and writer Ernest Koliqi (1903–1975) was a member.[3] This organization was named "Independent National Bloc" and was formed on 6 November 1946, in Rome. The last years of his life were spent in the United States where he died in a hospital in Niagara Falls, New York.[9]

Work

During his life, Kruja would write articles to many Albanian journal within and outside Albania, including Il Corriere delle Puglie (1914), Albanian newspaper of Rome Kuvendi ("The Assembly") (1918), and Mbrojtja Kombëtare ("The national defense") published in

Vlora between 1920 and 1923. Since after World War I he worked on a voluminous dictionary of Albanian language. He continued with intellectual studies till the end of life, some of them published in periodicals and books, and some of them being published lately by his descendant after the fall of communism in Albania.[3]

References

  1. ^ "From Italian senate website a page to Merlika-Kruja". Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
  2. ISBN 978-3486543216
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0415665445
    .
  4. OCLC 37228559, archived from the original
    on February 2, 2014, Për ta vënë në jetë projektin e tyre, ata e ftojnë Abdyl Ypin në mbrëmjen e 16 janarit 1920, në shkollë, në Durrës, për një bisedim. Abdyl Ypi, pa të keq, shkon në shkollë në orën e caktuar. Salih Xhuka bën manevra të ndërlikuara në hapjen e derës së shkollës dhe po në atë çast Ypi vritet prej Sul Mërlikës, kushëririt të parë të Mustafa Krujës...
    Fejzi Alizoti, në telegramin që i bëri Rexhep Shalës, prefekt i Shkodrës në Lezhë, i shkruante që të merrte masat e nevojëshme për moskalimin e delegatëve të Veriut për Lushnjë, dhe shtonte duke thënë se edhe Abdyl Ypi u vra…
    Mustafa Kruja në Durrës e bindi Hysni Currin, i cili ka patur një karakter të lëkundshëm, që të shkojë në Krujë në vend që të shkonte në Lushnjë, ku ish deleguar...
    Mustafa Kruja shkon në Krujë dhe urdhëron H. Berberin të mos shkojë ne Lushnjë mbasi Italia, simbas mendimit të tij, qenka e vetmja fuqi që e ndihmon Shqipërinë. Hysni Berberi e kundërshton dhe niset për Lushnjë, por Mustafa Kruja ia pret rrugën dhe me forcën e armëve e ndalon të shkojë...
    Myfit Libohova shkoi në Vlorë dhe, në bazë të marrëveshjes së fshehtë të Qeverisë së Durrësit me Komandën e Përgjithëshme Italiane në Shqipëri, mundohet ta bindë gjeneral Piaçentinin të merrte masa ushtarake kundër Kongresit të Lushnjës...
  5. ISBN 978-1845110147
    . Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  6. ISBN 978-1-135-27482-5
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-4725-0480-7
    .
  8. ISBN 9783851293296
    .:

    We should endeavor to ensure that the Serb population of Kosovo should be removed as soon as possible ... All indigenous Serbs who have been living here for centuries should be termed colonialists and as such, via the Albanian and Italian governments, should be sent to concentration camps in Albania. Serbian settlers should be killed.

  9. ISBN 9781845111052
    .
Political offices
Preceded by
Shefqet Bej Vërlaci
 Prime Minister of Albania
1941-1943 		Succeeded by
Eqrem Bej Libohova


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