Sami Frashëri
Sami Frashëri | |
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Mid’hat Frashëri (nephew) Mehdi Frashëri (nephew) | |
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Sami
Frashëri was one of the sons of an impoverished
Frashëri's message, however as declared in his book "Albania - What it was, what it is, and what will become of it" published in 1899, became the manifesto of the Rilindja Kombëtare. He discussed the prospects for a united, free and independent republic of Albania. In this way, beginning with a demand for autonomy and struggle for their own alphabet and education, Frashëri helped the Albanian National Movement develop its claim for independence. His lifetime goal, as that of many other members of the Albanian renaissance was the development and improvement of Albania's culture and eventual establishment of an independent country.
Life
Sami Frashëri was born in 1850 in the village of
Sami began his studies at the Bektashi tekke in Frashër.
In 1872 Sami and his brother Naim migrated to
Involvement in the Albanian national movement
The Besa yahut Ahde Vefa play
In Istanbul 1874 Frashëri wrote a play named Besâ yâhut Âhde Vefâ (Pledge of Honour or Loyalty to an Oath) in the Albanian language with themes based on an Albanian ethnicity, a bond to an ethnic based territory, ethno-cultural diversity as underlying Ottoman unity, honour, loyalty and self-sacrifice.[7] The play revolved around a betrothed girl kidnapped by a jealous villager that kills her father and whose mother vows revenge co-opting the culprit's father who gives his besa (pledge of honour) to help not knowing its his son, later killing him and himself ending with family reconciliation.[8] Frashëri's reasons for the play were to inform people about the morals, values, customs and traditions of Albanians whom he considered an important part of the empire and to create more local Ottoman theatre which he felt was dominated by foreign influences.[9] The play was intended to present Albanians in a positive light to Ottoman and Albanian audiences that involved mainly Armenians directing and acting in roles with smaller numbers of Turks during its stage run.[10] His play and its discussion of besa signified to more astute audiences the political implications of the concept and possible subversive connotations in future usage while it assisted Albanians in rallying militarily and politically around a national program.[11]
By 1901 his play was translated into Albanian by close friend Abdul Ypi and published in Sofia by Kristo Luarasi while it was part of the curriculum of the Albanian school in Korçë until its closure in 1902.[12] The themes of the play highlighting a besa for the self-sacrifice of the homeland carried a subversive message for Albanians to aim at unifying the nation and defending the homeland, something Ottoman authorities also saw as fostering nationalist sentiments.[12] The Ottoman government placed the Albanian language version of the play on a list of books it deemed that "incite national sentiments of the Albanians" and during the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 there were reports of Albanian guerillas acting out scenes around campfires.[12] Frashëri's play would not appear in theatres until the aftermath of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution when performances continued for a full three years and during 1911-1912.[13]
League of Prizren period
The Albanian Unionist Committee... has decided to erect a barrier against the penetration of Slavism and Greekism into Albania.
— Sami Frashëri, 1878, [14]
During the
Amidst this time Frashëri worked for the Ottoman newspaper Tercüman-ı Hakikat and he reported coverage on the geopolitical situation and events in Albania.[21] In an article published on 24 December 1878 about the Albanian question, he expressed that Albania was his special vatan (homeland) and he felt connected to the wider Ottoman motherland stressing that Albanians were loyal to the empire and ready to defend it.[22] He referred to two threats facing Albanians, one military due to irredentist claims of neighbouring powers on Albanian inhabited land and the other was cultural where Slavs and Greeks had established schools that used their languages in Albanian areas.[22] The solution for him was the unification of Albania into one vilayet (province) that could establish an effective resistance force.[22] Frashëri continued to write a series of articles expanding his views by maintaining that Albanians wished to read and write in their language and those abilities he thought would allow Albanians protection from the influences of Hellenism and Slavism.[23]
By 2 January 1879 he developed his thoughts further and stressed that the
Frashëri also founded and headed in Istanbul the
Between Ottomanism, Albanianism and Turkism
The Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm encyclopedia
Between 1889 and 1899 Frashëri wrote a six-volume encyclopedia Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm written in Ottoman Turkish and was a scientific work of 4,380 pages.[29] He sought to provide information about the Islamic world on famous individuals, geography and countries, demography, history, cultures from around world and other topics that he felt was minimally covered in Western publications.[29] The encyclopedia had a focus on Turks, Arabs and in particular the Ottomans with Frashëri including detailed information for his readers on topics about Albania and Albanians.[30]
For example, one entry titled Arnavud (Albanian) was six pages and a total of eleven columns.[31] The detailed article presented Albanians as an ancient Balkan people, older than Greeks and Latins that preserved in the mountains their customs such as the besa, traditions, language and an identity.[32] The assertion aimed to present Albanians as legitimate members of the community of nations during an era of nationalism.[33] Frashëri included information on the Venetian period, Ottoman conquest, conversion to Islam, attainment of Ottoman privileges and highlighting sacrifice and service to the state as soldiers, bureaucrats, in commerce and industry by Albanians.[32] Skanderbeg, a fifteenth century warrior and his revolt against the Ottomans were described in a positive light as were the national and intellectual achievements of the Albanian diaspora in southern Italy.[34] Despite regional differences of Ghegs and Tosks, Frashëri emphasized the unity of Albanians as speaking the same language with small dialectal differences.[35] He stressed the importance of developing Albanian language education and literature as a way of resisting encroachment from others through for example Hellenisation and as such urged authorities to allow Albanian national development.[36] As with other entries on cities, towns, administrative units and others on Albanian topics Frashëri overall aimed in his encyclopedia to educate the general public about Albanians, to raise Albanian self-awareness and outline the geographical boundaries of Albania.[37] The concept of Albanianism was also subtly developed within his encyclopedia.[38]
In comparison, the article Türk was three pages and five columns which underfeatured the importance and role of Turks in the empire when compared to Albanians.[31] Tracing their history Frashëri described the Turks "as among Asia's biggest and most famous nations" numbering ten million and the Ottoman Empire as a "Turkish state".[31] Apart from the prominence of Turks and Turkish culture, Frashëri stressed the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Ottoman Empire in his encyclopedia.[31] That theme was embodied in the entry Ottoman a term Frashëri presented as originating from a great Turkish tribe with a change in meaning over time encompassing all Ottoman peoples and subjects, due to the Tanzimat reforms guided by a principle of equality.[39]
After being involved with the Albanian movement during the League of Prizren period Frashëri increasingly came under suspicion by the Ottoman government over a number of times.[40] In an investigation of 1890 into Frashëri by authorities, an acquaintance said that he and his brothers worked for eventual Albanian independence by first aiming to unite the Albanian inhabited vilayets into a unitary province within the empire.[40] Ottoman authorities did not act against him and he published a further four volumes of his encyclopedia with the last being in 1899 while continuing with public and private discourses on Albania and Albanians.[40] In 1896, the authors of the Ottoman government provincial almanac for Kosovo titled Kosova Salnamesi credited Frashëri and his encyclopedia as the source for most of their information.[41]
By 1899, a successor organisation to the Prizren League called League of Peja (Besa-Besë) had arisen and Frashëri again attempted to raise public discussion on Albania.[38] He organised an Albanian Committee in Istanbul that supported lower taxes and use of Albanian in government schools in the region.[38] These events saw his position with the state change rapidly and according to recollections by his children in later years a palace official had visited Frashëri at his home and restricted his movements while he was still employed by the government until his death.[38]
Political Treatise: Albania: What she has been, What she is, What she shall be
Albania cannot exist without the Albanians, the Albanians cannot exist without the Albanian language, and the latter cannot exist without its own alphabet and without schools.
— Sami Frashëri, excerpt from Albania, [42]
The aforementioned booklet Albania: What she has been, What she is, What she shall be was first published in
Declaring "I am an Albanian", his work derided identification of Muslim Albanians with Turks and Orthodox Albanians as
Contributions to Turkism
Frashëri was a significant contributor to the development of Turkism.[52] From the early 1880s he had an interest in the imperial Ottoman language as expressed in an article "The Ottoman Turkish Language" on 2 November 1881 where Frashëri argued that it was a Turkish language.[52] These views would appear in articles published during the 1890s where he advocated for the imperial Ottoman language to be simplified and replaced by spoken Turkish, with words and grammatical structures stemming from Arabic and Persian being removed.[52] Frashëri envisaged the emergence of a modern colloquial Turkish language from a disintegration of the imperial Ottoman language that would have benefit wider society.[52] Frashëri published an Ottoman Turkish dictionary Kâmûs-ı Türkî and in its first two volumes in 1899 he expressed in an introduction that Western Turkish or Ottoman was the same language as its Eastern Turkish counterpart or Cagatay.[52] The differences for him was that Western Turkish had absorbed Persian, Arabic, Italian and Greek words which Frashëri thought was unnecessary.[52] For him the dictionary was the wealth of a language and as other languages possessed their dictionaries Frashëri viewed Turkish as in need of its own dictionary to preserve unique linguistic attributes.[52] Embracing Turkish as "our language", Frashëri stuck to his Albanian heritage by affirming an Albanian identity and commitment to Albanianism in the dictionary.[52] In word entries on Albania and Albanians he included definitions on being Albanian such as the term Albanianism where an example of its use in an sentence was rendered as "He is not denying his Albanianism/Albanianess" (Arnavudluğunu inkur etmiyor).[52]
The choice of wording by Frashëri in labeling the language Turkish as opposed to Ottoman assisted to nurture a national identity among Turkish people.
Sami Frashëri also played a role in the later developing Turkish nationalist movement, by translating the works of European Turkology into Turkish and transmitting their Western ideas to Turk audiences.[54] These works would serve as a basis for an emerging Turkish identity, and the early Turkish nationalists were grateful for them.[54] He had close relationships with Turkish nationalist intellectuals Veled Çelebi (İzbudak) and Necip Asım (Yazıksız) and maintained friendships with the writers and publisher of the journal İkdam which contributed to the spread of cultural Turkism and promotion of nationalism within Turkey.[54]
Legacy
Frashëri died on 18 June 1904 aged 54[55] after a severe illness at his home in Erenköy, Istanbul. He left a number of unpublished manuscripts relating to Turkish studies.[56] Due to his endeavours and work within that field it has earned him a place within Ottoman intellectual history.[56] During his lifetime Frashëri admired European culture and its intellectual achievements while he sought respect and dignity for his Albanian background being himself loyal to the Ottoman Empire.[56] As an Ottoman, like many other Albanians he negotiated the daily reality of the multi-ethnic, linguistic and religious realities of his time appreciating and supporting the diversity of the state while also advocating for Albanianism.[57] He was devoted to both vatans (homelands), the wider Ottoman and his special Albanian one.[53] Frashëri moved socially and intellectually through various communities of Istanbul while having an appreciation of Islam and traditions originating from Arabs and the Ottoman sociopolitical and cultural systems.[58] Along with other Albanians, Albanianism with Ottomanism were seen as being compatible.[57]
As a cultural and political activist Frashëri however ran into trouble with the Ottoman government.[53] Over time he developed a disillusionment with the regime of sultan Abdul Hamid II and increasingly turned to Albanianism.[58] Being an Albanian Tosk he felt frustration with his fellow Albanian Ghegs and other conservative and traditionalist Albanians who he thought were more preoccupied with regional and local matters than with the national issues.[58] Frashëri did not want Albanians to be confused for Turks and he worked to foster the national identities of both ethnic groups.[53] At times tensions existed for him when the categories of Ottomanism and Albanianism and of Turk and Albanian were not in balance.[53] As scholar Francis Trix put it he was "an Ottoman reformer [who] could be both an Albanian patriot and, at the same time, a cultural Turk of the highest order".[59]
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Frashëri on Albanian stamp, 1950
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Frashëri on Albanian stamp, 1960
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Frashëri on Albanian stamp, 1979
After his death individuals and diverse groups both honoured and claimed him as theirs.[53] Among Turkish circles, the Young Turk newspaper Osmanlı published in Geneva described him in their full front-page obituary as a scholar and great humanitarian that "honored Ottomanism (Osmanlılık)."[53] Yusuf Akçura, an advocate of Turkism and contemporary of Frashëri considered him as a Turkish nationalist.[53] Albanians of the era regarded Frashëri as a patriot, while due to his contributions toward developing a national Albanian literature modern Albanian historians view him as an Albanian nationalist.[55] As the works of Frashëri contain nationalistic discourse, following his death they have retained the attention of the public during different time periods and governments in Albania and Turkey.[54] Within Turkish literary history Frashëri is revered as being a forefather of Turkish literature and a significant innovator for the Turkish language.[60] In Albanian collective memory he is cherished as a founding father of Albanian literature and as one of the rilindjas (national awakeners) of the Albanian nation.[60] An Ottoman historian Kemal Karpat summed up his complex identity as "Sami considered himself a 'Turk' because he was a member of the Ottoman state, and he saw no conflict between his Ottoman political identity and his Albanian ethnicity."[59]
The four surviving children of Frashëri remained in Turkey and due to their commitment to the republic Turkish authorities decided in the 1950s not to allow the remains of Sami to leave the country for Albania.
Nowadays, a lot of schools bear his name, i.e.
and so on.The Frashëri brothers have been commemorated in Albanian folk songs.[62]
Work
Sami is the author of around 50 works. Some of his most important writings are:
Novels
- Ta'aşşûk-ı Tal'at ve Fitnât (Albanian: Dashuria e Talatit me Fitneten -English: The Love Between Talat and Fitnat, 1873)
The story carries a sentimental subject of love between Talat and Fitnat. Generally, the novel consists of a combination of
Drama
- Besâ yâhut Âhde Vefâ (Albanian: "Besa ose Mbajtja e Fjalës" - English: Besa or The Given Word of Trust, 1874).
Is a melodrama aiming Besa as a subject, but in a very tragic situation; the father kills his son to keep the given word.
- Seydi Yahya (1875)
- Gâve (1876)
- Mezalim-i Endülûs (Never printed)
- Vicdân (Never printed)
Dictionaries and encyclopedical works
- Kâmûs-ı Fransevî (1882–1905, French-Turkish dictionary)
- Kâmûs-ı Fransevî (1885, French-Turkish dictionary)
- Küçük Kâmûs-ı Fransevî (1886, French-Turkish dictionary)
- Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm (6 volumes, 1889–1898, Encyclopedia of General Science, known to be the first Encyclopedia printed in Turkish)
- Kâmûs-ı 'Arabî (1898, Arabic-Turkish dictionary, unfinished)
- Kâmûs-ı Türkî (2 volumes, dictionary of the Classical Ottoman Turkish language, still widely used as a reference as of today, 1899–1900, reprints and facsimiles in 1978 and 1998) [1][2]
Scientific writings
Şemseddin Sami also did a series of scientific writings in Albanian such as Qielli (Sky), Toka (Earth), Njeriu (Human Being), Gjuha (Language), and many more.
Educational writings in Albanian
- Allfabetarja e Stambollit (Alphabet of Istanbul, 1879),
- Abetarja e Shkronjëtoreja (Grammatical Work, 1886).
Other
In
Language studies and linguistics
- Usûl-ü Tenkîd ve Tertîb (1886, Orthography of Turkish)
- Nev-usûl Sarf-ı Türkî (1891, Modern Turkish Grammar)
- Yeñi Usûl-ü Elifbâ-yı Türkî (1898, New Turkish Alphabetical System)
- Usûl-ü Cedîd-i Kavâ'id-i 'Arabiyye (1910, New Method for Learning Arabic)
- Tatbîkât-ı 'Arabiyye (1911, Exercises in Arabic)
Political work
- Shqipëria ç'ka qenë, ç'është e çdo të bëhetë (Albania - what it was, what it is and what it will be, 1899).
- Theoretical commentary that became Rilindja Kombëtare's manifesto.
- Theoretical commentary that became
Footnotes
- ^ Bozkurt Güvenç, Türk Kimliği, Kültür Bakanlığı, 1993, p. 32. (in Turkish)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Gawrych 2006, p. 13.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84511-031-4.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 13–14.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gawrych 2006, p. 14.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 15, 127.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 1–2, 8, 36–37.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 9–11.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 1–2, 8, 19–20, 164, 207.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 1, 12, 36–37, 164, 207.
- ^ a b c d e f Gawrych 2006, p. 88.
- ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, pp. 148–149.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 88, 164, 207.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 38.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, p. 44.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 59, 184.
- ^ Michael Kreutz. Modernismus und Europaidee in der Östlichen Mittelmeerwelt, 1821-1939. p. 166. "Der bekannte intellektuelle Vordenker Sami Frashëri setzte sich wie Jan Vreto (Ioannis Vretos) für das Griechisch e ein, mit der Begründung, dass Albaner wie Griechen beidermassen Abkömmlinge der Pelasger seien."
- ^ a b Skendi 1967, p. 140.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 59.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 47.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 48.
- ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, pp. 54–55.
- ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 55–56, 209.
- ^ a b Skendi 1967, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Skendi 1967, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Skendi 1967, p. 134.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 93.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, pp. 96, 100–101.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 96, 207.
- ^ a b c d Gawrych 2006, p. 96.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, pp. 97–99.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 99.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 97.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 98.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 99–101.
- ^ a b c d e f Gawrych 2006, p. 127.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 96–97.
- ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, p. 101.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 114.
- ^ Skendi 1967, p. 129.
- ^ Skendi 1967, pp. 129, 167–169.
- ^ Blumi, Isa (2007), Seeing Beyond the River Drin, Sarajevo, Ottoman Albanians and Imperial Rivalry in the Balkans after 1878 (PDF), Austria: Kakanien revisited, pp. 6–7,
s. Ippen and Nopcsa openly advocated funding efforts to solidify the cultural ambitions of nationalist leaders, resulting, for instance, in the translation into German and distribution of Sami Frashëri's works
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 127–128.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Gawrych 2006, p. 128.
- ^ Skendi 1967, pp. 167–168.
- ^ a b c Skendi 1967, p. 168.
- ISBN 9781400847761.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 128, 131, 211.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 128–129.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gawrych 2006, p. 129.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gawrych 2006, p. 130.
- ^ ISBN 9789639776289.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, pp. 15, 130.
- ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, p. 15.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, p. 3.
- ^ a b c Gawrych 2006, p. 131.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, pp. 130, 229.
- ^ ISBN 9783643905956.
- ISBN 9781845112875.
- ISBN 9783643107930.
- ^ In reality, the first novel written entirely in Turkish was Akabi's Story by Vartan Paşa, an Armenian Ottoman Pasha in the year 1851
References
- Letërsia Romantike Shqiptare - Për klasën e njëmbëdhjetë (Albanian Romantic Literature - For eleventh class), Pristina, 2004 – Sabri Hamiti.