Shemsi Pasha (general)
Shemsi Pasha Kuči tribe (paternal), Hoti tribe (maternal side) |
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Shemsi Pasha (Albanian: Shemsi Pasha, Turkish: Şemsi Paşa) (1846-1908) was an Ottoman-Albanian general.
Biography
Early life and military career
Shemsi Pasha traced his origin paternally to the
In his career Shemsi had to deal with corrupt or incompetent officials in difficult circumstances.
Religious conflict in Kosovo between Muslims and Catholics (1907-1908)
Religious conflict between Muslims and Catholics erupted in villages around
In short time Shemsi told the local Islamic clergy to soften the reactions of Muslims and stated to them that the pig's dead body did not profane the mosque and ordered the people responsible for the incident be found.[17] In January 1908, an order was received by Shemsi to go with soldiers to Yakova.[14] Later at the town Shemsi was met by a Catholic priest who passed on a letter about local Christians having been killed in the area.[14] Shemsi then assembled Muslim notables of Yakova and the wider area and said that most Catholics subjected to attacks were innocent.[14] Troops were left in the town after Shemsi departed.[14] During his time in Yakova, Shemsi received a telegraph from Prizren about a mosque profanation incident.[14] The General dismissed the claim as being untrue due to the discovery of the pig being in the river.[14]
Tensions continued in the region and the sultan thought that the events in Kosovo had supposed links to Ismail Qemali and his activities.[18] Abdul Hamid II instructed Shemsi to travel to Prizren and tasked him with appeasing Muslims and protecting Christians.[18] Shemsi was unable to break and stop a besa (pledge) which targeted Catholics through boycotts.[18] Religious tensions continued as the boycott spread and some Catholics fearing a loss of employment converted to Islam while Shemsi also met with the leadership of the remaining Catholics in the area.[18] During these events Catholics had sought protection with Ottoman forces and after Shemsi withdrew his troops from the countryside incidents of violence against them occurred.[16]
Another conflict in 1908 occurred in Yakova between local chieftains and the Curri family with Shemsi instructed to resolve the dispute.
In Kosovo the
Shemsi was seen by Abdul Hamid II as a political and loyal General who could maintain a certain amount of order in Kosovo through his connections with Northern (Gheg) Albanians and notables of the area and functioned as the sultan's cultural intermediary.[6][24] As division commander Shemsi had easy and direct access to the place.[6] During the Albanian revolts of the time Shemsi undertook important services as a General for Abdul Hamid II.[5] Even with Shemsi's presence in Kosovo, parts of the region and the porous frontier with Serbia continued to be a security problem for the Ottoman Empire.[6] His intervention in conflicts within Kosovo were part of the wider geopolitical situation encompassing the region and Ottoman Empire at the time.[25]
Young Turk Revolution and death
On 3 July 1908 Adjuntant Major
Moving quickly Shemsi got two mobilised battalions from the Mitroviçe Division to board a train for
On July 7, 1908, Shemsi with his small unit of Albanian volunteers and two army battalions reached Monastir by train.[33][30][24] Shemsi lacked hard intelligence about the location of Niyazi's guerilla band and he planned to travel to Resne (modern Resen) and conduct his operations from there.[33][30] The Young Turks (CUP) viewed Shemsi and his military forces as superior to their bands and that any clash between them and Ottoman military forces composed of Albanian soldiers and volunteers would damage Albanian-CUP relations.[30] The CUP Monastir branch took the decision to assassinate Shemsi before he would begin his military campaign.[30] First Lieutenant Atıf Kamçıl, a CUP revolutionary[34][30] and member of the self-sacrificing volunteer division of the CUP Monastir branch wrote later in life that he alone decided to assassinate Shemsi.[32] Kamçıl stated he asked the CUP Monastir branch for a gun and had talks about the matter with Süleyman Askerî, the branch's guide.[32] The director of the CUP Monastir branch, Lieutenant Colonel Sadik Bey (Șehreküștü) stated that it was only himself who gave the fatwa (order) for killing Shemsi.[32] In a telegram by the CUP Monastir branch they wrote that a "self sacrificing" volunteer himself wanted to undertake the task.[32]
During his stopover in Monastir Shemsi telegraphed the palace and exchanged messages with the First Chamberlain giving them advice to mobilise those Albanian chiefs that were for years under imperial patronage and to fight the officers who were in open revolt challenging the government.[33][30] Shemsi also exchanged telegraphs with Albanian notables.[30] As he left the telegraph office and went to enter the carriage Shemsi was assassinated in front of his Albanian bodyguards on July 7 by Atıf Kamçıl.[33][34][30] Kamçıl, as he fled from the location was wounded in the leg and later hid in the home of Lieutenant Mahmut Soydun.[30][35] The Albanian bodyguards of Shemsi had been swayed by the CUP to their side that during the incident they only shot their firearms into the air, did not chase after Kamçıl and later fled from the scene themselves.[30]
For the revolution the murder of Shemsi was a turning point that demoralised the palace and it removed a dangerous opponent for the CUP that could have mobilised Albanians against their forces.[24][30] Lieutenant Colonel Re'fet Bey, the son in law of Shemsi and gendarme commander of Monastir was ordered by the government to go after the insurgents with the military forces gathered by his father in law.[36] Unknown to the government was that Re'fet Bey was a CUP member and that the CUP Monastir branch told him to stall for time while CUP leaders understood that forces assembled by Shemsi would not conduct an attack.[36] After his death Shemsi was replaced with Marshal Osman Tatar Pasha and the CUP gained a major advantage in the conflict as the assassination galvanised people to their cause.[37][38][27] During these events Ismail Mahir Pasha, a relative of Shemsi was also assassinated.[39] Facing a deteriorating situation in the Balkans on July 24 sultan Abdul Hamid II restored the constitution of 1876.[37][40] Following the revolution people involved in the assassinations went unpunished by the CUP and instead they were hailed as heroes and given important positions within the state.[39]
References
- ^ Özdemir, Hakan (2013). "Towards the Revolution of 1908: The Assassination of Şemsi Paşa". Fatih University. p. 80.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 133. "Şemsi apparently came from a mixed Albanian-Bosnian background, but he was known as an Albanian."; p. 210. "Two Albanians are worth noting in this regard. Şemsi Pasa, a Geg..."
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, pp. 110, 133.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 133, 210.
- ^ a b c Hanioğlu 2001, p. 267.
- ^ a b c d e Gawrych 2006, p. 133.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 133, 139, 210.
- ^ Clayer 2011, p. 92.
- ^ a b Gawrych 2006, p. 110.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, pp. 110, 113.
- ^ Clayer 2011, pp. 90, 93, 94.
- ^ Clayer 2011, p. 94.
- ^ Zürcher 2014, p. 29.
- ^ a b c d e f g Clayer 2011, p. 95.
- ^ Clayer 2011, pp. 94–95.
- ^ a b Clayer 2011, p. 93.
- ^ Clayer 2011, pp. 95, 99.
- ^ a b c d e f Clayer 2011, p. 96.
- ^ a b c d Clayer 2011, p. 100.
- ^ Clayer 2011, pp. 96, 100.
- ^ Clayer 2011, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Clayer 2011, p. 101.
- ^ Clayer 2011, pp. 96, 97.
- ^ ISBN 9780857718075.
- ^ Clayer 2011, p. 102.
- ^ Gawrych 2006, p. 150.
- ^ ISBN 9782845868168.
- ISBN 9780857716491.
- ^ Hanioğlu 2001, pp. 267–268.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Hanioğlu 2001, p. 268.
- ^ ISBN 9781848854772.
- ^ a b c d e Hanioğlu 2001, p. 472.
- ^ a b c d Gawrych 2006, p. 151.
- ^ ISBN 9789004107915.
- ^ Göçek 2014, pp. 192, 591.
- ^ a b Hanioğlu 2001, p. 269.
- ^ ISBN 9781845112875.
- ^ Hanioğlu 2001, pp. 269, 273.
- ^ ISBN 9780199334216.
- ISBN 9780199771110.