In Rome, Mehdi Frashëri, prime minister of Albania in 1935-1936, high official in the administration of the Ottoman Empire and the Albanian state, political activist, passed away. He was born in Frashër in Dangëllia (Përmet), in 1874. He finished high school in Manastir. He studied at the Faculty of Political and Economic Sciences in Istanbul (1894–1898). He held important positions in the Ottoman Empire, including as governor of Jerusalem. After the creation of the Albanian state, he returned to his homeland. He was Minister of Internal Affairs in the Government of Durrës (1918), deputy in the First Parliament (1921–1923), Minister of Agriculture (1930), representative of Albania in the League of Nations (1934, 1937), member of international commissions for determining the borders of Albania. As prime minister, in the period from October 1935 to November 1936, he presented a liberal program of reforms aimed at getting the country out of the crisis. The government he led managed to overcome the crisis in Italian-Albanian relations, accepting the demands of Benito Mussolini, which strengthened Italy’s influence in the country’s life. Universally condemned the Italian invasion of April 7, 1939 with a speech delivered on Radio Tirana. The Italian fascists exiled him to Rome. After the capitulation of Italy, the Germans returned him to Albania and in October 1943 appointed him the head of the Regency (a body with the duties of the head of state). At the end of the war, he left Albania. He has written a series of historical and political studies published in various press bodies. (In the photo: Mehdi Frashëri)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 725.
Photo: © https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Frash%C3%ABri
Graphic processing: AHCF
