The first issue of the newspaper “Bashkim” (“Union”)(1908, 1910), an informative, political and social newspaper, was published in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was prepared in Istanbul by a group of Albanian patriots, under the direction of Mihal Shan Tepelena, printed in Thessaloniki at the “Mbrothësia” printing house and distributed in Albania and among the Albanians of Turkey and Greece. In the first issue, it was announced that the purpose of the newspaper was to protect “the rights of the Albanian nation” and to try to cultivate and develop the Albanian language. In 1908, 3 issues were published only in Albanian, and in 1910, 10 issues were published, two pages in Albanian, two in Turkish. It didn’t last long, as it was shut down both times by the Young Turk government. (In the photograph: Illustrative photograph, Albania in 1908.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 189.
Photo: © https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Janazah_in_Albania_%281908%29.jpg
Graphic processing: AHCF
