In Barbullush, Shkodra, Ismail Nikoçi, a fighter for the defense of Albanian lands and a participant in the movement for liberation and national unification in the northern Albanian territories occupied by Montenegro and Serbia, was killed. He was born in Guci, in 1876. His father was a close associate of Ali Pasha Guci. He was educated in Peje and Thessaloniki, where he also graduated. For his anti-Ottoman stance, he was arrested and exiled twice in 1906 and 1909. In 1912 he fought for the defense of his province from the Montenegrins. Then, during the years 1912-1913 and 1914, he worked alongside Isa Boletini and other patriots in Vlora and Durrës. He was arrested by the Montenegrins in Shkodër and imprisoned. In the years 1916-1917 he led the municipality of Guci, doing a good job for the introduction of Albanians in the local administration and the opening of Albanian schools. He spent the years 1917-1918 in exile in Austria. He had a central role in the resistance of the population of Guci against the Serbian-Montenegro reoccupation in the period November 1918-February 1919, alongside Hasan Ferri. Ismail Nikoçi was one of the main leaders of the branch of the Committee “National Defense of Kosovo” for the province of Plavë-Gucia. (In the photo: Ismail Nikoçi)
Text: Marenglen Verli, 101 profiles from Kosovo for Kosovo , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Adel-co“, Tirana, 2017, page 591.
Photo: © Verli M., personal archive.
Graphic processing: AHCF
