Tringe Smajl Martini

Tringe Smajli
Photo of Tringe Smajli
Born	1880 Grudë, Sanjak of Scutari, Ottoman Empire, (now in Montenegro)
Died	2 November 1917(1917-11-02) (aged 36–37) Grudë, Kingdom of Montenegro
Nationality	Albanian
Known for	Fighting Ottoman occupiers

Tringë Smajl Martini Ivezaj (1880 – 2 November 1917), known simply as Tringe Smajli, and as Yanitza outside Albania, was an Albanian guerrilla fighter who fought against the Ottoman Empire in the Malësia region. She was the daughter of Smajl Martini, a Catholic clan leader of the Grudë tribe of Malësia.

She was born in 1880. Her father Smajl Martini was a Catholic clan leader of the Grudë tribe (located in southeastern Montenegro). His signature shows up in the protest-petitions of northern Albanian tribes sent to European ambassadors and counsels accredited in the Ottoman Empire, i.e. the one of May 9, 1878 sent to French Ambassador in Istanbul, or the one of June 15, 1878. The petitions expressed the dismay and disapproval of the Albanian tribes to the decisions of the Treaty of San Stefano and Congress of Berlin, which had granted much of the Scutari Vilayet to the Principality of Montenegro. She became very active during the League of Prizren, joining the rebels until the organization's end; she was later arrested in 1886, and imprisoned in Anatolia, from where she did never return. In addition, Smajl's two sons, Gjon and Zef, Tringe's brothers, also joined the League and were killed in battle in 1883.

At the time of her brother's deaths, Tringe became a sworn virgin – she took a vow of chastity and wore male clothing in order to live as a man in the patriarchal northern Albanian society.

Tringe joined the rebels and distinguished herself in the Battle of Deçiq. She participated in the Gërçe Memorandum, on June 23, 1911. Her rebel activity continued after the Albanian Declaration of Independence (28 November 1912).