Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo

The Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo (Albanian: Komiteti i Mbrojtes Kombëtare së Kosovës) was an Albanian organization illegally founded in Shkodër at the beginning of November 1918. It was mainly consisted of the political exiles from Kosovo and was led by Hoxha Kadri from Priština. It existed in looser form since May 1915.

Prominent members were Hasan Pristina, Bajram Curri,Bedri Pejani, Sali Nivica, Avni Rustemi, Elez Isufi,Eshref Frashëri, Hysni Curri, and Sotir Peçi.

The main objectives of the committee were to:

The committee organizationally and financially supported the kachaks in Kosovo and Skopje. On 6 May 1919 the Committee called for a general uprising in Kosovo and other Albanian regions in Yugoslavia. This led to a large scale revolt in Drenica involving around 10,000 people under Azem Galica. The uprising was quelled by the Yugoslav army. The confrontation continued through the years 1920 and 1921, 1923, with a revival in 1924. One of the achievements was the creation of the "neutral zone" around Junik which would serve for jeopardizing the frontier and providing ammunition and other logistical support for the Kachaks.

In 1920, Beqir Vokshi represented the Committee in an assembly held at Trieste organized by the Italian scholar and politician Gabriele D'Annunzio, well known for his activism and support for Italian, Croat, and Albanian irredentist groupings. In this meeting, D'Annunzio promised armament to the Kosovars. Indeed, in the summer of 1920, a ship with armament came in Shengjin. The "delivery" preoccupied the Albanian government and specifically the Minister of Interior Ahmet Zogu. He sent Sejfi Vllamasi and Xhemal Naipi to negotiate with the Committee for rejecting the delivery, promising money (20,000 Golden Franks). After Curri and Pejani rejected Zogu's offer, the Prefecture of Shkodra sent units of gendarmes to stop the delivery form being handed over. This was the first big contradiction between the Committee and Zogu.

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