Fehim Zavalani

Fehim Zavalani
Born	1859 Zavalan, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died	1935
Nationality	Albanian
Known for	Secret Committee for the Liberation of Albania, Congress of Monastir, Congress of Dibra
Spouse(s)	Qerime Frashëri
Children	Adile (daughter), Asim, Hysen, Dalip, Tajar Zavalani (son)
Relatives	Sabri, Shefqet Frashëri (brother-in-law)

Fehim Zavalani (1859-1935) was an Albanian journalist and activist of the Albanian National Awakening. He was also the editor of Bashkimi i Kombit (Nation's Unity), one of the most important Albanian newspapers of the era. In 1908 he became one of the head organizers of the Congress of Monastir, in which the Albanian alphabet was standardized.

According to Gawrych, Fehim Zavalani came from a Muslim family of Kolonjë, southern Albania. According to Albanian official historiography, he was born in the village of Zavalan of Dangëlli region, today's Frashër, in the outskirts of the Kolonjë area. In 1879 he went in Istanbul to study, and after that settled in Korçë in 1881. Soon after, he settled in Monastir.
In 1896, along with Sabri Frashëri and Shefqet Frashëri, his brothers-in-law, he founded the patriotic Secret Association of the Albanians of Manastir (Albanian: Organizata e Fshehtë e Shqiptareve të Manastirit) In 1905, along with Gjergj Qiriazi and Bajo Topulli he founded the Secret Committee for the Liberation of Albania, one of the first çetë (armed guerilla groups) in Bitola, Macedonia. In Bitola he also founded the organization Bashkimi, whose alphabet proposal would become the official alphabet of Albania, and became the editor of Bashkim i Kombit, the organization's newspaper. After the newspaper published an eye-witness account of a massacre perpetrated by the Ottoman army in northern Albania, the Ottoman authorities arrested Zavalani and the rest of the staff of Bashkimi i Kombit. On October 8, 1908 Luigj Gurakuqi proposed him to organize a conference for the standardization of the Albanian alphabet.

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