Mit’hat Frashëri | |
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Mit'hat Frashëri
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Founder of Balli Kombëtar | |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ioannina, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Greece) |
March 25, 1880
Died | 3 October 1949 Lexington Avenue, New York City, United States |
(aged 69)
Resting place | Ferncliff Cemetery, New York |
Nationality | Albanian |
Political party | Balli Kombëtar |
Relations |
Abdyl Frashëri (Father) Naim Frashëri (Uncle) Sami Frashëri (Uncle) Mehdi Frashëri (Cousin) Ali Sami Yen (Cousin) |
Occupation | Pharmacist |
Awards | Order of Freedom (Kosovo) |
Mit’hat Frashëri (also known by his nom de plume as Lumo Skëndo; March 25, 1880, Janina, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire – October 3, 1949, Long Island, New York) was an Albanian diplomat, writer and politician. The son of Abdyl Frashëri, one of the most important activists of the Albanian National Awakening in 1908 he participated in the Congress of Monastir and in 1942 became the president of Balli Kombëtar (National Front) and finally fought as an ally of German forces and also his cousin became the prime minister of the puppet government of Albania. He is considered by many to be the father of Albanian Nationalism.
Mid’hat bey Frashëri was the son of prominent Albanian politician and statesman from 19th century Abdyl Frashëri (who initiated the movement of a wide autonomy from Othoman Empire) and nephew of the poets and nationalists Naim Frashëri and Sami Frashëri. Born in Janina (present day Ioannina) in 1880 and was raised in Istanbul. In Istanbul, his family organised the Albanian nationalist movement. Giving up his studies of pharmacology, he worked for the Ottoman administration in the vilayet of Salonika from a period from 1905 to 1910. Using the pen name Lumo Skendo, he began publishing the weekly newspaper “Lirija” in Salonika, which lasted until 1910. He participated in the Congress of Monastir in 1908, and in January of the next year, he began editing a monthly magazine entitled “Diturija”, a magazine based on the cultural, literary and scholarly interest of Albania.