Lajme flash
2026-11-08 11:58:00 / JETË
By Evarist Beqiri
Today, on November 8, one of the most shocking testimonies of the psychological and geopolitical war of Ismail Qemal Vlora is published for the first time to the Albanian public: his unknown letter of November 8, 1902, sent from London to his exiled son, Mahmud.
The fact is that Europe recognized Ismail Qemal Vlora before it recognized Albania. A year after the European press (as evidenced by the Parisian magazine “Pro Armenia” in October 1901) denounced the hostage-taking of his family in Arnavutqoj, and after the Istanbul Court had sentenced him to death in absentia on May 18, 1901, Sultan Abdylhamit II was waiting for the Founder to kneel. Ismail Qemal’s response was not surrender, but a well-calculated intelligence operation with British cover.
Writing from London, the capital of global diplomacy, he was sending Istanbul the first message that he was not a desperate fugitive, but a player with international protection:
"London, November 8, 1902
The light of my eyes, my son Mahmud,
I do not wish to express or describe the sorrow of my heart, for that would only serve to further burden an already broken heart. However, those who are engaged in a great battle must know that they will face difficulties of every kind. Therefore, whatever misfortune befalls them, they must bear it with patience and fortitude.
God knows what noble ideal and what high purpose we serve. He will reward us, however late the day of reward may be. We should not lose heart. I hope that day is near, perhaps very near.
For now I am sending ten liras to Mr. Firman to give to you, you will receive them. From now on I will send you gradually and I will not leave you without money. Only you must get permission from Mr. Firman to send the money to him.
I have been in London for two or three days; I will remain here for a while. From next month I will go down to Egypt. Send the letters to Paris as before, I will receive them there. Qazim is with me now. The three of them remained in Paris. Ethem and Xhevdet will come to England; as for Tahir, let us see what will happen, perhaps I will arrange for him in Egypt. For the moment I embrace you with the greatest joy and leave you in the help and protection of God, my son.
Your father
Ismail Kemal”
This letter is a testament to how a statesman turns family tragedy into an act of psychological warfare. Knowing that the letter was passing through the hands of Ottoman “Hafis” (spies), these words – “those who are engaged in a great battle… must endure it patiently… God knows what noble ideal and what high purpose we serve. He will reward us, however late the day of reward may be” – were addressed directly to Abdülhamit II: Your blackmail has failed.
The cleverness lies in the financial mechanism. Ismail Qemali, sending money through the British Consul in Bitlis (Mr. Firman), turns family support into a diplomatic cover operation, where stopping the money would provoke an incident with the British Empire.
As documented by the Turkish historian Ahmed Bedevi Kuran (“Our Revolutionary History and the Young Turks”, 1945), the Ottoman post office was content with only secretly copying the letter, without daring to block it. In the same book, the author writes that Ali Kemal Bey warned Istanbul in June 1901 that Ismail Qemali “was working more for the establishment of a principality in Albania than for a revolution in Turkey”. He was using the imperial opposition movement as a shield to internationalize the Albanian issue.
We recognize the year 1912 as the starting point of our state, but we forget that the “Father of Independence” was first tested as a leader of the imperial opposition, challenging the most sophisticated surveillance machinery of the time. Albania's independence did not come as the fruit of romantic heroism, but from the pragmatism of a statesman who knew how to weaponize geopolitics, maneuver among secret services and impose himself on the European balance, shouldering the terrible cost of sacrificing his family.
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