1.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
2.
Albania
–
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
3.
People's Socialist Republic of Albania
–
Albania, officially the Peoples Socialist Republic of Albania, was a socialist state that ruled Albania from 1946 to its fall in 1992. From 1946 to 1976 it was known as the Peoples Republic of Albania, travel and visa restrictions made Albania one of the most difficult countries to visit or to travel from. In 1967, it declared itself the worlds first atheist state and it was the only Warsaw Pact member to formally withdraw from the alliance before 1990, an action occasioned by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Peoples Socialist Republic was officially dissolved on 28 November 1998 upon the adoption of the new Constitution of Albania, on 29 November 1944, Albania was liberated by the National Liberation Movement. The Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council, formed in May, became the provisional government. The government, like the LNC, was dominated by the two-year-old Communist Party of Albania, King Zog I was barred from ever returning to Albania, though the country nominally remained a monarchy. From the start, the LNC government was an undisguised Communist regime, in the other countries in what became the Soviet bloc, the Communists were at least nominally part of coalition governments for a few years before taking complete control. The internal affairs minister, Koçi Xoxe, an erstwhile pro-Yugoslavia tinsmith, presided over the trial of many non-communist politicians condemned as enemies of the people and those spared were imprisoned for years in work camps and jails and later settled on state farms built on reclaimed marshlands. In December 1945, Albanians elected a new Peoples Assembly, official ballot tallies showed that 92% of the electorate voted and that 93% of the voters chose the Democratic Front ticket. The assembly convened in January 1946 and its first act was to formally abolish the monarchy and to declare Albania a peoples republic. However, as mentioned above, the country had been a Communist state for just over two years, after months of angry debate, the assembly adopted a constitution that mirrored the Yugoslav and Soviet constitutions. Then in the spring, the members chose a new government. Hoxha became prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, Xoxe remained both internal affairs minister and the partys organizational secretary. Hoxha remained in control despite the fact that he had once advocated restoring relations with Italy, the communists also undertook economic measures to expand their power. In December 1944, the government adopted laws allowing the state to regulate foreign and domestic trade, commercial enterprises. The laws sanctioned confiscation of property belonging to political exiles and enemies of the people, in August 1945, the provisional government adopted the first sweeping agricultural reforms in Albanias history. The countrys 100 largest landowners, who controlled close to a third of Albanias arable land, had frustrated all agricultural reform proposals before the war, the communists reforms were aimed at squeezing large landowners out of business, winning peasant support, and increasing farm output to avert famine. The government annulled outstanding agricultural debts, granted peasants access to water for irrigation
4.
Kelmendi (tribe)
–
Kelmendi is a Northern Albanian tribe and region in the mountainous borderlands of Albania towards Montenegro, of the wider Malësia-region. Part of the lies within the Kelmend municipality, and is composed of a Roman Catholic majority. The Kelmendi speak a subdialect of Gheg Albanian as the other northern Albanian tribes, families hailing from Kelmendi can also be found in Plav, Montenegro, Kraja, Montenegro and Rugova, Kosovo, where they are Muslim. The name is derived from Saint Clement, the saint of the region. The Kelmendi are first mentioned in an Ottoman defter of 1497, along with the tribes of Hoti, Kuči and they are recorded as having 152 households divided by five small shepherding communities. Robert Elsie thus assumes that they were known as a tribe from the last decades of the 15th century, the defter mentions them as derbendci, mountain-pass keepers, and having tax privileges. The derbendci guarded the Shkodër–Altun-li and Medun–Kuči roads, as early as 1538, the Kelmendi rose up against the Ottomans. In 1565, the Kelmendi, Kuči and Piperi rose up against the Ottomans, in the mid-1580s, the Kelmendi seemed to have stopped paying taxes to the Ottomans. They had by this time come to dominate all of northern Albania. They were mobile and went raiding in what is today Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia, Venetian documents from 1609 mention the Kelmendi, Dukagjini, and others having a conflict with the Sultan for 4 years. In April the same year the Dukagjini and others attacked not only the Ottomans, the local Ottomans were unable to counter them and were thus forced to ask the Bosnian Pasha for help. Marino Bizzi, the Archbishop of Bar, mentions them in 1610 as almost all are Catholics, according to the agreement, the Kelmendi would surrender fifteen of their members as slaves, and pay a tribute of 1,000 ducats to the Ottomans. However, as Arslan Pasha waited for the payment of the tribute, after this incident the Ottoman troops retreated to Herceg Novi. Clashes with the Ottomans continued through the 1630 and culminate in 1637-38 where the tribe would repel an army of 12,000 commanded by Vutsi Pasha of the Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman casualties vary from 4,000 to 6,000, based on different sources. The legend of Nora of Kelmendi would come to life during this epic struggles, in the Cretan War the Kelmendi played a tactical role between the Ottomans and the Venetians. In 1664, Evliya Celebi mentioned Kelmendi Albanians among the warriors he saw manning Venetian ships in the harbour of Split. The Kelmendi promised support to whichever side would fulfil their requests, in 1666, for instance some of the Kelmendi supported the Ottomans on condition that they be exempted from paying tribute for five years. Some of them converted to Islam
5.
Albanian revolt of 1911
–
The Albanian revolt of 1911 or the Malësori uprising of 1911 was one of many Albanian revolts in the Ottoman Empire and lasted from 24 March 1911 until 4 August 1911 in the region of Malësia. Kingdom of Montenegro and King Nikola Petrović supported the rebellion, the main headquarters of the rebels were in Podgorica and King Nikola provided weapons for the insurgents. Although both king Nikola and prince Danilo were assuring Ottoman ambassador that they are observing the strictest neutrality it was obvious that Kingdom of Montenegro was involved in this revolt, general Vukotić organized passing out the weapon to the rebels. Nikolas strategy was to stimulate unrest in northern Albania and north-western Kosovo to the point where he could intervene, most of contemporary studies confirm that this uprising was inspired by Montenegro. During Albanian Revolt of 1910 many Albanian refugees found shelter in Montenegro, at the end of March 1911 Kingdom of Montenegro forced them to return to Kosovo Vilayet. Thousands of refugees together with the Albanian Catholic tribes staged the Albanian Revolt of 1911, the Albanian National Committee was founded in Podgorica in February 1911. In a meeting of the Committee held in Podgorica from 2 to 4 February 1911, under the leadership of Nikolla bey Ivanaj and Sokol Baci Ivezaj, troops of Montenegro supported the revolt and captured 12 Ottoman soldiers and imprisoned them in Podgorica. The first serious attempt of the Ottoman government to suppress the revolt resulted with the Battle of Deçiq, terenzio Tocci gathered the Mirdite chieftains on 26 April 1911 in Orosh, proclaimed the independence of Albania, raised the flag of Albania and established the provisional government. Shefqet Turgut Pasha wanted to meet this threat and returned to the region with 8.000 soldiers. As soon as he reached Shkodër on 11 May, he issued a proclamation which declared martial law. After Ottoman troops entered the area Tocci fled the empire abandoning his activities, on 14 May, three days after his poclamation, Shefqet Turgut Pasha ordered his troops to seize Dečić, hill that overlooked Tuzi. Sixty Albanian chieftains rejected Turgut Pashas proclamation on their meeting in Podgorica on 18 May, after almost a month of intense fightings rebels were trapped and their only choices were either to die fighting, to surrender or to flee to Montenegro. Most of the rebels chose to flee to Montenegro which became a base for large number of rebels determined to attack the Ottoman Empire. Ismail Kemal Bey and Tiranli Cemal bey traveled from Italy to Montenegro at the end of May, on 12 June Porte prematurely proclaimed that the revolt had ended. This memorandum was signed by 22 Albanian chieftains, four from each tribe of Hoti, Grude and Skrel, five from Kastrati and it was basically a reply to amnesty offered by Ottoman military commander Shefqet Turgut Pasha. At the end of May 1911 Russia protested against military moves of Ottoman army near the border of Montenegro, serbia and Italy also believed that Austria-Hungary was responsible for the revolt in Albania and suspected that Austria had plans to intervene in Albania. The British ambassador in Vienna rejected the possibility that Austria-Hungary caused the revolt, austrian intervention to support the rebels was urged by Catholic journals in Vienna as well. The Albanian revolts in the period before the First Balkan War were organized mostly in the region of Malësia and he sent his emissaries on 15 April 1911 to pass his proclamation to the southern insurgents
6.
Fan S. Noli
–
Fan Noli is venerated in Albania as a champion of literature, history, theology, diplomacy, journalism, music and national unity. He played an important role in the consolidation of Albanian as the language of Albania with numerous translations of world literature masterpieces. His contributions to English language literature are also manifold, as a scholar and author of a series of publications on Skanderbeg, Shakespeare, Beethoven, religious texts and translations. He earned degrees at Harvard, the New England Conservatory of Music and he was ordained a priest in 1908, establishing thereby the Albanian Church and elevating the Albanian language to ecclesiastic use. He briefly resided in Albania after the 1912 declaration of independence, after World War I, Noli led the diplomatic efforts for the reunification of Albania and received the support of US President Woodrow Wilson. Later he pursued a career in Albania, successfully leading the Albanian bid for membership in the League of Nations. A respected figure who remained critical of corruption and injustice in the Albanian government and he then served as prime minister until his revolutionary government was overthrown by Ahmet Zogu. He was exiled to Italy and permanently settled in the United States in the 1930s, acquiring US citizenship and he spent the rest of his life as an academician, religious leader and writer. Fan Noli was born in 1882 in the Albanian village of Ibrik Tepe and he was an Albanian of the Eastern Orthodox faith. As a young man, Noli wandered throughout the Mediterranean Basin, living in Athens, Greece, Alexandria, Egypt and Odessa, Russia, as well as his native Albanian, he spoke many languages such as Greek, English, French, Turkish, and Arabic. Later in his work as a teacher and in Egyptian theater Noli embraced Albanian national sentiments, through his contacts with the Albanian expatriate movement, he became an ardent supporter of his countrys nationalist movement and moved to the United States in 1906. He first worked in Buffalo, New York, in a mill and then moved to Boston, Massachusetts. In Boston, some Albanian Christians were part of the Greek Orthodox Church, Noli, the new churchs first clergyman, was ordained as a priest in 1908 by a Russian Orthodox bishop in the United States under questionable circumstances. Through the creation of an independent church and Noli translating of liturgy into Albanian, he hoped to diminish Greek influence in the church, in 1908, Noli began studying at Harvard, completing his degree in 1912. He returned to Europe to promote Albanian independence, setting foot in Albania for the first time in 1913 and he returned to the United States during World War I, serving as head of the Vatra organization, which effectively made him leader of the Albanian diaspora. Though Albania had already declared its independence in 1912, membership in the League of Nations provided the country with the recognition it had failed to obtain until then. In 1921, Noli entered the Albanian parliament as a representative of the liberal pro-British Peoples Party, the other parties were the conservative pro-Italian Progressive Party founded by Mehdi Frashëri and led by Ahmet Zogu, and Popular Party of Xhafer Ypi. The conservatives of Zogu would dominate the political scene, Noli served briefly as foreign minister in the government of Xhafer Ypi
7.
Zog I of Albania
–
Zog I, King of the Albanians, born Ahmet Muhtar Zogolli, taking the surname Zogu in 1922, was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. He first served as Prime Minister of Albania, then as President and his rule as king was characterized by oppression of civil liberties and was similar to the concurrent regime in Italy. His family was a family of landowners, with feudal authority over the region of Mati. His mothers Toptani family claimed to be descended from the sister of Albanias greatest national hero and he was educated at Galatasaray High School in Constantinople, then the seat of the decaying Ottoman Empire, which controlled Albania. Upon his fathers death in 1911, Zogolli became governor of Mat, being appointed ahead of his elder brother, in 1912, he signed the Albanian Declaration of Independence as the representative of the Mat District. As a young man during the First World War, Zogolli volunteered on the side of Austria-Hungary and he was detained at Vienna in 1917 and 1918 and in Rome in 1918 and 1919 before returning to Albania in 1919. During his time in Vienna, he grew to enjoy a Western European lifestyle, upon his return, Zogolli became involved in the political life of the fledgling Albanian government that had been created in the wake of the First World War. His political supporters included many southern feudal landowners and noble families in the north, along with merchants, industrialists, during the early 1920s, Zogolli served as Governor of Shkodër, Minister of the Interior, and chief of the Albanian military. His primary rivals were Luigj Gurakuqi and Fan S. Noli, in 1922, Zogolli formally changed his surname from Zogolli to Zogu, which sounds more Albanian. In 1923, he was shot and wounded in Parliament and he returned to Albania with the backing of Yugoslav forces and Yugoslavia-based White Russian troops under General Wrangel and became Prime Minister. Zogu was officially elected as the first President of Albania by the Constituent Assembly on 21 January 1925, on 28 June 1925, Zogu ceded Sveti Naum to Yugoslavia as a gesture of recognition to the Yugoslav aid to him and in exchange for Peshkëpi village and other minor concessions. His principal ally during this period was Italy, which lent his government funds in exchange for a role in Albanias fiscal policy. During Zogus presidency, serfdom was gradually eliminated, for the first time since the death of Skanderbeg, Albania began to emerge as a nation, rather than a feudal patchwork of local Beyliks. His administration was marred by disputes with Kosovar leaders, primarily Hasan Prishtina, however, Zogus Albania was a police state. He all but eliminated civil liberties, muzzled the press and murdered political opponents, under the constitution, Zogu was vested with sweeping executive and legislative powers, including the right to appoint one-third of the upper house. For all intents and purposes, he held all governing power in the nation, on 1 September 1928, Albania was transformed into a kingdom, and President Zogu became Zog I, King of the Albanians. He took as his name his surname rather than his forename. He also initially took the parallel name Skanderbeg III, but this fell out of use, on the same day as he was declared king, he was declared Field Marshal of the Royal Albanian Army
8.
Podgorica
–
Podgorica is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was also called Titograd between 1946 and 1992 when Montenegro was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Podgoricas favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement. The city is close to winter ski centres in the north, the citys population was 204,877 in the 2011 census. The Podgorica Municipality contains 10. 4% of Montenegros territory and 29. 9% of its population and it is the administrative centre of Montenegro and its economic, cultural and educational focus. The name Podgorica means below the hill, Gorica being the name of the cypress-covered hill that overlooks the city centre. Some three kilometres north-west of Podgorica lie the ruins of Roman-era Doclea, from which Roman Emperor Diocletian hailed, in later centuries, Romans corrected the name to Dioclea, guessing wrongly that an i had been lost in vulgar speech. Duklja is the version of that word. When founded, the town was called Birziminium, in the Middle Ages, it was known as Ribnica. The name Podgorica was used from 1326, from 1946 to 1992, the city was named Titograd in honour of Josip Broz Tito, the former President of Yugoslavia. Podgorica is located in central Montenegro, the area is crossed with rivers and the city itself is only 15 kilometres north of Lake Skadar. The Morača and Ribnica rivers flow through the city, while the Zeta, Cijevna, Sitnica and Mareza flow nearby. Morača is the largest river in the city, being 70 m or 230 ft wide near downtown, except for the Morača and Zeta, other rivers have an appearance of small creeks. The richness in bodies of water is a feature of the city. In contrast to most of Montenegro, Podgorica lies in a flat area at the northern end of the Zeta plain. The only exceptions are hills which overlook the city, the most significant is 130.3 m high Gorica Hill, citys namesake, which rises above the city centre. The other hills include Malo brdo, Velje brdo, Ljubović, in the main, these are too steep for development and thus limit the citys expansion, especially to the north. However, urbanization has been encroaching on the slopes of the hills since 1990s. Podgorica city proper has an area of 108 square kilometres, while actual urbanized area is much smaller, the mean annual rainfall is 1,600 mm
9.
Palm Sunday
–
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels, the difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these trees, as in Yew Sunday. In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection and it suggests that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord and we bless you from the house of the Lord. The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, a king would have ridden a horse when he was bent on war and ridden a donkey to symbolize his arrival in peace. Jesus entry to Jerusalem would have thus symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king. In Luke 19,41 as Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it, in many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. The Hebrew Bible reports that Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated this way, both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honour. In the synoptics the people are described as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, in Jewish tradition, the palm is one of the Four Species carried for Sukkot, as prescribed for rejoicing at Leviticus 23,40. In the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, which strongly influenced Christian tradition and it became the most common attribute of the goddess Nike or Victory. Although the Epistles of Paul refer to Jesus as triumphing, the entry into Jerusalem may not have been pictured as a triumphal procession in this sense before the 13th century. In ancient Egyptian religion, the palm was carried in funeral processions, the palm branch later was used as a symbol of Christian martyrs and their spiritual victory or triumph over death. In Revelation 7,9, the white-clad multitude stand before the throne, Palm Sunday, or the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, as it is often called in some Orthodox Churches, is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year. The day before Palm Sunday, Lazarus Saturday, believers often prepare palm fronds by knotting them into crosses in preparation for the procession on Sunday, the hangings and vestments in the church are changed to a festive colour—gold in the Greek tradition, and green in the Slavic tradition. Wherefore, we like children, carry the banner of triumph and victory, blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. There is no requirement as to what kind of branches must be used. Whatever the kind, these branches are blessed and distributed together with candles either during the All-Night Vigil on the Eve of the Feast, the faithful take these branches and candles home with them after the service, and keep them in their icon corner as an evloghia
10.
Sali Berisha
–
Sali Ram Berisha, is an Albanian cardiologist and politician who served as the second President of Albania from 1992 to 1997 and Prime Minister from 2005 to 2013. He was also the leader of the Democratic Party of Albania twice, from 1991 to 1992, to date, Berisha is the longest-serving democratically elected leader and the only President of Albania elected to a second term. From 1992, after the fall of communism, he served as the President of Albania until his government collapsed in 1997 in the wake of the collapse of pyramid schemes. From 1997 to 2005, Albania was governed by the Socialist Party for two mandates, while he stayed in opposition, in 2005, the Democratic Party won the general elections, and he became the Prime Minister after his coalition formed the new government. Berisha was born in Viçidol, Tropojë District, Kukës County, northern Albania, near the border with Kosovo to Ram and he studied medicine at the University of Tirana, graduating in 1967. He specialized in cardiology and was appointed as an assistant professor of medicine at the same university. At the same time, Berisha became a member of a forum for changes in the Albanian Party of Labor while having been enrolled as a member a few years earlier. Apart from his native Albanian, he speaks English, Italian, during the 1970s, Berisha gained distinction as the leading researcher in the field of cardiology in Albania and became professor of cardiology at the University of Tirana. In 1978 he received a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural fellowship for nine months of advanced study and he also conducted a research program on hemodynamics that attracted considerable attention among his colleagues in Europe. In 1986 he was elected to be a member of the European Committee for Research on Medical Sciences, without political pluralism, he argued, there could be no true democracy in Albania. In December 1990, Berisha joined, on the very first day, Berisha emerged as the leader of the Democratic Party of Albania, the first and largest of the new opposition parties. It is interesting to note that all leading members of the party wore white coats during demonstrations and he was formally elected DP chairman in February 1991 at the party’s first national congress. He was elected member of Albania parliament in 1991,1992,1997,2001 from the constituency of Kavajë, after the 1992 elections—the first free legislative elections held in the country in decades—Berisha was elected President on 9 April 1992. He was the countrys first freely elected head of state, following his election, Berisha and his government were engaged in a profound course of political, economic, institutional, legislative and multifaceted reforms. Berisha also introduced Islam to the Albanian political scene, pursued re-Islamisation of the country to reverse decades of anti-religious policy under Communism. The collapse of the Ponzi schemes towards the end of 1996, into which it is alleged that Albanians invested $1 billion worth of savings from 1994. The schemes failed, one by one, from December 1996 and those demonstrations were then taken over by the opposition. During the first ten days of March, the situation deteriorated, culminating in the desertion of large numbers of police and military, leaving their arsenals unlocked
