In response to what is currently happening in Qafe-Molle, Mirdita at the hydropower plant, I feel I must post a reply as the statement written by WAFF (The World’s Armed Forces Forum), a Turkish publication, on 31 December, 2017 is erroneous at best, propagandist against Mirdita and misinformed about the history of Gjon Marka Gjoni.
The history of Mirdita is a long and complicated one. So as not to go into the whole of it I will start from the time of my grandfather, Gjon Marka Gjoni, as he’s the one referenced in the article. Of all the regions in Albania, Mirdita is the one which was and always will be the stronghold of Catholicism. This is not due to fanaticism, but to the basic ethnic values of Mirdita. Values based on the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini, values which had been preserved for over 500 years of fighting the Turkish Empire’s attempted domination of Mirdita, values which were preserved up to the take-over of communism. During the 15th c. it was very difficult to live and thrive in the mountains of Mirdita and fend off every attack from the Turks. But somehow because of the leadership of the Kapidans of the House of Gjomarku the attacks were defended and won and Mirdita was free to live under their own customs and laws and not subjugate to the Ottoman Empire for the next five centuries.
In 1939 conditions were beginning to deteriorate in Albania, there were many different political opinions, people were misinformed on many levels. The invasion of Italian forces from 1939-1941 brought confusion and chaos but also some financial stability to the country, but with the uncertainty and chaos looming a new force began to grow, Communism. By 1941 the ‘National Liberation Movement of Albania’, as they were called, began to frighten people and seduce them with a false sense of nationality. In that year the German army went on the attack in Yugoslavia and managed to free the border with Kosovo, thereby allowing Kosovo to reunite with Albania, albeit briefly. In 1943 Italy capitulated and Nazi Germany occupied Albania. It is important to note that, between 1943 and the withdrawl of German forces in late 1944, the communist movement was gaining momentum and grew exponentially. Nationalists who fought against the invasion of Italy were now forced to join forces with the Germans in order to fight off the growing Communist forces, whom they saw as the ultimate destruction of Albania should they ultimately take over.
It wasn’t a choice of the heart for the many nationalists to ally with the Germans, but rather a forced choice. They had no choice! It was either ally with the Germans, who had also been able to return Kosovo to them and hope for a free Albania at the end of the war or at the very least, an Albania governed by a country whom they felt, at the time, was closer to them in principals and values, or allow Communism to take over the country at which point there would be no hope for any Albanian and all their values, religion and customs, would be forever lost and erased from the earth as history proved. This is the period where my grandfather Gjon Marka Gjoni and his sons: Mark, Ndue and Llesh came into their own and made the choice to fight for a free Albania, a free Mirdita, never to be possessed or ruled by Communism just as their ancestors did when fighting the Turkish Empire.
The article implies that Gjon Marka Gjoni was a fascist. He was not a fascist. He was a Mirditor and as the leader of Mirdita he was duty bound to fight for her and her people and if that meant to ally himself with the Allies of WWII rather than with the evil force that Communism was and proved to be, so be it! All nationalist forces of the time collaborated with one Ally or another, be it the Fascists or the Nazis. One cannot single out Gjon Marka Gjoni while praising others who by their own right also aligned with one or the other, but in the end all the nationalist forces came together with one common goal, to fight Communism and try to prevent its spread in their beloved land.
The hydropower plant in Mirdita, in Qafe-Molle, is located on the land belonging to Gjon Marka Gjoni. It has been a point of contention for the last 10 years at least. How was a Turkish company able to build a hydropower plant on property belonging to the Kapidan of Mirdita, which was absconded with many other properties by the communists? The fact that they built it and have been running it is one thing, but now to display the flag of Turkey on the property itself is a total slap in the face to Mirdita, its habitants and to the history of the House of Gjomarku.
Mirditors are very proud of their history and so they should be. They are very much connected to their land and their past and value it more than life itself. To flagrantly display the symbol of a country which has brought so many wars and deaths on their land is the worst thing the company could have done. They speak as though they want to keep the peace in Mirdita while being able to operate their plant but yet at every turn they take the opportunity to stoke the fire. There are no Catholic radicals or extremists in Mirdita, only proud Mirditors. Catholic Albanians have lived side-by-side with Muslim Albanians for centuries, both religions respecting the traditions and values of the other. This event has nothing to do with race or religion but everything to do with the fact that Mirdita has a place in history and that place needs to be respected by everyone, especially by the country against whom Mirdita fought to keep its freedom successfully for 500 years.
Putting their symbol on land historically belonging to the House of Gjomarku is an egregious mistake and does nothing to remedy the already volatile situation in the region. All the Mirditors who went to the site on 31 December to protest this symbol on ‘their’ land had a right to protest. They did not ‘obey’ a journalist, a ridiculous statement, they went because as Mirditors they felt violated by seeing such a display on their land and rightly so, a gesture which ignited their fighting spirit, a gesture seen as provocation to an already volatile situation.
I speak for myself as the granddaughter of Gjon Marka Gjoni. Mirdita is and always will be the land of the House of Gjomarku, no matter how many Turkish flags are raised or installed. Mirdita is and always will be the Catholic epicenter of Albania. The people of Mirdita know who they are and what they represent and only they understand what it means to see such a symbol on their land and only they can decide how to best approach the situation. I applaud their effort although I do not condone the destruction of private property.
