Albania, with its geographical position in Europe, has always been a conflict zone between
Occident and Orient, between Occidental Christian Catholicism and the Oriental "heresies"
of Christian Orthodoxy and Islam. For Albania, being such a conflict zone between these
important religions and cultures of mankind, a battlefield has been perpetually created,
even for the intellectual followers of these given religions, who have always clashed, fought,
manipulated, created and justified facts and myths upon Albanian realities in order to prove
the superiority and legitimacy of their own cultural/civilizational block. Indeed, since the
ancient times, the Via Egnatia that passed through Albania sent the ancient Romans
clashing with the Macedonians, the Byzantines with the Papal Europe, Islâm with the
Christendom. Even the Cold War did not ignore Albania as a kulturkampf zone, between
two different and antagonist worlds.
Since Albania is a small nation, surrounded by mighty powers, Albanians have always been
divided into two major quarrelling blocks throughout their history. They rarely managed to
have an independent identity in the history. More powerful imperial neighbors
overshadowed them and they did not have much choice on deciding their does and don’ts.
Albania’s (Byzantine) national flag of the two-headed eagles is a living witness of its fragile
duality in history.[2] Christianity, Islam, political ideologies like: communism / capitalism,
imperialism / socialism, Orientalism / Occidentalism, have historically divorced and clashed
upon Albania.
When Sultan Mehmed II Fatih liberated[3] Constantinople for Islam, an awful civilizational
clash reoccurred in Europe[4] between Christianity and Islam. The religious clash between
the Oriental Islam and the Occidental Christianity, which appeared in Europe since the days
when Sultan Orhan Ghazi created the Osmanli Devlet,[5] was very detrimental for Albania’s
future.
The kulturkampf between the Occidental Christianity and the Oriental Islam witnessed its
peak when the Christian Constantinople became the Istanbul[6] of Islam in 1453.[7] The
man who changed this reality that was going to shape Albania’s future was Sultan Mehmed
II, who after invading the said city took the title "Fatih" (the Opener, the Conqueror). After
taking Constantinople he reinforced Ottoman authority over Albania, many parts of which
were then under the Venetian control. After ousting the foreign rulers and their puppets, he
installed Albanians to rule over the land like in the case of Shkodra in 883 AH / 1478 CE .[8]
In pursuit of his dreams of taking the second capital of Christianity, Rome, Sultan Fatih sent
his brave Albanian Muslim general, Gedik Ahmed Pasha (a descendant of the Albanian tribe
of Skura[9]) to invade Brindisi in Italy[10] a few years after making Albania an integral part of
the Osmanli Devlet.
Sultan Mehmed II’s successes, and the earlier advances of Osmanli Islm in Balkans, made
the Western Christendom feel very threatened indeed. In the same way as present day
Palestinians and Arabs feel oppressed and horrified about their future in the face of the
West’s "Crusade" against "terror," Western Christendom of that time was in desperate need
of a hero, a solution that could save it from the jihad against terror[11] that Orient was
waging against the bankrupt Occident. The day when Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) learned
of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih’s death (1481), Christendom celebrated much more happily[12]
than Albanians did when NATO troops bombed Serbia in 1999. Western Christendom was
in need for heroes and solutions, so much so that heroes, in some cases, had to be created
and planted in the Albanian buffer zone even if they were not really as such.
2. Importing Christian heroes into Albanian history
Since Albanians are a European nation that is usually seen as "Islamic" (a word which
generates different, unhealthy, stereotypes in some fanatical Occidental minds) many
Albanian Occidentalists have tried to escape from this perceived "Islamic guilt" that their
nation inherits from its past. For this reason, Albanian communist and post-communist
historiography has always tried to produce as many Christian myths as possible in order to
appease the Islamophobic West. One of the best ways of doing so has been to project
Skanderbeg (aka Gjergj Kastrioti) as Albania’s most important national hero, even though,
scientifically, his heroism might be less credible than that of the good Robin Hood of the
British tale. At the same time attempts have been made from different writers, to Albanianize
important Balkan Christian "heroes" such as Millosh Kopili (aka Miloš Obilić) and implanting
him (or them) as part of Albanian history:
Un soldato albanese, Millosh Kopili, cavaliere i Balshai, così come dice la leggenda,
riuscì a spingersi fino al baldacchino del Sultano, uccidendolo. La storia di Belgrado,
invece, racconta che questo soldato era serbo e si chiamava Millosh Kopiliq. O forse la
storia di Millosh fu inventata e Murad I fu ucciso in uno dei soliti sleali complotti?[13]
My personal opinion is that neither Skanderbeg, nor Millosh Kopili and the Battle of Kosova
of 1389 have been correctly presented in many articles on Albanian history, especially those
produced in the West.
Starting with Millosh Kopili and the Battle of Kosovo Polje I must present the following
objections to other articles:
Forse qualcuno sogna di essere ricordato per secoli nei canti popolari, come il principe
Lazzaro della battaglia del Campo dei Merli (1389). Per inciso, suo figlio divenne un
generale turco e corservò i suoi possedimenti. Inoltre l’esercito turco in quella celebre
battaglia era in gran parte costituito da soldati serbi arruolati dal sultano Murad in
Macedonia![14]
Or:
[...] the victory, June, 1389, of the Turks over a coalition of Serbs, Bosnians, Albanians,
and Wallachians under Lazar of Serbia, at Kosovo, or Kosovo Polje (the field of
blackbirds), a plain in [Southern] Serbia, present Yugoslavia[15].
Or to quote Polovina again:
Sicuramente il mito ufficiale non dice nulla su un altro avvenimento: nella battaglia nessun
soldato albanese passò al campo nemico … Perciò il mito ufficiale tace sull’amara verità
del figlio di Lazaro, Stefan, il quale per ingraziarsi Istanbul e rafforzarne l’amicizia,
concesse sua figlia Maria Dhespina in moglie al Sultano Bayazid. Anzi, neanche come
sposa, ma come concubina nello harem. Non voleva rischiare la poltrona, né la ricchezza
della sua prestigiosa carica. Al padre avevano già tagliato la testa. Inoltre Stefan con
12.000 soldati aiutò il Sultano Bayazid nella battaglia contro le crociate dei cristiani di
Nikopoli, dove venne uccio Marco Kraljevic, altro figlio di Lazaro[16].
Also in an Albanian journal in Italian:
All’indomani dell’infelice battaglia di Còssovo Polje, i tre prìncipi albanesi, Balsha, Gjergj
II e Teodor II Muzaka – con alla testa Gjergj I Kastrioti (figlio di Carlo Thopia e nonno di
Skënderbeu-Scanderbeg) – si ritirarono nei loro confini e, resistendo ai Turchi, furono in
grado di erigere un’entità cristiana albanese estendentesi dai confini meridionali di
Ragusa (Dubrovnik) al golfo di Patrasso[17].
Relating to the above–cited articles I must stress that at the Battle of Kosovo Polje
Albanians did not fight solely alongside the Balkan coalition. Serbs, Bosnians, Bulgarians as
well as many Albanians also fought on the Ottoman side against the Serbian Prince Lazar
[18]. Many Albanian princes went so far in helping the victorious Turks as to join the army of
Sultan Bayezid I (1389 – 1402) in his Battle of Ankara against Tamerlane. Many Serbs did
the same.[19] Some of those Albanian princes who supported the Ottomans in this battle
where Koje Zaharia, Gjergj Dukagjini, Dhimitër Jonima [20] and, according to John Fine’s
comprehensive work The Late Medieval Balkans, even Skanderbeg’s father, Gjon Kastrioti,
was one of those who fought for Sultan Bayezid I.
Thus, I contend, the general view of some Albanologists and Balkan historians, which
contantly portray Albanians being the "politically correct" Christian good guys fighting the
Ottoman yoke for the survival is a fake and blatantly Christocentric creation. I do not believe
that the Albanians of the Late Medieval period, as well as their contemporary neighbors in
Balkans and Europe, had any idea of nation-state ideology or any other kind of Balkanic –
proletarian belongingness against Ottoman feudalism, as some Marxist historians have
tried to portray the 14th century Battle of Kosovo Polje and later events of the Ottoman
Balkans.
Religious feelings might have been strong enough to mobilize people in different fighting
blocks at this time. But among the Albanians, who where constantly pressured by the
Vatican, the Normans, the Angevinians, Serbs and Byzantines to change their religious
affiliation every season in accordance to their leader’s political alliances, the war of 1389
should have made no real sense in their schizophrenic religious identity. For this reason, I
argue that the generalization made in the case of the first Battle of Kosovo Polje, stating that
“Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians etc… fought altogether in one block against the
Ottomans” is a gross exaggeration and oversimplification. As stated above, many Albanians,
Bosnians, Bulgarians, Serbs etc. were on the Ottoman side. The Battle of Kosovo Polje is
far from being a mythical event, as Serb propaganda tends to portray it. We must not forget
that in this battle many Janissaries took part,[21] and we do know for certain that most of
the Janissaries in the Ottoman army were of Albanian[22] or Slavic origin. For this reason I
think that generalizations like:
“the victory, June, 1389, of the Turks over a coalition of Serbs, Bosnians, Albanians, and
Wallachians under Lazar of Serbia, at Kosovo, or Kosovo Polje”
are in many cases immature and inaccurate views of the history of the Balkans and its
people, made by nationalist historians who have tended to view fact from only one angle
while ignoring the many other realities at the given time and place.
As for the identity of Millosh Kopili, who appears in some articles as being Albanian, I think
that this assumption is not true. Early Albanian historiography (1959; Historia e Shqipërisë)
makes no mention of him being an Albanian, but rather he is constantly refered to as being
a Serb.[23] The Albanianization of Millosh Kopili is nothing more that one more attempt
made by Islamophobic Albanian historians or European Orientalists, such as Edvin E.
Jacques or Peter Prifti, who have tried to depict the history of Albania as a “Biblical tragedy”
and “a heroic resistance against the Oriental peril” by “the brave Albanian diehards of
Christianity” in Europe.
In his book The Albanians: an Ethnic History from Prehistoric times to the Present,
Jacques asks himself throughout the book (as the good Evangelical missionary that he is):
“Why did the Albanians become Muslim?” Perhaps we Albanians should ask Jacques why
he hasn't become Muslim! Jacques is one of those Christocentric historians who has twisted
an Albanianized version of the Christian hero Millosh Kopili onto the world.[24]
I am not quite sure where Jacques found this Albanianized Millosh Kopili. His biased views
towards Islam and Albanian Muslims as well as his missionary activities in Albanian issues,
(which I can trace at list from 1938) [25] might have sent him so deep on his ‘holy mission’
as to fabricate ‘holy facts’ for the unevangelized history of Muslim Albania. We have good
reason to believe the biases of the missionary Jacques are very real. In some places of his
book dedicated to Albanians we find him praising Montenegrin savages such as Bishop
Peter Petrovic Njegosh of Montenegro, a man who killed the Albanian Pasha Karamahmud
Bushatli and kept his head at the chamber of Cetinje monastery. He calls this Montenegrin
head-hunter “the good Bishop”[26] since he massacred his Muslim overlord and sent the
Montenegrins into a mutiny.
To return to the subject at hand, Millosh Kopili cannot be an Albanian for one simple reason:
his surname Kopili in Albanian means "bastard," meaning to say that his mother would have
been an immoral woman, being freely insulted from everyone together with her bastard son.
Calling Albanians "kopil" is an extremely offensive term. Thus the possibility of Millosh
Kopili, being an Albanian is very unlikely, although his treacherous killing of Sultan Murad I
might justify his bastard character somehow.
Speculation on the ethinc identity of Millosh Kopili has been presented by Noel Malcolm in
his book Kosovo: a Short History.[27] From all the spurious Albanian, Serb, Hungarian
claims presented in the book, I do believe that Millosh Kopili must have been of Vlach, since
"Kobilic" or "Kobil" in Vlachian means "child." Indeed, Noel Malcolm indicates that the name
Kopil appears among many medieval Vlachs and there are even villages named with the
term.[28] The assumption that makes Millosh Kopili an Albanian is nothing more than a
fabrictaion of history.
And lastly one Italian encyclopædia states:
è gloria dell’Albania l’aver dato in questo periodo alla cristianità e contro l’Islâm, uno, e
forse il più grande, dei suoi difensori, Giorgio Castriota [i.e. Scanderbeg, ndA][29].
In relation to this final quotation I have to refer to what has been stated above. Albanian
national heroes such as Skanderbeg have been used by Albania’s imperial powers as
champions for their own imperial interests. In modern-day Albania the revived clash between
Orthodoxy and Catholicism is trying to identify, propagate and privatize Skanderbeg as a
saint of their respective traditions.[30] By making him Catholic or Orthodox, they aim to build
and legitimize their reconquista strategy over the heads of impoverished and helpless
Muslim Albania.
Skanderbeg has been used (even by the communists) in Albania as a symbol of progress
against the Oriental backwardness that the Ottomans were presumed to have brought to
Europe. Karl Marx, who saw Orientals as people that “cannot represent themselves but
they must be represented”[31] defended Skanderbeg’s role in Albania by comparing him
with Charles de Martel of France. Indeed, one of the first movies that the Soviet
propaganda machine produced during the early days of communism in Albania was the
movie Skënderbeu, where the Georgian actor Akaki Horava visualized for the first time in
Albanian’s minds the image of their “ready-made” national hero.
Skanderbeg’s myth has also been used as a propaganda tool by Western Europeans and
their puppets for controlling Albania’s future. When the European powers decided to create
a greatly reduced Albania in Europe as a buffer state between the Orthodoxy and
Catholicism in 1913, they also created its future kings.
The Europeans that pretended to usurp the throne of the post–Ottoman Albania in 1913,
were ineffectual individuals like the German captain Wilhelm von Wied, who being aware of
the Skanderbeg myth, named his son and daughter Skender and Donika.[32] Other
European adventurers who aimed on getting the Albanian throne and playing on the
Scanderbeg’s myth on usurping Albania, were people like the Spaniard Don Juan de Aladro
Perez de Valasco who named himself Gjin Kastrioti (as Scanderbeg’s father),[33] a certain
Italian named Don Giovanni of Aulettas, a Rumanian named Albert Gjika[34] and another
named Karol Viktor.[35] The last mentioned people in one way or another proclaimed
themselves to be reincarnations of the Skanderbeg figure and worked out on fabricating
their own historical connections.
We must not forget that the first kulturkampf crusader who claimed Skanderbeg for
someone in Albania’s history was Marino Barleti, an Italian catholic priest, who made him
the property of the most powerful institution of the medieval and modern Europe, the Roman
Catholic Church.
But to Albanians who are Muslims by faith, Skanderbeg does not and logically should not
represent Italian, Greek, Slavic, Catholic, Orthodox or Communist versions of him. No
matter how the facts might have been twisted, he is and never will be accepted by Albanian
Muslims as the greatest defender of Christianity against Islam or, as some Vlach historians
are trying to portray him in present day Albania, as a symbol of Albanian-Serbian
brotherhood, given that his mother was a Serb. If Skanderbeg is to be presented as such,
than he is no longer the hero of Albanians, but a hero of Serbia, Pan-balkanism, Pan-
slavism, Church etc. The patriots, who introduced Skanderbeg among Albanians during the
early 20th century, envisaged him a national hero rather than a crusader or a Serbian hero
by origin.
The famous Albanian Bektashi muhib,[36] Naim Frashëri, presented Skanderbeg as a
national savior to the Albanians. Naim’s Skanderbeg is a national freedom fighter, who
fights the conquering Ottomans and at the same time is willing to defend Albania from the
Christian crusades and intrigues of Europe. In the Naimian mind, Skanderbeg was a
defender of Albanianism. Naim Frashëri’s poem Skënderbeu, portrays the man not as a
beloved son of the pope or a Serbian bastard or a Marxist hero. Skanderbeg is the eagle of
victory, nationalism and hope. Skanderbeg to the Shi‘i-minded Naim Frashëri is the
incarnated Albanian version of Imam Husain who fights against the evil Yazid (in our case
Turks) on the Albanian holy battlefield of Karbala that, in our case, is the town of Krujë.
In his poem Skënderbeu Naim writes:
Krujë, o qytet i bekuar
Pritë, pritë Skënderbenë
Pse po vjen si pëllumb i shkruar
Të shpëtojë mëmëdhenë
Krujë, o Holy city
Welcome, welcome Skanderbeg
Who’s coming like a luminous bird
To the rescue of his motherland
Indeed, Krujë is the only city in Albania with a Bektashi[37] majority. Bektashis have an
advanced belief centered on Shi‘i approaches to justice through the rightful Imam. The
author of this article has been personally told by Dedebaba Reshat Bardhi, the head of
Bektashis in Albania, during an interview in 1998, that Skanderbeg is considered to be a
Bektashi muhib (believer) and that he never reverted to Christianity as some foreign
missionaries claim. Dedebaba Reshat and other Bektashis see him in his real historic
dimension. He was a typical rebellious Albanian Janissary who rebelled against the Sultan.
The reason for this, Bektashis believe, was that the Sultan killed his spiritual guide, his
baba, [38] in Istanbul when he rejected Sultan’s order to call him back.
Skanderbeg to both Sunni and Bektashi Muslims is perceived to be a hero of mëmëdheu
(motherland) and not of the European Christendom or Christianity.[39]
Sami Frashëri, Naim’s brother and the father of Albanian nationalism, described
Skanderbeg as a victim of conspiracies and intrigues by pope and the Christian Kings of
Europe who pushed him to war with the Ottomans and then abandoning him.[40] To Sami
Frashëri, Skanderbeg was a brave warrior who embodied the independent spirit of
Albanian man who belongs neither to Orient nor to Occident. With this Skanderbeg in mind
20th century Albanian nationalism constructed its national conscience and identity.
3. In Conclusion
History is an art of deceiving and changing nations’ patterns of thought and behavior. It is
an important aspect of our worldview’s build up. History teaches us many does and don’ts,
rights and wrongs. Spinning yarns on the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg and making
him a hero of Christianity sounds like an illogical act for the greatest Muslim nation of
Europe, Albania. The same can be said for those who try to create fake bridges of Pan-
christian brotherhood for Albanians and Serbs upon the first Battle of Kosovo Polje. But as
the famous saying ascribed to Hitler goes, “Let us win the war first and then we will write the
history”, the same fate is happening in present day Albanian history. History is a product of
the historian and historians as people that (in general) depend upon the financial support of
their establishments, write what regimes expect of them. Nevertheless, I think that Albanian
history needs to be liberated from the prejudices and biases that many European writers
who have historically been negative towards matters related to Islam, the Ottomans etc.
History as an art and science must never be allowed to be distorted in favor of religious or
civilizational agenda.
Albanian national heroes such as Ali Pasha Tepelena, the Bushatli Pashas and others, who
constitute major cornerstones of Albanian identity during the collapse of the Ottoman State
in the Balkans, are often demonized by the European historians because of their high
Islamic credentials. They are portrayed as Oriental despots, red pashas, criminals, sensual,
cruel, whimsical, illogical[41] and butchers. When the above mentioned Albanians are found
to crush bandits, such as the ‘good Christian Montenegrins’, ‘heroic Suliot bandits’ and so
on, they are humiliated in history as bloodthirsty satraps[42] of the infidel Orient. They
cannot be accepted to be members of the civilized world. They are seen as enemies of
humanity. The only goodness in them, according to the Occidental historiography, is to be
found only when the latter are to fight against the Turks. If the above said Albanian Pashas
are to be killed from some good Christians, they are to be damned as guilty Orientals. Their
place is in purgatory forever. But if their killers or enemies will be some Turks or Albanian
Orientals, than they have a very high chance of ending up as some kind of guilty heroes of
the civilized Christendom.
Other Albanian personalities who fit into the Christendom’s agenda fighting the same
enemy, as the Christendom did (the case of Skanderbeg), have to be forcefully baptized.
Others are being Albanianized. The real losers in this party are the Albanians, who
historically remain a ping-pong ball, at the hands of the wars that Occident and Orient have
historically done upon the ancient realms of Albania. These wars are in many cases
distorting even the historical truths of Albania.
[2] The flag of Albanian Muslims is in the end of this article (see p. ....)
[3] To Christians Fâtih is a barbarous, bloodthirsty invader, tyrant and the devil himself. He is not a liberator as
the Muslim World or the passionate historians might see him.
[4] The first clash happened when Sicily and Spain came under the Arab rule.
[5] Osmanli Devlet is the Turkish name for the Ottoman State.
[6] The original name is: Islambol, meaning Much Islâm.
[7] The news Constantinople’s fall was received with extreme fear and grief in the Western Europe. Pope
Nicholas V after learning this sad news for the World’s Christianity send his envoys to the Italian powers to
persuade them to join in their forces for crusade against the (Islamic) infidels:
F. Babinger, (tr. R. Manheim), Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, Princeton, 1978, p. 98
[8] Evlija Çelebi, Evlija Çelebi Sejjhatnamesi, in Albanian translation: Shqiperia perpara tre shekujsh, Tirane,
2000, p. 142
[9] F. Babinger, p. 273
[10] Ibid, pp. 390-391
[11] American CNN propaganda of our times for a scholar of history seems as a poor plagiarism of the ancient
Islamic propaganda. Many of the CNN’s anti-Taliban slogans, such as: “War against terror”, “free versus civilized
world”, “terrorist versus uncivilized world” etc, are nothing more than a poor replica of the ancient Islamic
concepts of Dar Al Harb (the state of war-terror: attributed to the non-Islamic countries) and Dar Al Selam (the
Free-peaceful world: attributed to the Islamic countries).
[12] F. Babinger. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, cit., p. 408. Special thanksgiving and celebrations were
held at Vatican and across Italy on this event.
[13] Ylli Polovina, Homo Balcanicus. Nel contesto dei rapporti Serbia-Kosovo, Edizioni dell’Oleandro, L’Aquila,
2001, p. 33.
[14] Ci siamo oppure ci facciamo?, da Kosovo. L’Italia in guerra, Quaderni speciali di “Limes”, Milano, 1999, p.
107.
[15] The American Peoples Encyclopedia, New York, Grolier Incorporated, 1963, XI vol., Kosovo, battle of, p. 984.
[16] Ylli Polovina, Homo Balcanicus..., cit., p. 33-34
[17] Albania X-XV sec.: baluardo della Cristianità occidentale, “Bota Shqiptare”, Roma, Anno III, N. 50, 28
Novembre-11 Dicembre 2001, p. 10.
[18] T. Winfrin, Perspectives on Albania, Polgrave, 1992, p. 75.
[19] M. Maksudogly, Osmanli History 1289 – 1922, Kuala Lumpur, 1999, p. 50
[20] S. Islam, K. Frashëri, Historia e Shqipërisë, Tirana, 1959, p. 245.
[21] E. Pears, Life of Abdul Hamid, London, 1917, Pp. 13 - 19 : The Janissary troops were formed since 1355 by
Sultan Orhan.. (P. 13) It was they (the Janissaries) who won the great battles of the Maritza in 1371… and
Kossovo – Pol in 1889.
[22] B. Jelavich, Historia e Ballkanit, Tirana, 1999, Pp. 87
[23] S. Islam, K. Frasheri. Historia e Shqiperise, Tirana, 1959, p. 241 and Tajar Zavalani, Histori e Shqipnis,
Tirana, 1998, p. 115.
[24] E. Jacques, The Albanians, an ethnic history from prehistoric times to the present, McFarland & Company,
1994, p. 171.
[25] E. Jacques, Islam in Albania, Moslem World, 1938
[26] E. Jacques, The Albanians, an ethnic history from prehistoric times to the present, p. 252.
[27] N. Malcolm, Kosovo a Short History, HarperCollins, 1999, p. 73.
[28] Ibidem.
[29] Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani, Roma, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. II, 1929, p.
115.
[30] Sh. Delvina, Pa pavarësi fetare, nuk ka pavarësi Kombëtare, Tirana, 1998, p. 29
[31] E. Said, Orientalism, New York, 1979, p. 21
[32] T. Zavalani, Histori e Shqipnis, Tirana, 1998, p. 237.
[33] “Klan”, Kush e kerkonte fronin shqiptar, February, 2001.
[34] Ibidem.
[35] I. Qafezezi, Historisë e Ali Pashë Tepelenës, Bukuresht, 1916, p. 1.
[36] Bektashi monk.
[37] Bektashis are a Muslim Shi’a sect, with their center in Tirana
[38] Baba is a Bektashi high monk.
[39] Zan i Nalte, Shkodra, April 1936, Pp. 107 – 8, defends the Islamic and national belongingness of
Scanderbeg, against Christian claims and points out that Scanderbeg’s war was against the Turks and not Islam.
[40] S. Frashëri, Vepra, vol. IX, Shkup, 1994, p. 10.
[41] K. E. Fleming, The Muslim Bonaparte, Princeton, 1999, Pp. 119
[42] Ibid, Pp. 166