27 Facts About Bekir Fikri

Bekir Fikri was born into an Albanian-Turkish family in Corhlu located in the kaza of Grebene, Ottoman Empire in 1882.

Bekir Fikri married a woman whose father had served in the Yemen conflict.

Bekir Fikri possessed strong authority among fellow Muslims in the area where he resided and could communicate with them as he spoke Albanian, Turkish and Greek as his mother tongue.

Bekir Fikri was convinced that the Ottoman government had to help the Albanians and vice versa, a view that was disliked by some CUP officers that considered any recognition of Albanianism as dangerous for the unification of the empire.

Bekir Fikri believed that Albanianism was not powerful enough to oppose Hellenism.

Shortly after his transfer to Alasonya in 1908, Bekir Fikri learned that Adjuntant Major Ahmet Niyazi had deserted the Ottoman army and initiated the Young Turk Revolution.

Bekir Fikri followed his example by going to Grebene where he gave a short speech to local Muslims and within a few hours thereafter formed a large guerilla band.

Bekir Fikri informed Ottoman authorities of the area that his reserve force would take control of Grebene.

Bekir Fikri was of the view that Turks and Albanians must fight together against the Greeks in order to take revenge.

Bekir Fikri participated in the Balkan Wars and fought to keep the region around Grebene under Ottoman rule.

Bekir Fikri defended the town of Grebene close to the Ottoman-Greek border.

The CUP government in Istanbul had tasked Bekir Fikri to bring Albania under Ottoman suzerainty as they viewed the country a threat to Greece and Serbia in any future war.

Bekir Fikri travelled from Istanbul to Sofia then Budapest and arrived at Shkoder in November 1913 with 5,000 gold Napoleons to use as an incentive to make people side with him, to hold diplomatic talks and provide them with confidential correspondence with Istanbul.

Bekir Fikri managed to convince the notables of Shkoder to support Izzet Pasha.

Later Bekir Fikri traveled to Durres and through a secret letter to the Istanbul government asked them to deliver troops and ammunition to the town.

In same letter Bekir Fikri outlined his views that he wanted Izzet Pasha as king of Albania, and to pursue that aim in the southern parts of the country he requested for a transporter, stunner, cannon and ammunition delivery to Durres.

Bekir Fikri thought that southern Albania could be convinced through force of arms.

Bekir Fikri acting as Izzet Pasha's emissary contacted Ismail Kemal who had declared Albanian independence in November 1912 during the Balkan Wars.

Bekir Fikri presented Kemal with a plan that envisaged joint Ottoman, Albanian and Bulgarian military action against Greece and Serbia.

Later in 1914 Bekir Fikri fought and died at the Battle of Sarikamish during the First World War.

Bekir Fikri viewed military innovation as an important factor in warfare.

In same book which were his memoirs, Bekir Fikri denounced the activity of Greek bands, as well as the inaction of the Ottoman administration toward them.

Bekir Fikri referred to the tyranny of "the so-called civilised, barbarous Greeks" in an introduction of his translation to what Fikri described was a diary belonging to a Greek sergeant that was included within his memoirs.

Bekir Fikri was of the view that Muslims were in a much worse situation than Christians as the latter were developed due to trade, crafts, education, and support from the Patriarchate.

For Bekir Fikri Muslims had spent their youth facing death in Yemen or Tripoli and the graveyards of distant borderlands were crowded with Muslim graves.

Bekir Fikri described that in his village, the number of Christian homes had grown, while that of Muslim homes had diminished.

Bekir Fikri wrote that Muslim clerics and soldiers did not receive salaries and had poor living conditions that due to poverty limited their ability to pursue an education.