10 Facts About Sali Butka

Sali Butka, was an Albanian nationalist figure, revolutionary kachak, poet, and one of the delegates of the city of Korce to the Albanian National Congress of Lushnje.

Sali Butka was a well-known leader of an armed ceta band of Albanian fighters during the early 1900's.

Sali Butka belonged to a generation of villagers who became literate in the Albanian language and subsequently joined guerrilla bands via the literary efforts of the Albanian intelligentsia.

Sali Butka subsequently became the commander of various Albanian irregular bands, and in 1906, he initiated armed guerrilla operations throughout southern Albania against the Ottoman Empire and the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II Sali Butka had taught himself how to read and write in Albanian.

Sali Butka viewed his literary contributions as feeding an Albanian national consciousness.

Sali Butka participated in a large meeting on the Albanian alphabet in the city of Korce in 1910, alongside 2,500 fellow Albanians from Kolonje; additionally, Butka was one of the leading Albanian figures who protested against the Sublime Porte and the use of Arabic letters for the Albanian alphabet.

In May 1912, prior to the Albanian Declaration of Independence, Sali Butka participated in the Kuvend of Peja to discuss the new planned uprising against the Ottoman Turks.

Sali Butka was then at the head of the Albanian revolutionary forces in the region and first liberated Erseke from Ottoman forces, followed by Korce in August 1912.

Qemali invited him to Vlore, and the government subsequently tasked Sali Butka with defending Vlora from the Ottoman Turk forces of Xhavit Pasha.

Sali Butka's band invaded in 1916 the Aromanian-inhabited town of Moscopole, once a prosperous metropolis in the 18th century, and led to its destruction.