14 Facts About Shahin Kolonja

Shahin bey Kolonja was an Albanian journalist, politician, and member of the Ottoman Parliament during its Second Constitutional Era.

Shahin Kolonja, was born Shahin Teki Ypi in 1865 or 1867 in Starje, Kolonje, at that time part of the Ottoman Empire.

Shahin Kolonja came from a well-known Bektashi family of the area and was the son of Karahman bey and the grandson of Suleyman Pasha, mutasarrif of Plevlje.

Shahin Kolonja was one of the Albanians employed in the Ottoman public administration and was for a time the mutasarrif of the sanjak of Mount Athos.

Shahin Kolonja abandoned civil service in order to follow other lifetime pursuits and beliefs.

Shahin Kolonja went to various countries in Europe, finally settling in Sofia.

Shahin Kolonja's written works in Drita and other media highlighted the socio-economic aspect of the Albanian national movement by critiquing the Ottoman aristocratic class, to whom he belonged being a bey, and noting the plight of the peasantry.

Shahin Kolonja advocated for an Albanian national awakening and the security of national existence through a better constitutional relationship between Albanians and the Ottoman Empire, however supported the activities of armed Albanian guerilla bands fighting the empire.

Shahin Kolonja distrusted the Arbereshe, whom he viewed as pawns of the Italian government advocating for Italian positions toward the Albanian question and refused to cooperate with them.

In 1904, Shahin Kolonja translated into Ottoman Turkish and published in Drita the manifesto of Albanian National Awakening, Sami Frasheri's "Shqiperia c'ka qene, c'eshte e cdo te behete" of 1889.

In 1906, Shahin Kolonja was involved in recruitment activities abroad for the revolutionary Albanian Manastir Committee among the Albanian diaspora in Bucharest and Constanta, Sofia, and in Egypt.

In 1908, Shahin Kolonja was elected deputy of Korce in the Ottoman parliament with the financial support of Albanian activists.

Shahin Kolonja was a prominent member of the 26 assemblymen that represented the four Albanian Vilayets.

Shahin Kolonja's programme advocated for Albanian military service in Albanian inhabited lands, an Albanian gendarmerie, local Albanian ownership of transport infrastructure and exploitation of natural resources, open free vote and revenue collection with recognition of Albanian nationality and language.