TIRANA, Sept 2 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed Friday the fact that more than 1 million documents have been donated to Albania’s State Archive by the Istanbul-based Ottoman Archive.
PM Rama said that “arrival of the Ottoman-era trove of documents about Albania and Albanians from the Istanbul-based Ottoman empire archives is very welcome news.”
Ardit Bido, the head of Albania’s state archives, told reporters a day ago that the institution he represents has been enriched with more than 1 million documents containing data on Ottoman-era Albania and its residents.
Bido underscored that all Ottoman era archival documents related to Albania and Albanians have now been returned to the country.
The documents reportedly cover the political and social activities of Albanians throughout the five-century rule by the Ottoman Empire.
Among them were edicts, biographical data on Ismail Qemali, the founding father of modern Albania, and documents related to Ali Pasha of Ioannina, an Albanian ruler who died in 1822; information on political clashes among the leaders in Albanian space, including the conflict between Ali Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha.
They also include the decisions and engagements of various personalities, evidence of Albanian education in the cities of Vlorë and Skopje, information on the rulers in the Albanian populated cities, and documents on the developments in the religious life in the region.
The donation took place under an agreement on the exchange of archival documents between the two institutions, Bido said: “In 2015 and 2020, the archive in Istanbul donated between 5,000 and 350,000 papers of documents.”
Archive officials said the documents will be an impetus for further research and will shed light on the activities of Albania and Albanians from the Ottoman era until the declaration of independence in 1912.
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