League of Peja
Encyclopedia
The League of Peja was an Albanian political organization established in 1899 in the city of Peć
Pec
Peć or Pejë is a city and municipality in north-western Kosovo and Metohija - Serbia, and the administrative centre of the homonymous district. Governor of city is Ali Berisha....

 (Peja), Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

. It was led by Haxhi Zeka
Haxhi Zeka
Haxhi Zeka, or Haxhi Mulla Zeka, was an Albanian national leader. He was a member of the League of Prizren, while in 1899 formed and headed the League of Peja, another organization seeking autonomy for Albania within the Ottoman Empire...

, a former member of the League of Prizren
League of Prizren
The League for the Defense of the Rights of the Albanian Nation commonly known as the League of Prizren was an Albanian political organization founded on 10 June 1878 in Prizren, in the Kosovo province of the Ottoman Empire....

 and shared the same platform in quest for an autonomous Albanian vilayet
Albanian Vilayet
The Albanian Vilayet was a projected vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in the western Balkan Peninsula, which was to include the four Ottoman vilayets with substantial ethnic Albanian populations: Kosovo Vilayet, Scutari Vilayet, Monastir Vilayet and Janina Vilayet...

 within Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

.

Albanian patriotic circles had been seeing a need of creating a new organisation, similar to the first League of Prizren
League of Prizren
The League for the Defense of the Rights of the Albanian Nation commonly known as the League of Prizren was an Albanian political organization founded on 10 June 1878 in Prizren, in the Kosovo province of the Ottoman Empire....

, and to include all the Albanian lands and place it in front of a national movement.

The first efforts for the creation of the league began on September 1896. Haxhi Zeka was named as head of this movement by the most influent Albanian leaders in the Ottoman province of Kosovo
Kosovo Province, Ottoman Empire
The Vilayet of Kosovo was a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula which included the current territory of Kosovo and the western part of the Republic of Macedonia...

 (Kosovo villayet was one of four Ottoman provinces - vilayets, with significant presence of Albanian population).

Albanian leaders led by Haxhi Zeka organised a meeting in Đakovica in march-April 1897 as a first step for the creation of the league. There were two groups of members. The first group of conservative and more moderate members wanted five vilayets (with Salonika vilayet included) to be united into the Albanian vilayet, and the second group of the more radical members wanted the full administrative autonomy for the for vilayets united in the Albanian vilayet.

The league ended its activity in 1900 after an armed conflict with the Ottoman forces. Zeka was assassinated by a Serbian agent Adem Zajmi in 1902.
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