Teme Sejko
Encyclopedia
Teme Sejko was an Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...

 rear-admiral and commander of the Albanian navy and the naval base of Durrës
Durrës
Durrës is the second largest city of Albania located on the central Albanian coast, about west of the capital Tirana. It is one of the most ancient and economically important cities of Albania. Durres is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari...

. In 1961 he was executed for allegedly being the leader of a pro-Soviet group that had been planning a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 against Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...

 by selling the Albanian navy to the Sixth Fleet.

Background

Teme Sejko, a member of the Sejko family of Filiates
Filiates
Filiates is a town and a municipality in Thesprotia, Greece. It is located in the northernmost part of the prefecture, bordering western Ioannina Prefecture and southern Albania.-Municipality:...

, was born in Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...

, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

, on August 25, 1922. His father, Mehmet Sejko, was a landlord of the region. His mother, Shyqëranie Taka, was a housewife. She was the niece of Alush Taka who had been a commander of the Vlora War
Vlora War
The Vlora War or the War of 1920 was a series of battles between an Italian forces garrisoned throughout Vlorë region and Albanian patriots divided in small groups of fighters. The war lasted three months and had great impact in the struggle of Albania for the safeguard of its territories at a...

. Teme Sejko had two brothers, Taho and Sulo, and two sisters, Nurie and Merushe. One of his sisters was married to Rexhep Plaku, a landlord from Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...

. His father sent Teme to Tiranë, Sarandë
Sarandë
Sarandë or Saranda is the capital of the District of Sarandë, Albania, and is one of the most important tourist attractions of the Albanian Riviera. It is situated on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean 2 nautical miles from the Greek island of Corfu. The city of Saranda has a...

, and Shkodër
Shkodër
Shkodër , is a city located on Lake of Shkoder in northwestern Albania in the District of Shkodër, of which it is the capital. It is one of the oldest and most historic towns in Albania, as well as an important cultural and economic centre. Shkodër's estimated population is 90,000; if the...

 to study. He finished his studies in the Voroshilov Military Academy in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

.

Activity in the Albanian army

In 1943 he was sent by the National Anti-Fascist Liberation Army of Albania
Military history of Albania during World War II
The Albanian Resistance of World War II was a movement of largely Communist persuasion directed against the occupying Italian and then German forces in Albania, which led to the successful liberation of the country in 1944....

 to Konispol
Konispol
Konispol is the southernmost town in Albania. It sits one kilometer away from the Albanian-Greek border. The municipality consists of the town Konispol and the village Çiflik.The town's main interests are agriculture and viticulture...

, where he became one of the founding members of the Chameria battalion . After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Teme Sejko rose rapidly through the ranks of the Albanian army, becoming in 1958 rear-admiral of the Albanian navy. During the period of poor relations with Yugoslavia, Colonel Sejko was sending undercover groups into Yugoslavia.

In July 1960 he was arrested by Sigurimi
Sigurimi
The Drejtoria e Sigurimit të Shtetit , commonly called the Sigurimi, was the state security, intelligence and secret police service of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania...

, Albania's secret police for allegedly being part of a joint Greek-Yougoslav-Italian-US sixth Fleet counterrevolutionary plot to overthrow the Albanian government. He was arrested along with six other military commanders, his brother and ex-editor-in-chief of Zëri i Popullit
Zëri i Popullit
Zëri i Popullit is an Albanian daily newspaper that was originally founded on August 25, 1942 as the official newspaper of Albania and was the news and propaganda organ of the Party of Labour. After the Socialist People's Republic of Albania was disbanded in 1992, the paper continued to get...

 Taho Sejko, Liri Belishova, chairwoman of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania and Tahir Demi
Tahir Demi
Tahir Demi was an Albanian politician. He was high-ranking member of the Party of Labour of Albania and representantive of Albania at Comecon...

, representative of Albania at Comecon
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organisation under hegemony of Soviet Union comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world...

. They were tried in May 1961 and convicted. Teme Sejko was sentenced to death and executed after the trial along with three other high-ranking members of the Albanian army and the Party of Labour of Albania, Tahir Demi
Tahir Demi
Tahir Demi was an Albanian politician. He was high-ranking member of the Party of Labour of Albania and representantive of Albania at Comecon...

, Abdyl Resuli and Hajri Mane on 31 May 1961. The four remaining commanders received prison sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

. After his execution the Office of Naval Intelligence
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in the United States Navy in 1882. ONI was established to "seek out and report" on the advancements in other nations' navies. Its headquarters are at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland...

 reported that Teme Sejko was a key figure of the Soviet-Albanian split. Sources in Yugoslavia at the time argued that Sejko had been accused because of his politics. It was said that the executions had arisen because Hoxha disagreed with the conclusions of a Party conference in Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...

 in 1956.

Sources

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