Isa Boletini

During the late 19th century, Boletini was member of Albanian movements which sought the unification of four Ottoman vilayets (Kosovo, Shkodra,Manastir and Ioannina) into an independent Albanian state. After the rise of the League of Prizren, he took part as a young man in the Battle of Slivovaagainst Turkish forces on 22 April 1881.^[1] In 1902, Boletini was appointed head of the personal “Albanian guard” of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in Istanbul, where he spent most of the next four years and acquired the title “bey”.^[1] He was deputy of Kosovo in the Ottoman Assembly between 1908 and 1912. He was loyal to the sultan, but in 1908 he gave his initial support to the Young Turks.^[1]

On 15 May 1909, The Young Turks, continuing their former policy of denying the Albanians national rights, sent a military expedition to Kosovo to stop the growth of hostile attitudes to the government and break resistance of the peasants, who refused to pay taxes which Istanbul had introduced.^[2]Cavid Pasha, the new commander of the division at Mitroviça, was ordered to carry out a succession of military operations against the Albanian mountain people. On account of the attempts of the authorities to collect taxes which hitherto had been paid almost entirely by the Christians, serious disturbances broke out among the war-like Muslim tribes of northern Albania.^[2] Isa Boletini, a prominent leader often honoured by the Sultan, and other chiefs of İpek (now Peć) and Yakova (now Đakovica), attacked the Turkish army of 7,000 men.^[2] Boletini and his men put up fierce resistance and numerous collisions occasioning much bloodshed took place with the troops, who bombarded several villages. After their escape, Turkish troops burned his house down in revenge.