Agan Koja (1892-1929) was an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

Muslim cleric and political activist from Plav, present-day Montenegro. He was a member of the

Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo The Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo ( sq, Komiteti "Mbrojtja Kombëtare e Kosovës" abbrev. KMKK) was an Albanian organization founded in Shkodër on 1 May 1918. It was mainly consisted of the political exiles from Kosovo and was led ...

and fought as

kachak Kachaks ( sq, kaçak, sr, качаци / ''kačaci'') is a term used for the Albanian bandits active in the late 19th and early 20th century in northern Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia, and later as a term for the militias of Albanian ...

against Yugoslav border troops after 1919 when his home region became part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He was killed by Yugoslav agents in

Tropojë Tropojë (; sq-definite, Tropoja) is a municipality in Kukës County, northeastern Albania, within the historical ethnographic region of the Gjakova Highlands. The municipality consists of the administrative units of Bajram Curri, Bujan, Bytyç, ...

in 1929. In 1992, on the 80th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Albania he was honored with the Order of Freedom (1st Class) of Albania. He was born in Prnjavor, Plav most likely in 1892, although on his gravestone 1885 is marked as his year of birth. He studied Islamic theology and was the

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

of Plav before WWI. In WWI, he was a ranked officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. In 1918, as the war was coming to its end and many Albanians who opposed Austro-Hungarian occupation had been imprisoned, he disarmed Austro-Hungarian troops in Plav and killed their commander. The weapons were distributed to the locals to prepare against a future Yugoslav annexation. Koja joined

and was a member of the local Plav-Gusinje committee. After the assassination of Ismail Nikoçi in 1919, he took the leadership of the refugees who had fled to Albania after the Yugoslav army attacked the region. In Albania, Agan Koja settled in the area of

close to the new border between Albania and Yugoslavia. He led a group of

s who fought against the Yugoslav army in the borderlands. In one such skirmish, his group executed four Yugoslav officers and disarmed 50 conscripts. In Tropojë, Koja became the imam in a local mosque. The Yugoslav government place a bounty for his killing - like for many other kachaks. He was assassinated in Tropoja in 1929. He is a considered a local hero in Sandzak among both Albanians and

Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koja, Agan 1892 births 1929 deaths 19th-century Albanian people 20th-century Albanian people People from Plav, Montenegro 20th-century Albanian military personnel Albanians in Montenegro