Dervish Biçaku (1874-1952) 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 ...

landowner, and one of the delegates of

Albanian Declaration of Independence The Albanian Declaration of Independence ( Albanian: ''Deklarata e Pavarësisë'') was the declaration of independence of Albania from the Ottoman Empire. Independent Albania was proclaimed in Vlorë on 28 November 1912. Six days later the Assem ...

."History of Albanian People" Albanian Academy of Science. He was born in Elbasan, today's

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in a landowners family, with around 2100

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of land in Elbasan and Lushnje areas. His father was Jusuf Bey Biçaku, and his mother was Hedije Zogolli, aunt of Ahmet Zogolli, known as the future Albanian

King Zog I Zog I ( sq, Naltmadhnija e tij Zogu I, Mbreti i Shqiptarëve, ; 8 October 18959 April 1961), born Ahmed Muhtar bey Zogolli, taking the name Ahmet Zogu in 1922, was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. At age 27, he first served as Albania's ...

. He finished high school in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. He was one of the organizers of the

Congress of Elbasan The Congress of Elbasan ( sq, Kongresi i Elbasanit), also known between Albanians as the Congress of the Albanian schools (''Kongresi i shkollave shqipe''), was held from 2 to 8 September 1909 in Elbasan, today's Albania, back then part of the Vi ...

in 1909, one of the sponsors, and was elected its chairman. Dervish Bey Biçaku was one of the financiers of the Normal School of Elbasan. In 1912, he was a delegate of Peqin in the

Assembly of Vlorë The Assembly of Vlorë ( sq, Kuvendi i Vlorës) was an Albanian assembly constituted during the All-Albanian Congress in Vlorë, on November 28, 1912. Background The All-Albanian Congress or ''Albanian National Congress'' or ''Albanian Ind ...

, which declared the independence of the four Albanian

vilayets A vilayet ( ota, , "province"), also known by various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated b ...

from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He was appointed by the future prime-minister

Ismail Qemali Ismail Qemal bey Vlora, mostly known as Ismail Qemali (; 16 January 184426 January 1919), was an Albanian diplomat, politician, rilindas, statesman and the Founding Father of modern Albania, and one of the most famous Southern Albanian person. Th ...

as future

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

, but unexpectedly he expressed disagreement with Qemali's line of government and jumped to Esat Pashë Toptani's side. At the end of

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, right before the LANC forces took control in Albania, he settled in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, where he died in 1952.

References

20th-century Albanian politicians All-Albanian Congress delegates 1874 births 1952 deaths People from Elbasan People from Manastir vilayet Activists of the Albanian National Awakening Albanian philanthropists Dervish Albanians from the Ottoman Empire {{Albania-politician-stub Albanian emigrants Immigrants to Lebanon