Melko Čingrija (1 April 1873 – 8 December 1949) was a Yugoslav politician.

Life and career

Čingrija completed his high school education in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

before studying Law in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and receiving a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. He was the son of the long-time Dubrovnik mayor,

Pero Čingrija Pero Čingrija (24 August 1837 – 13 July 1921) was a Croatian politician. As a long-time mayor of Dubrovnik and leader of the People's Party, he was one of the most prominent Dubrovnik and Dalmatian politicians at the turn of the 20th century. ...

. Until 1905, he was a member of the People's Party, then of the Croatian Party. From 1903–08, he served as a member of the Dalmatian Parliament. Čingrija was at the forefront of the struggle for Croatian national and political rights as one of the advocates of a "new course" policy. He was one of the signatories of the

Rijeka resolution Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

. He twice served as the mayor of Dubrovnik (1911–14 and 1919–20). At the beginning of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was interned by the Austrian authorities for his opposition to the Austrian regime. When the Imperial Council was convened in May 1917, he was granted leave to perform parliamentary duties in Vienna. He signed the

May Declaration The May Declaration (, , /Мајска декларација) was a manifesto of political demands for unification of South Slav-inhabited territories within Austria-Hungary put forward to the Imperial Council in Vienna on 30 May 1917. It was ...

of the Yugoslav Club in the Imperial Council (May 30, 1917) and the Geneva Declaration (November 9, 1918) on the creation of joint Yugoslav governments, of which he was a member. In 1920, he turned to the Serbian-centric policy pursued by King Aleksandar Karađorđević and the Prime Minister of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

, the Serbian radical

Nikola Pašić Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat. During his political career, which spanned almost five decades, he served five times as prime minis ...

. In 1926, he formally became a member of Pasic's Serbian People's Radical Party. In addition, Čingrija was the vice-governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia, and he signed the banknotes in Cyrillic. In 1939, he published the books ''Dubrovnik'' and ''The Croatian Question'', in which he advocated for the Serb-Catholic point of view, beauty in the territorial division and that it was not necessary to establish the Banovina of Croatia over Zeta Banovina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cingrija, Melko 1873 births 1949 deaths People from Dubrovnik People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia People's Radical Party politicians Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1911–1918) Mayors of Dubrovnik Serbian politicians Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik