Gjirokastër County Gjirokastër County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The total population in 2023 was 60,013, in an area of 2884 km2. Its capital is the city Gjirokastër. Administrative divisions Until 2000, Gjirokastër County was subdivided into thre ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

Tepelenë District Tepelenë District () was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 newly created Counties of Albania, counties. It had a population of 32,465 in 2001, and an area of .Ali Pasha of Yanina was born at the nearby village of Beçisht, and Tepelena along with

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

were Ali's headquarters. In 1847, the British writer

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

visited the town and noted the devastated buildings.

Name

The name of Tepelene has been interpreted in three variants; the first connects the origin of this name with the Turkish word "''Tepedelen''" which means "head-piercing". The second version explains the word with "Tepe e Lenes" which means "the hill of Lenes" and the third more convincing version is the one which explains this name with the Illyrian word "Antibylyne" which means "in front of the Bylynes". Later this word evolves and takes the name Tepelene.

History

The

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

s built a defensive tower which was successively developed during the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

epoch in the 15th century and by Ali Pasha in the early 19th century. In early July 1833 the inhabitants of Tepelenë rose in revolt against Emin Pasha. The Young Turk revolutionaries met in Tepelenë in February 1909, in an attempt to persuade Albanian nationalists to join them. In 1920, an earthquake severely damaged the town which was completely rebuilt afterwards. Local tradition says that if Tepelenë exceeds 100 buildings it will be destroyed. In the same year, 400 Italian soldiers surrendered to the Albanians during the Battle of Vlora. On 7 April 1939, Italian forces landed in Albania and took control of the country and Tepelenë in the beginning of World War II. After the Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940 failed, the Albanian troops in Tepelenë under the command of Colonel

Prenk Pervizi Prenk Pervizi (4 May 1897 – 6 September 1977) was an Albanians, Albanian military figure, General of the Albanian army, who also served as Ministry of Defence (Albania), Minister of Defence for a short period during World War II. Pervizi attend ...

deserted the Italian army. The colonel protested by telling the Italian command that the Albanians were not cannon fodder. As a consequence, Colonel Pervizi as well as other officers and Albanian troops were transferred into the mountains of northern Albania and isolated there. Greek forces counter-attacked and advanced towards Tepelenë in a general offensive on

Vlorë Vlorë ( ; ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, third most populous city of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surr ...

. Despite several attacks and assistance for the Greeks by the British

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, the Italians managed to hold the town and in late April 1941, following the

German invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put forward in "Fü ...

, the Greek army was forced to withdraw. Later, the post-war socialist government converted the local Italian army camp into a labour camp. Among those detained were influential Albanian families involved in the previous governments. Some died and their graves were unmarked. The camp was closed in 1954. At one point a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic killed many inmates. In the 1997 unrest in Albania, Tepelenë became a focal point for the uprising against

Sali Berisha Sali Berisha (; born 15 October 1944) is an Albanian cardiologist and conservative politician who served as the president of Albania from 1992 to 1997 and as the 32nd Prime Minister of Albania, prime minister of Albania from 2005 to 2013. Berisha ...

's government. A people's committee took charge of the town in March 1997 and released opposition politician

Fatos Nano Fatos Thanas Nano (; born 16 September 1952) is an Albanian socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of Albania in 1991, from 1997 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2005. He was the first leader and founder of the Socialist Party of Albania and ...

from the local prison. The movement spread immediately to

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

where weapons were distributed from Tepelenë.

Geography

Tepelenë is located on the left shore of the Vjosa River on a plateau above the river. The river applies here, after the river has broken through a few kilometres in the Këlcyrë Gorge a mountain chain, to the North. In addition the Drino flows at this point. North of Tepelenë, the Bënça river coming from the south-west from the Kurvelesh flows into the Vjosa. Tepelenë was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Kurvelesh, Lopës, Qendër Tepelenë and Tepelenë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Tepelenë.

Demographics

The total population of the city is 8,949 (2011 census), in a total area of 431.50 km². The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 4,342 and completely ethnically Albanian.

Economy

The local mineral water plant is an important and successful local enterprise.

Transport

Due to its location at the confluence of two valleys, Tepelena has always been an important traffic hub in southern Albania. The National Road 4 (''SH4''), from

Fier Fier (; sq-definite, Fieri, Latin: ''Fierum'') is the seventh most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Fier County and Fier Municipality. It is situated on the bank of Gjanica River in the Myzeqe Plain between the Seman in ...

to

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

, continues through Tepelenë.

Culture

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is SK Tepelena.

Notable people

* Ali Pasha *

Foto Strakosha Fotaq "Foto" Strakosha (born 29 March 1965) is an Albanian retired goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach of Lazio Youth. Strakosha is regarded as one of Albania's most popular and greatest goalkeepers. In his 20-years playing career he pla ...

, soccer player

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

capped * Muhedin Targaj, soccer player

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

capped * Isuf Kalo, notable physician, personal doctor of

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...

* Gramoz Ruçi, 37th

Speaker of the Parliament of Albania The speaker of the Parliament of Albania () is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Albania whose term coincides with the term of the Parliament and are elected by a vote during the opening session. The speaker takes over the functions ...

* Valentina Leskaj, former Minister of Work and Social Welfare * Tafil Buzi, leader of the Albanian revolts of 1833–1839. *, poet,writer and rhapsodist,author of iso-polyphonic songs. * Big Body Bes, rapper and TV presenter * Toquel, rapper *

Stan Dragoti Stanley John Dragoti (October 4, 1932 – July 13, 2018) was an American film director whose work includes the comedies ''Love at First Bite'' and ''Mr. Mom''. Life Dragoti was born in New York City to Albanians, Albanian parents, both havi ...

, American movie director with parents from Tepelena who migrated to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the 1920s

Name

History

Geography

Demographics

Economy

Transport

Culture

Sports

Notable people

See also