Bernard Zotaj: The heroic fall of Oso Kuka and his retinue

LEXO NE SHQIP-READ IN ALBANIAN

Prof. Assoc. Dr. Bernard Zotaj

The roots of the Kuka family

Oso Kuka, known as Osman Bejtullah agë Kuka, was born in Shkodra, around 1820, into a family of knights with early origins from Kukës. The Kuke family became known with Ibrahim Kuke, Oso's grandfather, who in 1802 was provided with a timar for military services, the income of which he obtained in kind from the villagers of the villages of Mes, Egërç, Lopç of the Rranxe of Mbishkodra. Based on the sultan's decrees, Ibrahim was appointed qehaja, of the castle, a rank that was comparable to an assistant commander or intendant. Bejtullah agë Kukes was among the courtiers of Vizier Mustafa Pasha. Popular records show that the Bushatlinj viziers kept the Kukes as their adjutants. Jusuf agë Kuka II, Oso's brother, was in the administrative unit of the Shkodra vilayet in 1897, and is said to have been a company commander of the Reç and Lohe mountains. With Ibrahim's death, the aforementioned timar in 1815 passed into the name of his son, Jusuf agë Kukës, who also enjoyed the rank of qehaja for the reservists serving in the fortress.

Oso spent his youth, for 27 years, on the roads of the Kurbet in Anatolia, in Tarabulluz, in Aleppo and then in Rumelia. Finally, he crossed Dibra and several other Albanian regions. In 1859, Oso received the rank of captain, and was appointed commander of the border guards during the time of the governor Abdi Pasha Çekrezi. This task was assigned to him at the proposal of Hodo Sokoli, at that time the commander of the gendarmerie, and he was appointed captain of the guards on the Ottoman-Montenegrin border, on the island of Vranina, north of Lake Shkodra.

The War of Vranina

The Albanians in the 19th century found themselves, as never before, between two fires: on one side the invading Ottoman Empire and on the other the reawakening of the predatory greed of their Slavic neighbors. The Ottoman Empire in the 19th century was in fact in crisis, after the liberation wars of the peoples seeking freedom had begun, but also of the European powers that always posed a permanent danger to its collapse. Russia was becoming a support for the Slavic brothers of the Balkans. The neighbors of the Albanians sought to expand their territories from the European part of the Ottoman Empire. These territories were lands of ethnic Albania. Thus, the neighboring Montenegrins sought to benefit from the territories of Northern and Northwestern Albania.

In June 1862, the Montenegrins led the army to the strategic and magnificent island of Vranina. Military preparations and aid from Russia had been completed in time and a reason was needed to attack Vranina.

The reason was found, some soldiers of Oso Kuka were complained by the Liubotinas that when women passed by on the road, they took their fish when they returned to their homes. This act of the Albanians was considered a matter of honor for the men of these families… The Montenegrins had as their main goal the conquest of Vranina. The island of Vranina was completely separated from Shkodra. Documents of the time say that Oso Kuka was the commander of the border guards. He had taken the necessary measures for the complaint of the Liubotinas, although this had been an “improvisation” of the Montenegrins. Thus the Montenegrins began looting and reprisals against the population of Vranina.

The border guards and the locals found it impossible to cope with the Cubans and the Montenegrin soldiers. Avdi Pasha, who was the ruler of Shkodra and the grandson of the Karadjeorgjevics of Belgrade, did not send soldiers of the Empire to defend Vranina. He summoned Oso Kuka to Shkodra and told him that the Montenegrins, led by Vulo Serdar, were killing, killing and wreaking havoc in Vranina. There was no Albanian who would go to take over this country. The dramatic “situation” between the brave Albanian commander Oso Kuka and Avdi Pasha, the ruler of Shkodra, is well described by Father Gjergj Fishta in “Lahuta e Malësia”. Oso Kuka chose the best fighters from Shkodra, Mirdita, Dukagjini and especially from Malësia e Madhe, but also from the South of Albania and created a 40-man detachment. Father Gjergj Fishta sings about these brave men who were heading towards Vranina, that war and death awaited them, not a wedding. All the brave men who set out for Vranina were the most chosen warriors who would justify before their homeland the sacred duty of defending the land of ethnic Albania, and specifically of historical Vranina… Warriors from other regions of Albania also participated in this war, where the bravery of the mountaineers of Hoti and Gruda in May (1862) had managed to cut off 30 heads of the enemy and brought them to Shkodra, as a sign of bravery and resistance in defense of the Albanian lands.

Montenegro was already a state, Turkey had recognized its independence. The Serbian and Russian brothers were close to them for predatory purposes. Montenegro had an organized army in considerable numbers and a modern combat technique for the time. The Albanians did not organize themselves in the war because the Turkish state hindered them more than it helped them. The element that organized the Albanians was patriotism, the legacy of their ancestors for freedom and independence.

Development of the fighting

Despite the heroic resistance of the Albanians, Vranina was in danger of falling into the hands of the Montenegrins. At these moments of fighting, the brave Oso Kuka, together with about 30 men, were positioned in defense and had entered the tower of the mortar. The tower was surrounded by about 3,000 Montenegrin soldiers and officers. At the head of the army was Prince Kral Nikola himself. The fight was fierce between the resisters, that is, the surrounded Albanian warriors, and the Montenegrins, who were calling on them to surrender. The Albanian warriors, led by Oso Kuka, were fighting like mountain lions, in every turret, in every body and in every corner of the tower. Oso Kuka, although wounded, stood up and gave courage to the brave warriors who were now certain death.

After many attempts to take the tower, the Montenegrin army had failed. The warriors were also running out of ammunition. While hand-to-hand combat was impossible, because if the tower was surrendered, the Albanian warriors were exhausted by the Montenegrin army. Oso Kuka called on the warriors not to surrender, but to blow up the tower. So they all decided to blow up the gunpowder tower, where he would blow up not only himself with the warriors, but hundreds of Montenegrins. Thus, the Montenegrins were being taught a good lesson that Albanian land is not given up without paying for it with blood, while the brave Albanian warriors never surrender alive, but died after they had taken revenge dozens of times.

Oso Kuka instructed that the tower have as many Montenegrin soldiers around it and up to the door. At the moment when the weapons had ceased and it seemed that everything was over, the Montenegrin army found itself inside the castle and surrounded the gunpowder tower. At this historic moment, Oso Kuka set the gunpowder tower on fire. The tower exploded, taking with it about 200 Montenegrin soldiers and officers who, together with the brave Albanian warriors, were scattered to pieces, scattered on the land of Vranina and in the waters of the lake. It is said that the plume of smoke and flame was seen as far as the palaces of Cetina and Shkodra. The explosion was heard even further, as far as the palaces of the old European kingdoms, showing that the Albanian lands have a God, who will not let them go until Albanians set foot on them.

Oso Kuka and his warriors, with this act of self-sacrifice, showed the army of Montenegro that the Albanian lands have not remained nor will they ever remain without sons in the Albanian homes that will be expelled, so Father Gjergj recites the words of the brave Oso Kuka: "Eni, eni more shkina,/ Eni, eni te Vranina...

The Immortality of the Legendary Heroes of Vranina

Oso Kuka together with his warriors, including his nephew Salë Behri, the 16-year-old young man, as well as the warriors: Musa Golemi, Met Begoja, Ibrahim Kopliku, Pjetër Berisha, Jusuf Bushati, Met Mala, Sadik Lapi, Myrto Zylfoja, Ferid Hoti, Sali Sakica, Sinan Kerni, Gjergj Cemi (Grudjani), Avdi Hisa, Taro Pëllumbi, Mahmut Zyberi, Met Zeneli, Vuksan Gjeli, Gjeto Gruda, Mal Spahia, Galo Keqi, Çok Mark Kola (Dini), Preng Markola, Sokol Tona and two “cruel clouds” from Zagore (Malesia e Madhe), Kaçel Doda, Kerni Gila, Mahmud Zyberi and others who were from the South of Albania, while Pjetri was a servant of Oso.

The names of the unforgettable martyred warriors are provided by some historical materials of the book “Shkodra dhe Motet”, v. I, by H. Bushati, “Oso Kuka”, by S. Krasniqi (historical novel), “Lahuta e Malcië” by At Gj. Fishta, Sheets of parish registers of Shkreli (Bzhetë), as well as the legends that still circulate today in Malësia and Montenegro.

For his heroism, Oso Kuka was dedicated to folk songs. Thus in 1898 in the newspaper “La Nazione Albanese” by Anselmo Lorekio; Kasem Taipi in “Zane popullore” and Hamdi Bushati in “Shkodra dhe motet". He was portrayed with great importance by Gjergj Fishta in the epic work "Lahuta e Malsija", which describes the war of Oso Kukës and his fall in the "Oso Kukës cycle" with 5 songs. In the famous folk song Oso Kuka calls himself Shkodran, but the poet in Lahuta presents him as a hero who is proud of the Prince as an Albanian.

About Oso Kukë they have written and spoken: G. Meyer wrote in Albanische Forschungen in 1897. While in 1921 Zef Mark Harapi wrote the drama "Trimnija e Oso Kukës", which was staged by amateur actors of the cultural society "Bogdani" in Shkodër.

In 1923 Avni Rustemi mentions the name of Oso Kukës in an appeal addressed to the authors of the society "Bashkimi". The writer Sulejman Krasniqi wrote the historical novel "Oso Kuka" in the 1990s. Montenegrins identify the place blown up with the tower of Oso Kukës, while the city's historical museum has been built at the Kuke family's house in Shkodra. In Shkodra, for someone who does not leave the house, the expression "he is different like Oso Kuka" is used.

Today, Oso Kuka and the fighters of his platoon hold the high title of "Martyr of the Fatherland".