Tepelenë (town)

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The town of Tepelenë is the principal settlement in the eponymous district. The name means "Helen's Hill", in Turkish. It is in southern Albania, on the left bank of the Vjosë river, about 3 kilometres downstream from its union with the Drino.

Its location is strategically important and there is a ruined citadel occupying a point 300 metres above the river. Ali Pasha was born at the nearby village of Hormova. In 1847, the British writer Edward Lear visited the town and noted the devastated buildings.

At the nearby Aoos Narrows ("Aoi Stena"), a Macedonian army barred the way to Epirus and, in 196BC, decisive battle took place between a Roman army commanded by Consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus and the Macedonians commanded by Philip V. After an attempt at a truce and an inconclusive battle, the Roman army was lead by a shepherd to a point where the Macedonians could be attacked and the Romans won.

The Byzantines built a defensive tower which was successively developed by the Turks in the 15th century and by Ali Pasha in the early 19th century. The Young Turk revolutionaries met in Tepelenë in February 1909, in an attempt to persuade Albanian nationalists to join them.

In 1920, an earthquake destroyed the town and it was completely rebuilt afterwards: local tradition says that if Tepelenë exceeds 100 buildings then it will be destroyed. In the same year, 400 Italian soldiers surrendered to the Albanians.

Early in World War II, Tepelenë was occupied by the Italians who defeated a Greek attack in January, 1941.

The local Italian army camp was converted by the post-war Communist regime to a forced labour camp. It had a bad reputation for brutality and disease and was referred to as the "Albanian Belsen". It was closed in the 1950s after a cholera epidemic had killed most of the inmates.

In 1997, Tepelenë became a focal point for the uprising against Dr Sali Berisha's government. A people's committee took charge of the town in March and released opposition politician, Fatos Nano, from the local gaol. The movemnt spread to Gjirokaster in March and weapons were distributed from Tepelenë.

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

The football (soccer) club is SK Tepelena.