| Ali Këlcyra | |
|---|---|
| Balli Kombëtar leaders Ali Këlcyra, Mit'hat Frashëri, Thoma Orollogaj (from left to right) in Berat | |
| Founder of the Balli Kombëtar | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 May 1891 Këlcyrë, (today Albania), Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1963 Bari, Italy |
| Nationality | Albanian |
| Political party | Balli Kombëtar |
| Religion | Islam |
Ali Këlcyra (28 May 1891 – 1963) was an Albanian lord (bey), a member of the Albanian parliament in the '20s [1] co-founder with Mit’hat Frashëri of the Balli Kombëtar organization in 1942, and the cosigner of the Dalmazzo-Këlcyra agreement.[2]
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Këlcyra was born in Këlcyrë in 28 May 1891. He went to grammar school in Këlcyrë and then graduated from the Galatasaray High School in Istanbul, Turkey (then Ottoman Empire). He then studied in the Mülkiye school in Istanbul, for political and administrative sciences.
After the beginning of World War I he returned to Këlcyrë. During the Greek Invasion of Albania in 1914 he went to Vlorë along with other emigrants. He met there with Prince Von Wied and the princess Sophie who had come to visit the emigrants. He left the country to go to San Demetrio Corone, an Arbëreshë settlement in Calabria, Italy.
In 1915 he enrolled at the Faculty of Jurisprudence in La Sapienza University of Rome. He started there to embrace the social democracy ideas, and befriended with Avni Rustemi and Stavro Vinjau. He returned to Albania one year later and along with Themistokli Gërmenji and others endeavored to create Albanian guerrillas to fight for Albanian freedom in World War I.
In 1918 he went to Vlorë and participated in the creation of the “National Defense” organization. The organization had decided to fight the Italian invadors that were holding Albanian territories under the secret Treaty of London (1915). As a result, the Italian Command under Settimo Piacentini expelled him from the Italian hels territories.
Kelcyra participated in the Congress of Lushnje, and was elected a member of Parliament in the Albanian Parliament as a deputy of the Gjirokastër prefecture. In the first seance of the parliament he asked that all the members of the parliament that have the "bey" title be taken that title away by law.
The Noli Revolution saw Ali Kelcyra leave again the country for another 15 years. In 1925 he founded in Bari, Italy the Bashkomb organization, where he was elected president. One year later a trial of political investigations in Tirana accused him of “propaganda against the Albanian state, against the Albanian government and against the head of the Albanian Republic". In the official government paper was published his condemnation to death and the confiscation of his personal wealth.
During his stay in Paris, Ali Këlcyra wrote on Le Quotidien, and Le Matin to report on the situation in Albania and on the pro-fascist politics of Ahmet Zogu.
In 1939 he returned to Albania and in 1942, along with Mehdi Frashëri he co-founded the Balli Kombëtar organization.[3]
On 5 March 1943 Ali Këlcyra co-signed the Dalmazzo-Këlcyra protocol which had Balli Kombëtar give up war against fascist Italy.[2][4] In 1944 Kelcyra made an appeal to the Albanian communists to give up civil war. He also tried to seminate the idea of a National Front to avoid civil war.
In November 1944 Kelcyra went to Bari with his family.