Congress of Durrës

The Congress of Durrës (Kongresi i Durrësit) was a conference of Albanian political leaders, held from December 25 to December 27, 1918, in Durrës, at the time capital of the Principality of Albania. Mehmet Konica was the Chairman of the Congress, which aimed at establishing an Albanian National Council or Government under the influence of Italian authorities. It elected a government which fell in January 1920 after the Congress of Lushnjë. The efforts to form an Albanian government had begun with the start of the First World War, after the departure of Prince Wied and his government. Albanians have ceased efforts during the global conflict, but despite all later attempts, they had encountered strong opposition from the occupying armies. The chances of forming an Albanian government became higher by the end of the First World War, when the Albanians were constrained to harmonize all efforts to avoid real threats coming from the war-winning neighbors. These threats were being institutionalized through the Paris Peace Conference. Following the events carefully, Albanians found themselves before a very important international event, which required political maturity and restraint. The government in exile, represented by Essad Toptani, had made itself a sufficient publicity through European newspapers. Not only his political profile was not damaged, but rather it was given a place of honor as the "first Albanian diplomat in the eyes of European diplomacy". These were some of the circumstances which had driven Vatra, as published later through the newspaper Dielli (The Sun), to demand to the Italian government to respect the will of all Albanians, allowing them to form in Albania a government of their own. This was in August 1918, while World War I was not still over. A similar request to the Italian side came also Myfid Libohova, who in October demanded to the Italians the establishment of a provisional government, which would work side by side with the Italian counterpart in "fighting against common enemies".