Essad Toptani

أسعد توبتاني

1863 CE · 1279 AH† – 13 June 1920 CE · 1338 AH †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Tirana → Paris → Cimetière parisien de Thiais

Albanian politician and Ottoman officer from Tirana, prime minister of Albania from 1914 to 1916 and founder of the Republic of Central Albania based at Durrës; assassinated in Paris in 1920 and remembered by many Albanians as a traitor for surrendering Shkodër and for his alliance with Serbia.

Depth

At a glance

Roles: Politician · General
Region: Anatolia
Identifiers: Wikidata

Life in time

The Colonial Era · The Modern Era Contemporaries: Abadi Bano Begum · Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Hamud · Abdelwahab Annaib · Abdullah al-Zawawi · Abdullah Bash Aayan

In space

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Place in the story

Unknown (unknown)

Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

Summary

Essad Toptani (1863 – 13 June 1920), known as Essad Pasha, was an Albanian politician and Ottoman officer from Tirana, a member of the landowning Toptani family.¹ As a deputy in the Ottoman parliament he was the messenger who announced the deposition of Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1909; during the First Balkan War he commanded at Shkodër and surrendered the fortress to Montenegro in April 1913.¹²

As prime minister from 1914 to 1916 he ruled central Albania from Durrës under Serbian and Italian patronage, signing the secret Treaty of Niš with Serbia in September 1914; many Albanians remember him as a traitor.¹ He was shot dead by Avni Rustemi outside the Hotel Continental in Paris on 13 June 1920.¹³