Aziz Çami
| Aziz Çami | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1893 Filiates, Ottoman Empire, now in modern Greece |
| Died | 1943 Tiranë, Albanian Kingdom |
| Allegiance | Albania |
| Service/branch |
Albanian army Balli Kombëtar |
| Battles/wars |
Vlora War Albanian Resistance of World War II |
| Relations | Qamil Çami |
Aziz Çami (1893–1943) was an Albanian army officer and Balli Kombëtar commander. In 1920 he was a commander in the Vlora War. In the mid-1920s he was exiled after the restoration of monarchy as he was a supporter of Fan Noli and in 1931 he was arrested for an assassination attempt against King Zog I. During World War II he joined the ranks of the Balli Kombëtar and fought against Nazi Germany. He was assassinated in Tiranë in 1943.
Aziz Çami, a member of the Çami family, was born in Filiates, modern northwestern Greece (Chameria) in 1893. In 1917 he graduated from the military academy of Torino as an artillery officer. After his participation in the Vlora War in 1920, Çami became a follower of Fan Noli. He became an activist of the Komiteti Nacional Revolucionar (KONARE) (English: National Revolutionary Committee), created and led by Noli on 25 November 1925 in Vienna, which aimed at overthrowing the Zog of Albania regime.
Hasan Prishtina and Mustafa Merlika-Kruja, two people that led the anti Zog associations in Vienna at that time organized killing of the king by enrolling Aziz Çami and Ndok Gjeloshi, both former gendarmerie officers and convinced republicans. According to Gjeloshi memories' he studied very well the scene before the assassination attempt occurred.
On February 20, 1931 Çami and Gjeloshi attempted to assassinate Zog in Vienna, Austria on the steps of the Vienna State Opera, while the Albanian king was leaving the building after he had just enjoyed watching a Pagliacci performance. Although Zog's aide-de-camp Llesh Topallaj was killed, and the minister to the court, Eqrem Libohova was wounded, Zog himself was unharmed. According to some sources, Zog even managed to pull out his own pistol and to shoot back at the assassins without managing to hurt anyone. On Zog's return in Albania there was rejoicing for his survival, although such attempts were not uncommon: it is alleged that Zog was the subject of 55 assassination attempts during his rule. Both Çami and Gjeloshi held Yugoslavian passports at that time, although it is unlikely that Yugoslavia at that time would desire Zog's death, as that would have entailed an intervention of the Kingdom of Italy to Albania, which was not in Yugoslav interest.
...
Wikipedia