Died October 1949
Albania Name Salih Vuciterni | Nationality Albanian | |
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Born April 8, 1880 ( 1880-04-08 ) Vicitirin, Ottoman Empire Other names Salih Bej Vuciterni, Salih Vuciterni Known for Evliya Celebi's work translation into Albanian
Minister of Public Works (1928-1930) | ||
Salih Bey Vuciterni (8 April 1880 - October 1949) was an Albanian political figure and royalist.
Contents
Life
Vuciterni was born in Vicitirin, Vilayet of Kosovo, Ottoman Empire on 8 April 1880. He descended from a landowning family. Initially he served as town's hodja. In 1920 he moved to Albania and served as vice-prefect of Tirana. From 1921 to 1925 he served as Assemblyman of the Albanian Parliament representing the region of Dibra. From 1925 to 1928 he was a member of the Senate.
In February 1927, following the review that showed disorder and confusion at the Albanian vakf where he was an administrator, and the failure of the reform on the medreses, Vuciterni called for a reform on the charity institutions. The call led to controversies.
From May 1928 to 1930 he served as Minister of Public Works (Albanian: Minister i Puneve Botore) in the government of Kostaq Kota. During the term he was investigated for corruption. From 1928 to 1932 he was elected again in the Albanian Parliament.
He was one of the two trusted men of Ahmet Zogu for reviving the Committee of Kosovo together with Ismet Bey Kryeziu of Gjakova. Once Zogu's strong opponents as Bajram Curri and Hasan Prishtina were gone and Albania was leaning towards Italy, King Zog decided to revive and finance the organization keeping connections with few pro-Zog irredentists within Kosovo. Nevertheless, the activity of the Committee of Kosovo at that time would be mainly propagandistic.
Vuciterni was elected as head of a governmental committee responsible for an Agrarian Reform in Albania, a committee which practically did not accomplish anything important beside assisting Kosovar families which were abandoning Kosovo to settle in agrarian areas of central Albania. In 1939 he was elected by the Italians as Director of SITA, and Italian company responsible for electrical energy and logistics, replacing Qemal Vrioni. In 1942 Vuciterni would serve as manager of the properties of the Muslim Community in Albania.
He would be arrested by the Albanian communists in late 1944 and sentenced as war criminal and collaborationist.
Work
Vuciterni wrote an panegyric booklet called Pikla t'arta heroizmi nga jeta e mbretit dhe nanes mbretneshe (Golden drops of heroism from the life of the king and queen mother), Tirana, 1937.
The most important work left from him were the translation of Evliya Celebi Seyahatname from Ottoman Turkish.