Bedri Pejani

Who was Bedri Pejani?

Bedri Pejani was an Albanian politician of the 19th and 20th century.

Pejani was born in the city of İpek on 10 June 1885 with the name Bedri Thaçi, son of Abdi Thaçi. To refer to his family origin he used the last name Pejani as was custom for that period.

Pejani was active in the Nationalist Movement of Albanians in the Skopje region against the Young Turk administration in 1908. He was condemned to death by the Ottoman military court, and according to Sejfi Vllamasi's memories he passed a psychological choc which would affect him later. He was a delegate at the Congress of Monastir of 1908, and President of the Second Congress of Monastir. At the age of 27 Pejani became a signatory of the Albanian Declaration of Independence. He represented there the regions of Plav, Gusinje, Gjakova, and Ipek, and signed under the name "Bedri Bej Pejani". Elected at the first Albanian senate, he represented Kosovo at the Conference of Versailles in 1919.

Pejani was one of the founding members of the Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo, founded in Shkodër in November 1918.

In 1920 he became editor in-chief of Populli after the assassination of Sali Nivica, a newspaper based in Shkodër. During the 1921-1923 period he was head of the People's Party formed by Fan Noli and other liberal-nationalists and member of the Albanian Parliament.