Zëra shqiptarë

Zëra shqiptarëNga Dr Robert Elsie

Përveç Zërave të At Gjegj Fishtës OFM dhe Imzot Fan Nolit, albanologu i shquar Robert Elsie këtë herë ka bërë të mundur dëgjimin e zërit të Shkëlqesisë së tij Faik Bej Konicës.
Në një pjesë të shkurtër marrë nga transmetimi anglisht i ambasadorit të Mbretërisë Shqiptare në Shtetet e Bashkuara dhe dhënë “National Broadcasting House” menjëherë mbas pushtimit italian më 7 prill 1939, Faik Bej Konica shpjegon lidhjet shumta midis Amerikës dhe Shqipërisë.

NBC: (në këtë ditë)... keni ndonjë mesazh, ndonjë fjale që kërkoni t’i transmetoni popullit amerikan.
Faik Bej Konica: Jo, nuk kam asnjë mesazh, nuk dua ta dramatizoj situatën sepse ajo flet vetë. Dua të falënderoj “National Broadcasting Company”, për mundësinë e dhënë për të folur.
Janë të shumta lidhjet midis Shqipërisë dhe Amerikës. Ne nuk e kemi harruar asnjëherë misionin e Kryqit te Kuq Amerikan mbas luftës (LIB), dhe pajisjet që ju latë atje, të cilat shënuan fillimet e Kryqit të Kuq Shqiptar. Mbretëresha jone është pjesërisht amerikane, Lëvizja jonë Kombëtare për Pavarësi u frymëzua nga idealet amerikane, gjithashtu dhe nga kujtesa e së kaluarës sonë. Janë emigrantët shqiptarë në Shtetet e Bashkuara që i kanë dhënë kësaj lëvizjeje fuqinë e saj.
Siç e theksoi dhe Sekretari i juaj i Shtetit sot sulmi kundër vendit tim bie ndesh me dëshirat e të gjithë popujve të botës, ndesh me dëshirën për paqe.

http://www.albanianlanguage.net/en/konitza.html

1939 | Faïk Bey KONITZA

1939 Konitza | MP3 816 KB Mediaplayer

Faïk bey Konitza (1875-1942) was one of the great figures of Albanian intellectual culture in the early decades of the twentieth century and was no doubt the first Albanian whom one might consider to have been a real European. Konitza was born on 15 March 1875 in the now village of Konitsa in the Pindus mountains in northern Greece, not far from the present Albanian border. After elementary schooling in Turkish in his native village, he studied at the Jesuit Saverian College in Shkodra and at the French-language Imperial Galata secondary school in Constantinople. In 1890, at the age of fifteen, he was sent to study in France where he spent the next seven years. After graduation from the University of Dijon, in Romance philology in 1895, he moved to Paris for two years where he studied mediaeval French, Latin and Greek at the Collège de France. He finished his studies at Harvard University in the United States, although little is known of this period of his life. As a result of his highly varied educational background, he was fluent in Albanian, Turkish, Italian, French, German, and English. It was during his stay in France that he began to take an interest in his native language and his country's history and literature, and to write articles on Albania for a French newspaper. In September 1897 he moved to Brussels, where at the age of twenty-two he founded the periodical “Albania,” which was soon to become the most important organ of the Albanian press at the turn of the century. He moved to London in 1902 and continued to publish the journal there until 1909. It was in London that Konitza made friends with the noted French poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), who stayed with Konitza at the latter’s Chinford home in 1903 and 1904. In the New World, Konitza became editor of the Boston Albanian-language newspaper “Dielli” (The Sun), which was founded by Fan Noli in 1909. “Dielli” was the organ of the important Pan-Albanian “Vatra” (The Hearth) federation of Boston, of which Konitza became general secretary in 1912. In 1912 he travelled to London on behalf of the “Vatra” federation to defend Albania's interests at the Conference of Ambassadors which was to consider recognition of the fledgling Albanian state. In 1921, back in the United States, Faik Konitza was elected president of the “Vatra” federation in Boston and resumed editing the newspaper “Dielli” there, in which he now had his own column, “Shtylla e Konitzës” (Konitza's Column).

Albanian troops in Tirana, 1939.
In the summer of 1926, the dictator Ahmet Zogu (1895-1961) appointed him as head of the Albanian legation to the United States, a post he held until the Italian invasion of his country over Easter 1939. He died in Washington on 15 December 1942 and was buried in Forest Hills cemetery in Boston. After the fall of the Communist dictatorship, his remains were transferred to Tirana and interred in a park at the edge of the city.
This recording, in English, would seem to be the only audio tape of Faik Bey Konitza. It is a brief interview with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), during which Konitza, as Albanian Ambassador to the United States, expresses his views on the Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939. A copy of the recording was given to the Albanian service of the Voice of America in Washington.