Ballaban Badera Ballaban Badera ( also known as Ballaban Pasha ) was an Albanian commander of Ottoman Empire . A conscript of the Devshirme system , he became a Pasha . Ballaban Badera was said to be the first climbing the walls of Constantinople and proved instrumental in the Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans . He held a position of sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Ohrid in 1464 and 1465 . Early life . Ballaban Badera was born in Mat , Albania as a Catholic with the name Michael , the son of Milosh and Helena . Conscripted through the Devshirme system he rose to the rank of Pasha in the Ottoman Army under Sultan Mehmed II . Ballaban fought Skanderbeg in April 1465 close to Ohrid . The Albanians were victorious , but many officers were captured , including Moisi Arianit Golemi of Dibra . They were sent to Constantinople , where after refusing to join the Ottoman faction they were executed by public skinning in Istanbul . Two Janissaries . Milosch had served in the army of Vallachian Prince Myrtche , fighting against the Ottoman Turks . Michael , son of Milosch and Helena , was kidnaped during the Ottoman Turkish raids . Ballaban Badera ' s mother , Helena , was killed during the Turkish raids , and most probably raped . Milosch , father of Ballaban Badera , and brother Constantine escaped and survived the raids . Michael was raised as a Janissary and named Ballaban Badera , or Ballaban Pasha ; he was a product of the Devshirme system , just as the entire troop of Janissaries was , and one of the best generals of the Ottoman Army under Sultan Mehmed II . George Kastriota ( Skanderbeg ) , with whom Ballaban Badera would cross paths of history , was raised as a Janissary as well , under the same Devshirme system Ballaban Badera was developed . Ballaban and George Kastriota . Ballaban fought George Kastriota ( Skanderbeg ) in April 1465 close to Ohrid . The Albanians were victorious , but at a terrible cost : Ballaban Pasha showed his military prowess and thirteen highest ranking generals of George Kastriota were captured ; among them was Moisi Arianit Golemi of Dibra , George Kastriota ' s , ( Skanderbeg ' s ) , second in command . Moisi Arianit Golemi was the organizer of Skanderbeg ' s desertion from the Ottoman Court and subsequent return to Albania . Moisi Golemi was also the main political organizer and the heart and soul , if you will , of the Albanian Cause . Moisi Arianit Golemi , two of George Kastriota ' s nephews , and the other captured generals were sent to Constantinople , modern day Istambul . George Kastriota offered great many captured Ottoman Pashas and great many Ottoman Prisoners , and enormous amounts of treasure in exchange for Moisi Golemi and the other generals , but Mehmet II refused : Moisi Golemi and the other captured Albanian Generals were all an invaluable prize to the Ottomans . Ballaban Badera had dealt a terrible blow to the Albanian resistance by capturing Moisi Golemi and high ranking George Kastriota ' s generals , and the effect of that terrible blow was to be felt with time , after the death of George Kastriota . Ballaban and Moisi Arianit Golemi . As usual , Mehmet II made attempts to win alliances of the captured Albanian Generals against George Kastriota , but such attempts failed . Moisi Arianit Golemi was not presented with such an offer : He had previously approached the Sultan , had betrayed George Kastriota , and had led an Ottoman Army against George Kastriota . In doing so , Moisi Golemi had hoped to save his people , and his country of Albania , from the utter devastation and the disastrous burden of the war against the Ottomans . Moisi Golemi calculated that it was better to accept Ottoman rule for a period in which the country could regain life and survive , so he decided to submit to the Ottomans and betray his Prince : George Kastriota . Under Ottoman command , Moisi Golemi , who was a very astute strategist , and who was man of great wisdom and visionary , saw , experienced , and perfectly understood the futility of his submission to the Ottomans for the benefit of his people and his country . He deserted the Ottomans and returned to George Kastriota . Eventually , George Kastriota pardoned Moisi Golemi . But there was no clemency expected from Mehmet II , who was an astute strategist himself and understood what Moisi Golemi strived for . Mehmet II would seek searing vengeance for Moisi Golemi ' s apostasy . The stage is set and Moisi Arianit Golemi suffered an ignominious death , and so did all the other twelve captured Albanian Generals : They were all skinned alive publicly in Istanbul . Ballaban ' s campaign ( 1465 ) . Ballaban ' s brother Constantine Ballaban received further help from the Sultan and was sent leading Ottoman Armies against Skanderbeg once more , alongside an Albanian Pasha called Jakub Bej Arnauti , this time near Upper Dibra , in the Valley of Vaikal , but Ballaban , Jacub Bej Arnauti , and Ottoman Armies were again defeated . Jacub Bej Arnauti perished in that battle . During all these historical endeavors , Constantine , son of Milosch and Helena , brother of the boy Michael who had become Ballaban Badera , was a soldier under the command of George Kastriota fighting against the Ottoman Armies led by his brother . Milosch , father of the kidnapped boy Michael , was also a soldier under George Kastriota ' s command . Even though a Serbian , Milosch identified with the Albanian Cause having been left no choice by the policies of the Serbian Despot , George Brankovic , who would become either Moslem or Christian depending on policies of the moment . Milosch became sworn brothers ( " vllam " in Albanian and " probratim " in Serbian ) , a wide spread practice among Albanians and Serbs at the time , with the forester of Musache de Stresses , the Lord of Skadar ( modern day Shkodër ) . Milosch and the forester of De Stresses would foster Morsinia ( named after Elizabeth Morsiney bride of King Sigismund of Hungary ) , the Albanian Heiress of De Stresses , daughter of Musache de Stresses and Mara Cernoviche who were murdered by Amesas Kastriota , the infamous nephew of George Kastriota ( Skanderbeg ) . Amesas Kastriota had appropriated the vast estates of the De Stresses and had birth claims over the estates of the Kastriotas ; Ballaban Badera saw the opportunity and organized the coronation of Amesas Kastiota as a Moslem King of Albania , under vassalage of the Ottomans . George Kastriota ( Skanderbeg ) learned of the coronation plans and gives the order over all of Albania that the coronation of a Moslem King must be stopped at any cost and all of Albania must take up arms . The Battle of Albulena ensued and Amesas Kastriota was captured . Ballban Badera later came as a commanding general of the army under Mehmet II during the Second Siege of Krujë ( 1466 ) , where he kept the city besieged for just under a year . In that battle , Ballaban Badera was killed by an arquebus shot to the neck by Gjergj Aleksi , a defender of the city and a hunter in his civilian life . After Ballaban ' s death , the Ottoman Army stationed in Albania lost its unity and was soon defeated .