Bajram Curri Bajram Curri ( 1862 – March 29 , 1925 ) was an Albanian chieftain , politician and activist who struggled for the independence of Albania , later struggling for Kosovo ' s incorporation into it following the 1913 Treaty of London . He was posthumously given the title Hero of Albania . Biography . Curri was born in Yakova ( modern - day Đakovica ) , in the Rumelia Province of the Ottoman Empire . Whilst the present - day regions of Albania and Serbia were under Ottoman control , Curri represented the interests of the Albanians . He successfully fought in 1912 against the Young Turks . During World War I , he organized a guerrilla unit as part of the Kachak movement through the Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo which he was a member . In 1893 he participated in a revolt in Kosovo led by Haxhi Zeka , which was quickly suppressed by the Ottoman army . In 1899 he became a founding member of Zeka ' s League of Peja . In 1906 he became one of the founders of the Yakova branch of the Secret Committee for the Liberation of Albania . Like many educated Albanians at the time , Curri initially supported the public aims of the Young Turks including their promises to respect Albanian traditions and right to bear arms , and for this reason Curri together with Nexhip Draga assisted them in the Young Turk Revolution . Their repressive activities and broken promises , however , led Curri to resume militant activities against the Ottoman authorities . He had an active role in the Albanian Revolt of 1912 , fighting alongside Hasan Prishtina , Isa Boletini , Themistokli Gërmenji and others against the Turks . In 1915 he became a founding member of the Committee for the National Defence of Kosovo . This organization later established relations with the Comintern ( which gave support for the self - determination of nations ) , with Curri later saying in December 1921 to the Soviet minister in Vienna that , " The Albanian people await impatiently the determination of their frontiers not on the basis of brutal and bloody historical considerations , but rather on the basis of the situation which actually exists today . With the firm conviction that Soviet Russia will be able in the near future to determine the boundaries of Europe , especially in the Balkans , in a just manner , I pray that the great Soviet government will grant our just requests at that time . " Following the Congress of Lushnja in 1920 he became a minister without portfolio in the Albanian cabinet . In Albania ' s politics he identified himself with the left - wing forces of Fan Noli against Ahmet Zogu . In December 1921 he became Minister of War in the unstable government of Hasan Prishtina , replacing Zogu . Within days , however , Zogu assembled his fellow Mati tribesmen and overthrew the government , forcing Prishtina , Curri and others to flee northwards . In March 1922 Curri and Prishtina began a revolt against Zogu which failed to succeed owing to the efforts of the British ambassador to Albania , Harry Eyres , who convinced one of the rebel commanders to surrender . Two years later , having stayed in the meantime in the mountains in order to evade Zogist forces , he issued the call to arms which began the Bourgeois - Democratic Revolution of June 1924 against Zogu . Following the defeat of the revolution Curri continued his opposition to Zogu . On March 29 , 1925 he was surrounded by Zogist troops while hiding in a cave near Dragobia . Rather than face capture he committed suicide . Years later Dragobia was renamed after him .