# League of Peja (January 1899)

URL: https://allhistories.com/kosovo/timeline/1899-league-of-peja
Location: Peja/Peć, Kosovo
Themes: Key Events

Two decades after the suppression of the League of Prizren, renewed tension between the Ottoman Empire and its Balkan neighbours, and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, revived fears among Albanians that their lands would be partitioned. Haxhi Zeka, a landowner and former League activist from Peja/Peć, emerged as the leading organiser. In January 1899 several hundred Albanian notables, Muslim and Catholic, met in Peja and founded the League of Peja (Lidhja e Pejës). Its programme demanded that the Albanian-inhabited vilayets be united into a single autonomous unit within the Ottoman Empire, that Albanian be used in schools and administration, and that the region be defended against Serbian and Montenegrin encroachment. The League also tried to restrain violence against local Serbs, which had provoked diplomatic protests. The Ottoman government viewed the League as a threat and in 1900 sent troops to disperse it, arresting a number of its members. Although short-lived, the League of Peja kept alive the autonomist programme of 1878 and is regarded in Albanian historiography as a bridge between the League of Prizren and the revolts of 1908–1912.

## Why it matters
The League of Peja revived the demand for a unified autonomous Albanian province from a Kosovo base.

Ruler at the Time: [Abdul Hamid II](https://allhistories.com/kosovo/rulers/abdul-hamid-ii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — League of Peja](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Peja)
- [Wikipedia — Haxhi Zeka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haxhi_Zeka)
- [Balkan Insight](https://balkaninsight.com/)
- [Wikipedia — League Of Prizren And The Balkan Wars (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Prizren)